I'm on Facebook too much- guilty as charged.

& I don't see myself changing anytime soon.

Being a mom is extremely lonely at times... As in most of the time. And being a mom of young young children is even more lonely. Here I spend every single day doing the same thing- over and over. I wake up, prepare food, clean up food, pick up toys, read books, play with blocks, watch children television shows, kiss booboos, nurse a baby, rock a baby, sit with a baby... And on and on the list goes. While these are not bad things to spend my day doing, I do find it gets to feel very tedious sometimes to wake up and do it all over again, and again, and again. With the exception of a play date once in awhile, most days blend into the next- and so this is life. 

Facebook. 

Facebook is my outlook into other worlds. It's my way to vicariously watch other children grow, other than my own. It's my relief when I'm having a hard day and I can see that I'm not alone. It's my evidence that I'm really not alone. It's my distraction to get my mind off my mundane life in my small apartment. It's my tool to communicate with people nearer my age who don't make me feel like I'm talking to myself. It's my hobby of coming up with statuses that make light of some of the crappy things involved in parenting, or the crappy things in life. It's my motivation to take more pictures to share with all my loved ones far away. It's my escape to other places that I won't be able to experience for years to come. It's my entertainment on boring days when we are stick inside because of rain, sickness, or tiredness. 

I could go on. But I think you get the picture.

Am I on Facebook too much? Probably, but I don't care. I will never be one to try to take a break from social media, because to be frank, I like it way too much. I would be torturing myself.

I still set my phone down during the day. I still play with my kids. I still witness small sweet things they do during the day. I still cook meals (sometimes). I still shower. I still make sure my house is (reasonable) clean.... So yeah, I'm good. Nothing neglected, that I can tell.

Facebook makes me a better mom, and I believe a better person.

It saves me from depression. That may be sad to you that I can talk about Facebook saving me from something, but it's true. And I'm okay with that. 

Heres to Facebook! 

a plane, an airport, one momma, and two babies

Pictured here is the one photo I was able to capture at the airport and on the plane while traveling from Seattle, WA to Salt Lake City, UT. How was the trip, you ask? Well, we arrived there alive. That's what counts, right?

My mom and my sister drove us the hour and a half distance to the airport. With the background noise of a screaming child in the backseat, we tried various things to quiet the sound. He was mad that he couldn't get his sandals off, however he didn't want any help. He was angry that he had to be in a carseat, however he didn't understand why we wouldn't let him out. And on and on these scenarios continued. Meanwhile, we were all thinking the same thing... this was going to be one interesting trip, to say the least.

We pulled into the loading/unloading area and my mom and my sister checked my bags in at the quick stand out front. (However, it wasn't that quick, and the guy was rude, and I'm sure we were causing him a big headache with all of our special situation baby shenanigans.) Meanwhile, as they were checking the bags, I tried to reason with my sweet crying toddler, that we really needed to make our way inside the airport doors. After multiple tantrums during the 5 feet from the car to the airport entrance, we finally made it inside.

My mom knew that the time her car could spend in the drop off area was limited, so with tears in her eyes, she said a quick goodbye and left me with a baby in my arms, and a toddler on the ground, refusing to move. I literally wanted to quit this whole traveling thing at that very moment. But here we were, and time was ticking away. We needed to get to the gate or we were going to miss our flight home.

Long story, a little bit shorter... We finally made it to the gate in a little over at hour length of time. This trek included many "Come on Brody!"s, "We need to move Brody!"s, MnM bribes, McDonald french fry bribes, sympathetic looks from other travelers, and a sweaty momma who was wishing a stroller would somehow fall from the ceiling. (THAT was the stupidest mistake if there ever was one.)

We got to the gate, and we were able to witness a small miracle- a free bench that was meant to fit 4, but that I planned to fill up with my belongings quick, before anyone could sit next to us. I needed space. I just needed to rest for a second. As I sat there, Brody was amazingly well behaved. He watched the airplanes out the window and ate his food. I dug through the toys, snacks, diapers, and wipes in my purse and finally found my bottle of Diet Coke. Thank goodness. As I nursed Bonnie awkwardly, while everyone was staring at me since I was already quite the site to see, I just prayed that Brody wouldn't leave his beloved french fries, and would just give me a few more seconds to sit there.

All was well until our airplane arrived and people started to unload the plane. The ramp they walked up must have looked like the most fun thing to Brody, because he attempted to run down it time after time. After the 15th time, I put him into a timeout at a empty gate waiting area across the way. Things were better after that. After gathering up our things, we finally got to board the plane.

The seatbelt started our flight on a bad foot. Surprise, surprise. Brody wanted nothing to do with it... and so our trip continued with the same theme of the day...

While many things about this trip were not ideal, however I do want to mention a few blessings that happened that day. I didn't have to change a single diaper on the plane. My babies didn't puke on the plane, aside from Bonnie choking on a cracker. The lady we sat next to was a grandma and was more than happy to hold Bonnie while I tried to reason with my unreasonable toddler as he screamed the entire last 30 minutes of the plane ride. We got to sit on the front row of the plane. This 1, let us leave the plane quick, and 2, allowed me not to have to see all of the people napping being forced to wake up to the sound of my sweet, stubborn, Brody. Another lady was able to help guide Brody with her stranger danger power to make the walk to the baggage claim a lot quicker for us.

As we neared the baggage claim, we saw Jeff. What a site it was. He is so handsome, and he had the biggest smile on his face. After such a long time of traveling, I was so ready to not be a single parent anymore. We all missed him so so much. He took Brody in his arms, and Brody was my content child once again.

The picture above is of Brody when we are right outside the parking garage. If you look close, you can see a little smile on his face. This is one of the few smiles he had during the whole trip. We were finally together as a family and momma didn't feel so alone anymore.