Category: Life

2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 husband – life isn’t perfect, but it is what we make it

Boiling Point

Published by dee on March 1, 2010

My mind races with things that need to be released. I write post after post in my head, yet lack the time to sit and type them out. My life, it is chaotic. As I whine and complain about how busy and crazy things always are, I also know that this is the life I chose. My choices got me to this place of constant activity, stress, and very little rest. The weekends and evenings go too fast, the weekdays too slow.

There are ups and downs and so many things in between. Some days I sit back amazed at how blessed I am in my life. Other days I wonder just how much longer I can keep it all together. At times I feel like I’m just going through the motions, just to get through one more day. Those times make me feel like I am missing out on so much. I wonder how I’ll ever make it when the kids are older and involved in school and activities and play dates and birthday parties.

This last week was particularly hard. I was still trying to catch up on life as February went and got all crazy on me. My car was in the shop. Grocery shopping got delayed due to the snow and ice the weekend before and we were out of food. Zach had a music program at preschool Wednesday night. I had to get our taxes done because we needed the refund to pay for the car repairs. Zach had to go to the doctor due to some stomach problems he’s been having. I couldn’t find time to work on web site updates that were long past due. I was worried about not having time to get the bills paid before the end of the seemingly very short month. Plus, on top of that, I was trying to fight off a cold. Things just kept piling up and by Friday night I was spent.

Saturday I got up with my own agenda in mind while everyone else in the house had a different one. As much as I’d like to deny it, Evie will be turning 2 in a couple of weeks and I wanted to set up my makeshift photography studio, experiment with some lighting, and attempt to get some good photos of her. I thought this would relax me, but I found myself getting angry at my not quite 2-year-old for wiggling when I wanted her to sit still. I kept getting interrupted by Zach and Hubby kept asking me questions until the point that I lashed out at him.

I finally decided to give up on the pictures because I was getting too frustrated (and so was Evie). Hubby left to pick something up at the store. I took Evie back to her room for a nap where we snuggled for a few minutes and I apologized to her for yelling. Then she asked if we could go take more pictures. If she’s willing, I’m game. I took her back to the playroom where everything was set up and we tried again. This time, instead of getting frustrated, I tried to make it fun. We sang songs, we laughed, and we had a good time until I could tell she was tired of it. I got some great photos of her smiling and laughing.

Sometimes I just have to hit the edge before I can see a situation clearly. The rest of the weekend was better. I still had to do things like pay bills, stress over money, feed my children, bathe them, and all the rest of the mundane daily tasks, but I tried to keep myself in a better frame of mind. I didn’t find the time to finish editing photos, to dig into the photography books I’ve been dying to read, to browse around on the Clickin’ Moms forum like I wanted to. But those things will still be there tomorrow, and the many days after that.

Besides, I did manage to get some gorgeous photos of my little girl and even a few of my boys too.

Rest assured, I’ll be sharing more of these once I have a chance to do some editing. My lighting and exposure wasn’t quite right, but I’m learning.

And, for those of you interested, here’s a small piece of Zach’s music program performance. He was so excited for this and did such a good job. This proud mama was beaming.

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I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Published by dee on February 18, 2010

I had this great idea for a blog post today, but it would require some thinking and concentrating and I no longer have that in me. That’s the problem with blogging – by the time I finally sit down to write I’m out of energy. So, instead of my tired brain, I’m posting more pictures. You guys don’t mind, do you?

After nearly two months straight of cloudy, snowy weather, we had a bright sunny day today. It warmed up just a little bit too, at least enough to let the kids get out and get some fresh air anyway.

Zach had been waiting since just before Christmas to try out the bike that Granny and Papa brought up for him. Tonight he finally got a chance to try it out and he was so excited! Luckily, since he can now ride on the big bike, his sister gets to use his old tricycle.

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The Big Game of Exhaustion

Published by dee on February 9, 2010

I am beginning to discover that there is a very direct correlation between how hectic my weekends are and how well the following week starts out. When we have a nice quiet weekend, Monday morning don’t seem quite as bad. When we have a very busy weekend, and particularly a very busy Sunday, I feel like I’m running to catch up all week long. That’s the kind of weekend we had this week and I’m still feeling the effects on Tuesday morning.

