Dear Friend, I owe you an apology. I'd apologize in person except that I used the word friend loosley and frankly I'm not sure you could handle an apology in an appropriate manner. However, I'm sorry. When you rang me on the phone this morning, asking me if I'd just got up at 10 am when I'd actually been up since 7... and then proceeded to say how nice it must be to sleep in every morning and not go to work... I'm pretty sure I wasn't very gracious in my response. No, let me edit that. I know I was downright insulted. I realize my scathing reply to your not so kind question of "Do you ever think you'll start working again?" was not as gentle as it should have been. When I replied with "I'm actually working as we speak! I'm multi talented that way. I'm currently the Human Resource Manager for E & M Adventures, in addition to being a full time nurse & part time chef, I also drive a taxi & run a laundromat. In my spare time I babysit 24 hours a day 7 days a week. What was it you do again? Oh yes. Sit at your desk all day & go out to lunch with friends for an hour each afternoon. Gosh... I guess I should think about going back to work soon so I can take a rest!" You thought I was joking. You laughed & said "Yeah yeah I still wish I could sleep in every day." I apologize for hanging up after I replied: "Yeah, me too."
*steps off soap box* Seriously. Do people really think raising kids involves sleeping in every day & no work? Really? Is that what your mother did? Mine certainly didn't. My mom was up before all of us doing laundry before breakfast & after we all went to bed there was usually another basket full of clothes at her feet ready to be folded. Not to mention the never ending list of chores during the day, and finding time to spend with each of us kids. Good grief. Have some common sense please.
Oh well. Phone calls like the one my day started with make me appreciate my own mother, grandmother & the women before them who took the time to teach their daughters right. (Not to say I have it down... Lord only knows I am a far cry from the awesome housewife my mom is but still.) It shocks me how some people think of a stay at home mother...
Monday, March 15, 2010
1 in 5
1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. Since there are 5 people in my family, it must be my mom or dad... or perhaps my older brother Collin. It could be my younger brother Cho-Chow-Ling but I'm pretty sure it's Collin.
-Courtesy of Mrs. H. This made me smile this morning. Which I needed... ever had one of those days when your children are driving so far past the point of crazy that you consider locking them in the house while you run down and max out your credit card at the local liquor store to forget your troubles? No? Hm. Well maybe I'll leave the door unlocked...
Today is just a normal Monday. Kids are tired from our crazy Sunday. Jay is getting on my last nerve with his "Let's be super super productive today!" attitude while I'd just like to let my cold medicine take effect and chill out today. Dag gone productivitey. Whine whine whine. I've had a cold/allergy thingy for over a month now. It comes and goes in phases. Right now its giving me a horrendously sore throat from coughing... which is not fun. Fortunately the kids seem immune to my cold so they're floating right along in the world of 100 mile per hour energy bursts while I'm struggling to get over my little speed bump.
On the upside, I'm cleaning out my house and selling everything we don't currently use/play with/or wear on Craigslist. I saved a few of my favorite outfits of the girls but everything else is going bye bye! I *think* I will love this feeling once it's all sold... for now it just means lots of bags & boxes everywhere while I sort through everything. But when we move onto our farm it'll mean less "stuff" we have to take with us... which is good. Especially considering the fact that while we're building our big house, we'll be moving in to a 2 bedroom mobile home. You got it baby. I am the queen of our double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the red wood deck. I'm going to have to find some of those tacky pink flamingo's to put out front in celebration of our hillbilly-ness. Should be an interesting year or so.
So I recently reread the Twilight series while I was sick... which makes me wonder, what the heck is in those books? Crack? They're so addicting! Once I start the first book it's like I disappear off the face of the earth until I close the fourth book and even then I immediately think of starting over. I have no idea what the draw is, but I surely love the books. Not the movies so much. Feels a little odd lusting after good lookin teenage boys. LOL But the books are another story. *sigh* I'm so weird.
Lizzy is starting to read (yes I realize how very random this blog post is, but I have a 2 year old yelling in her crib who doesn't want to nap so pardon me for being slightly distracted) where was I? Oh yeah. Liz. Reading. Thank GOD for Leapfrog. The Learning with Leap DVD's have moved Liz from barely being able to identify letters to knowing every letter & it's sound & even how to put them together. We worked for a solid year (I homeschooled her this year) on identifying letters and their sounds... and all it took was 1 week of those DVD's for everything to click. She loves to point at signs and sound them out. I'm searching for some of the old Dick & Jane books but we have some easy readers that she slowly sounds out. It's pretty amazing how fast she's learning everything. I'm also homeschooling her for Kindergarten this year... now THAT will be an adventure. Jay's already committed to helping me with the science parts. (he loves science while I'm more of an indoor girl) so that'll be fun for her. We're using the new online public schooling program called k12. My aunt used it with her 4 kids to great success, so I'm super excited about Liz having the chance to learn at home. As much as she drives me ape wall sometimes, I'm not ready to ship her off to school. I'm looking forward to our time together this fall. Madeline is really wanting to learn too so I may even start her on some of the basics this year. Why not? She's interested! This is partly why I'm not ready to have a 3rd baby. I want to be sure we figure out how to do this whole homeschool thing before I add in the craziness of another mouth to feed/mind to entertain. Anyway... signing her up next week for k12. Looking forward to summer time & laying by the pool!
