My husband died 15 months ago and there have been many changes. Some days I feel like that's what my life is now: change.
I'm doing really well. So are my kids.
We've been through the gambit of grief emotions, of course. It's interesting to me to note, though, that I haven't experienced much anger.
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
August 11, 2017
January 28, 2016
An Interview with a Ten Year Old
Here is the third installment of my yearly tradition to "interview" my kids.
Since my daughter's birthday is in the summer, I wait for her new school year pictures and share her answers in the fall. AJ's birthday is in January when I already have his school portrait, so I try to share his right afterward.
This year he is TEN! I happen to think 10 is a little special because you've made it to the double digits.
Since my daughter's birthday is in the summer, I wait for her new school year pictures and share her answers in the fall. AJ's birthday is in January when I already have his school portrait, so I try to share his right afterward.
This year he is TEN! I happen to think 10 is a little special because you've made it to the double digits.
January 15, 2016
Something My Son Said
One night (sometime last month), my husband was having a particularly rough time. His blood sugar had gone low and then he needed to go to the bathroom several times.
Low blood sugars, for Mark, at least, tend to cause the need to use the toilet. Let's just leave it at that. Because TMI.
Well, Mark had just had a doozy of an insulin reaction, plus his muscles are already weak, so getting from the bed to the bathroom was very hard for him. He was requiring quite a bit of help from me and everything was just a very frustrating mess.
I became emotional at one point. Our son, AJ (who turns 10 next week), has some sort of "mom is upset" radar, so he got emotional too. In between things Mark needed help with, I talked to AJ about what he was feeling.
Low blood sugars, for Mark, at least, tend to cause the need to use the toilet. Let's just leave it at that. Because TMI.
Well, Mark had just had a doozy of an insulin reaction, plus his muscles are already weak, so getting from the bed to the bathroom was very hard for him. He was requiring quite a bit of help from me and everything was just a very frustrating mess.
I became emotional at one point. Our son, AJ (who turns 10 next week), has some sort of "mom is upset" radar, so he got emotional too. In between things Mark needed help with, I talked to AJ about what he was feeling.
January 26, 2015
An Interview With a Nine Year Old
This is the second year of a new tradition to ask my kids the same questions shortly after their birthdays to chronicle how their answers change over the years.
I shared Camryn's in the fall, after we got her school pictures back....
I completely forgot about AJ's school picture day, so I will use a photo my friend took, that I haven't shared anywhere else yet:
January 22, 2015
And My Heart Melted
Yesterday was my son AJ's 9th birthday.
Altogether now: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AJ!
This kid, man. He has been such a good guy these past months. Before Christmas I teased that he must be trying to get to the tippy-top of Santa's Nice List.
One day during Christmas break, he was spending most of his time hanging out with his friend who lives right next door to us. He was even planning to spend the night there.
His sister was also at a friend's house when my MIL and I decided to run to the store for a few things. This left my husband home alone.
Altogether now: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AJ!
This kid, man. He has been such a good guy these past months. Before Christmas I teased that he must be trying to get to the tippy-top of Santa's Nice List.
One day during Christmas break, he was spending most of his time hanging out with his friend who lives right next door to us. He was even planning to spend the night there.
His sister was also at a friend's house when my MIL and I decided to run to the store for a few things. This left my husband home alone.
November 3, 2014
Kids Just Don't Understand
The complexities of relationships. Many differing views and opinions out there. Health care reform. The stock market. Religion. Bad things happening to good people. Climate change. Why things that taste so good can be so bad for you. Other people's feelings. Some of my own feelings.....
The one thing I seem to have clarity on is my kids. Or is it that being a mom gives me clarity?
Either way.
I don't know if it's maternal instinct, knowing them since before they born or angels whispering in my ear (or a combination), but it just IS.
Like when I have to talk to them about something. Even the most tough things like about their dad's health problems, I seem to always find the right words.
August 11, 2014
The Time I Accidentally Pissed Off a Crazy Person at the Playground
The year I started blogging was the same year we bought our house: 2010. Spring, to be more specific. The weather was improving and the kids were playing outside a lot, especially when we were here painting before moving in.
As one of these pre-move-in days was winding down, I walked over to the neighborhood playground to get the kids.
AJ was only 4 years old (Camryn was 9 1/2) and not yet adept at sliding down the pole, so he asked for my help. Other little kids noticed a mom was helping with the pole and a line formed. So there I was, helping kid after kid slide down the pole....
Then there was this one little girl. And then her mother.
I wrote about this incident when my blog was a baby. It had a whopping 10 views, so I thought I'd refresh and re-share because it is something that still sort of bothers me, and I think about sometimes.
As one of these pre-move-in days was winding down, I walked over to the neighborhood playground to get the kids.
AJ was only 4 years old (Camryn was 9 1/2) and not yet adept at sliding down the pole, so he asked for my help. Other little kids noticed a mom was helping with the pole and a line formed. So there I was, helping kid after kid slide down the pole....
Then there was this one little girl. And then her mother.
I wrote about this incident when my blog was a baby. It had a whopping 10 views, so I thought I'd refresh and re-share because it is something that still sort of bothers me, and I think about sometimes.
