It’s only Tuesday??

2010
03.09

For real? This week has already seemed incredibly long!! Must be because I went to bed with a migraine last night. :-( Boo-hoo! Pregnancy certainly makes headaches more frequent for me. Harder to deal with too because I can’t take the “normal” stuff for it. *sigh* Oh well, I woke up without the nasty uncomfy headache this morning so that’s good!!

My poor lil Myles isn’t feeling tip-top today. He came home from our weekend away with this “seal-like” barking cough. :-( Poor lad! His little voice is horse and he’s congested. He doesn’t seem to mind too much, but the cough just sounds awful! I called his doc’s office this morning, but they were totally booked, of course. The nurse was nice enough to tell me that there have been some upper respiratory viruses, and RSV going around. Oh, well that’s encouraging to a mom who can’t bring her baby in! Good grief! Myles did have the RSV vaccine so I’m not really worried, but if he’s not doing better tomorrow I’ll call again to see if I can bring him in. Just in case. :-)

I snapped a shot of some really great stuff the other day when we were heading to Stu’s parents. :-) Starbucks is our “treat” when we’re on the road. I thought you NEEDED to see this picture, and don’t worry, if it makes you drool and you simply have to rush out of your house to the nearest S’bucks, they aren’t paying me for advertising. :-D

Hit the spot!

Well, I was a little at a loss for dinner ideas, but one just struck me! Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!!! The wind has picked up and is blowing in very gray, gloomy clouds, so I think it’ll just do the trick! Hope you all are having a faster week than me. Toodles!

Follow Up Post

2010
03.08

Ha! As if this is a reoccurring theme, but honestly I haven’t been dwelling on it THAT much. ;-) No I just came across this article on Zen Family Habits a blog I subscribe to, and thought I’d post it for you all just in case you hadn’t had enough of the “no one is a perfect parent” line of thought. :-D

So while I wait for my mint tea to steep I’ll tell you MY thoughts on it. This article is different from the other in that it’s not OTHERS expectations or projections that make us think we can’t be the “perfect” parent, but rather our own self-critisism about “doing it right!” I know I fall into this “Mommy Guilt” trap often myself. Because when I’m in the midst of an issue with one of my children, it sometimes seems that no matter what I do or how I attack the problem, nothing is working!! :-) I’ve talked to my friend, Mirm, about it many times. We find ourselves in the same boat, kid wise, frequently and it’s nice to bounce thoughts off of each other. Anyway, one time while talking we touched on the fact that we do have to stop and look back to really see that there have been successes. Life moves too fast with the little ones, and we’re always on to the next character or behavior issue before we have time to see that there really was progress in that last one we worked on. :-) I’ve been trying to do that more. Look back and see the progress we’ve made. It really helps when I’m in the midst of trying to deal with something else that has me feeling, “What am I doing wrong???”

For what it’s worth there you have my thoughts. :-) Hope you get a chance to read the article. I thought it was worth the time. Besides it’s from a ‘zen’ site so of course it’s pretty short, not like that last epistle I linked ya to. ;-) Toodles!

The Perfect Parent

2010
03.04

My hubbaroo sent me a link to this article today that I found encouraging to read. It’s by the same author who wrote a book I LOVE called “Parenting is Your Highest Calling. and 8 Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt.” I know I’ve mentioned it on here before, but it is a great book, and a re-reader for sure! I just think that we Christian parents, moms in particular, are prone to think that it’s UP TO US to make sure our kids “turn out” good and godly. Likely the reason why most of us think this way is because of all the books out there written by well meaning (I’m sure) Christian authors who basically set down a system of how everyone else in the world is to raise their children. If your kids don’t “turn out” it must be because you didn’t follow the system or you yourself just aren’t godly enough. How defeating!!

I remember thinking as a teen that I didn’t want to “risk” having kids because too many of them simply rebel and turn their backs on all of the “right things” their parents have been trying to train them in. In reading this book and the article, which is kind of an abbreviated version of the book, I myself, find encouragement. It’s NOT “up to me” to be the perfect parent, and it’s certainly not “up to me” to raise the perfect kids. Yes, we parents have responsibilities, BIG ONES, when it comes to our children, but NO, we cannot guarantee that our children are going to CHOOSE to be godly and live holy lives. You can follow every system that’s been published to a T and think that because you have it’s a shoe-in for your kids to “succeed.” I’ve personally watched people try these very “experiments” on their children only to have the kids grow up and turn their backs on everything they had ever been taught. What do the parents feel like then? Failures!

