This is the life! Wordless Wednesday

At one point my dog was snoring so loud I couldn't hear the TV.

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The worn out babysitter.

Today was an INSANE day

It all started off with little E waking up at 6:00.  Now if you read an earlier post you will remember that I have a “no getting out of bed till 7:00 rule” (unless it’s absolutely necessary).  So when Little E woke up early I put him back to bed and told him it was too early.  I think he went back to sleep because it was silent I fell back asleep.  However, at 7, little E comes racing into our room….HYPER as can be!

I don’t know how somebody can wake up hyper…but little E managed to today.  Normally when he gets up he’s always happy but today he was just super excited.  I think it was because his friend “Amazing A” was coming over to play. Amazing A hasn’t been here for over a week…so he was really excited.  Then came the other children…”Pretty E” and “Silly S”.  All to play with him.

If you don’t know…I babysitt children…and today I had a lot of them.  I had four besides little E today.  Which normally is ok.  I have my routine down pat…but these kids were wired!

If you have been following my blog you will know that I have deemed Tuesdays as “no TV Tuesday”.  However, today TV was allowed since yesterday we spent most of the day outside and it was raining out on and off today.  Good thing I allowed it…man these kids were CRAZY HYPER.  I was gulping my coffee down furiously to get all the caffeine in me that I could for I knew today was going to be different.  (PS.  On Monday, Tuesday & Friday the mother of “Silly S” brings me coffee…how nice is that?  I really do babysit for some AWESOME people)

At 9:00 we showed the neighborhood our “hyperness”.  That’s right!  At 9:00 we were OUTSIDE!  Blowing bubbles, jumping, kicking balls, sliding, swinging…whatever we could do to wear off the hyper that was enveloping this household.

At 10:00 I managed to have half an  hour of “peacefulness”.  The children were eating their snack.  It wasn’t complete peacefulness but by this time I was taking whatever I could get.

10:30…we were back outside.  Correction:  The children (except for “pretty E” were outside).  I was watching through the glass door and waving..while gulping down my second cup of coffee.

The afternoon welcomed “Leaping L” who came after school.  I had Silly S and Pretty E down for a nap but Little E, Amazing A and Leaping L were being very loud….and woke up Silly S. (I may have been pulling my hair out at this time!)

Chaos just erupted after that.  I found myself on the floor with kids on top of me and then later tied to a chair.   Hahah..nope but that’s how I felt.  There was no control anywhere.  Kids were marking on the floor, the dog was barking…the cat just wanted in and out, in and out of the door.  IN AND OUT.

Then something happened.  5:30 hit and all the wonderful kids were gone.

Then something even more wonderful happened:  6:00 came and hubby and Little E were gone.

So what am I doing right now?

Enjoying. the. silence.

Sometimes…mothers just need a break.

Laura.

Blessing:  That I’m not a single mother trying to do this all by myself.

(Names in this blog have been changed to protect the innocent from stupid people out there)

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Easter 2011

So…I do things a bit differently.

We had our Easter on Friday morning this year.  This has several reason.

1)  We are church planting so on Sunday mornings we get up at 7 and just run run run!  We don’t stop until we get home from church probably about two o’clock at the latest.  So I didn’t think it would be fair for little E to get up….rush through an Easter Egg hunt, look at his stuff and then not be able to play with his toys until five hours later.

2)  Little E isn’t even three yet…so this year we can still get away with the Easter Bunny coming early.

3)  I like having Sunday being about Jesus and the real reason for Easter.  (However, like I said before, I won’t be able to do this again another year)

So Friday morning hubby and I were laying awake in bed probably about 7:30 waiting for little E to come in and wake us up from excitement.  8:00 rolls around and I hear those cute little feet running down the hallway to our room.  I pretended I was asleep and little E woke me up by saying “Mommy look what I found!”  In his hand he held three little chocolate covered Easter Eggs.  We asked him who left those in his room.  He replied “I did..I found them!”.  We explained that the Easter bunny left them and we went on our Easter Egg hunt.

