It's about that time! Spring cleaning is something that I never look forward to, but feel so much better when it is done. Do any of you have any tricks or tips to share with the rest of us to make it a bit more fun?
Ok, so if you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I suffer from depression, and more recently, I was diagnosed with bi-polar depression. I struggle to get through daily tasks, and sometimes the slightest things will set me off. This winter has been really hard on me. It has been cold and miserable most of the time and we have been cooped up in the house.
Well, the last few days have been AWESOME! I really think I have a Vitamin D deficiency (and not from milk which I drink a ton of), but from the sun! I have been out in the sun the last few days as much as possible and I feel so much better. I am planning on making it to the park as much as possible before the temps hit over 100. And then we will be headed to the pool!
I hope this is a start to a great spring and summer! It feels great to be feeling better, and smiling more!
One of our readers is going through the unthinkable. Her name is Holly and her son, Spencer, was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma about a month ago. She has a blog devoted to him. I would check it out and remember her in our prayers. I don't know her personally, but she is a really good friend of one of my close friends, and she has commented on the Happy Mommas blog several times. She is an inspiration and could really use all the support we can give. Please check out MySuperSpence and leave her a message to know you are thinking of her. You can also become penpals with Spencer if you would like, or make a donation (I am sure medical bills are mounting).
I cannot imagine the pain she must deal with every day trying to balance being a mother to her other 2 children, and trying to be a "rock" for her son struggling with the biggest battle of his life. She is truly a special person.
Holly, if you read this, we love you and are thinking of you.
I have a question for any of you that were able to nurse your babies. Joshua is my third and the first one that I've been able to nurse. He and I had a really, really rough go of it for the first couple of months, but he's doing great nursing now. He's about 4.5 months old. Well, I would have loved to have had this problem when he was a newborn, but not so much now. He is absolutely refusing a bottle! He used to switch back and forth with no problem (in fact, he preferred the bottle for a while). But now he won't take one at all. Not from me, my husband or any one else! It's getting quite frustrating. I can't be away from him for more than a couple of hours and I would love for my husband to be able to occasionally help with the night-time feedings. Did any of you experience this and if so, were you able to find a way to get the baby to take a bottle? My husband tried letting him cry it out once, but after missing two feedings, he still wouldn't give in to the bottle. I would love any advice that any of you could pass along to me.
Why is my house always a mess?
Why do I feel like I can never measure up?
Why do I feel bad about feeling like this?
Why can't I just put things into perspective?
"Thank God for dirty dishes; They have a tale to tell.While others may go hungry, We're eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness, I shouldn't want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence, God's been very good to us.This poem keeps running through my head. I loathe the mess that awaits me each evening, after I put the kids in bed. If only I could snap my fingers like Mary Poppins and everything would put itself away. Tonight, however, I remembered this cute little poem and reminded myself that some of the worst things (like a messy house) are actually blessings in disquise. A messy house is a very small price to pay for these little people I love so much."I read this on a friend's blog and decided to share it with you, I hope she doesn't mind. I find myself reminding myself every night this same concept with my own little personalized twist to it. When my girls want me to lay down with them for 45 minutes in bed while they fall asleep and I just REALLY don't want to because 45 minutes is precious to me and well I lay with them almost EVERY night. I have to tell myself "This does NOT last forever. This IS what is important RIGHT NOW." Usually that gets my mommy butt in gear and I stop whatever it is I am doing. Head straight upstairs and into a squashed twin bed with my 5 and 2 year old girls. And my dishes, books, the computer, and sometimes my husband awaits till hopefully later if I manage to stay awake longer than my children. Some sacrifices are actually blessings in disguise. And like my friend says "A messy house (or personal time alone) is a very small price to pay for these little people I love so much."
Do any of you have fake nails? My hubby really wants me to do them again, and I am seriously considering it. I used to keep them done (well before kids), and I loved them, but it was a lot to keep up. Anyone have a comment?
Hope everyone is enjoying the upcoming holiday season!