Sure, I often feel like I fail at parenting, but I’m learning that it’s not going to be my failures that make or break my kids. I believe that there really are “bad” parents out there. I see the proof of it all around me in this place where I live. But for those of us who are Believers and are striving to live godly lives and show, and teach that to our children, we do not need to carry around this weight of guilt about not being good enough to raise good kids. We’ve got to teach them to discern good and bad, rather than just give them a list of do’s and don’t’s. There are examples all around us of people reaping the rewards of sowing to the flesh. We should point that out to our children and let them see those things instead of trying to keep them hidden away in a little bubble so they don’t see evil. We should teach our children about responsibility and trust and let them learn that when they break trust that privileges are contracted. They will learn that there are indeed hard consequences for bad choices, but then when it comes down to it, God gave them their very own “free will” as well and THEY will have to chose to live a life with a relationship in Christ or not. We can’t make them do it. We can’t force them into it by restricting their world to a narrow system that someone, somewhere felt was “God’s Way.” We must pray for them to make those choices and guide them to places where they can make right choices. Still it’s never up to us to make our kids godly. And we should never carry around the guilt of failure because our kids haven’t “lived up” to our ideals of them.

Just spilling out some of my own personal thoughts again. :-) Ha ha… What do you guys think, really? I’d like to know. Oh, and read the article, or if you want more, get the book because it’s really eye opening. At least it was for me. Ta ta!

More fun!

2010
03.03

Too bad for you all I’m going to be pestering you with photos all the time now that I have a flickr pro account AND all this fun photography stuff to play with. :-) Anyway, the lads and I had a very quick impromptu photo shoot this afternoon. I didn’t realize till I had uploaded my photos that I had set the exposure way down, but that’s just a lesson in always, always, always check your settings!!! They’re darker, but not bad. Hope you enjoy them like I did. :-)

Happy viewing!

This little cheesester likes to pose, can you tell?
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I got Myles to actually SIT for a moment or two, but looking at the camera… not so much!
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Love this one!
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Love this one too!! I was thrilled to actually get a looking at the camera smile!
Finally

Silly-willy
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Uh-oh. Guess I’m wearing him out!
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One of my favorite faces in the world!
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Black and White

2010
03.02

Those are my new backdrop colors! They came in today from Amazon, our favorite shopping place, and I’ve been having a blast setting it up and of course taking photos! I almost feel sorry for my lads as they are bound to be my subject matter in many photos! Here’s just one of the shots I took today…. oh well, maybe I’ll give you more than one. This lens is fantastic! I’m loving it!!

Portrait

As you can see from the bed-hair this photo shoot was just after nap time. :-) And yes, I did bribe them with fruit snacks too. Ha ha!! Oh and Myles found a water bottle left by his Grandpa, and refused to put it down for anything! Still, I think they’re cutie-patuties!

Brothers

These were just too sweet with both the lads. It’s amazing how relaxed and ready they were to have fun while we where doing this as opposed to Sears portraits. I’m thinking hasta la vista FOREVER to Sears and JC Penny and ESPECIALLY Wal-Mart portrait studios. ;-)

Best buds!

So that was my fun for today. That and rearranging furniture. ;-) My mom scolded me, but sometimes ya just have to do it! I was ready for a change.

The sun was out this afternoon and it was warm enough that I didn’t need a jacket! The lads got thoroughly dirty climbing up and ROLLING down the little hill. But it looked like such fun! I had to intervene in the fun though once they decided to start eating dirt clods. Gross!!! They got plopped promptly in the tub when we came inside before dinner before play and all of that. I didn’t vacuum the floor for nothing today! ;-)

Well, in a rather random way that’s what’s been going on ’round here. We’re having fun, and still looking forward to more stable warmer weather. Toodles!

Not Me Monday

2010
03.01

This week I did not leave my toddler in his jammies all day because I forgot to get him dressed before his little bro was occupying the room for a nap. Then after that I wouldn’t have figured it was too late to bother with a whole new outfit. We would not have gone for a family hike that afternoon and just slip his little jammied feet into his shoes and toss on a jacket. He wouldn’t then be traipsing about the bush with his little blue car flecked legs poking out. Oh no.

Jammie boy

I did NOT figure out that I have been cooking microwavable pot pies the wrong way till… now, because I didn’t read ALL the instructions on the back. Turns out they were missing nearly half the cooking time. Oops! Well, at least none of us ever got salmonella. ;-) Way to go Marrie Calanders!

I didn’t, wouldn’t ever consider, not in a million years announce to my family, friends, and the world at large on my blog that we are expecting our third baby! Course not, Myles did it! :-)

Happy week everyone!

Luna

2010
02.28

So tonight while taking some trash outside I noticed that the moon was up there in the sky begging me to take his picture. So happy to oblige, of course, I did! Seemed to be perfect timing. Looks pretty full to moi! Anyway, the detail on this shot isn’t what I wanted it to be, but I’m still learning and trying to improve. Enjoy!

Moon 2

P.S.