Enough randomness for the day. I updated the look of the blog... looks kinda homey now. :)
-Courtesy of Mrs. H. This made me smile this morning. Which I needed... ever had one of those days when your children are driving so far past the point of crazy that you consider locking them in the house while you run down and max out your credit card at the local liquor store to forget your troubles? No? Hm. Well maybe I'll leave the door unlocked...
Today is just a normal Monday. Kids are tired from our crazy Sunday. Jay is getting on my last nerve with his "Let's be super super productive today!" attitude while I'd just like to let my cold medicine take effect and chill out today. Dag gone productivitey. Whine whine whine. I've had a cold/allergy thingy for over a month now. It comes and goes in phases. Right now its giving me a horrendously sore throat from coughing... which is not fun. Fortunately the kids seem immune to my cold so they're floating right along in the world of 100 mile per hour energy bursts while I'm struggling to get over my little speed bump.
On the upside, I'm cleaning out my house and selling everything we don't currently use/play with/or wear on Craigslist. I saved a few of my favorite outfits of the girls but everything else is going bye bye! I *think* I will love this feeling once it's all sold... for now it just means lots of bags & boxes everywhere while I sort through everything. But when we move onto our farm it'll mean less "stuff" we have to take with us... which is good. Especially considering the fact that while we're building our big house, we'll be moving in to a 2 bedroom mobile home. You got it baby. I am the queen of our double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the red wood deck. I'm going to have to find some of those tacky pink flamingo's to put out front in celebration of our hillbilly-ness. Should be an interesting year or so.
So I recently reread the Twilight series while I was sick... which makes me wonder, what the heck is in those books? Crack? They're so addicting! Once I start the first book it's like I disappear off the face of the earth until I close the fourth book and even then I immediately think of starting over. I have no idea what the draw is, but I surely love the books. Not the movies so much. Feels a little odd lusting after good lookin teenage boys. LOL But the books are another story. *sigh* I'm so weird.
Lizzy is starting to read (yes I realize how very random this blog post is, but I have a 2 year old yelling in her crib who doesn't want to nap so pardon me for being slightly distracted) where was I? Oh yeah. Liz. Reading. Thank GOD for Leapfrog. The Learning with Leap DVD's have moved Liz from barely being able to identify letters to knowing every letter & it's sound & even how to put them together. We worked for a solid year (I homeschooled her this year) on identifying letters and their sounds... and all it took was 1 week of those DVD's for everything to click. She loves to point at signs and sound them out. I'm searching for some of the old Dick & Jane books but we have some easy readers that she slowly sounds out. It's pretty amazing how fast she's learning everything. I'm also homeschooling her for Kindergarten this year... now THAT will be an adventure. Jay's already committed to helping me with the science parts. (he loves science while I'm more of an indoor girl) so that'll be fun for her. We're using the new online public schooling program called k12. My aunt used it with her 4 kids to great success, so I'm super excited about Liz having the chance to learn at home. As much as she drives me ape wall sometimes, I'm not ready to ship her off to school. I'm looking forward to our time together this fall. Madeline is really wanting to learn too so I may even start her on some of the basics this year. Why not? She's interested! This is partly why I'm not ready to have a 3rd baby. I want to be sure we figure out how to do this whole homeschool thing before I add in the craziness of another mouth to feed/mind to entertain. Anyway... signing her up next week for k12. Looking forward to summer time & laying by the pool!
Enough randomness for the day. I updated the look of the blog... looks kinda homey now. :)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I'm back!
So I sort of fell off the face of the earth there for a ... well... a whole year, but hey. I'm back. It's been 1 year since I updated, life is crazy as ever. Liz turned 4 and started looking forward to her 5th birthday on August 30. Maddy just turned 2 a couple weeks ago, we didn't do a big party for her this year. However she had a great birthday with Linda & the boys on the Saturday before her birthday & another party with my side of the family on Sunday. Needless to say she was spoiled rotten. I'm not really used to this leap day birthday thing yet. It didn't really feel like she had a birthday this year. We celebrated on the 28th as the official day but it wasn't a trip down memory lane like it always is with Lizzy's birthdays. I guess I'll have to get it through my head that its the years that count, not just the actual day.