July 20, 2014
What Summer With Kids Looks Like
We are justabout to the halfway point of summer here and I've made some observations of how things are shaping up in our house.
Keep in mind that my children are 14 and 8 1/2. I no longer have Littles. Also keep in mind that things have been quite upside down as far as routine or normalcy go since my husband's most recent surgery.
That's not to say we have no routine this summer. My days typically entail:
What?
Keep in mind that my children are 14 and 8 1/2. I no longer have Littles. Also keep in mind that things have been quite upside down as far as routine or normalcy go since my husband's most recent surgery.
That's not to say we have no routine this summer. My days typically entail:
- Either sleeping in or getting up with the sunrise
- Chores or exercise
- Shower
- Lunch
- Various errands or computer time, interrupted by helping my husband or kid needs
- A load of laundry
- Scratching my head over dinner
- Wondering where my son is off to and if my daughter will ever emerge from her room
- Finally growing tired of the computer
- Heading downstairs for a cocktail and Doctor Who with Mark (maybe the kids too)
- Too often letting the kids stay up as late as me
What?
June 29, 2014
Spooked Ya
Fairy tale books and fantasy-filled movies feed a child‘s imagination.
Mostly fanciful. A touch frightening.
We assume it’s innocent.
My Kids Step Up When I Need Them To
What makes your kid extraordinary isn’t just the epic stuff, like getting good grades, shooting a goal or winning an award. It’s the little things too. The small moments that maybe only you see — and quietly celebrate every day.
My kids have been doing something over the last several months that has been, and is, a very big deal to me.
June 12, 2014
The View From Here: He is Not Me
The week's View comes from Kristin Shaw of Two Cannoli.
She is a freelance writer, wife, and "mama to a mini-Texan".
She is also a highly respected blogger who has been chosen as a Babble Top 100, and she was recognized as Type-A: We Still Blog awards finalist. She was a 2013 cast member and 2014 co-producer of the Listen To Your Mother show in Austin. She was recently named a BlogHer Voice of the Year reader for 2014, and she writes for the Huffington Post.
Phew! I am very pleased to have Kristin here today, with something I for sure can relate to.
She is a freelance writer, wife, and "mama to a mini-Texan".
She is also a highly respected blogger who has been chosen as a Babble Top 100, and she was recognized as Type-A: We Still Blog awards finalist. She was a 2013 cast member and 2014 co-producer of the Listen To Your Mother show in Austin. She was recently named a BlogHer Voice of the Year reader for 2014, and she writes for the Huffington Post.
Phew! I am very pleased to have Kristin here today, with something I for sure can relate to.
June 3, 2014
Choosing My Battles
The pearl "choose your battles" might be most helpful to keep in mind when it comes to parenting.
(Also marriage....seriously, why do we subject ourselves to these things?)
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not in the habit of giving parenting advice. No, no. When I write about parenting it's merely to talk about something I've learned, and I want to share in case it might be helpful to someone. Because I am no expert. I'm just a mom, figuring it out as I go.
For example, I recently decided I'm going to mellow out about my son's sleep habits because I have bigger fish to fry.
I know, sleep habits are a BIG parenting issue, so how could I possibly give up that particular battle?
(Also marriage....seriously, why do we subject ourselves to these things?)
I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not in the habit of giving parenting advice. No, no. When I write about parenting it's merely to talk about something I've learned, and I want to share in case it might be helpful to someone. Because I am no expert. I'm just a mom, figuring it out as I go.
For example, I recently decided I'm going to mellow out about my son's sleep habits because I have bigger fish to fry.
I know, sleep habits are a BIG parenting issue, so how could I possibly give up that particular battle?
October 29, 2013
Medical Emergency Preparedness for Kids
My two children, currently aged 13 and 7 1/2, have a dad who is a Type 1 Diabetic. He also has End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis, as well as a heart condition which necessitated he be given an Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD).
Phew! Lots of big words. Details for adults, really. All kids really care about is that Daddy has health problems and sometimes he has to be in the hospital. Also, sometimes at home, we have to call 911.
We recently got our daughter (the teenager) into counseling. We thought to help her better manage her ADHD as pertains to school. Not surprisingly, Camryn spoke to her counselor about her dad too.
The counselor told us that Cami has some anxiety about dealing with something happening to her dad when I'm not around. Like if I go out with friends, or if she goes out with my husband to run errands.
Camryn likes to go out with Mark just the two of them because she gets to sit in the front seat. That, and I think she genuinely likes to be helpful to her dad.
The counselor suggested that we could help alleviate Camryn's worries if we all sat down as a family and discussed exactly how to handle possible medical emergencies that can come up. Not only to discuss, but also come up with PLANS. Or specific instructions.
Obviously that's something we should do. I mean, of course, right? Sometimes you don't know if something is a good idea until an outside source points it out.
So we did it! I typed up an instruction sheet, and then the four of us sat down and discussed it.
Here is a generic version* of what my kids now have copies of:
Low Blood Sugar - At Home
If Dad seems weird, suddenly yawning a lot, not finishing sentences, getting sweaty, begins acting kind of goofy or loud, or if he’s sleeping and you can’t wake him up, maybe his blood sugar is low.
