Laundry

My oldest is 10 now.  Wow, do I feel old.  Here lately I have been teaching him how to wash his own clothes.  In fact he complained all week that he had no clean clothes.  Since he is out of school I told him that if he needed clean clothes he knew how to wash and dry them himself.  So Friday I had to remind him if he wanted clean clothes for the weekend, he needed to wash them.  So Friday morning he started sorting after me reminding him, then I walked him through once again the stages of washing clothes.  He actually does a good job and asks questions.

The little one will actually ask if she can sort and wash her clothes too.  She also puts away her clothes without me even asking.  I think that is just a girl thing, assessing a situation and seeing what needs to be done.  (Of course, cleaning her room is another story.)  I have to remind my son a dozen times before he actually puts his clothes away.

I am really determined to get him doing especially this task independently.  My reason,  well when my husband and I were dating he was 21 years old and once a week he would bring his clothes to his moms.   She would then wash, dry and fold his clothes and have them ready for him to pick up the next day.  Needless to say I had to teach him how to wash his own clothes too.  I figure I would teach my son young and save his future wife the trouble.

Next task would be to sit him down and show him how to fold properly.

Not My Momma Anymore

My youngest is quite the challenge, and with her getting older it isn't getting any easier.  Sometimes I have absolutely no idea how to react to the things she does and says.  Last weekend was no exception.

Last weekend my little one decided that she no longer wanted me to be her momma.  In fact she said that her Grammy (my mother) would now be her mother and she would be moving in with her.  Not sure exactly how to respond to this, I decided to go along.  I guess my reaction wasn't what she expected because she proceeded to tell me why she came to this decision.

"Because you don't let me do everything I want to do and you make me drink green smoothies,"  she said.  As if I would say that I would change that.  I explained to her that my job as her mother meant that sometimes she wouldn't get to do what she wanted to do because it may not be good for her.  As for the smoothies, I explained that I wanted her to be healthy and that is why I made them for her and her brother.

Well I guess that is not what she wanted to hear so she continued with her charade.  This started on Friday.  Getting up Saturday morning getting ready for church I thought that she was over this not my momma stuff.  Well she didn't talk to me much, somewhat ignored me.  My husband and her went to church ahead of me and me and my oldest met up with them later.

It was there that I found out she was telling everyone I was no longer her momma and her reasons as stated above.  I guess to see if anyone would agree with her.  I will admit it started to hurt my feelings a bit, but I wasn't about to let her know that,  I just laughed it off.  This continued through out the day, she continued giving me the cold shoulder.  She even ended up spending the night at my moms house.

I didn't pick her up till the afternoon the next day.  But her attitude changed dramatically.  "I love you momma,"  she told me when she saw me.  I responded, "Oh, I'm your momma now."   I am assuming that she must have really missed me because she spend the rest of the day hugging and kissing me and keeping really close by.  I guess I'm not such a bad momma after all.  But it really blows me away the things that this little girl thinks of.

What will she come up with next?? Dare I ask.

Another School Year- Gone

These days my little ones aren't so little.  This past year has been like most, a challenge.    But as a family we press on.

This past school year my oldest started a new school.  His old school started having problems with structure and we realized that it was time to move on.  We had started my youngest in a k-3 program at a church close to our home last year.  It just so happened that the following school year (this past school year) they would also be starting a school from K5-12.  After talking with my oldest ,who is extremely shy if you have realized from past post,  he agreed to go to the same school as his little sister.

I did bribe him the first week of school ;)  I told him that if he went the entire week without any complaints that he would be rewarded.   I wanted him to try to like his new school, not already have his mind made up that he didn't like it.  I figured that if I at least made it worth it to him, that he would at least try. The first week passed without complaint.  The second week did also.  He loved his new school and he made new friends almost instantly.  I felt so relieved about our decision to move him.

We went through an entire year with him only calling home once or twice to come him because he had a stomach ache.  It was awesome.  He was actually a little disappointed when the school year ended.

And for the little one, she absolutely loves it too.  In fact now that the year is over she really misses going too.

I can't believe that next school year I will have a kindergartener and a 5th grader.  Boy how time flies.

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Anyone who knows my oldest knows that he is extremely shy.  He wasn't always this bad but as he has gotten older it seems to be getting worse.  When strangers talk to him he usually puts his head down and smiles and doesn't reply.  Sometimes he is even that way with with people he does know.

Well, last week once again we went to family camp in Arkansas.  We had a blast, especially the kids.  One evening we decided to go to Hot Springs to check my email and get a bite to eat.  We had to go to the main building of the camp to sign up for the next day activities before we left.

We had signed up for the next day actives and we were walking out the door when we realized that my oldest wasn't with us.  About two minutes later he flew (and I mean flew) out the front door.  I figured he thought we had left him.  We went back to our cabin to get our stuff to go to town when he started.

He seemed really nervous and very antsy.  He said, "Mom, I got to tell you something that happened."  I said, "ok, what?"  He said, "never mind I will tell you in the car."  So I said, "no tell me now."  This went on for about five minutes until  I demanded him tell me what happened.  I was getting nervous now because he seemed terrified.  I was thinking the worst, did someone say something to him, did someone hurt him?

Then finally he spit it out.  "I thought he was dad,"  he finally said.  I was confused.  Then after the mumbling I finally made out what he was trying to say.  Apparently he thought one of the staff was his dad from behind and he went up to him and hugged him.  The guy was sitting where we usually sit and my son was playing with his friends so he wasn't paying attention to where we were.  When the guy said, "hey buddy."  He realized that it wasn't his dad and proceeded in flight mode.