Anyway! Maddy is up to 26.5 lbs & Liz is right at 42 lbs. The girls are the best of friends and yet the fight every day... usually a half dozen knock down drag out fights a day... but they always hug and make up after them. It's kind of funny actually. Madeline is almost potty trained! I'm SO excited about that. She is doing so great, wakes up dry & has no problem going on command. She is a strange child in that she loves to be naked & play in her poop... not just once, but several times... every week. It's nuts. So we're learning to make her sit on the potty every day before nap time until she poo's in the potty then we're clear for the day. If however she's just not ready to go we inevitably have to clean up a big mess after nap time as she'll go, then quietly decorate her crib with it, then fall asleep and when she wakes up it's dried and nasty. Lots of fun times for mama.
I should be posting some new pics of Madeline here soon! I'm hoping to get her 2 year old pictures taken in the next week or so. I've got some cute idea's for some fun pics. And yes, I'll probably have Liz's taken at the same time... I love sister shots.
So that's it for now. I'll try to check in soon & not leave my blog sadly hanging for another year! :)
Anyway! Maddy is up to 26.5 lbs & Liz is right at 42 lbs. The girls are the best of friends and yet the fight every day... usually a half dozen knock down drag out fights a day... but they always hug and make up after them. It's kind of funny actually. Madeline is almost potty trained! I'm SO excited about that. She is doing so great, wakes up dry & has no problem going on command. She is a strange child in that she loves to be naked & play in her poop... not just once, but several times... every week. It's nuts. So we're learning to make her sit on the potty every day before nap time until she poo's in the potty then we're clear for the day. If however she's just not ready to go we inevitably have to clean up a big mess after nap time as she'll go, then quietly decorate her crib with it, then fall asleep and when she wakes up it's dried and nasty. Lots of fun times for mama.
I should be posting some new pics of Madeline here soon! I'm hoping to get her 2 year old pictures taken in the next week or so. I've got some cute idea's for some fun pics. And yes, I'll probably have Liz's taken at the same time... I love sister shots.
So that's it for now. I'll try to check in soon & not leave my blog sadly hanging for another year! :)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A Poor Excuse of a Blogger
Well alas, its been another 2 months. How do I let this happen? Let me get right to the good stuff. Remember last post when I said Madeline would be walking soon? Well I was right, she is walking with the best of them! My baby is growing up so fast. Guess what next week is? Her FIRST birthday! Yes sometime between Saturday & Sunday my baby will turn a year old. Being a leap day baby she technically doesn't have a birthday this year but we'll be celebrating next Sunday afternoon with a big ball pit for the little ones, a tatoo station for the bigger ones & some double chocolate chip cream cheese cupcakes which are incredible yummy.
Anyway, it should be a good time! So what else is new? Well we're taking the girls on their first cruise in 2 weeks. Should be pretty amazing! My whole family is going (mom, dad, brothers, sister, brother-in-law, nephew & my gang) The girls have matching outfits for every day of the trip, as well as matching swimsuits, sandals, bows, & evening wear. Yeah I've had just a wee bit of fun shopping lately. I can't wait to set sail two weeks from today! Woot!
In other news, we have yet to find the perfect farm but we're trusting God to show us where he wants us to be in His time.
We've done two home shows in the last two months & thanks to the publicity from the shows business is booming in an otherwise slow market. Thank you Jesus for providing!
Elizabeth is growing more willful by the day. We butt heads constantly, much like my mother & I did for years. I'm trying to find ways to relate to her & not smother her exuberant personality. She is such a beautiful & sweet little girl but she definately has a wild side that drives me nuts. She still gets very jealous of Maddy, preferring to always be in the limelight. I know if I can steer all that energy in the right direction she'll be magnificent at whatever she puts her hands to. My hope is to find another dance school when we move as well as start her piano lessons & maybe even let her take gymnastics. She certainly has enough energy to do all of them well. I don't want to overwhelm her but she's a child that needs to stay busy or she gets in trouble. Jay wants her to take tennis lessons so we may encourage that instead of gymnastics. We'll see.
All in all Elizabeth is helping me develop more patience than I ever thought I would need. And she is also the sweetest part of my life. Her voice when she gets excited brings tears to my eyes. I am so in love with my girls.
Part of me is scared to have another child as my heart is already divided in so many directions, but another part of me looks forward to watching our family grow. Madeline is quickly becoming a toddler & leaving babyhood behind at a breakneck speed. She is still the most darling angel. She is so funny to watch. She loves her big sister with a wild heart never minding the many times Liz knocks her over when they're playing or being stuffed in a hamper or being picked up like a rag doll by the sister she adores. Maddy plainly prefers her sisters company to any one else in the whole world. She always has a smile for Liz & would follow her anywhere. I hope Lizzy comes to realize the treasure she has in her little sister, sooner rather than later. I know they'll always squabble but nothing would make me happier than to watch them grow up the best of friends.
That's pretty much it for now! Madelines 1 year pictures are on Tuesday, I'll try to post pictures soon!
Anyway, it should be a good time! So what else is new? Well we're taking the girls on their first cruise in 2 weeks. Should be pretty amazing! My whole family is going (mom, dad, brothers, sister, brother-in-law, nephew & my gang) The girls have matching outfits for every day of the trip, as well as matching swimsuits, sandals, bows, & evening wear. Yeah I've had just a wee bit of fun shopping lately. I can't wait to set sail two weeks from today! Woot!