Try to talk to him. You’ll know if he’s not responding to you well. If he is low, but not too bad and it looks like he can take car of himself, offer to help, but otherwise let him. If he is really bad off, do the following:
1. Try to find and suspend his insulin pump.
-Once found (should be in a pants pocket) suspend:
Press ACT
Press the DOWN arrow once to highlight SUSPEND
Press ACT again, and then one more time (pump will vibrate 3 times)
2. Call me. ___-___-____. If I answer, I will try to help you help him. If I don’t answer, go on to #3.
3. Grab a phone, any phone, and dial 911.
- Tell them what is happening, that your dad is Diabetic and you think his blood sugar is low but you can’t help him.
- Our address is __________________________________.
- They will give you instructions. Follow them.
- Firefighters or paramedics will come and help Dad and he’ll be OK.
Something Else is Wrong - At Home
If Dad is unconscious (eyes closed, you can’t wake him up) for any other reason that does not seem to be low blood sugar, just call 911 right away. Then call me.
General Instructions
If you can ever not reach me, here are some other people to try:
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____.
You can go get a neighbor you feel comfortable with. BE SURE NOT TO LOCK YOURSELF OUT!
(If it’s AJ who is here alone, or if either of you need to tell someone, Camryn’s phone number is ___-___-____.)
Low Blood Sugar - While Out
If you’re in a store or any business with Dad, grab him a snack or drink, &/or try to ask someone who works there for help. You can try to fish Dad’s phone out of his pocket and call me.
Some Other Emergency - While Out
Try to get Dad’s phone and call 911, look around for a woman who can help you, call me.
*If interested, HERE is a link to a Google Drive copy of the above. If you have a similar situation to ours, you could use ours as an example, but customize it to your specific circumstance.
The reality is that my kids' dad could have a serious medical emergency at any time. This is something I felt was best to do for my kids. Other families may handle it differently. Obviously, the older they get, the easier it is to educate them about these things.
For now, I feel a little better knowing we've talked about it all, and maybe they feel a little more empowered.
Phew! Lots of big words. Details for adults, really. All kids really care about is that Daddy has health problems and sometimes he has to be in the hospital. Also, sometimes at home, we have to call 911.
We recently got our daughter (the teenager) into counseling. We thought to help her better manage her ADHD as pertains to school. Not surprisingly, Camryn spoke to her counselor about her dad too.
The counselor told us that Cami has some anxiety about dealing with something happening to her dad when I'm not around. Like if I go out with friends, or if she goes out with my husband to run errands.
Camryn likes to go out with Mark just the two of them because she gets to sit in the front seat. That, and I think she genuinely likes to be helpful to her dad.
The counselor suggested that we could help alleviate Camryn's worries if we all sat down as a family and discussed exactly how to handle possible medical emergencies that can come up. Not only to discuss, but also come up with PLANS. Or specific instructions.
Obviously that's something we should do. I mean, of course, right? Sometimes you don't know if something is a good idea until an outside source points it out.
So we did it! I typed up an instruction sheet, and then the four of us sat down and discussed it.
Here is a generic version* of what my kids now have copies of:
**********
KIDS: If You Need to Help Dad On Your Own
Low Blood Sugar - At Home
If Dad seems weird, suddenly yawning a lot, not finishing sentences, getting sweaty, begins acting kind of goofy or loud, or if he’s sleeping and you can’t wake him up, maybe his blood sugar is low.
Try to talk to him. You’ll know if he’s not responding to you well. If he is low, but not too bad and it looks like he can take car of himself, offer to help, but otherwise let him. If he is really bad off, do the following:
1. Try to find and suspend his insulin pump.
-Once found (should be in a pants pocket) suspend:
Press ACT
Press the DOWN arrow once to highlight SUSPEND
Press ACT again, and then one more time (pump will vibrate 3 times)
2. Call me. ___-___-____. If I answer, I will try to help you help him. If I don’t answer, go on to #3.
3. Grab a phone, any phone, and dial 911.
- Tell them what is happening, that your dad is Diabetic and you think his blood sugar is low but you can’t help him.
- Our address is __________________________________.
- They will give you instructions. Follow them.
- Firefighters or paramedics will come and help Dad and he’ll be OK.
Something Else is Wrong - At Home
If Dad is unconscious (eyes closed, you can’t wake him up) for any other reason that does not seem to be low blood sugar, just call 911 right away. Then call me.
General Instructions
If you can ever not reach me, here are some other people to try:
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____
______________ at ___-___-____.
You can go get a neighbor you feel comfortable with. BE SURE NOT TO LOCK YOURSELF OUT!
(If it’s AJ who is here alone, or if either of you need to tell someone, Camryn’s phone number is ___-___-____.)
Low Blood Sugar - While Out
If you’re in a store or any business with Dad, grab him a snack or drink, &/or try to ask someone who works there for help. You can try to fish Dad’s phone out of his pocket and call me.
Some Other Emergency - While Out
Try to get Dad’s phone and call 911, look around for a woman who can help you, call me.
Try to not be scared. Try to stay calm. There is always a way to get help.
*If interested, HERE is a link to a Google Drive copy of the above. If you have a similar situation to ours, you could use ours as an example, but customize it to your specific circumstance.