We spent most of the day Saturday cleaning and getting the house ready for the big Super Bowl/Birthday Party on Sunday. I don’t think it has had a good cleaning since mid-December so it was time. Hubby didn’t understand why it needed to be cleaned, but it most definitely did.

Sunday morning we had to be up earlier than usual as our church was having a big Super Bowl celebration. I had to get up extra early because I had a surprise for Hubby and needed to get the kids up and dressed without his help. As part of the Soul Bowl celebration at our church we were all supposed to wear our favorite team jerseys/gear. Since the kids didn’t have any, I secretly ordered them both a Saints outfit to wear as a surprise. Yes, the surprise went over well!

Hubby was thrilled with the kids’ outfits and I even gave in and put on one of his Saints shirts too. I was glad I also had a few extra minutes to set the camera up and snap a few photos before we headed out the door. I got one good shot of the four of us together and it will definitely be remembered.

Daddy taught the kids to sing, “Who Dat?” and then we finally headed out the door for church. We had a yummy pancake breakfast, played lots of games with the kids, and then enjoyed a great worship service. Zach even got to try out his first real “hoop-a-loop” (hula hoop). It was lots of fun, but I was exhausted by the time we got home.

There wasn’t time to rest though, because it was time to start cooking up the Jambalaya for dinner. I put the meat on the stove, settled the kids down for a nap and movie, made a quick run to the grocery store, folded laundry, and finished up a few last minute things around the house. Then I finally sat down to rest for a few minutes just before everyone started arriving for the party.

Since my Mom’s birthday was on Saturday, and mine is coming up on Wednesday, our Super Bowl party got turned into a Super Bowl/Birthday party. My sister made us a yummy cake and even decorated it in my favorite color. With the Saints in the big game, the birthday part got a little overshadowed this year, but that’s ok.

During the game things got a little tense. I laughed all week as Hubby told me that it didn’t matter if the Saints lost; He just was happy they were playing in the Super Bowl. Just as I expected, he wasn’t too happy when the Colts were ahead. He wouldn’t even eat until the game finally turned around but after that things got a little more exciting.

For the rest of the game, Hubby was jumping up and down, screaming, and scaring poor Evie to death. She had no idea what was going on, but Daddy sure does yell loud! When the game finally ended and the Saints had won, I think there may have even been a tear or two from Hubby.

Then Zach came in to see what all the ruckus was about and got swept up by Daddy.

It was quite the celebration at our house! I’m so happy the Saints won and that Hubby will always have that memory of his team finally winning. It was a very fun day, but as I said, I’m still exhausted from all of the chaos. I think from now on the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a required day off of work.

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Little Reminders

Published by dee on February 1, 2010

A few little reminders that were sent my way this weekend:

Praise for a job well done will encourage you to work harder.
Exercise is good for the heart and soul.
Cranking up the music and clearing your mind of all stress, even for a few minutes, is freeing.
When you go to the grocery store in sweats and a hat to cover the rat’s nest on your head, you will run into someone you know.
Letting down friends is heartbreaking, and will weigh on you until you make amends.
Watching old videos of your kids as babies will bring about four things – tears, laughter, desire for a new video camera, and an overwhelming urge to have more babies.

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Who Needs Sleep?

Published by dee on January 21, 2010

One of the dangers of being the Mom of this household is that I rarely get a moment to myself. Well, that’s not entirely true. I get about 15 minutes to myself to shower in the mornings as long as the kids don’t wake up early. Plus, if I time it just right, I can escape to the bathroom for a minute or two at a time before the kids start banging on the door. Other than that, I’m pretty much out of luck unless everyone (including hubby) goes to bed before me.

To combat this lack of alone time, I’ve started staying up later and later at night. About the only time I can accomplish anything is after the kids are put to bed. This usually doesn’t happen until around 9:00, and then I have to balance the remaining time with the hubby, household chores, meal planning, bill paying, reading, web design, blogging, photo editing, knitting, and all of the millions of other things I enjoy doing. Oh, and don’t forget keeping up with my favorite shows! It’s all quite exhausting just thinking about it.

Recently I’ve been working on building a new web site for the church we’ve been attending. It has taken up pretty much every free moment I can find over the last few weeks between communicating with team members, updating information, troubleshooting, editing, and creating new content. The only way I can feel like I’m accomplishing anything is to spend a couple of hours a night on it and it still has a long way to go to become the site I want it to be.