In other news, we have yet to find the perfect farm but we're trusting God to show us where he wants us to be in His time.
We've done two home shows in the last two months & thanks to the publicity from the shows business is booming in an otherwise slow market. Thank you Jesus for providing!
Elizabeth is growing more willful by the day. We butt heads constantly, much like my mother & I did for years. I'm trying to find ways to relate to her & not smother her exuberant personality. She is such a beautiful & sweet little girl but she definately has a wild side that drives me nuts. She still gets very jealous of Maddy, preferring to always be in the limelight. I know if I can steer all that energy in the right direction she'll be magnificent at whatever she puts her hands to. My hope is to find another dance school when we move as well as start her piano lessons & maybe even let her take gymnastics. She certainly has enough energy to do all of them well. I don't want to overwhelm her but she's a child that needs to stay busy or she gets in trouble. Jay wants her to take tennis lessons so we may encourage that instead of gymnastics. We'll see.
All in all Elizabeth is helping me develop more patience than I ever thought I would need. And she is also the sweetest part of my life. Her voice when she gets excited brings tears to my eyes. I am so in love with my girls.
Part of me is scared to have another child as my heart is already divided in so many directions, but another part of me looks forward to watching our family grow. Madeline is quickly becoming a toddler & leaving babyhood behind at a breakneck speed. She is still the most darling angel. She is so funny to watch. She loves her big sister with a wild heart never minding the many times Liz knocks her over when they're playing or being stuffed in a hamper or being picked up like a rag doll by the sister she adores. Maddy plainly prefers her sisters company to any one else in the whole world. She always has a smile for Liz & would follow her anywhere. I hope Lizzy comes to realize the treasure she has in her little sister, sooner rather than later. I know they'll always squabble but nothing would make me happier than to watch them grow up the best of friends.
That's pretty much it for now! Madelines 1 year pictures are on Tuesday, I'll try to post pictures soon!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
2 Updates in 1 day!
Oh good gravy, I just had to update. For those of you with weak stomachs, skip ahead to the next update for this is one disgusting story.
Elizabeth and I were watching a movie this afternoon and as always she got bored half way through and began to move around the room while watching. She loves the Christmas tree and enjoys examining each ornament closely asking questions and pointing out her favorites. So it was no suprise that half way through the movie she made her way over to the tree both watching the movie and looking at the ornaments. I heard her toot and then giggle. I ignored it. A few minutes later she tooted again. I told her to go sit on the potty but she assured me she didn't need to go.
Fast forward 10 minutes and it hits me. This oder akin to a sewer plant. It fell upon the room with a quiet calm. Lizzy was standing beside me. She plopped down on her belly next to me and I look over... And gag.
Understand that she was wearing underwear, tights, a skirt and shirt. As well as enough poop to fertilize a field. This child had exploded up her back OVER her shoulders, down her tights behind her knees. It was in her armpits, her belly button. It was everywhere.
But wait. Just when you're gagging in your seat and thinking "I'm so glad I wasn't there" it gets better. I rush her into the bathroom, turn on the water in the tub... But nothing happens. Yes, today. Of all days in my 3 year olds life when she just happens to have the biggest poop imagineable. Yes today is the day the water company is replacing pipes down the street. Our water won't be back on until 6. Brilliant.
So, I used an entire box of HUGGIES wipes cleaning up poo from all the various parts of my daughters body while she sat absolutely still not saying a word. It hit me that she must have had a sick stomach so I couldn't be upset with her but I don't think she knew that I'd come to that conclusion for she was being very very cooperative in the operation cleanup recovery efforts.
So alas, I bathed my arms up to my elbows in alcohol and lizzy is now sleeping reeking only slightly like a sewer plant but mostly like HUGGIES baby wipes.
Oh what a day.
Elizabeth and I were watching a movie this afternoon and as always she got bored half way through and began to move around the room while watching. She loves the Christmas tree and enjoys examining each ornament closely asking questions and pointing out her favorites. So it was no suprise that half way through the movie she made her way over to the tree both watching the movie and looking at the ornaments. I heard her toot and then giggle. I ignored it. A few minutes later she tooted again. I told her to go sit on the potty but she assured me she didn't need to go.
Fast forward 10 minutes and it hits me. This oder akin to a sewer plant. It fell upon the room with a quiet calm. Lizzy was standing beside me. She plopped down on her belly next to me and I look over... And gag.
Understand that she was wearing underwear, tights, a skirt and shirt. As well as enough poop to fertilize a field. This child had exploded up her back OVER her shoulders, down her tights behind her knees. It was in her armpits, her belly button. It was everywhere.
