Updates, Updates, Updates

It's been a lousy few days here, with the kids succumbing to some sort of a quick flu virus. My plans with friends here at the house on Saturday had to be canceled as Meg was up all night vomiting. We thought the other kids were spared, but Sunday night at 11:15 Izzie got up to be sick, and Annie joined her at 4 am. Drew joined the party today. It's a very short virus, which is nice, but enough already. We've already had the flu, swine or not, plus Meg and I had strep throat. I'm quite done with this winter, thank you very much.

Meg's birthday is Saturday. She is NOT having a friend party, save her one good friend B who is coming over for the family party. After all my deliberating, she really could have cared less about what we did. At that, I'm a little dumbstruck. She was the one who went on and on about wanting her friends to come to a party, then when I told her that it wasn't happening, she didn't really care. We had a "discussion" (which means that I talked, she ignored me, and life went on) about how her inability to control her attitude and behavior was the reason for not inviting friends over, and she just blew me off. So, family party it is on Saturday, complete with a heart-shaped cake.

Potty training is NOT going well. Considering that I've already potty trained two kids, you think I'd be able to work with the girls, but quite frankly, they chose to do their own thing. Izzie does a much better job than Annie, who is perfectly content to pee in her pull-up or diaper. I think that I'm going to have to resort to plain old undies and lots of clothing changes to get them to pay attention. This method disturbs me to no end (whatever the hell that means) as I already do enough laundry, but I'm kind of at a loss otherwise.

The girls are doing great sleeping in their toddler beds. They no longer nap, unless we go somewhere in the car. If they nap in the car though, they won't go to sleep at night. Double edged sword. Oh, and when they're done sleeping in the morning (even if it's 5), they get up, tear all the bedding off their beds, yell, scream and play in their closet, waking up the whole house. Frustrated isn't even the best word to describe how I feel about this. There is no way of getting them to understand that they need to stay in their bed; they just DO NOT LISTEN.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get my loving 5 year old son back? He's been replaced by a foul-mouthed (as in, I HATE YOU MOMMY), whining, crying monster. He throws toys, screams and throws himself to the ground all damn day long. When he's in a good mood he's loving, kind, plays nicely with everyone, but then WHAM he gets nasty. Of course since that's how his older sister acts ALL the time, it's hard for him to learn otherwise.

Lately I've been wishing myself away from all of the crap of raising my kids. I mentally (and sadly, sometimes verbally) lament having to change diapers, do laundry, make lunches/snack/dinner, clean cat boxes. I feel overwhelmed and under loved. I literally want to throw myself on the floor, kick my feet and scream that I don't wanna do it. How awful is that? So then I beat myself up for feeling angry with THEM, when it's not their fault. They're just kids after all, and I would do well to remember that.

What do you do when you're feeling overwhelmed?

Memories Lost and Found

Yesterday Doug and I were cleaning up in the basement. I have friends coming over to scrapbook on Saturday and thought they'd prefer to be able to walk into my scrapbook area and not leap over empty wrapping paper rolls, empty boxes and about a thousand other items that have been tossed down there since Thanksgiving. It's an unfinished basement, and I use half of it for my Creative Memories business. Once Thanksgiving rolls around, my business goes into hiatus for a bit so that I can use the tables up in my dining room, and wrap Christmas presents away from the ever-prying eyes of four children.

Once we tackled organizing one part of the basement and realizing that indeed, we DO need to hold a yard sale, we started on the large stack of boxes that we have moved with us several times. Doug and I have lived in 1 apartment, 1 rented house and 2 homes of our own since 1997 and we have lots of STUFF. Things like a street sign from the street he grew up on. Things like a rather large collection of cassette tapes (for LISTENING, not WATCHING) from back before either of us owned CD players. I pulled out a tape yesterday and it happened to be one that he made for me in 1991 (yes, that would be 19 years ago!) and popped it into my very ancient, but perfectly workable, boom box. Yes, a mix tape from my boyfriend-now-husband that I used to play on that same boom box. It was fun to listen to the music while we worked, and we had a good laugh at the schmaltzy music we liked to listen to.