**********
The reality is that my kids' dad could have a serious medical emergency at any time. This is something I felt was best to do for my kids. Other families may handle it differently. Obviously, the older they get, the easier it is to educate them about these things.
For now, I feel a little better knowing we've talked about it all, and maybe they feel a little more empowered.
September 30, 2013
Sick September
I'm not necessarily sick OF September. Although, considering the subject matter, I could say that I am. Except that, in doing so, I would also be saying skipping OVER September into October is desirable. But no one in their right mind needs time to move faster.
Except maybe Mother Nature who seems to have fast-forwarded the weather in the Pacific Northwest to November. I think I pissed her off with my "I'm ready for fall!" declarations. But I digress.
No, it's that there was too much SICK in my house in September. Like, just too much yuck in one month.
The week after school started the teenager came down with a mysterious fever. Only missed one day of school, thankfully. Her middle school makes so much noise about absences that it like seriously stresses me out.
The very next week my son came down with what was probably the same thing Camryn had. Mark had to pick him up early from school on Tuesday, but he was well enough to go back to school on Thursday.
OK, so each kid got a quick 24 hour illness. Not that big of a deal. Totally normal and even to be expected when you have more than one child.
But wait! The very NEXT week, on the SAME DAY of the week (Tuesday night), AJ gets this really bad headache. He had had a full day of school and gone to a friend's soccer practice. Although it's kind of odd for children to get headaches, I thought he was probably a little worn out. We gave him some ibuprofen and put him to bed.
Around 3:30 Wednesday morning he woke up, came into my room and told me his head was still really hurting AND his tummy didn't feel good to the point he thought he might have to throw up. I asked the typical questions moms ask like did he just need to go potty. I asked if he wanted more ibuprofen. He did so we trekked downstairs. He took the medicine, drank a little water and we went back to bed.
Well, he was right about the nausea because probably less than 30 minutes later he was throwing up. That happened a couple of times before he was able to go back to sleep.
Obviously this meant he wasn't going to school. I had to get up with Camryn, though, and thought AJ would get up a little while after, but he ended up sleeping until 9:00.
He threw up again a little later that morning but then improved quite a bit. He was taking fluids and eating a little bit. He even had some dinner with us that night. I assumed he'd be good as new and able to attend school the next day.
A little side complaint: My son's vomiting prevented me from attending my monthly wine club GNO because my friends didn't want me to possibly transport germs and give them away. Sniff.
Thursday arrives and I try to gauge how AJ is feeling. He seems not totally up to snuff so we decide to err on the side of caution and keep him home. He seemed nearly normal until somewhere around 2:00 when his head started hurting bad again and he went running to the bathroom to hurl.
I was all, what?? You're supposed to be getting better!
Not only was he in pain and vomiting again, he now also had a low grade fever.
Fantastic!
He could not keep ANYTHING down so I couldn't give him ibuprofen to help with the headache or the fever. He had to just lie there and be miserable.
And this mommy's heart ached.
AJ is such the tough little man that every time I asked if he wanted me to sit with him, or almost anything I offered, he very quietly just said, "No, I'm OK."
So I would just sit down near him, rub his back or his head a little, whenever I thought I could get away with it.
He went to bed at 8:30 Thursday night and slept until 7:30 Friday morning. Friday was OK, spent attempting a Harry Potter marathon and recovering.
Every time I call the pediatrician's office when my kids are sick they say "yep, that's goin' around". They also say, "We get real busy when the kids go back to school....".
So I gotta ask, what the eff are the schools doing with all the hand sanitizer they make us buy and send with our kids? Aren't they having the children use it??
I'll end this sob story with this: To my kids, and all kids everywhere, go ahead and be a rebel where viruses are concerned. No one will ostracize you for not catching the bug du jour.
And now you can find me crossing my fingers, toes, arms and legs in hopes that my Diabetic, immune compromised husband doesn't get any of this crap!
Linked up with Elleroy Was Here.
Except maybe Mother Nature who seems to have fast-forwarded the weather in the Pacific Northwest to November. I think I pissed her off with my "I'm ready for fall!" declarations. But I digress.
No, it's that there was too much SICK in my house in September. Like, just too much yuck in one month.
The week after school started the teenager came down with a mysterious fever. Only missed one day of school, thankfully. Her middle school makes so much noise about absences that it like seriously stresses me out.
The very next week my son came down with what was probably the same thing Camryn had. Mark had to pick him up early from school on Tuesday, but he was well enough to go back to school on Thursday.
OK, so each kid got a quick 24 hour illness. Not that big of a deal. Totally normal and even to be expected when you have more than one child.
But wait! The very NEXT week, on the SAME DAY of the week (Tuesday night), AJ gets this really bad headache. He had had a full day of school and gone to a friend's soccer practice. Although it's kind of odd for children to get headaches, I thought he was probably a little worn out. We gave him some ibuprofen and put him to bed.
Around 3:30 Wednesday morning he woke up, came into my room and told me his head was still really hurting AND his tummy didn't feel good to the point he thought he might have to throw up. I asked the typical questions moms ask like did he just need to go potty. I asked if he wanted more ibuprofen. He did so we trekked downstairs. He took the medicine, drank a little water and we went back to bed.
Well, he was right about the nausea because probably less than 30 minutes later he was throwing up. That happened a couple of times before he was able to go back to sleep.