He was crying saying he was so embarrassed.  I explained to him that the staff work with kids all summer long and are used to that.  He wanted me to go explain to the staff what happened but he didn't remember who he hugged he left so fast he never saw the guys face.

I couldn't help but laugh, it was too funny.  I am guilty of teasing him about it for the rest of the time we were there.  At first he would be upset but after a few days he just laughed it off.  I told him to go hug one of our friends that was there so that they would just think he was a hugger.  Of course he said no to that.

These kids always keep me laughing.  What to do with them??

Lily's Village and Mine (Guest Post by Heather Von St. James)

 

I never knew what a village I had around me until I underwent one of the most joyful and one of the most difficult experiences of my life. When my beloved daughter Lily was born on August 4th, 2005, my friends and my family surrounded me. My parents, my husband’s relatives and our many friends came together to celebrate this joyous occasion. None of use knew how serious things were going to get in just a few months.


When Lily was about three and a half months old, I went back to work, but I quickly detected that something was wrong. I was tired all the time, and I couldn’t quite get a good breath. I had no energy, and finally, I went to visit a doctor. It took plenty of tests and then we got the diagnosis.


As a child, I had been unexpectedly exposed to asbestos, and now around 30 years later, the results were apparent. On November 21, 2005, I was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that attacks the lungs and which is caused by asbestos.


Without treatment, I was told I would have only 15 months to live. When I looked at my husband’s face and that of my new daughter, I knew that I had to do whatever it took to survive. There could be no giving up, and so we made the decision to pursue aggressive treatment. My husband and I flew to Boston, where on February 2nd, I had extrapleural pneumenectomy surgery. This means that one of my lungs was removed, and then, after 18 days in the hospital and 2 months rest, I underwent chemotherapy and radiation.


This would not have been possible if my village hadn’t swooped into the rescue. It’s funny; some of the people we thought we could rely on weren’t there, and plenty we barely knew stepped right up. While we were in Boston, my parents took Lily, and they performed marvelously. They both work, and when they couldn’t be around, their community stepped in. Their church group kept them going with lots of love and support, and they were more than willing to step in to help when necessary.


Though it sometimes hurt to think about my darling daughter doing so many firsts without me, I was comforted by the love that surrounded her, and also by the pictures and emails of her development that my parents sent. I was kept updated on her progress and the nurses loved checking out her picture.


As a family that was far bigger than I thought it would be, we have been through some amazingly rough times. However, as I always say, “Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” Even while I was going through the toughest time in my life, there was still plenty to eat!


Life is so rich, and when I was at my darkest moment, I still knew that I had the love of all the people around me.


To visit Heather's blog go to http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/

Mother of the Year

Yep, that's me, mother of the year.  (sarcasm)

Well, the little one started school last week.  Yes it is a little late in the year but it is more like a "mothers day out" K3 program.  Its only twice a week from 9:00 to 2:30.  Next year for K4 she will go full time.  We wanted to give her a little exposure to a school atmosphere hoping maybe it would give her a little incentive to want to learn more.  She is a little stubborn if you can't tell from my past posts.  If it doesn't interest her then is it certainly not worth her time.

Anyway she was so excited.  We went out and got her some new shoes, a few new outfits and last but certainly not least a brand new lunch box.  Can you guess which one she was the most excited about?  So, her first day and she is beyond excited, she got up early, got dressed before I even left to go to work.  I just couldn't wait to hear about her day.

I got a call from my husband about 3:00.  He said that when the sitter picked her up she was a little upset.  She was quietly sitting rubbing her eyes.  When I was told what happened I almost cried myself.

You see after they take their nap the teacher passes out suckers.  Well on her sheet I listed "no candy".  But I had every intention of sending her with  her own.  Yes, it is still candy but the kind that I buy I like to think is the lesser of the two evils.  It completely slipped my  mind.  I had a busy weekend so when I was making sure that I had everything for her for her first day I completely forgot the suckers.  Go me!!!

I was so upset,  I ruined her first day of school.  She was the only kid left out.  I started thinking, how can I make this better???  I know, I will make sure she gets a sucker at home and then later bring her out for some ice cream (because that is so  much better than candy (sarcasm)).  Hey, I had to redeem myself ;)

By the time I had gotten home she was fine.  She was so excited about her day, but she did make it a point to tell me that she didn't get a sucker.  I explained to her that it was my fault, that I told the teacher no candy and that I would be sending some of her suckers for her to have after nap time.  She understood and was fine with that.  Needless to say I didn't ruin school for her, maybe just the last 30 minutes of her first day.  But I think now that is all forgotten.  She absolutely loves school, in fact she wants to go everyday.  She is getting so big.

And I must say that I am quite impressed by this school.  The fact that they stuck to what I put on her sheet and respected my wishes, kudos to them!!!

Finally!!!!

I apologize for not writing in a while. My New Year resolution is to get back on track.  So what better way then to update you all on my littles ones progress.

It is official!!!  My little one is officially potty trained.  It has been about a little over a month without any hiccups.  She is a "BIG GIRL", that is besides that fact that she is almost four. 

It just clicked one day and that was it.  I guess she finally decided it was time.  I was wondering if this day would ever come.  After months, better yet a year and a half, the day has arrived.  I am so proud of her, yet sad at the same time.  As wonderful as it is that she is potty trained, it also means that she is growing up.  My baby is not a baby anymore.

But I am really enjoying the money saved on not buying diapers ;)