It's All About 'the Climb'

Thank God it's Friday, amen? 

This post is coming to you early than I anticipated for two reasons.

For one...I mentioned I like to talk, but I can be obnoxious with it so I was trying to refrain to posting maybe once a week. Gods in control however and I get a feeling someone's in need of a virtual giggle. 

Second reason...the subject in itself I was not planning to go here in parenting for at LEAST another...is never an option? No? Okay my higher ups say that toddler transitions are regrettably unavoidable so let's just say I was hoping for at least another 6 months or so. 

'Get on with it Tori we are dyyyying with curiosity to hear about what could possibly be going on in your life right now.'

Okay here's your fair warning that it's probably not that exciting nor blog worthy but, hey, we are here already. 

Now, if you know my sweet Bentley, you would know that he does everything at warp speed. I do mean everything. Not to be confused with he does things before any other kid his age, there's no room for comparing around here. Unless you're saying my baby is the best, then please, don't be shy. 😉 Ok, you still with me? Bias aside, I think he is pretty intelegent. Unknowing where it originated from, but he somehow came to be pretty bright. So from birth he has had a habit of testing a 'skill' out, such as holding his head up, rolling over, walking, once or twice and then stopping almost immediately for a long[ish] period of time. Walking,for example, he took his first steps around 8 and a half months! 

'YAY Bentley! Our child will be in the Guinness Book of World Records for walking before any other baby EVER'...yes we are first time parents give us a break. 

But then he just stopped. We would try to get him to do it for people and practice and nothing. Eventually it did turn into more test drives while he thought no one was looking and holding one hand of whoever could stand better than he could--he took out a toddler or two. Whoops.-- He had a look about him however that read 'I'm going to figure out the technique first while watching then I'll do this thing they call walking'. So he gave us a few previews, then a week after his first birthday he just took off making laps around the house and didn't miss a step. That's our Bentley. Cautious yet daring.

Okay cool story Tori but, what does that have to do with anything. Well, I will tell you, a couple weeks ago I saw Bentley swing his leg over the side of his crib while I was trying to put him to bed, and I got wide eyed just watching to see what he would do, ready to catch any flying body parts if need be. So like any other time, he put his leg back on his side of the crib and got 'the look'. 

'Crap', I thought. So after his sleepy eyes gave up and my ninja like exit was perfectly executed I went to Cole and told him the tale of Bentley's new trick. Being a 'present' dad, he knew too that this was not a good sign. But all we could do was wait. Wait for the fateful day that our fearless little man would make his first escape out of his preceived jail cell. 

For a side note, our new house has all tile floors. I was fortunate enough to be the first one to fall on this beautiful floor and let me tell you, it felt like a pillow from hell. So you can imagine the scary thought of a one and a half year old falling on this said floor. The blood, fear, and the ambulance ride is already playing vividly in my fellow mothers' heads just like it is in mine. It's a thing. Unavoidable. We worry.

So here I am today. Home alone for the 7th day feeling like a MILSO warrior that could take on Voldemort himself if faced with him. --haha yep she's that girl-- 

It's no Chamber of Secrets but my battle with nap time and Bentley just is never a fun one. Today I thought he had fallen asleep like he had been all week. Peacefully, deeply, and gracefully. HA! 

30 minutes into 'Live! With Kelly and Michael' I hear a really loud whining and a knocking on a door. [thankfully it was this and not blood curdling scream] 

'Craaaaaap. Either my worse nightmare has come true and some mad man is in my sons room and knocking on his door to warn me I should go in there...or Bentley's climb has finally happened.' Alas, it was indeed the climb. You might ask 'Tori. How do you know he thought this through? Maybe he's just winging it.' Very good question my friend, very good question indeed. How I know for a fact, is what I found in his room was unmistakable evidence. He had thrown all his treasures from his crib [pillows, blankets, teddy bears, what have you] on to the floor in a pile just in front of his crib as for a safer landing. 'Good Grief'.

So it's happened. We are here. Thankfully without blood, fear, or ambulance rides today. But. I do fear that this won't be the last Bentley adventure that has me pacing the floor. Haha the question is...now what? I'm still trying to figure out how we went from bassinet to jail breaks in such short of time... I am ill prepared. Do we change his bed? Do we add carpet to our floor? Do we just put him in a bubble? Parenting, ladies and gents...