But wait. Just when you're gagging in your seat and thinking "I'm so glad I wasn't there" it gets better. I rush her into the bathroom, turn on the water in the tub... But nothing happens. Yes, today. Of all days in my 3 year olds life when she just happens to have the biggest poop imagineable. Yes today is the day the water company is replacing pipes down the street. Our water won't be back on until 6. Brilliant.
So, I used an entire box of HUGGIES wipes cleaning up poo from all the various parts of my daughters body while she sat absolutely still not saying a word. It hit me that she must have had a sick stomach so I couldn't be upset with her but I don't think she knew that I'd come to that conclusion for she was being very very cooperative in the operation cleanup recovery efforts.
So alas, I bathed my arms up to my elbows in alcohol and lizzy is now sleeping reeking only slightly like a sewer plant but mostly like HUGGIES baby wipes.
Oh what a day.
2 months later...
Wow I've been terrible at blogging lately! Sorry! Let me get right to it, two months have gone by and so have two holidays!
We all dressed up for Halloween and enjoyed the holiday with friends and family. Liz went as Minnie Mouse and Maddy was a super cute chicken. Jay went as Joe the Plumber even though we lost the election a few days later. And I cheaped out by going as a cat. (black pants, black shirt, $3 cat ears and some eyeliner on my nose. Voila! A cat.) lol
Halloween was great but the real fun was Thanksgiving where Jay and I took the girls to Ohio to be with all my extended family for the festivities. We left at 4 am on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving which turned out to be a great choice. The girls slept until 8 which put us 4 hours closer to Ohio before I had to start entertaining them for the last 7 hours of the trip. I drove the first leg then began the rotation of movies, toys, songs, threats, you know... Anything to keep chaos from breaking out in the back seat. Lizzy was a bit of a nightmare during the whole trip. But to her credit she didn't get a good nights sleep the entire time due to the four of us sharing one room at my aunts. You see, Jay snores. Like a freight train. Maddy kicks her bed while trying to fall asleep. And Liz usually chats herself to sleep. Meanwhile I slept on the bottom bunk of my cousins bed and knocked myself in the head every time I sat up during the night to settle the girls or threaten Jay (who blissfully slept solid every night sawing his logs while I was up every 30-40 minutes every. Single. Night.) So having said all that, poor Liz, who desperately needs a good nights sleep to function properly was a bossy, non listening little stinker the whole trip.
However... And this is a big however, I am SO thankful that my aunt allowed us to stay with them. It was so nice spending time with my awesome cousins and getting to celebrate the season with them. We had an absolute blast while we were there. Madeline was an angel the whole time which helped a lot. We shopped, played games, ate more food than I should have had all month (which explains the 3 lbs I gained back in one week). Thanksgiving day we piled 21 people into my aunts house. With some creative decorating and name placing we managed to get everyone seated with 3 tables set up for all the amazing food. My aunt Debi made 8, yes 8 pies. I made 2 pumpkin rolls so we seriously inhaled a bazillion delicious calories over the course of a few days.
Black Friday I woke up early and went shopping by myself, I scored a few good deals but missed out on the two things I went for (I didn't get in line at 4) but then the girls hit the town and boy did we clean up on bargains! I scored some super cute shirts for myself from Old Navy for $5! Love that!
Friday night we all went out to dinner for Aunt Jill and Bethy's birthdays. YUMMY! Marchella's (sp?) was insanely good. It was this great little Italian restaurant with the strongest (and perhaps coincedentally best tasting) cosmo I'd ever had. The food was incredible and we all left there wishing we'd worn elastic waist pants. LOL
Saturday brought both frustrations (we got lost in Mansfield for an hour) and so much fun! Jay and I gathered our girls in their adorable Christmas dresses and took off for Jeromesville to find the worlds largest Sycamore tree. (you know my husband and his facination with trees) And we found it! On a dirt road, over the river and through the woods. (not to grandmothers house, that was later in the day) No, nestled in the heart of some No Trespassing acreage which we trespassed on stood the worlds largest Sycamore. It was beautiful and worth the trip. However since we were trespassing and in a tiny little town in Ohio, we didn't stay long. (I wasn't about to get shot over a tree!) So on to the Gauls house! After getting lost in Mansfield (10 years of being gone completely erased all memory of how to get around in my old home town) we arrived at the Gauls just in time to pass around some hugs, say a quick hello then back in the car to head to my grandparents with mom and dad leading the way this time. All this was acomplished by noon and we arrived at my grandparents with ravishing appetites and a huge spread of Christmas foods for our first Christmas party! We had a great time, some of my cousins where there that I hadn't seen in YEARS! The Christmas party was fun but before we knew it it was time to make the hour and a half drive back to Dublin.
Sunday brought more Christmas fun, I got to sleep in a bit after being up ALL night with the girls. So Jay took pity on me and let me have a couple hour nap before the next Christmas party at my grandma's house!