Well, I finished my first week of work...a full 40 hrs. There were a couple of rough times, but overall, it went well. Tye and Kenadie are adjusting, and I am enjoying being back out with adults. Kenadie wants to go to the "mall" every day, and Tye is always saying, "Mommy works at Yankee Candle." One morning Tye had a meltdown and I had to bribe him by telling him I would take them to McDonald's for dinner...it worked. I am using the crock pot a lot, and I am making large dinners to split and make freezer meals, so we don't have to go out. So far, so good. I am off today and tomorrow, then I work Tues thru Sat and by Sat I will be done with my training and I will get my keys back!!! Thanks for the support!
Well, I go back to working outside the home tomorrow. This should be interesting. Today went alright, but I kept getting aggrivated because I spent hours cleaning on Friday, and my kids take minutes to destroy it again. Ugh. We went to church this morning, I am proud of myself for that since Michael isn't here. Now he doesn't have an excuse when I am working on Sundays to not take the kids to church!
The kids are at grandma's tonight, so that will help in the morning. I am able to sit back and relax a little tonight before the "big" day tomorrow! I will let you all know how it goes!
Well, Michael is gone for 5 days, so I am getting a glimpse of what it would be like to be a single mom. It is pretty dang hard...and I am only on Day 1! Starting work on Monday will be the real test. Today was crazy. It started bright and early with a garage sale at 7am. That ended up being a flop...but it was our 3rd one in a fairly short amount of time. After that, we had a bday party to go to. When we got home, we stayed there for a bit, then went to McDonald's because the house was clean and I didn't want it messed up.
Kenadie bit a kid while we were there, then had a massive meltdown. That was tough. I finally had to gather everything up and we had to leave. Poor Tye had found a friend and they were playing so well together, I hated to pull him away, but there was no way in hell I was letting Kenadie stay there acting like that. She was completely out of control. I threw away her drink and her toy on the way out, and that made her even more mad. So, we got home around 6, I bathed them, and put Kenadie to bed! I had had enough of that.
Tye and I hung out the rest of the evening and watched Polar Express. Kenadie woke up around 8, so I let them have some hot chocolate together, now they are in Tye's room watching a new fish light. I am about to have to separate them. It's sad, because Tye has already apologized on his own for throwing a couple of fits this evening, and I was really trying to be nice...but I am afraid now I have to be the bad guy again.
It is tough doing it on my own. I feel for all the single moms and all those that are alone in the evenings while their hubby is away.
Remember my post about going back to work? Well, I decided to go for it. I am working as 1st Assistant Manager at Yankee Candle. When I left the first time, I was store mgr, so this will be a bit of a change, but I think it will be good. I am not sure how much time I will have, but I would like to come on here every day and let you all know how it is going. I am excited, yet a bit nervous. The kids know I am going back to work, and I will be gone for a "long time" every day. So far they are ok with it! I am sure it is because they have no idea what this really means! I am going to give it a good try. It may last a week, a month, or I may continue working for the rest of my life! Who knows!
As a side-note, I was also diagnosed as "Soft bi-polar" so we will see how a bi-polar mom juggles work inside the home and work outside the home and if it is possible to maintain sanity! The last couple of days I have cleaned, organized and packed for our upcoming move in order to prepare for not being home every day. I have done pretty well, but I have lost it with the kids a couple of times. You know, the normal things like taking out everything I am putting up. We are still working on med dosage, so the outbursts may subside. Hopefully since I will not be with my kids all day, I will appreciate the time I am with them. That is the plan, anyway.
Well, I start Monday! Wish me luck!