With that funny story --in my most humble opinion-- I think there is still a lesson to be learned. Ooooh the lesson. Here goes. God thankfully gave me a boy. An adventurous, Loving, silly, thrill seeking, BOY. I like things done on 'Tori time'. It's a problem. Control control control. In a year and a half God has chiped away at me, trying to set me free of this burden, by giving me a boy. Not just any boy. This boy. Transitions are fast and recovery time is short if any at all. So you can imagine my whiplash-like reactions when I think he needs to sloooow dooowwn. 'IM NOT READY!' I know I'm not alone in this, I am sure there are plenty of moms that also have their fair share of 'wait when did you learn that?' moments. I don't know about you but, I have a lot of learning and chipping to do STILL and as you may very well know motherhood is an uphill climb. It does not get easier. It has it's glorious changes like, sleeping for longer periods of time and getting your body back after feeling like a milk cow for so long, but the lack of control does not, however, get easier. We claw and scratch our way up just trying to survive sometimes.  So as I learn to let God lead me and watching my baby turn into a boy, I,  like Bentley, am learning 'how to'.Taking a step back and looking at what I have to learn, to be brave enough to take those steps or dive over the edge and have the faith that it'll be ok. I can sit there and analyze it all so as not to make a mistake, but eventually I have to take that chance and let go. 

You Learn as you Go

Hi there!

Here it is. My first blog post. 
If you're browsing through I want to thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. 
I figured I should start off with something about me. Before things get too weird and personal. Hang on tight everyone. My name is Tori, I am married to my very inconsistent, but none the less high school sweetheart and love of my life, Cole, going on 3 years now, I am a mommy of one smart, funny, handsome toddler, Bentley, and we are a military family. My husband joined the military 4 months before we got married and life has been a whirlwind ever since. I grew up in a very small town in the Wet Mountain Valley in Colorado. My mom and dad raised my brother and me with the love of God in our hearts and a sense of humor in toe ...or in elbow rather? That was a weak joke. You catch my drift anyway. You could say I lived a sheltered life. Does 'where everyone knows your name' come to mind? Well you would be right. I was the one who was afraid to get in trouble, knowing I would know someone who would know someone who would know my parents who would know I knew I'd be in BIG trouble. So I stuck to drawing inside the lines.  Which leads me to my next point, I'm a perfectionist, and not in a funny way. I wish it was. That's a story for another time. Onward. Growing up I had a lot of dreams. None bigger than my longing to be a mom! I knew that until I had a mate to...well ya know... that dream would have to wait so after high school I did what any rule following, average, no-clue-what 

-in-the-world-I-wanted-to-do-with-my 

-life, 18 year old girl would do. I went to COLLEGE! Woooooo! Unfortunately that 'woooo' is exaggerated and I didn't fit in. I wanted something else. So I quit school after a year and persued my next love that had been a part of my life since before I was born-- ballroom dancing. It was a family business so why not take a shot I thought. That was also short lived for my on and off again, star crossed lover, Cole, rode in on his valiant steed with a pretty dimand ring in hand, and we rode off into the sunset and are living happily ever after. Ok...that last part is not a thing but if it was, there would be no need for blogs and then what would we housewives do with ourselves? Maybe get to that scrapbooking New Year's resolution endeavor that lasted...ok it never started. I digress. That will happen. You've been warned. Anywho. Back to the present, we just bought our first home, we just went through our first deployment, we live in the magical land of  Mary Esther, Florida, and for the first time in about 4 years I have nothing to report. No engagements, no weddings, no pregnancies, no relocations [for now], and no new big purchases. It's a relief. It will be short lived like most things I've been through but I am enjoying the simplicity.

Now, you might be wondering where this is going. Well, you and I would be of the same mind set because I'm not sure. I'm not a writer. I like to talk and I like to relate and be relatable. So here I am. Typing away, to probably myself. But that's ok. It might run into just an outlet to express what needs expressing in my life. The good bad and the ugly. I am going to let God lead and we will learn as we go. 

I want to thank you again if you've made it this far already with me. Thank you for choosing me to spend your free time with. Until next time.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. (Psalm 139:4 ESV)