(I love Easter egg hunts..love love love them.  I did a huge one at the church we were at previously that was almost 20,000 easter eggs.  It was sooo much fun!)

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Little E loved his Easter egg hunt.  The Easter Bunny left them in his room and in the living room and some in the bathroom when he needed to take a break.

Little E also had fun opening his gifts. Loved all the chocolate and CARS toys.

However, today is Sunday.  Today we have the greatest reason ever to be worshiping and praising our Jesus.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t be doing this everyday, but today was and is a great day. For today, HE IS RISEN!  He’s alive, which is awesome.  He’s alive…it means the God that we trust in isn’t some statue on a fireplace, or some picture up on the wall, or even a cross hanging around our neck.  He’s alive and not dead!  It means that we can trust in Him…talk to Him, love Him and give Him everything that we have and expect that it’s not falling on deaf ears!  AMAZING!

This morning I had kids church.  I wasn’t looking forward to this for a few reason but the main reason was because…well it’s Easter which means chocolate.  Chocolate means hyper kids. Hyper kids and I don’t mix that well.  LOL.

But today was great.  The kids sat around the table and I talked to them about what Easter means in terms that they would be able to understand.  We talked about what Good Friday was and how Jesus died on the cross.  After we got through all the gory parts that they decided would be fun to tell…we got down to the reason why Jesus died on the cross.  Then we talked about what it meant to say that “Jesus rose again”, that it means he became alive again.  I asked the kids where Jesus was living now and most of them said heaven, but my little boy said that he lives in the pool.  LOL.  We church plant at a hotel so every Sunday they see the pool.

I guess Little E decided that it would be fun to live with Jesus in a pool instead of Heaven. Ah well…as long as he’s with Jesus that’s all that matters right? 🙂

Well that was our Easter.  I hope that all your Easter’s out there were just as grand.  I have been seeing some wonderful pictures on facebook and I love watching all the kids running around looking for their Easter eggs.

Laura

Blessing: I have a Saviour that’s ALIVE, not dead.  I also have the opportunity to share this with my child…which is a huge blessing as well!

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Dry Knees

Before we adopted little E I had fairly normal looking knees.

I know this is a rare statement to start out a blog with…but please just read on.  🙂

I had knees that I didn’t mind showing off to others in public.  I had knees that looked “normal”.  I had knees that were fairly smooth for the most part.

But then we adopted little E.  At first the knees didn’t change…they stayed pretty “smooth” looking (I put smooth in quotations because, really, can knees be smooth?).

Then something happened! Little E started sitting up and playing with toys…and this mommy crawled around on the floor grabbing the toys he would throw. Little E started crawling…and so therefore this mommy started crawling around on the floor with him.    Little E started walking and this mommy would crawl around on the floor on her knees trying to get him to walk to her.

Then my knees started to look like this:

Yes, I spent five minutes trying to get pictures of my knees.

Dry…brittle scratchy knees.

It’s hard to tell but the one on your left (my right) is very dry and cracked and hurts sometimes.

Yucky knees!

I used to make fun of my friend because of her dry knees and how they cracked every time she got up.

Now mine are dry and they crack as well.

OY.

But,  you know what?

I wouldn’t trade those knees back if it meant that I would never have a child to play with, to laugh with and to chase around the room on my knees.  Having these knees are my mark as a parent.  They mean that I played with my child and had fun!

Four years ago I may have had “perfect” looking knees….but almost three years ago I gave those up for my biggest blessing of all:  Little E.

Nope, wouldn’t change them for the world!

Laura

How about you?  What’s your “mark” that shows you are a parent who plays with your child? Do you have one?

PS.  If you have perfect, smooth looking knees…I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!  🙂

Blessing:  I now have a favourite pair of jeans with holes in the knees!