Once again the food was overflowing with flavor and abundance. What a great time! We spoiled grandma with gifts and pictures of great grandbabies and enjoyed every moment of our time together! Sunday night we hung out at the Embassy Suites in Dublin (where my parents stayed the whole trip) free cocktails and movie madness made for a fun last evening with my family. Monday was a long ride home but other than a couple major blowputs by Maddy (I had to change her on the side of the road in the snowy mountains, poor baby was freezing but she didn't complain, she was happy to have clothes that weren't covered in poop anymore. LOL)
So now on to a few updates. Madeline is standing! She walks around furniture now and has this "O" face that looks like she's suprised, she makes this face ALL the time. Its so funny! She also has two teeth now! They're so cute, her bottom two teeth. She smiles with her bottom lip down to show off her little beavers all the time. She'll be walking in the next couple months I'm sure.
Lizzy is SO excited for Christmas this year. She's been helping me wrap gifts, playing with the nativity every day and in general learning what this season is all about.
Life is great but crazy. My girls make every day an adventure. Jay talks about baby 3 a lot but we decided to wait a couple years as we're trying to buy some land right now for our tree farm. We're running out of space at our house so we're looking for a growing field along with a place we can build our future home. With all that going on, I definately do not want to be pregnant right now.
We're planning on visiting Disney in January so hopefully that works out. It'll depend on how busy our business stays.
Anyway, this was a long overdue update. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon! Our Christmas picture turned out super cute! :)
We all dressed up for Halloween and enjoyed the holiday with friends and family. Liz went as Minnie Mouse and Maddy was a super cute chicken. Jay went as Joe the Plumber even though we lost the election a few days later. And I cheaped out by going as a cat. (black pants, black shirt, $3 cat ears and some eyeliner on my nose. Voila! A cat.) lol
Halloween was great but the real fun was Thanksgiving where Jay and I took the girls to Ohio to be with all my extended family for the festivities. We left at 4 am on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving which turned out to be a great choice. The girls slept until 8 which put us 4 hours closer to Ohio before I had to start entertaining them for the last 7 hours of the trip. I drove the first leg then began the rotation of movies, toys, songs, threats, you know... Anything to keep chaos from breaking out in the back seat. Lizzy was a bit of a nightmare during the whole trip. But to her credit she didn't get a good nights sleep the entire time due to the four of us sharing one room at my aunts. You see, Jay snores. Like a freight train. Maddy kicks her bed while trying to fall asleep. And Liz usually chats herself to sleep. Meanwhile I slept on the bottom bunk of my cousins bed and knocked myself in the head every time I sat up during the night to settle the girls or threaten Jay (who blissfully slept solid every night sawing his logs while I was up every 30-40 minutes every. Single. Night.) So having said all that, poor Liz, who desperately needs a good nights sleep to function properly was a bossy, non listening little stinker the whole trip.
However... And this is a big however, I am SO thankful that my aunt allowed us to stay with them. It was so nice spending time with my awesome cousins and getting to celebrate the season with them. We had an absolute blast while we were there. Madeline was an angel the whole time which helped a lot. We shopped, played games, ate more food than I should have had all month (which explains the 3 lbs I gained back in one week). Thanksgiving day we piled 21 people into my aunts house. With some creative decorating and name placing we managed to get everyone seated with 3 tables set up for all the amazing food. My aunt Debi made 8, yes 8 pies. I made 2 pumpkin rolls so we seriously inhaled a bazillion delicious calories over the course of a few days.
Black Friday I woke up early and went shopping by myself, I scored a few good deals but missed out on the two things I went for (I didn't get in line at 4) but then the girls hit the town and boy did we clean up on bargains! I scored some super cute shirts for myself from Old Navy for $5! Love that!
Friday night we all went out to dinner for Aunt Jill and Bethy's birthdays. YUMMY! Marchella's (sp?) was insanely good. It was this great little Italian restaurant with the strongest (and perhaps coincedentally best tasting) cosmo I'd ever had. The food was incredible and we all left there wishing we'd worn elastic waist pants. LOL
Saturday brought both frustrations (we got lost in Mansfield for an hour) and so much fun! Jay and I gathered our girls in their adorable Christmas dresses and took off for Jeromesville to find the worlds largest Sycamore tree. (you know my husband and his facination with trees) And we found it! On a dirt road, over the river and through the woods. (not to grandmothers house, that was later in the day) No, nestled in the heart of some No Trespassing acreage which we trespassed on stood the worlds largest Sycamore. It was beautiful and worth the trip. However since we were trespassing and in a tiny little town in Ohio, we didn't stay long. (I wasn't about to get shot over a tree!) So on to the Gauls house! After getting lost in Mansfield (10 years of being gone completely erased all memory of how to get around in my old home town) we arrived at the Gauls just in time to pass around some hugs, say a quick hello then back in the car to head to my grandparents with mom and dad leading the way this time. All this was acomplished by noon and we arrived at my grandparents with ravishing appetites and a huge spread of Christmas foods for our first Christmas party! We had a great time, some of my cousins where there that I hadn't seen in YEARS! The Christmas party was fun but before we knew it it was time to make the hour and a half drive back to Dublin.
