You are currently browsing the archives for October, 2006.
As a child, what did you want to be “when you grew up”? A fireman? A policeman? A Dallas Cowboy cheerleader? I realize that last choice is a bit out of character for me, but that’s what I wanted to be when I was little. I even had a shiny jacket that looked just like the ones the cheerleaders wore.
As I grew my interest in cheerleading faded (Thank God) and I moved in other directions. I think I wanted to be a veterinarian (which you’ll notice i can’t even spell) for a while; then I decided I should be a lawyer instead. I didn’t become any of those things, but I still have a desire to be “something” when I grow up.
I’m slowly learning that I may never grow up. If I do, I think I’ll be one of those people whose house is always clean and ready for company. I’d also like to be someone whose laundry is always clean and put away, whose home cooked meals are always delicious and whose children always look neat and clean. I’d like to be the mom who always has creative ways of getting her children to mind and fun projects for them to work on. The wife who makes her husband’s lunches and who still has time left over to volunteer in the community and lead Bible studies.
Sigh.
Growing up sounds like an awful lot of work.
Mother of the Year
Posted October 8th, 2006 at 1:33 pm. 4 comments
I’m such a good mom. Really, I am. I’m so good, that I decided I should intentionally do some things to automatically void my nomination for the Mother of the Year award.
I’m at my wits end with naptime. Really, it’s just not worth it anymore. I get so frustrated and sometimes even angry that it defeats it’s purpose because I’m not enjoying any part of my “break”. I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of and many of the suggestions made by others. Rocking him to sleep works occasionally, laying with him does not work, positive reinforcement worked for a few days but no longer works, removing all toys from his room does not work, putting him back in bed without saying anything to him does not work, scolding him does not work….. today, I got so desperate I ate his cupcake.
Yup, there goes my award. He was sooooo excited about a cupcake that Brigitte brought over for him and I told him he could have it when he got up from his nap – only if he stayed in bed until I came to get him. He stayed for about 10 minutes. Then he got into the butt paste and it looked like he was getting ready to shave, it was all over his face and very thick – all over his arms and legs too. It was funny. Clean up and back to bed and brought the cupcake in his room and asked him if he wanted it. Told him I really wanted him to have it but he HAD to stay in bed in order to get it. I told him I was going to eat it if he got out of bed again and this was very upsetting to him.
20 minutes later he was in the hallway with his blanket wrapped around his waste. So I took two bites of his cupcake, much to his dismay. He didn’t cry, but was not happy with me. I told him I’d save the rest of it and he could have it when he got up. But when I checked on him ten minutes later he was out of bed again so I’m throwing the cupcake away. I don’t have the heart to eat it and I can’t give it to him, no matter how much I want him to have it.
I wonder how many times I miss out on good gifts God wants to give me because I am disobedient to Him? How many of my “cupcakes” grew mold before I could receive them?
I know, I know. I feel terrible for eating half of his cupcake but I had already told him it was the consequence. I had to follow through. Guess I better watch what I threaten next time.
By the way, if anyone comments and suggests that maybe he isn’t tired I’m going to scream. He IS tired and still needs a nap to have a good afternoon. And i just noticed it is quite again so I better go see what he’s doing. I wonder if he found his cupcake.
EDITED TO ADD: 2 1/2 year olds really enjoy “playing” with chapstick – I’m laughing, really I am. At least I’m trying to remember to laugh….
The Man-Store
Posted October 5th, 2006 at 9:14 pm. 5 comments
Carter now asks on a regular basis for daddy-o to take him to the “man store”. This could mean Academy, Home Depot or any other outdoorsy/construction store. This afternoon, Carter comes running up to me and says, “we go man store, peas?” asking if he and daddy could go to the man store. 
As they are walking away, daddy-o says, “tell mommy bye” and Carter turns and grins and says, “bye bye mommy-o!” I said, “Bye, I love you!” and he said, “I lub you, too!” Then he turned around to walk away with daddy-o while holding his hand. He stopped, looked back at me and said to daddy-o, “lemme gib mommy a kiss.” And he ran and gave me a kiss.
That kid, I tell ya. Why is it that the simplest things matter so much?
Growing Up
Posted October 5th, 2006 at 11:32 am. 4 comments
Do you ever wonder how much your are screwing up your kids? I mean, once they get to an age they’ll be able to remember you are in deep doo-doo.
Think back to your earliest childhood memory – no, really think. I’m talking about pictures you’ve seen of yourself at an early age, I’m talking about your own memory. I have a few that are shotty before kindergarden but I think the clearest first memories I have are actually from kindergarden. Probably because I HATED it so much. (Sorry, mom)
Thinking about this has me wondering, how long do we have before we really start to mess with our kids? What, if anything, will they remember from this time in their lives? Not factoring in the special circumstances of Carter and Gracey, at what age will they start to file things away that they’ll be able to pull up years from now?