Obviously this meant he wasn't going to school. I had to get up with Camryn, though, and thought AJ would get up a little while after, but he ended up sleeping until 9:00.
He threw up again a little later that morning but then improved quite a bit. He was taking fluids and eating a little bit. He even had some dinner with us that night. I assumed he'd be good as new and able to attend school the next day.
A little side complaint: My son's vomiting prevented me from attending my monthly wine club GNO because my friends didn't want me to possibly transport germs and give them away. Sniff.
Thursday arrives and I try to gauge how AJ is feeling. He seems not totally up to snuff so we decide to err on the side of caution and keep him home. He seemed nearly normal until somewhere around 2:00 when his head started hurting bad again and he went running to the bathroom to hurl.
I was all, what?? You're supposed to be getting better!
Not only was he in pain and vomiting again, he now also had a low grade fever.
Fantastic!
He could not keep ANYTHING down so I couldn't give him ibuprofen to help with the headache or the fever. He had to just lie there and be miserable.
And this mommy's heart ached.
AJ is such the tough little man that every time I asked if he wanted me to sit with him, or almost anything I offered, he very quietly just said, "No, I'm OK."
So I would just sit down near him, rub his back or his head a little, whenever I thought I could get away with it.
He went to bed at 8:30 Thursday night and slept until 7:30 Friday morning. Friday was OK, spent attempting a Harry Potter marathon and recovering.
Every time I call the pediatrician's office when my kids are sick they say "yep, that's goin' around". They also say, "We get real busy when the kids go back to school....".
So I gotta ask, what the eff are the schools doing with all the hand sanitizer they make us buy and send with our kids? Aren't they having the children use it??
I'll end this sob story with this: To my kids, and all kids everywhere, go ahead and be a rebel where viruses are concerned. No one will ostracize you for not catching the bug du jour.
And now you can find me crossing my fingers, toes, arms and legs in hopes that my Diabetic, immune compromised husband doesn't get any of this crap!
Linked up with Elleroy Was Here.
August 15, 2013
My kids didn't drive me crazy this summer!
It is the middle of August, 3 weeks until a new school year begins.
I have already shopped for supplies. Soccer practice, eighth grade orientation and 2nd grade back-to-school night are right around the corner.
The kids going back to school is on my mind because we need to prepare for it, but for the first time since Camryn was a kindergartner, I am not counting down the days. I am not antsy nor impatient this year. I am not irritably grumbling about how long summer break is or that my kids are driving me nuts.
I have enjoyed this summer.
It is such a relief to not dread school breaks. Rather, to be the mom of big kids and look forward to having them home with the freedom to do whatever we want.
I LOVE little ones. To pieces. I think they are so cute and funny and snuggle-able. I love the scent of a new baby and the way a one year old is just finding his or her footing. I love to watch as they start really taking in the world around them. I love their first words, when they learn to clap and when they fall asleep on me.
I often really miss those stages. If anyone has a baby they'd like to let me borrow, please, had it over!
I'm not kidding. Ahem.
Anyway, last summer I got so sick of feeding my kids. The summer before that we had some major behavioral issues going on.
Now though? I can't really put my finger on what's different. Because kids are always challenging no matter what age they are. Little ones are physically demanding while big kids are more mentally demanding. Maybe fewer physical demands make all the difference in the overall enjoyment of children?
Could be their ages, or my age. Could be the experiences I've had that have taught me to just breathe and live in the moment. Could be therapy. Maybe it's all of that combined.
For once I don't really care why. I'm just glad it is.
This has been a very nice summer. In fact, the thought of my kids -- or just Camryn, if I'm being honest -- going back to school is causing me some anxiety. But that's a whole other post.
Linked up with Mama Kat for the prompt: What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?
I have already shopped for supplies. Soccer practice, eighth grade orientation and 2nd grade back-to-school night are right around the corner.
The kids going back to school is on my mind because we need to prepare for it, but for the first time since Camryn was a kindergartner, I am not counting down the days. I am not antsy nor impatient this year. I am not irritably grumbling about how long summer break is or that my kids are driving me nuts.
I have enjoyed this summer.
It is such a relief to not dread school breaks. Rather, to be the mom of big kids and look forward to having them home with the freedom to do whatever we want.
I LOVE little ones. To pieces. I think they are so cute and funny and snuggle-able. I love the scent of a new baby and the way a one year old is just finding his or her footing. I love to watch as they start really taking in the world around them. I love their first words, when they learn to clap and when they fall asleep on me.
I often really miss those stages. If anyone has a baby they'd like to let me borrow, please, had it over!
I'm not kidding. Ahem.
Anyway, last summer I got so sick of feeding my kids. The summer before that we had some major behavioral issues going on.
Now though? I can't really put my finger on what's different. Because kids are always challenging no matter what age they are. Little ones are physically demanding while big kids are more mentally demanding. Maybe fewer physical demands make all the difference in the overall enjoyment of children?
Could be their ages, or my age. Could be the experiences I've had that have taught me to just breathe and live in the moment. Could be therapy. Maybe it's all of that combined.
For once I don't really care why. I'm just glad it is.