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Easter Pics -Semi-Wordless Wednesday

Here is last year’s Easter picture.  I think it’s hilarious.  Both him and the Easter Bunny look scared out of their mind!

Easter 2010 - Looking Scared!

And here is this year’s picture:

Easter 2011 - MUCH BETTER!

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Just Eat it!

Every night at around 5:30 I find myself in a fight with my child.

“EAT YOUR FOOD!” I say.

Then five minutes later I say it again.

And again in five more minutes.

I find myself not enjoying my meal because I’m constantly telling my child to eat his food.

The only time he seems to eat his food is when it’s just chicken or pork chops and veggies.

Oh I dread the thought of my child just being a meat and potato type of person. (Except he really doesn’t like potatoes)

I want him to be able to try new things and not be scared of things that may be different.

Don’t get me wrong..I’m happy that he’s at least eating something…but I refuse to make a different meal for him than what we are eating.  Just not going to happen.

The other day hubby and I came to a standstill with Little E and his supper shenanigans.  He was tired and didn’t even want to try his supper.  We told him he had to sit there until it was all gone.  He cried and screamed and threw a little temper tantrum right there at the supper table.

Hubby and I got up and left the table and went into the living room…telling little E that we would return when he had his supper gone.

This didn’t work as well as we had planned.  The screaming and tantrum continued.

Finally hubby went and finished feeding him by basically putting spoon to mouth himself.

Although this works, it’s not how I want my child to eat.

So…I’m on the hunt for creative ways to feed my child…and I’m open to any suggestions that you may have.  If you have any leave me a comment.

Laura

Blessing:  At least my child will eat his veggies (except for green beans)

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3 Year Old Professional Bowler.

This past Saturday we went bowling with some friends and took Little E with us.  This was his first time bowling.

Ok..I lied.  It’s his second time.  The other time he was probably about six months old and he just sat there “holding” the ball while I took a picture.

However, this time Little E went bowling…really truly bowling.

He had a BLAST!

We showed him how to throw the ball gently while watching what you are doing.  This was the very first important lesson as Little E just likes to throw things while looking in the opposite direction.  I feared for everybody’s life…but he did awesome.

He put the ball in between his legs and rolled the ball.  And then we waited for the ball to go down the lane.  And waited, and waited, and waited.  Halfway there the ball curved and looked like it was going to go in the gutter, then it abruptly turned directions again and went back to the middle.  This was happening all within the fast speed of four minutes.  I have never seen a bowling ball move so slow in my life!!!

Then the ball came in contact with the bowling pins and look what happened:

His first frame and hes a professional!

Yup…that’s right.  Little E got a spare!  A spare!!!!!

Do you know what’s embarrassing? Look at my score.

7.

Such a lonely number compared to my almost three year old’s spare!

However, the game continued and I knocked the socks off him in score…errr…I mean Little E lost and mommy had to comfort him (all while doing a victory dance)!

Haha we had lots of fun and the night ended with us sitting at the bar with pop and chips.  🙂

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A snuggler I am not.

If you know me at all you know that I don’t like people in my space.  Nope not at all.  Don’t get within three feet of me…and please for the love of everything don’t stand so close to me I can feel your arm hairs on my arms.  Give me my bubble of personal space and give it to me NOW!

I am not a snuggler.  I just can’t do it.  I can’t have somebody that close to me, touching me, breathing on me, making me all hot (ok…get your mind out of the gutter..this is a family blog ).

My poor hubby.  I think he really thought (and I may have given him the wrong impression before hand on purpose..or maybe “misguided” may be a better word) that when we got married we would cuddle all the time in bed.

Boy was he in for a big surprise!  If you were to look at our bed you would notice a body imprint on the left side and on the right side and a big bump in the middle where the two body imprints don’t come together at all.  That’s right.  You stick to your side and I’ll stick to my side!  Kapeesh?  Kapeesh!  You start to wonder over to my side of the bed and you’re going to get hurt.

