Ultimate Blog Party!

It's that time again! 5MinutesforMom's Ultimate Blog Party is here!



Welcome! I'm Kristin and I'm the relatively sane Mama of four kids~Meg, Drew, Annie and Izzie. I love a good book, hot coffee and peace and quiet (so, two out of three isn't bad!).  I've been married to my husband Doug for almost 12 years, but we've been together for 19 years.We live in Maine, surrounded by trees and not much else, and we wouldn't have it any other way.


Meg is 9 years old, a 3rd grader with a love of books, music, hockey and softball.  She's pretty well-rounded for such a young thing.

Drew is 5 years old and will be entering kindergarten in the fall. He loves hockey, dogs, cars, dinosaurs and dirt, like any good boy should.

Annie is 3 and loves giving hugs, snuggling her stuffed cow Mooie and coloring.

Izzie is Annie's twin sister. She loves lambs. I mean, really, really loves lambs.


It's a crazy life, but it's my life. Won't you stay awhile and visit?

Letters

It's been awhile since I've done some Open Letters. This should be fun.

Dear Annie:

I love your hugs. They are truly the loveliest hugs in the world. What I do not love though, is your insistence that you are the boss of this house. It's dinnertime when I tell you to get in your seat, not when you feel like it.  When I tell you to put on your shoes so that we can get Meg to the bus on time, it's not a negotiation. As you've seen, Mama will just throw you in your seat shoeless and go about her business. Let's get on the same page here and make everyone happy, ok?

Love, your tired, overworked and very underpaid Mama

Dear Izzie:

You are a great snuggler. I love it when you curl up in my arms and coo. What I do not love is your insistence on breaking things~your bed, toys, books, crayons. You will end up with nowhere to sleep, nothing to play with and nothing to read or color. Do you really want to challenge me on that? Where are your blocks? Oh yes, in the garage, taken away due to your inability to treat them nicely. Let's get on the same page here and make everyone happy, ok?

Love, your tired, overworked and very underpaid Mama

Dear Drew:

You can be the sweetest, most loving little boy a Mama has ever known. I love that Drew with all my heart. What I do not love is the Drew who throws toys at me and his sisters, who hits, who screams "I hate you Mama" at the drop of a hat and who is generally irritable from sun up until sundown. That Drew can find a short pier and take a long walk. Bring back the good boy that I love, ok?

Love, your tired, overworked and very underpaid Mama

Dear Meg:

You will always be my little girl even if you are getting closer every day to being as tall as me. I love you to the moon and back. But for the love of coffee (and Mama loves her coffee), could you please please please stop acting like a baby every time I ask you to do something or you don't get exactly what you want the veryminuteyouaskforit? Your crying and carrying on is enough to make me go postal and quite honestly, that takes too much energy. You are such a smart kid, so let's get on the same page and make everyone happy, ok?

Love, your tired, overworked and very underpaid Mama

Dear Sheldon:

No more nights away from the house ok? Your big kids were so worried about you and I can't deal with all the crying and carrying on because you've disappeared into the woods where the coyotes live. So remember not to piss off the hands that feed you and come in at night.

Love, yo Mama

Keeping Quiet

I've started a dozen posts in my head, but none have even made it to the "draft" stage on the blog. Life is moving along, some days quickly (like Monday) and other days are just so....long and boring. I guess boring is the wrong word when you're the Mama of four kids though. How about long and tedious? Yes, that's better.

I think the hardest thing about writing blog posts is that I use other social media like Twitter and Facebook so I feel very much like I'm repeating myself, or that I have nothing really to say. I have plenty I want to say, but some of it is not my place to blog about and other things are just so....annoying to blog about, like the kids constantly fighting. I mean really, who cares, right? Kids fight. But that is the extent of my daily existence, so instead of blogging, I keep quiet.

Keeping quiet is a double-edged sword for me. There are things I want to blog about but choose not to because they are too personal in nature. There are things I want to blog about but choose not to because I am afraid to say what I'm thinking. I'm afraid to say some things because putting them out there makes them real, but keeping quiet means they're just floating around in my head and that is a safer place for them. Doug reads this blog. I think it would be pretty awful if he read something that I blogged about that I'd never mentioned to him.