This has been a very nice summer. In fact, the thought of my kids -- or just Camryn, if I'm being honest -- going back to school is causing me some anxiety. But that's a whole other post.
Linked up with Mama Kat for the prompt: What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?
June 13, 2013
Summer Sanity Saver
This is a super simple, just wanna throw this out there little post.
Today was the very last day of school. Commence summer vacation!
Alright, before we get underway, I need to do a little something to help save my sanity over the next 12 weeks.
I once wrote about how much I get sick of feeding my kids during the summer.
Three times a day, plus possible snacks, EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Yes, I know I did this for five years before they started school, but now I'm used to not worrying about feeding them lunch everyday of the world (we do school lunches), so by the time we hit the dog days of summer I am DONE with it.
DONE with the constant "I'm hungry"s and "what do we have?"s.
Therefor, this year I have decided to write up a "Summer Lunch Menu" for the kids to refer to each day.
For example:
 |
| Made in PicMonkey (just found a free white background & sized according to their 8.5x11 print guidelines) |
Here's a handy template you can right click and save if you'd like:
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Yeah, I know it probably won't completely eliminate the food whines, but here's hoping it will considerably cut them down!
Do you have any summer sanity saving tips?
June 4, 2013
Kids Do the Darndest Things
Let's explore a hypothetical situation, shall we?
Maybe just after dinner on a quiet Sunday evening you send one of your children up to take a shower.
Said child gets into the shower while you're downstairs in the kitchen cleaning up the dinner remnants and helping your other child with his or her homeworkat the last minute.
The homework-doing child is at the kitchen table. When you leave his or her side to get back to the dishes you step in something wet and ask, "Who spilled something in here?"
As you look down hoping to determine what the mysterious liquid is, you feel a drop on your head.
You look up.
And feel another drop.
"WT-?", you mutter.
Then, "Oh shit! The ceiling is leaking....from the bathroom....WHERE MY KID IS TAKING A SHOWER!"
Perhaps you peal out of the kitchen and hightail it upstairs as fast as your thirty-something legs will take you and burst into your kids' bathroom yelling, "What the hell is going on up here??"
The confused bathing child says, "I'm taking a shower. Duh."
"There is a leak into the kitchen!!", you exclaim. Then you look down and see that most of the bathroom floor is very wet.
Your other child observes, "There's water all over the ceiling...."
At first you'll be like, I'm not worried about the ceiling, obviously this child is somehow flooding the floor so much it's leaking down into the kitchen!
Suppose you scream at the showering child to turn off the water and get the hell out. He or she complies, and not quite grasping what's going on here, very calmly grabs a towel and heads to their room to put on pajamas.
As you too grab a towel to sop up water, you yell to your child, "What the hell were you doing in here??"
Child yells back, "I dumno..."
Arg! Sop, sop.
You will lean a little to get the floor around the toilet and notice that it too is covered in little drops of water.
"Child! The toilet is all wet too!" You check the shower curtain to see if he or she had it hanging inside the tub properly. It seems to be, but the outer, decorative curtain is all wet....
Again, "What the HELL were you doing in here?!"
Quietly, you might hear, "Well, I did take the sprayer down...."
As this tidbit sinks in and you're still sopping up water with a second towel, you move over to the little heater vent and it dawns on you that this is probably where the water is leaking down from.
Say just then your husband walks in from running an errand and your other child darts straight to him spewing these exciting events at him.
You hear your husband say, "WTF?!", as he looks up at the kitchen light fixture and sees a little pool of water collecting in the dome.
You don't want your beloved to panic because you have already discovered the problem so you hurry back downstairs to explain....
But let's just say, that this does nothing to settle him and he too must hike upstairs to try and understand this crazy turn of events.
When he left to run his errand, just 30 minutes ago, the house was in good working order and everything was FINE.
You follow him and explain that your one child was in the shower, took down the sprayer, must have beena bit a lot careless and got the entire bathroom a little very wet.
Off to lecture the newly clean and pajama-clad kid your husband goes as you once again head down to the kitchen to assess the leaking situation.
You will remove the light dome and EMPTY THE WATER FROM IT. You will place a bowl on the floor to collect remaining drips.
Your husband will take off the bathroom heater vent cover and place a fan on top of it to hopefully dry things out. And lecture the offending child a little more.
Oh, and let's say that in the course of dealing with this flooding-bathroom-leaking-kitchen-light-fixture situation you also discover that the kids' sink is clogged and your husband has to go BACK out for Drano....
Because, of course.
Maybe just after dinner on a quiet Sunday evening you send one of your children up to take a shower.
Said child gets into the shower while you're downstairs in the kitchen cleaning up the dinner remnants and helping your other child with his or her homework
The homework-doing child is at the kitchen table. When you leave his or her side to get back to the dishes you step in something wet and ask, "Who spilled something in here?"
As you look down hoping to determine what the mysterious liquid is, you feel a drop on your head.
You look up.
And feel another drop.
"WT-?", you mutter.
Then, "Oh shit! The ceiling is leaking....from the bathroom....WHERE MY KID IS TAKING A SHOWER!"
Perhaps you peal out of the kitchen and hightail it upstairs as fast as your thirty-something legs will take you and burst into your kids' bathroom yelling, "What the hell is going on up here??"