In another box Doug found a little wrist rattle that belonged to Megan. It was a little pink elephant head. We had named it Ellie Funt and she loved it. I have a ton of pictures with her wearing Ellie on her wrist when she was little. I got really emotional looking at that silly little elephant rattle, partly because holy cow I STILL have it, and partly because she's going to be 9 in a week. That little girl that loved Ellie is a big girl who loves American Girl dolls, Taylor Swift and books.

We'll be finding more memories in the basement over the next few months as we figure out out what to put in our yard sale. We'll be trying to sell lots of the kids clothes, old toys, cribs, things that have been a part of our lives for the better part of 9 years. Part of me wants to hold on to them, to hold on to the past, but the other part of me is ready to move on. There are plenty more memories to be made, clothes to outgrow, toys to put aside. We have to make room for those, even while we hold the past in our hearts.

I Heart Faces "We are Family"

I'm entering another photo at I Heart Faces this week. The theme is "We are Family" so I thought I'd enter a candid shot from our visit with my grandmother last month. My grandmother's Alzheimer's is pretty advanced, so she doesn't always speak coherently. My parents say she laughs, a lot, and that is what I caught her doing in this photo while my dad was introducing the kids to her. Drew and Annie weren't quite sure what to make of their GG, but I just love that while her mind isn't what it used to be, she's healthy and happy.




Check out the other entries at I Heart Faces!

Three

Dear Annie~

I can't believe you turned three on Saturday. THREE! You've been telling people for a couple of months now that you'd be "free" on your next birthday, and you happily showed them 3 fingers. You're such a big girl now. You sleep in a toddler bed, you're working on potty training, you love vegetables but could care less about meat, and you give the best hugs known to man. You didn't like Mr. The Grinch (your words) but loved his doggy. You're my quiet observer, taking it all in with your giant brown eyes. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for you. I love you to the moon and back.

Love, Mama

January 16, 2007

January 16, 2008

January 16, 2009
January 16, 2010

Dear Izzie~

Three years old. You've changed so much in three years. You were a skinny wisp of a thing when you were born, and while you're still petite, you have a big voice and a big heart. Your love of lambs knows no bounds. I'm constantly amazed at your ability to put together puzzles without batting an eye. Your favorite Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy (aka "Izzie's Lamby Song") and you sing all the time for us. You remind me of Boo in Monsters, Inc. when she was singing in the bathroom. Like your brother, you go from the minute you get up until the minute you go to sleep snoring at night. I can't wait to see how you grow this year. I love you to pieces.

Love, Mama

January 16, 2007

January 16, 2008

January 16, 2009

January 16, 2010

Delurk! Please?

It's that time of year again. You know:


Will you stop by, say hi, have some coffee and riddle me this:

What is your favorite blog to read?

There are days

There are days when I don't want to get out of bed. Those are the days when the kids have been awful and the thought of dealing with the same crap all over again is just too much to bear.

There are days when I yell. Too often. Too loud.

There are days when nothing gets done. No dishes get put away, no laundry gets washed (let alone dried), no cat boxes get cleaned.

There are days when the shit hits the fan and it seems like it's coming from everywhere and why can't we just get ahead just this once.

Then there are days when I can run an errand with three kids who not only listen to the rules, but follow them. And get a tv reward because of their good behavior.

There are days when Annie and Izzie play nicely together for more than two minutes and I can do a small project with Drew and we laugh and he writes his name so nicely it makes me want to cry thinking that in 9 months he'll be in kindergarten.

There are days when I not only think I might be a good mom, but I actually feel it in my bones.

I Heart Faces Best Face Photo

I thought I'd playing along at I Heart Faces again this week. This week's theme is "Best Face Photo" and I'm entering this little photo of Annabelle outside on my porch in the snow in early December 2009:


I hope you'll go check out all the other entries!