Ok. This isn't a question post, just a venting one. So, I walked Lily down to the park by our house last night after supper. There was a group of about 10 boys playing basketball there next to the playscape. Not a problem. Then I realize there is a little boy who was around 3 to 3.5 yrs old playing on the playscape. I look around and notice that there are no parent(s) watching this little boy. He proceeds to climb up onto the very top of the playscape onto the striped plastic awning. Obviously this is not where he should be climbing! I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't just stand there and watch him fall off! So, I tell him that he should climb down because it's dangerous up there and he could fall. He just stares at me. Finally, one of the older boys playing basketball (probably around 16 yrs old or so) tells him he should get down. I think he must have been his older brother. He never came over to make sure he climbed down, he just went right back to playing ball. Eventually the boy climbed down. A few minutes later I notice that there is a plastic cup on the wooden table under the playscape that has what appears to be old orange juice in it. Well, the little boy picks it up and ducks under the table. I look under there and he is about to drink it! I tell him that he shouldn't drink it and to go pour it out on the grass. Thankfully, he complied. Then he walks up to me and says "Halloween is a scary movie. I was watching it. The man kills people like this." He made a cutting motion across his throat! I didn't know what to say! Before we left to go home, he climbed up one more time on top of the awning. I'm assuming that the parents instructed the older brother to watch the little brother, but I sure wish there was some way I could let them know that he is not being supervised at all! He probably watched Halloween when his parents weren't around too. At least I would hope so. No wonder we have so many messed up teenagers and adults. If that poor kids survives his childhood, his brain is going to be totally warped from watching who knows what! Sorry, I just had to vent about this. I wanted to have a fun time with Lily at the park and instead I end up holding my breath the whole time and wondering if this little boy is going to fall to his death from the top of the playscape or get seriously ill from drinking who knows what out of some random cup!
I decided to challenge myself to not spend more than $25 this week on groceries, household items, clothing etc. I wanted to ONLY spend $25 on EVERYTHING, but as I awoke this morning, I remembered I had a dr. appointment today, med refill, $65 for car registration, $25 for contacts...you know the unavoidable things. So, I changed it to the groceries, etc. I challenged 3 friends to the same thing, and we have to report to each other this coming Sunday. I hope to update you everyday on what I am cooking, what I purchased, what sales I found, what coupons I used, etc...so maybe you can do the same! This will be a learning week, but I hope to implement a similar thing for my budget every month. We shall see!
Today:
Entertainment: went to friends' house while I was a dr.
Food: Breakfast: donuts, cereal
Lunch: friend's house (thanks, Mary!)
Dinner: hamburger helper
Dessert: BlueBell ice cream!!
Money Spent:
-dr. visit
-car reg
-$0 on groceries, etc
Okay. I know I haven't written on this site for a while, but I have a situation here and I need your help. So, here goes. A writing colleague of mine has completely obliterated me from her life. I was gone for a while this summer, and when I got back she had taken her name off my "followers" list on my blog, Conversations With A Cardinal.
When I went to read her blog, she had erased my blog from her blog list. To make matters worse, she excluded me from conversation on a yahoo group we belong to. After I wrote something on the site, she decided to take her name off that, too. She won't answer my e-mails asking what I did. I HAVE NO IDEA why she is shunning me, but it hurts. It really hurts.
I am praying for her happiness, but I want to know what is going on. We had worked on a project for the guild and we were co-editors, but she took my name off that too before she sent it off for publication. I put a lot of work in that. And she took advantage of my being gone. What is your input as to what I should do? I would greatly appreciate any advice because this is eating away at me. Thanks!
Ok, so we all know that being a mom is the hardest "job" on the planet. I am trying to decide if I want to add to that stress, and balance career outside the home. Or, looking at it from the perspective that I would rather look at it, give myself a "break" from the stresses at home. I have done both. I had a full-time retail job until my son was 14 months old, and I was also 6 months pregnant with my daughter. I had the luxury of being able to take my son to his grandma's daycare, which made it just a little easier. Every day I wanted to quit and spend more time with him. But, now that I have been home for 2 years, I have come to the realization that staying home is really difficult on me and my emotional/ mental health. On the other hand, I keep thinking that trying to balance the 2 would just be that much harder. So, how many of you work outside the home, also, and think it makes you a better mom? How many of you work outside the home and hate it? How many wish they could work outside the home?
I know this blog has a lot of readers...so I would like to hear from everyone!! Please!! I need help!
