Erin Akin Carroll

Can you believe it? It’s already time to place orders for spring and summer clothes!

One of my favorite ways to shop for my boys is through home trunk shows. One of my favorite lines is Shrimp & Grits Kids. These clothes are extremely well made, they’re classic, and they’re down right cute!

Lucky for me, my friend Margaret is now a rep for Shrimp & Grits Kids and she asked me to host an online “show” for her so I could show all of you the adorable clothes for spring and summer.

To see the online catalog, click here!

If you have any questions, or would like to place an order, email Margaret at mkpedler@gmail.com

Take some time to look through the online catalog to see sets for brothers and sisters, sisters, brothers, play clothes and church clothes. I cannot get over how cute everything is this season!

I love that there are casual versions of each pattern in addition to dressier styles. It’s going to be so hard for me to choose, but I’m on the hunt for some coordinating outfits for my boys!

To see the online catalog, click here!

If you have any questions, or would like to place an order, email Margaret at mkpedler@gmail.com

For some of us, all of our lives we dream of being a parent. In some cases we just dream of holding a sweet little baby. Or you dream of taking your child to his or her first soccer practice. But I know for me, I had little snippets of images in my head of what things would be like.

None of these images include tantrums in public places. Or a child that refused to get out of the car and went limp in the parking lot when you tried to go inside the school.

These images don’t include your child losing his breakfast on the way out of town on a long road trip.

And they don’t include trip after trip to the pediatrician’s office for another round of antibiotics for a never-ending ear infection. Why won’t it just go away?

They didn’t include dinner time frustration as you attempt to spoon-feed your 8 month old for the 90th straight day and he still refuses to eat.

But these things are reality. Kids are kids. Hopefully, other people struggle with their kids in the same ways (or similar ways) that I struggle with mine.

When we were visiting my parents, Hudson and I went to a basketball game with my Dad. It was Hudson’s first basketball game. We thought it would be a little slow with a light crowd, so let’s take him. He’ll love it, right?

He loved it for about the first five minutes, but then he wanted to walk around. He wanted to go see the mascot.

I decided to let him walk around the arena concourse, but in his simple little 2.5 year old mind, he couldn’t understand why we were going left when he wanted to go right.

And the tantrum of all tantrums began.

He cried so hard he couldn’t catch his breath. He went limp. He screamed and kicked. I squatted down next to him and asked him to try to tell me what he wanted to do, but he kept saying, “THIS WAY!”

Unfortunately, “this way” meant that he wanted to go onto the court, which obviously wasn’t happening. My basketball days were limited to seventh grade try-outs and I never hope to relive anything close to that.

I tried to get Hudson to just walk (or even run!) around the concourse to burn off some steam. But he wanted to go onto the court.

At this point, people were staring at me as I just walked with him. He weighs 38 pounds, for crying it out loud. I was whispering in his ear that he wasn’t behaving as he should and that he needed a time out.

I actually found a corner on the concourse and had him stand there where he continued to scream. People continued to stare. You know they’re just wondering, “I wonder how she’s going to handle this.”

And I had no clue how to handle it. I’d done everything I could think of that’s appropriate for public discipline.

I ended up taking him outside. It was freezing. But I thought we could both cool off and calm down. It just didn’t get any better.

Fortunately, after about twenty minutes, it was half time and my Dad emerged (hallelujah!) and we went home.

Hudson had just gotten himself so worked up– to the place of no return. At that point, he couldn’t breathe because he was crying so hard. His mind probably couldn’t even remember why he was crying.

Sitting here now, in my calm, quiet living room, I’m thinking of what I could have or should have done in that situation. I’m wondering if I’ve been in public and if I’ve noticed another mom struggling with a similar situation.

But when I’m in tense, loud, heart-pounding moments like that, all I can think is, “stay calm.” Even though there’s a screaming toddler voice in my ear telling me to do everything but stay calm.

No, that’s not at all how I pictured this motherhood thing when I first held Hudson. In fact, when I look at sweet, happy Hayes who so rarely cries, I think, “there’s no way he’ll ever be two and a half, right?” Ha!

It’s humbling. I hope we can avoid a situation like that in the future, but I’m sure it will happen again. My mind will race wondering what I should do while I sweat and pray that no one is looking at me. (Of course they’re looking at me!)

Thank goodness for teachable moments for Hudson and for me. It’s all just part of the parenting initiation, it seems.

It dawned on me… a ha… that I should make a list of goals for Hudson and Hayes. Not necessarily things that I think they should be trying to do, but things I want to pray for them.

So I was thinking about them and who they are now. And how quickly they’ll change in a year. How much Hudson will be exposed to and what he’ll pick up on. How much Hayes will learn and change.

Raising boys is all I know. But there is a large part of it that I feel strangely unfamiliar with. There is a lot of responsibility to grow them into kind, thoughtful, strong, appreciative, Godly men as they prepare for their lives. This is new territory for me. So I need help. And lots of prayer.