The confused bathing child says, "I'm taking a shower. Duh."
"There is a leak into the kitchen!!", you exclaim. Then you look down and see that most of the bathroom floor is very wet.
Your other child observes, "There's water all over the ceiling...."
At first you'll be like, I'm not worried about the ceiling, obviously this child is somehow flooding the floor so much it's leaking down into the kitchen!
Suppose you scream at the showering child to turn off the water and get the hell out. He or she complies, and not quite grasping what's going on here, very calmly grabs a towel and heads to their room to put on pajamas.
As you too grab a towel to sop up water, you yell to your child, "What the hell were you doing in here??"
Child yells back, "I dumno..."
Arg! Sop, sop.
You will lean a little to get the floor around the toilet and notice that it too is covered in little drops of water.
"Child! The toilet is all wet too!" You check the shower curtain to see if he or she had it hanging inside the tub properly. It seems to be, but the outer, decorative curtain is all wet....
Again, "What the HELL were you doing in here?!"
Quietly, you might hear, "Well, I did take the sprayer down...."
As this tidbit sinks in and you're still sopping up water with a second towel, you move over to the little heater vent and it dawns on you that this is probably where the water is leaking down from.
Say just then your husband walks in from running an errand and your other child darts straight to him spewing these exciting events at him.
You hear your husband say, "WTF?!", as he looks up at the kitchen light fixture and sees a little pool of water collecting in the dome.
You don't want your beloved to panic because you have already discovered the problem so you hurry back downstairs to explain....
But let's just say, that this does nothing to settle him and he too must hike upstairs to try and understand this crazy turn of events.
When he left to run his errand, just 30 minutes ago, the house was in good working order and everything was FINE.
You follow him and explain that your one child was in the shower, took down the sprayer, must have been
Off to lecture the newly clean and pajama-clad kid your husband goes as you once again head down to the kitchen to assess the leaking situation.
You will remove the light dome and EMPTY THE WATER FROM IT. You will place a bowl on the floor to collect remaining drips.
Your husband will take off the bathroom heater vent cover and place a fan on top of it to hopefully dry things out. And lecture the offending child a little more.
Oh, and let's say that in the course of dealing with this flooding-bathroom-leaking-kitchen-light-fixture situation you also discover that the kids' sink is clogged and your husband has to go BACK out for Drano....
Because, of course.
April 25, 2013
We dared our kids to stop annoying us.
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| Dad vs. Spawn |
It started with our son who is 7. AJ cannot make it through a meal without talking about poop. Or farts.
I was sitting next to him at the table, trying to enjoy my dinner, when he decides to describe something as "poopy". I'm not one to have my appetite ruined by such talk (if only), but it still really bugs me. I mean, can we just please refrain from talk of bodily functions at the dinner table?
So I turned to AJ and said, "Hey dude. I dare you to not say 'poop' for the rest of the night."
Mark chimed in with, "Or how 'bout anything to do with our butts?"
And then he continued, "AJ, if you can manage to not say anything about what comes out of a butt, I will help you buy a new Xbox controller."
(Because Mark and the kids play a lot of Xbox and a couple of the controllers are getting worn out and wonky.)
AJ accepted the challenge. Pretty sure he thought it was funny AND he wanted a new controller.
So then our 12 year old daughter decides to step into this. Which, of course she would. Camryn asks a clarifying question, ending it with "or something like that".
So I go, "Camryn, I think you should not be allowed to say 'or something like that' for the rest of the night."
Both of the kids look at me, confused. She just said it! Do I really need to explain?
Camryn says "or something like that" at the end of just about everything she is trying to say. Such as, "So I got on the bus this morning and sat down next to this 6th grader....or something like that."
It's like people who always say "know what I mean?" or give a little a giggle at the end of every sentence. I think it's a nervous thing....or something like that.
Now, because AJ was to receive a reward for successful completion of his dare, you know Camryn asked what she'd get.
I thought about it for a minute. "If you pull it off, " I said, "I will completely do a load of your laundry without any help from you."
The girl lit up! She asked, "You mean, sort, wash, dry AND put away?"
"Yup", I confirmed.
"All of it?" She had to try.
"ONE load*," I replied. The girl has a mountain of dirty clothes.
She shrugged her shoulders. "OK!"
And wouldn't ya know it? They both pulled off their respective challenges.
Now, I'm not saying one should employ this particular parenting strategy all the time. These two things weren't things the kids were doing wrong. This wasn't misbehavior, per se.
They were just annoying us.
I suppose you could say it has the potential to teach kids that they should only do something if there's something in it for them.
But sometimes -- just to save your sanity -- maybe it's not such a bad thing.
I didn't have to stick my fingers in my ears and sing, "Lalalalalalala", once that whole night!
So, bribery, FTW!
*Truth be told, I would love to just go in and do all of Camryn's laundry. But I can't do that because I have to be a good teacher and make her learn how to do this stuff on her own because one day she will be a grown up and not live with me anymore and she will need clean clothes and at that point I'm definitely not doing it for her!
April 18, 2013
A Book About Bullies by a 7 Year Old
My son AJ wrote a little book about a bully in school.