Sunday brought more Christmas fun, I got to sleep in a bit after being up ALL night with the girls. So Jay took pity on me and let me have a couple hour nap before the next Christmas party at my grandma's house!
Once again the food was overflowing with flavor and abundance. What a great time! We spoiled grandma with gifts and pictures of great grandbabies and enjoyed every moment of our time together! Sunday night we hung out at the Embassy Suites in Dublin (where my parents stayed the whole trip) free cocktails and movie madness made for a fun last evening with my family. Monday was a long ride home but other than a couple major blowputs by Maddy (I had to change her on the side of the road in the snowy mountains, poor baby was freezing but she didn't complain, she was happy to have clothes that weren't covered in poop anymore. LOL)
So now on to a few updates. Madeline is standing! She walks around furniture now and has this "O" face that looks like she's suprised, she makes this face ALL the time. Its so funny! She also has two teeth now! They're so cute, her bottom two teeth. She smiles with her bottom lip down to show off her little beavers all the time. She'll be walking in the next couple months I'm sure.
Lizzy is SO excited for Christmas this year. She's been helping me wrap gifts, playing with the nativity every day and in general learning what this season is all about.
Life is great but crazy. My girls make every day an adventure. Jay talks about baby 3 a lot but we decided to wait a couple years as we're trying to buy some land right now for our tree farm. We're running out of space at our house so we're looking for a growing field along with a place we can build our future home. With all that going on, I definately do not want to be pregnant right now.
We're planning on visiting Disney in January so hopefully that works out. It'll depend on how busy our business stays.
Anyway, this was a long overdue update. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon! Our Christmas picture turned out super cute! :)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Growing Pains
Ever want to put your kids in a bubble so no one can ever hurt them? I do. I know its unreasonable and they have to learn and blah blah blah, but last night was extrememly hard for me. It was also a glimps of the future and how cruel life can be.
Lizzy is just entering the age of realization. She's begining to grasp that her words can hurt others and that she needs to be kind, not only because she'll get in trouble if she isn't but mainly because other people can be her hurt by her unkind actions. Because of this newfound realization I'm able to glimps a bit of who she really is and its both scary and neat that I see a lot of myself in my daughter. One thing I've noticed is that she reaches out to everyone. She loves kids the same age, younger and older. She sees no colors, hears no accents and could care less what a childs "status" is. That's not to say she doesn't notice the differances but as I watch her study people I can see her mind go from curiosity, to acceptance with no boundries to extending kindness. Now, having said that, she's 3. She does have bad attitudes and bad days but fortunately she directs those at me and rarely other people.
So... Where does all this lead us? Well, for all
her faults (and they are many) she is a kind child. And I absolutley love that about her. We were in Walmart on Sunday and there was a black woman decked to the nines in her Sunday best, pastel suit, matching shoes, big hat. Totally normal for Sunday around here. Anyway she was standing by us in line and Lizzy looked over and said, "oh mommy, oh she is beautiful mommy" it was completely unprompted and out of the blue. The lady said "thank you so much, really... Thank you" I have no idea what was going on in that lady's life but she was so appreciative that a random little girl thought she was beautiful. Liz often tells women they're beautiful when they're dressed up and it never fails to make them smile.
Anyway, these are just a few instances of how Liz reaches out to everyone.
And that's probably why it was so hard to watch her feelings get hurt last night when one of her dearest friends was continually nasty to her over and over. I really wanted to step in and say something but I wanted her to learn from it as well. But I have to say it hurt that nothing was said by her parents. I know I'm being sensitive, but its hard not to be, she's my little girl.
So here's what happened. I'll leave out names because these are our friends. So we get to dinner last night and Liz sees her best buddy and runs over to give her a hug. The girl pushed Liz away and said "I don't want to hug you." Liz was hurt but hey, they're 3 I chalked it up to a bad mood. So I go to set Liz by her friend at dinner and the little girl throws a fit and says "no! I don't want you to sit by me." Liz was completely confused... And hurt. But the part that gets me is instead of correcting the behaviour with telling her to be kind and identifying that she's hurting another childs feelings her mom (a good friend of mine) merely said "if you want to choose another seat you can" so she did! She moved across the table and at this point Liz had tears in her eyes. She wouldn't even eat her dinner. Now at this point I was getting annoyed... But I didn't say anything. After dinner the kids went upstairs to watch a movie while we had small group. About 30 minutes in I hear Liz crying upstairs so I go up to see what's going on and she's sitting about 10 feet away from the other kids crying. I asked her what was wrong and the gist of it was that the little girl didn't want Liz to sit with the group while watching the movie so Liz had walked 10 feet away and sat by herself. At that point I was getting mad, I said to the whole group "guys we need to be nice, everyone is included in movie time" I waited until Liz had gotten herself settled again (albeit a few feet away still) but she was watching the movie so I figured all was fine. Then as it was time to go Liz tried to give her friend a hug goodbye and the girl ran off and said "no" her mom was standing right there and said "we give her the freedom to choose if she wants to hug people or not" which, I respect... Somewhat. However watching my 3 year old with her arms out trying to give her friend a hug was heartbraking. All in all I was really bothered by the whole evening. I know I'm being sensitive but on the way home lizzy was very quiet. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I'm sad... ___ doesn't like me."