As hard as we try to be good parents and set good examples, sometimes we all blow it. I can’t help but wonder how long we have to practice before it really starts to count. I know it “counts” now, but you know what I mean. Will Carter remember me sending him to time out when I was the one who really needed it? Probably not. But how long before he will?
This morning, he was a little fussy and was whining quite a bit. I’m the poster child for not being a morning person so I should be a little more understanding when he isn’t a morning person, either. But I’m not a morning person……ha ha ha Anyway, this morning I fussed at him for whining and he looked up at me with the sweetest eyes and said, “be sweet to me, peas.” Little turd. HOw can I stay aggravated when he is so stinkin’ cute? I told him that I would be sweet to him and that he needed to be sweet to me, too. And that it wasn’t sweet for him to whine over breakfast. As I walked into the kitchen to get his milk he said, “I lub you, mommy.”
Awwww…. I know, it’s just precious, isn’t it? Except that HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING. You’d think it would take away from the melting heart syndrome I experience but it doesn’t. Gets me every time. I spend so much of our days together laughing at him. And when he catches you laughing at him, he has this infectious little grin that keeps you laughing. I’m smiling just thinking about it as I write this.
I can’t remember exactly what he was doing at dinner time the other night but daddy-o and I were both covering our mouths trying not to let him see us laughing. Oh ya, he had a piece of a hot dog weenie in his mouth – I cut them in half long ways – and he was pulling it in his mouth and pushing it back out again – it just looked funny. So as I’m telling him not to play with his food, I’m cracking up. Which causes him to keep doing it but he has a hard time making it work when he is smiling too.
Oh, and he has started eating his boogers which makes me gag. I’ve told him boogers are yucky and that they shouldn’t go in his mouth but I don’t make a big deal out of it. But one day I’m really going to puke.
Oops I did it again….
Posted October 3rd, 2006 at 2:25 pm. 5 comments
I have a to do list of things I want to accomplish while Carter is in MDO. So far, I’ve managed to get maybe one or two things from that list completed. I have a terrible habit of accidentally on purpose falling asleep while Gracey is napping on those days.
Today, I slept for 2 HOURS! When i woke up I was afraid I had missed the pick up time but thankfully, I hadn’t slept that long! It seems I’ve been missing my naps more than even I had noticed.
I’ve decided to make Carter and Gracey’ lifebooks/baby books from scratch. Although I bought two of them, I never found anything that I really loved so I think I’ll just make my own. That way, I can include whatever I want and explain their adoption in terms that are more specific to their situation. I’ve gathered some ideas from others who have blogged parts of their lifebooks, but here’s what I’ve got in mind so far:
Page 1 – A big picture of Carter with the title “The Story of ME”
Section 2 – Where do babies come from? A picture of a stork or two and a very BASIC explanation like “it takes a man and a woman to make a baby”….etc……
Section 3 – Photos of birthmom and birthdad along with some background information, family trees
Section 4Â - Pictures of Carter as a baby (provided by Granny J) – some wording about how much babies are loved, etc,… stories I picked up from bios during visits, songs I know were sung to Carter as a baby, etc….
Section 5 – more pictures of Carter growing during that first year as I have them along with some background information/stories, hopefully I’ll have some holiday pictures, maybe pics of some of the toys he was given that came with him here
Section 6 – Introducing baby sister “Gracey”
Section 7 – What happened when Gracey was born – why Carter was removed and where he went those first two weeks
Section 8 – Gotcha Day! The story of us first learning about Carter and what it was like to get that phone call – pics from our lifebook and a little about the process we went through to get them …. Pictures from our first weeks together
Section 9 – Bringing home Gracey!
Section 10 – All of our family and friends – Carter’s new family, pictures and descriptions of who came to meet him and what they brought for him
SEction 11 – Carter’s Second birthday
Section 12 – Visits with birthparents and grandparents along with pictures from those visits and information provided during that time; photos and stories of time spent with paternal grandparents during this post-placement time as well.
Section 13 – Life with us as family: first day of MDO pictures, photos from places we’ve been together, etc….the process of court, termination, etc….
That’s just me brainstorming so far.
Hmmmm….
Posted October 2nd, 2006 at 4:00 pm. 3 comments
So we are all sick again… at least Carter and Gracey are. Another ear infection and more nasty colds. Really, I think we’ll always be sick as long as Carter is going to school or Mother’s Day Out.
Oh well, seeing as I have lots of days to stick around the house, I may as well share with you my new favorite way of entertaining myself. Talk about learning some crazy new trivia facts that you would never think of. You’ve heard me post of my addictions before – I’m afraid this is becoming one of them. I recommend all you blog readers go and check it out – if you are in the market for a new job, you should really check out the next to last post. Lots of fun ideas there. I highly recommend this site!
Unfortunately, I did not find anything there that told me how to keep my kids from getting sick or how to keep Carter in bed. He’s doing better, but we still have room for improvement. Don’t we always?
So not much else is going on around here. I do have some new ideas for posts that I’ll be doing, but I don’t know how interesting they will be. Boy, if that doesn’t get you excited about coming back here and checking for updates, I don’t know what will!