I try to cuddle.  I really really do.  Ok…well maybe I only try twice a year..but still it’s an effort right?  What happens is that I get my mind all hyped up for the cuddle event.  I tell myself “tonight I will be a good wife and I will cuddle with my husband”  I get in the cuddle position and then I lay there.  I don’t sleep.  Nothing happens except for hubby snoring in my ear or I get the hurricane effect from his nose.  I swear there’s a ton of air that just comes out of that thing.  My hair has been known to blow in the “wind” from the nose.  (Oops getting off topic there.) Yah…so I just lay there.  Then I think to myself…”Oh my word I’m so tired…but I want to be a good wife and cuddle.  This is just ridiculous!”  So I lay there for about another fifteen minutes willing myself to go to sleep.  Still nothing happens.  Finally I just move over…hug my teddy bear (hey don’t pretend you other non snugglers don’t have one of those) and finally fall asleep and have wonderful dreams.

Make me cuddle and I get cranky!  Better just to let the thirty one year old woman sleep with her stuffed elephant.  Everybody will be happy in the end!

Recently little E has been waking up a little bit earlier or going to bed a little bit later so he’s been tired in the afternoons.  On days when I have napping kids and I know that we are going out at night I will lay little E down on the couch with me and get him to have a nap.

This has happened about four times in the past two weeks and you know what?

I really enjoy snuggling with him!

Shhhhh!  Don’t tell hubby!

Most times I still don’t fall asleep cause I just can’t…but instead I lay there with him in my arms and just watch him sleep.  It’s some of the most amazing minutes I get in my day.  You see, Little E is not a snuggler either.  Instead of a whiny baby when he was tired he would get really really squirmy.  So squirmy that you could barely hold him.  So this is the first time in the past three years that I have really snuggled with him and I’m enjoying every minute of it.

I lay there and think about all the great times and memories that we have had with him in the past almost three years.  All the things that we have been through as a family.  All the “battles” that we have fought, and all the things he has learned.

I also lay there thinking about friends that I know that have gone through hard times with their children.  Friends that have lost their children…all the heartache in the world and I hold little E a little bit closer.  I can’t imagine my life without him and sometimes I think to myself: “This is just too good to be true”.  I am truly blessed to have him in my life and the snuggle times like these remind me again and again of how blessed I really am.

So…will I be a genuine snuggler (will I fall asleep with my boy in my arms)?  Probably not…but I’ll enjoy those precious times just the same!

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Wordless Wednesday

Just a picture that makes me laugh every time I see it.

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Oh How I loathe this week!

This week is “big garbage collection week”.  Meaning that anything that is big that won’t fit in your normal garbage goes out to the curb and the big trucks come and take it away.

I hate this week.  Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate it.

I love it at the same time too.  🙂  I love it cause we get rid of junk that we’ve had lying around the backyard and garage for the last year.  Love that my house feels a little bit cleaner.

But that’s where the love for this week stops.

Then pure hatred steps in.

“Why?” you ask.

Well…cause my husband likes to not only put out garbage but to drive by other people’s garbage really really slow and see if there is anything “good” that he can bring home.  It will replace the stuff that we have thrown out..therefore not letting us get ahead in our cleaning.  Someday in the future I’ll go downstairs and say “Why do you have this…you haven’t used it.”  To which hubby will reply: “Well you never know when it may come in handy!”

We went to the park today.  The park is a five minute drive…if that.  I’m thinking it probably took us about ten minutes.  We were going forty the whole way.  I said “why in the world are you driving so slow?”  Hubby said “I’m just enjoying the ride!”

My reply: “NO you aren’t! You are looking at the garbage!”

His reply:  “That’s a nice chair right there!”

On our way home from the park we were driving the same amount of slowness when hubby points and says “look honey foam!”

Seriously??? Foam???

UgggHHH When will this week be over?

The only blessing in this week will be if hubby doesn’t bring anything home with him from curbside garbage.

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