*sigh* It made me cry. Jay was furious with the whole evening he wanted to say something so badly but these are good friends of ours and we don't want to sever that relationship so we figured we'd better cool off for a few days and then I'll mention how hurt Liz was to my friend. But watching Liz get her feelings hurt was awful. I wish I could put her in a bubble and protect her from the meanness and hurtful things of the world.
But... This is where I have to trust that God is watching over my girls. He alone can heal their hurts and shelter them through the storms of life. As mild as this was in the grand scheme of things it still broke my heart to hear my baby say "I'm sad."
Lizzy is just entering the age of realization. She's begining to grasp that her words can hurt others and that she needs to be kind, not only because she'll get in trouble if she isn't but mainly because other people can be her hurt by her unkind actions. Because of this newfound realization I'm able to glimps a bit of who she really is and its both scary and neat that I see a lot of myself in my daughter. One thing I've noticed is that she reaches out to everyone. She loves kids the same age, younger and older. She sees no colors, hears no accents and could care less what a childs "status" is. That's not to say she doesn't notice the differances but as I watch her study people I can see her mind go from curiosity, to acceptance with no boundries to extending kindness. Now, having said that, she's 3. She does have bad attitudes and bad days but fortunately she directs those at me and rarely other people.
So... Where does all this lead us? Well, for all
her faults (and they are many) she is a kind child. And I absolutley love that about her. We were in Walmart on Sunday and there was a black woman decked to the nines in her Sunday best, pastel suit, matching shoes, big hat. Totally normal for Sunday around here. Anyway she was standing by us in line and Lizzy looked over and said, "oh mommy, oh she is beautiful mommy" it was completely unprompted and out of the blue. The lady said "thank you so much, really... Thank you" I have no idea what was going on in that lady's life but she was so appreciative that a random little girl thought she was beautiful. Liz often tells women they're beautiful when they're dressed up and it never fails to make them smile.
Anyway, these are just a few instances of how Liz reaches out to everyone.
And that's probably why it was so hard to watch her feelings get hurt last night when one of her dearest friends was continually nasty to her over and over. I really wanted to step in and say something but I wanted her to learn from it as well. But I have to say it hurt that nothing was said by her parents. I know I'm being sensitive, but its hard not to be, she's my little girl.
So here's what happened. I'll leave out names because these are our friends. So we get to dinner last night and Liz sees her best buddy and runs over to give her a hug. The girl pushed Liz away and said "I don't want to hug you." Liz was hurt but hey, they're 3 I chalked it up to a bad mood. So I go to set Liz by her friend at dinner and the little girl throws a fit and says "no! I don't want you to sit by me." Liz was completely confused... And hurt. But the part that gets me is instead of correcting the behaviour with telling her to be kind and identifying that she's hurting another childs feelings her mom (a good friend of mine) merely said "if you want to choose another seat you can" so she did! She moved across the table and at this point Liz had tears in her eyes. She wouldn't even eat her dinner. Now at this point I was getting annoyed... But I didn't say anything. After dinner the kids went upstairs to watch a movie while we had small group. About 30 minutes in I hear Liz crying upstairs so I go up to see what's going on and she's sitting about 10 feet away from the other kids crying. I asked her what was wrong and the gist of it was that the little girl didn't want Liz to sit with the group while watching the movie so Liz had walked 10 feet away and sat by herself. At that point I was getting mad, I said to the whole group "guys we need to be nice, everyone is included in movie time" I waited until Liz had gotten herself settled again (albeit a few feet away still) but she was watching the movie so I figured all was fine. Then as it was time to go Liz tried to give her friend a hug goodbye and the girl ran off and said "no" her mom was standing right there and said "we give her the freedom to choose if she wants to hug people or not" which, I respect... Somewhat. However watching my 3 year old with her arms out trying to give her friend a hug was heartbraking. All in all I was really bothered by the whole evening. I know I'm being sensitive but on the way home lizzy was very quiet. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I'm sad... ___ doesn't like me."
*sigh* It made me cry. Jay was furious with the whole evening he wanted to say something so badly but these are good friends of ours and we don't want to sever that relationship so we figured we'd better cool off for a few days and then I'll mention how hurt Liz was to my friend. But watching Liz get her feelings hurt was awful. I wish I could put her in a bubble and protect her from the meanness and hurtful things of the world.
But... This is where I have to trust that God is watching over my girls. He alone can heal their hurts and shelter them through the storms of life. As mild as this was in the grand scheme of things it still broke my heart to hear my baby say "I'm sad."
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