For Hudson…

I’m praying for fewer tantrums and more words.

I’m praying that Hudson will be willing to eat different things and eat more consistently.

I’m praying that he will always know that we are safe and that our arms are always open for him.

I’m praying that as friends become more influential figures in his life, that God will bless him with good friends who are also good influences.

I’m praying that when he sees his Daddy he sees a man that can do anything, fix anything and always has the answers. Right now, he gets a lot of Mommy time, but the day will come when his Daddy is the one he’ll go to when he needs something.

I’m praying that he will continue to learn about his Heavenly Father and gain more of an understanding of how much God loves him.

For Hayes…

I’m praying for the relationship with Hayes and Hudson. That as Hayes grows they will laugh together and depend on each other.

I’m praying that he will develop right on track and will remain our healthy, sweet baby.

I’m praying that he’ll grow to enjoy eating table food more.

I’m praying that he always knows just how special he is to us and how much he has blessed our lives.

For me…

I’m praying that I’ll listen. That I’ll always show them how much they are loved and how much of a privilege it is to be with them. That I’ll give them my undivided attention. That I’ll teach them how to be good listeners.

I’m praying that I’ll always show my kids grace. And that I’ll extend a little bit of that grace to myself on bad days.

I’m praying that I can be conscientious about showing both of them just how much they are loved individually.

Do you have any hopes for your family and children this year?

1. College football is officially over and the SEC dominated another season. It was such an exciting season. I wasn’t sure, really, who to cheer for last night. I’m not an LSU fat at all, but really wanted there to be an undefeated team in the end. But I found myself pulling for Alabama and the Crimson Tide won. The Gamecocks ended on a great note and our orange-wearing friends in the Upstate weren’t so fortunate. (Sorry, friends, but TC insisted I include a mention about Clemson’s loss.)

2. We had the yummiest sandwiches from Cooking Light last night. It was a grilled ham, muenster and spinach sandwich with chow chow. It was so delicious and only 315 calories! Take that, My Fitness Pal!

Some people asked me what chow chow is. This is chow chow!

3. P.S. I’m starving! TC put a bunch of Take 5 candy bars in my stocking and I have been really tempted to eat them. Then I discovered that they’re GONE. He ate all of my Take 5 candy bars. It’s probably for the best anyway, right?

4. I’ve started Downton Abbey on Netflix Instant. I highly recommend you do the same!

5. My first day of waking up early and very carefully budgeting my time throughout the day went really well. I felt much less rushed and when we put the boys to bed at 7:30 p.m. there weren’t any chores left to do. We got to hang out and relax and watch some football.

6. My mom is back home in Indiana. We had an amazing few weeks with my parents. It’s always sad when it’s over, but we know we’ll see each other again soon. I’m so thankful for such a great visit at our house and then at their house. What a nice extended Christmas!

7. Have I mentioned I’m starving? Okay, I’m not really starving, but I sure would love some ice cream. My Fitness Pal has really opened my eyes to how much and how badly I had been eating. When my calories are limited I’m just so much more selective about what I’ll eat.

8. An update on the Diet Coke habit kick… I’ve only had one since January 1. And I had that one on a day where I felt really tired and dizzy and thought sipping on a little DC might help me feel better.

9. One of my goals for this year (and I promise I’m going to do a full post on all of my goals for 2012) is to stop making impulse purchases. If there’s something I want to buy, I need to think about it and really decide if it’s something I want. I’ve actually limited myself (ourselves) to one new clothing item per month and one new kids item/clothing item per month. I think it will make me think through my purchases more.

10. In December, I bought this dress to wear to our Holiday Market Preview Party with the intent of also wearing it to a couple of upcoming rehearsal dinners and weddings. (The same people don’t attend every wedding, so why not wear the same dress over and over again?) I have worn this dress 5 times since I bought it and wore it again this weekend to a wedding. I’d say it was a good purchase.

11. Today will be spent organizing my closet while Hudson is at school and Hayes is napping. I also need to do another clean out of Hayes’s closet. It’s never-ending!

12. Hudson’s big new thing is saying, “Oh my goodness!” or “Oh my gosh!” I say both of these phrases really (too) often, so it comes naturally to Hudson, too, I think. He is hilarious and SUCH a boy!

13. It’s kids clothing line trunk show season and I have a few “trunk shows” coming up on my blog for all of you to browse. So many of my friends sell adorable kids clothes and I just wanted a way to help them out. I’m so excited to see the sweet little outfits!

14. So, Hayes normally sleeps until 7:30, but he has been waking up thirty minutes earlier. I think he knows his mommy is awake and he wants to play. I really do not want to move my wake up time to 5:30 a.m. to re-gain those thirty minutes of “me” time in the mornings. What up with that?