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| One day John had a very, very bad day at school. He came home whining about his leg and after that his leg stopped hurting. He asked if he could have a cookie and his mom said, "No." But he got one anyway. He is very naughty and he is 7. |
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| Then the next day at school John went to class. Then at 11:55, John went to lunch and after that he went to recess. John played soccer and after that John went in the class and packed. He went home. At home, he asked if he could go to the park so his mom said, "Yes." So John went to the park. Then a boy named Parkersaid, "Get off my playground or give me a dollar." |
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| Then John started to shake. The bully said, "Why are you still here when I told you to get out of here? In fact, GO AWAY!" Then John shouted, "NO! You are not going to kick me out of the playground." Then John stood up to Parker and said, "Do not bully me any more." So the bully stopped bullying John and they became friends. |
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| (He dedicated it to his sister Camryn. Not sure what that means.) |
AJ's teacher gave this to us at our spring conference a few weeks ago. It was so cute how excited she was. She said, "Now THIS is something you're going to want to save with the keepsakes!"
"And mom will want to blog it", I said to my husband when we left.
Good job, kiddo!
April 8, 2013
Marriage, Babies and Bliss
Remember I was tagged to do a little "old school blogging" last month? I had missed out on the link-up, but not this time!
LOVE the questions for April so Imma get right to it:
1. How did your husband pop the big question?
In a greeting card on my 23rd birthday. It was very sweet. I unknowingly kept him from proposing in front of a group of our friends and family at a dinner a week prior because I told him I needed him to save his gift so I would have something to open ON my birthday. He gave me the card and I read it. He wrote "P.S. Will you marry me?" at the bottom, and when I looked up, he was holding my ring out.
2. What are the three most surprising things about married life?
That you can come to love someone more over the years than you did on your wedding day.
That you and your spouse will NEVER agree on some things. But it's OK.
It's not at all the romantic fairy tale a girl hopes it will be, but it's wonderful in other ways.
3. How did you find out you were pregnant for the first time?
First clue was my boobs started to hurt. Then, my period was like 6 days late and we were invited to a Halloween party. Figured I'd better take a test before we went so I'd know if I could drink alcohol or not. Test was positive and I positively wasn't drinking at the party!
4. How did you choose your first baby's name?
My MIL had wanted to name my husband Cameron. But her mother pressured her to name him Mark because a family member named Mark had died. Hubs decided he liked Cameron and we agreed it could work for a boy or a girl. Our first was a girl, so we went with Camryn, Cami for short, which we started calling her before she was born. Her middle name of Rose my mom suggested, we thought it was pretty, so we went with it.
5. Describe where you see yourself in 10 years from now.
Almost 50 years old and trying to let myself stop coloring my hair and just let it be grey. What? I don't like these kinds of questions. I kind of think they're dumb. SO MUCH can change and happen to you over the course of 10 years, it's not even funny.
Fine. I HOPE I will still be living in my little house with Mark and our son (Camryn will be 22, so she may be outta here), in good health (both physical and mental), surrounded by friends, a pet or two, a nice little garden and.......? I'm sorry, I tried. I suck at this.
6. Describe how you find bliss, either with words or images.
Hugging.
Sitting in warm sun.
Listening to a great audiobook.
Laughing.
When I hear the words "I love you" from one of my children.
Caramel.
LOVE the questions for April so Imma get right to it:
1. How did your husband pop the big question?
In a greeting card on my 23rd birthday. It was very sweet. I unknowingly kept him from proposing in front of a group of our friends and family at a dinner a week prior because I told him I needed him to save his gift so I would have something to open ON my birthday. He gave me the card and I read it. He wrote "P.S. Will you marry me?" at the bottom, and when I looked up, he was holding my ring out.
2. What are the three most surprising things about married life?
That you can come to love someone more over the years than you did on your wedding day.
That you and your spouse will NEVER agree on some things. But it's OK.
It's not at all the romantic fairy tale a girl hopes it will be, but it's wonderful in other ways.
3. How did you find out you were pregnant for the first time?
First clue was my boobs started to hurt. Then, my period was like 6 days late and we were invited to a Halloween party. Figured I'd better take a test before we went so I'd know if I could drink alcohol or not. Test was positive and I positively wasn't drinking at the party!
4. How did you choose your first baby's name?
My MIL had wanted to name my husband Cameron. But her mother pressured her to name him Mark because a family member named Mark had died. Hubs decided he liked Cameron and we agreed it could work for a boy or a girl. Our first was a girl, so we went with Camryn, Cami for short, which we started calling her before she was born. Her middle name of Rose my mom suggested, we thought it was pretty, so we went with it.
5. Describe where you see yourself in 10 years from now.
Almost 50 years old and trying to let myself stop coloring my hair and just let it be grey. What? I don't like these kinds of questions. I kind of think they're dumb. SO MUCH can change and happen to you over the course of 10 years, it's not even funny.
Fine. I HOPE I will still be living in my little house with Mark and our son (Camryn will be 22, so she may be outta here), in good health (both physical and mental), surrounded by friends, a pet or two, a nice little garden and.......? I'm sorry, I tried. I suck at this.
6. Describe how you find bliss, either with words or images.
Hugging.
Sitting in warm sun.
Listening to a great audiobook.
Laughing.
When I hear the words "I love you" from one of my children.
Caramel.
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