Ever have one of those day, or weeks, or years even that are just "lemons?" As moms, we have so many responsibilities. We are supposed to be strong women that are able to play the role of wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend. With these roles, come all sorts of responsibilities. Sometimes they can be overwhelming, and sometimes we feel like we can never measure up. The problem is that we always try to measure up to the "mom at church that walks in 10 min early, 6 kids dressed to the 'T,' they all stay quiet with no bribery snacks or toys, they are the first one to show up with a casserole when needed, the first one to volunteer for the community bake sale..." I could go on and on. What we don't see are behind the scenes. We do not know what her weaknesses are. We just see all of her strengths. This same woman that we envy may just be looking at us the same way. We may have a strength or a talent that she wishes she could have. We are comparing our weaknesses to someone else's strengths, and that is not fair to our self-esteem.
So, I want to know how you all make lemonade out of the lemons you are dealt in life.
How do you keep your sanity?
How do you relax?
How do you convince yourself you are a beautiful daughter of God with the most divine role in this life?
What do you do for fun when you have time alone?
If you are trying to get into couponing, or already a veteran at it, don't forget to check out my coupon blog, Cedar Park Coupon Divas.
Preface: This was sent in an email, and I have to say that this time, because Michael is a big help (usually) around the house.
How do you get your husband to help out around the house? Sometimes, backgrounds, cultures, upbringing, and so-forth cause men to think that it is a woman's "job" to do all the housework and child-rearing. When a man is brought up like this, it is very hard to change his mind. So, have any of you dealt with something like this, and if so, how have you dealt with it??
**I used to keep a daily chore chart. I would have daily duties that I would cross off as I did them during the day. When Michael got home, he just had to look at the chart and see what else had to be done. It always annoys me when I have to tell him the trash is full, or dishes need to be done, but this way, no words have to be exchanged, but he still knows what has to be done. I have not done this in months, but I may go back to it. It really did work when we stuck to it.
**I also think sitting down and having a serious talk about it helps. Let him know how you feel. Being a wife and mother is a very difficult "job" and men do not see it that way unless they are told. I think leaving them alone with the kids for a day or two usually opens their eyes, too!
It seems like my kids find every bottle of lotion, tube of toothpaste, bottle of shampoo, hair detangler, hand soap and candy...no matter where it is. We are in a rent house, and at this point, we are done thinking we are getting our deposit back ($1350). That is depressing. There are sharpie and crayon marks on the walls and floors, stains on the carpet, and holes in Tye's room from throwing stuff during his tantrums. The really frustrating thing, is after I clean up after them all day long, Michael gets frustrated because he is convinced I leave the stuff lying around. I can assure I don't. Yes, there are times that has happened, but most of the time, I am completely baffled when they come up with some of this stuff. When we are looking at houses, the main thing I am looking for are cabinets and closets! It really makes me upset. I just went in and Kenadie had red toothpaste all in her room, and when I tried to scold her, she looked at me and laughed. What do I do????
My son, Landon, is 8 weeks old. He used to only take naps if I was holding him. Then when I started giving him tummy time I noticed that he falls asleep within minutes and will stay asleep for a few hours. I keep him in the living room so I am able to keep a close watch on him. If I turn him over to his back he will not fall asleep. I put him on his back this morning and he cried for an hour and a half. I decided to turn him over to his stomach and he fell asleep after a minute. I know babies are never supposed to sleep on their stomachs, but what if that is the only way I can get him to sleep by himself.
It has been close to a month since my last post! I have been pretty busy. I will try to be better, but do any of you have anything going on you wanna share? It seems like this happened last year, though. The end of school is here and with summer around the corner, everyone is super busy. Posts seemed to pick up again in the fall. So, I hope we all keep each other posted on fun things we are doing in the coming months, and also give words of encouragement to those who may be having a tough time. I switched my medication...again...but I think we found a winner this time. I may need to up the dose a bit, but I will know in a week or two. So, if any of you have questions concerning that subject, I am more than willing to share my experiences. You can email me if you want it to be more private.
Hope are are all doing well!