Having this blog means that I have to pick and choose what aspect of myself to show my "audience". Lately that is becoming more difficult for me to do. I was never sure of the direction of my blog when I started it just over two years ago. I don't know where I want to go from here with it, either. My blog is certainly about more than just my kids because I am about more than just my kids (although at times it does NOT feel that way). And there's the issue. Maybe I need a new blog name. Maybe I need to be more comfortable in my own skin, which will allow me to write what I'm feeling, what I'm thinking.

Am I the only person who feels this way?
Should I stop blogging?
Should I change my blog name?
Thoughts? Suggestions? Vodka?

Easier

The other night we took the kids out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Other than the normal issues of trying to get four kids cleaned up and out the door, it was a relatively easy adventure. We are no longer encumbered by car seats or strollers or even high chairs. The girls can get in and out of their booster seats in the car (after being unstrapped of course), and walk in holding our hands. We don't have to bring a diaper bag, or sippy cups, or even bibs. Granted we make several trips to the bathroom for "potty breaks" but that's not much of a hardship. We don't need to feed the girls; we just hand them their quesadillas, fries and their drinks and they handle it pretty much themselves. It's a whole different world from when they were tiny and I was convinced that it would never get easier.

While we were eating I happened to catch a glimpse of a man walking into the restaurant carrying two infant car seats. Twins. The mother came along with another child who was younger than the girls. I felt a pang of relief when I saw them. Relief because I had been that mother, but wasn't anymore. Relief because while things are different now that the girls are older, they are, in a way, easier. Things will continue to get easier as the girls get older. I have my moments when I feel like things are so difficult, and then I see parents with very young twins and I know that I have it so much easier than they do. I wanted to run over to that couple and tell them that it's not always going to be so difficult, but of course I restrained myself. I'm sure people told me that life with multiples would eventually get easier, but it was hard to believe them during the dual nursing sessions, the constant diaper changes, the seemingly endless nights. So while my days now are full of "me do it Mama," I know that it's so much easier than it used to be and that this too shall pass.

I Heart Faces "Angles"

It's another photo challenge at I Heart Faces and this week's theme is Angles (which of course I read as "angels" and was all confused at first).

I took this photo ages ago, before I had a new camera. My kids are in the photo, as are my three nieces and my nephew. I rarely take photos looking down, so this one was fun.

There's nothing technically special about the photo, other than the fun the kids were having (well, except the twins who were totally oblivious to what was happening). Note: My nieces wearing the "Nick is Dreamy" shirts made those for their friend from home, but it also happens to be my nephew's name, which made the wearing of them all the more hysterical.

I can't wait to see the other photos this week! Head to www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com to check out the fun!

I Heart Faces "Bundled Up"

Even though it's pouring outside right now and we don't have much snow left, I wanted to enter this week's I Heart Faces "Bundled Up" contest. I took this picture back in January when we still had FEET of snow in the yard (we live in Maine where feet of snow are the norm). Doug had taken the kids down our driveway to slide and I followed later with the camera. It's rare to get photos of Annabelle and Isabelle hugging, so I couldn't resist catching this one when Annabelle snagged Isabelle from behind:

Go check out the other entries over at I Heart Faces!

I Remember When

I remember when Friday nights were "date night". Doug and I would come home from our respective jobs, change into our "weekend clothes" and go out to dinner. Date night now involves trying to find someone to watch our four kids and then lamenting how much dinner and a babysitter cost these days;

I remember when I had "weekend clothes";

I remember when I slept past 6 am;

I remember when I didn't have a cell phone or Twitter or this blog or Facebook or even the internet;

I remember when I could talk on the phone for hours with friends without interruptions;

I remember when my kids were born and how amazed I was that "I" created such gorgeous babies;

I remember when my grocery bill was under $100;

I remember life before diapers;

I remember telling Doug I wanted four kids;

I remember having a cleaning schedule for my apartments and how neat and orderly I used to be;

I remember being able to spell words to Doug that I didn't want the kids to know;

I remember being able to listen to my alternative rock music in the car because no one listened to the music;

I remember owning more than one pair of shoes;

I remember our first apartment, our first house, our second house, our final house;

I remember weekends without softball or hockey, nights without piano music from my 9 year old filling the house and days without kids drawing on my walls with pencil.

I remember it all. And while there are so many things I miss, I wouldn't trade anything for the life I have with my husband and kids.