While I’m definitely enjoying the challenge of creating this web site, it is wearing on me quickly. Each night seems to get later and later as I strive to get just one more little thing done. Then, when I finally give up for the night, my head is still racing so I need a distraction before I can fall asleep. So I go to bed, pick up my book, and read until I’m ready to fall asleep. Before I know it, it’s 1:30 a.m. and I have yet to turn out the lights.

This would all be just fine if I could sleep in until 9:30 or 10:00 the next morning, but unfortunately, the alarm goes off at 6:30 and it’s time to start another day. As much as I wish it was, five hours of sleep just isn’t enough. Somehow, I need to teach myself to shut down a little earlier. My body is going to give out sooner or later.

The good news is that tonight is my TV night. I plan to leave the computer turned off, settle in my chair with my knitting and watch three entire hours of good shows. With a little luck, I may even get to bed an hour or two earlier.

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22 Months

Published by dee on January 20, 2010

Dear Evie,

Oh my little monkey, here you are at 22 months old and already I’m seeing visions of your pre-teen years. You’ve always had a little sass to you, but recently the sassiness has escalated to levels I was not prepared for. Rest assured, I am not the only one that has noticed this. You suddenly seem to think that you control the world. Though I hate to burst your bubble, I have to tell you that it just is not so.

All of this attitude came along with a huge speech explosion. It seemed like overnight you went from saying single words to speaking in sentences and making demands. You tell us what you want, when you want it (NOW!), and how you want it. When we don’t comply with your wishes, you let us know just how unhappy you are by screaming like a banshee and repeating yourself over and over again. Maybe you’re trying to make us understand your words, but yeah, WE GOT IT.

You have also discovered the fact that humans were blessed with free will and you apparently think that makes all things in life optional. So now, when Mommy says things like, “Evie, it’s time to take a bath.” you respond with, “NO, I NOT!” It was charming and rather funny the first few times, but it got old really fast. Even the things you like to do (like take a bath) usually get a “NO, I NOT!” these days until you figure out that you really do want to do it. I know you’re only trying to assert your new found independence, but I still dream of the day when “yes” becomes your favorite word.

While it may sound like I’m complaining about all the talking, I absolutely love it! I finally get to know what’s going on in your head. We have actual conversations now which just amazes me. You are one smart little girl. You have a great memory and surprise me constantly with all the words you know. The best part though, is when I tuck you into bed at night. Every night we say a bed time prayer and then sing a couple of songs to help you settle down. You can almost recite the entire prayer with me now and you always request “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and sing along with me to the words you know. It’s a sweet way to end a busy day and I enjoy it every time.

Your brother, on the other hand, does not like you talking so much. You see, before you started talking, he was under the impression that he controlled the world because he was the only child in the room that spoke. He assumed that his demands were the only ones that existed, simply because we heard no others. Now things have changed and he’s having a hard time getting used to it. He gets really upset when we allow you to make a choice before him (even though we generally alternate) but I suppose it is just something we all have to get used to. I remember arguing about the same things with my brother and sister.

You are becoming so much more independent all of a sudden that I have to remind myself to just let you do things yourself. You are getting really good at using your fork and spoon and actually getting the food to your mouth. You have also started using a regular cup when we’re at the table. You usually still request a sippy cup full of milk when we’re finished eating, but it is nice to see that you can use a regular cup without spilling too much.

The other thing we’ve been really working on is potty training. You know exactly what to do when we get you to the potty at the right time, but you aren’t really telling us when you need to go. I think you’ll be there soon. You’re brain has just been busy focusing on other things. You definitely have the right idea. You do love wearing your pull-ups during the day and can even pull them up and down by yourself now.

A few weeks ago, your day care provider started watching a new baby. I was a little afraid of how you would react at first because you and your BFF had been the babies there for so long. You seemed to adjust just fine though. At home, you started carrying your baby dolls around with you constantly. You tell us when they are hungry, feed them bottles, change their diapers, and tuck them into bed when they are sleepy. I love watching you take care of them. You’ll be a great mama some day.

Each month seems like it goes by faster and faster as I watch you growing up so fast. Two is less than two months away now. As you inch towards it, I feel myself relaxing in some ways. Even though I still call you a baby, you really aren’t any more. I see more and more glimpses of the big girl you are quickly becoming and I am so proud.

Love always,
Mama

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