2010
02.27

I forgot to mention the “closer” for our day yesterday. :-) Qade was on an errand to get a diaper from his room after bath time. He did come back with the diaper, but also a very concerned look on his face and a confession, “Pee-pee on the floor.” Sure enough there was a little sprinkle and a puddle just in front of his changing table. :-) Fortunately for ME he was communicating this to Dad which left me off the hook! Ha! I’ve been contemplating making him go bottomless for a few days when we begin potty training again, but don’t know if I have the stamina for it! :-) We’ll see….

Just figured…

2010
02.26

I was chatting w/ my mom on Facebook because we don’t like talk on the phone every day anyway. :-) She asked me if I was going to write a blog post tonight so I figured, why not!

So what we did today. For my part I was as LAZY as I could possibly be with 2 little lads in the same house! Last night we had company for dinner, and that was fun, but it was still a lot of work for me. I made Lasagna and it was delish, but that took up part of my morning, then in the afternoon I made homemade dinner rolls which were also exquisite, and a Hershey pie, yum!!! So I was pretty tired today as the “aftermath” hit. Hence my excuse for being lazy… though I don’t know if there is ANY excuse for me having a basket full of clean laundry waiting to be folded for 3 days till today my lovely son #1 decided to climb on the clean clothes with his MUDDY shoes on. *sigh*

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The sun was shining, it was a perfect day to play, we could not sit in the house on this beautiful sunshiny day! So we got bundled up, not too much, but enough cause it’s still cool, and played outside before lunch. My lads behave, mind, and play together so much better when they are in the great out-of-doors. I myself enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air as well. Though I didn’t participate in the “game” of “house” that was played in the dog house. Blah! I was thinking to myself that I used to play around in nasty dirty places like that as a kid all the time. In fact I’d probably be the first one to dive into the dog house and then convince everyone else (because I was a very persuasive child) that they too should join me. :-D Yep, I would. But not now… now I cringed to see Qade ever-so-comfy in the dog house call happily out “My house!” Ha ha! I may cringe on the inside now, but I’m not going to interfere. Nothing in there won’t wash off, and it’s fueling his active imagination AND burning energy! Woo-hooo!

After all that playing the boys had a Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs lunch, which they wolfed down like starving savages. Then came a lovely 2 and 1/2 hr nap which I didn’t participate in, but enjoyed to the fullest with my own little lunch of Italian Wedding Soup, and a great Austen book!

Once nap was over for real and the boys had demolished their snacks of apple wedges we once again went out to enjoy the afternoon sun. Stu’s grandparents came up to get water and told me about a brand new baby calf down at the end of our drive way. So I went to see it. Sure enough. It was BRAND new and so tiny and cute that I immediately wanted it for a pet. But then I looked around at all the big ugly cows standing round it and changed my mind. While I was watching the wee one learn to walk I noticed 2 coyotes eyeing it rather greedily too. These coyotes have been hanging around here for awhile and I dislike them a lot! They are pretty bold and aggressive and don’t seem as “yellow” as other coyotes I’ve seen. They don’t run away when I come out and yell at them, they just kind of saunter off. So I was nervous for the little cow, but our dog Cisco became the hero of the day, surprisingly. He chased off the coyotes! Usually he’ll just bark at them with his tail between his legs, but he had some guts today. I told Stuart the story when he came home and he went out looking for the rascals. I think they will have to be permanently dealt with since they don’t seem to fear us or the dog. They’re a hazard to the new calves not to mention I’m nervous about the lads being outside with them around too. Stu couldn’t find them today, but I’m quite sure they’ll be back.

Anyway, so we enjoyed a lot of outside play time today. We had leftovers for dinner, and sourgum molasses on our rolls. YUM! Just like being at Lamberts! :-) Hope you all have had a brilliant week, and will have a great weekend! Toodles!

Prego Musings

2010
02.25

I haven’t really been in the mood to blog recently. I feel lousy in the evenings and that is when I mostly am online. BUT that’s no excuse. :-) I will lose my precious few readers if I don’t do my duty by them. Ha ha ha!! Yes, I have evening sickness. It’s not SO bad, but I do feel icky for the better part of the afternoon worsening into evening when I finally take myself off to bed to sleep it off. :-) I can’t complain because I know so many people who have had it WAY worse, and that’s got to be hard. Still I will enjoy it once the second trimester kicks in and I can feel energetic enough to keep up with my lads.

Some interesting things I’ve been thinking of concerning pregnancy lately.

Black licorice doesn’t necessarily make morning sickness better for me, but the lads like it. Only problem is that it becomes quite a mess with Myles. Ick!! He ends up looking like a very bad tobacco chewer, and his shirt and anything else near him is completely slimed.

The ONLY time I ever “feel” like sleeping on my tummy is when I’m pregnant. How ironic!

I have the WEIRDEST dreams when I’m pregnant…. don’t even ask about Big Bird!

My super-duper sense of smell does not do well for my queasies. EVERYTHING stinks!! I’ve Fabreezed the house, and tried to get rid of anything “smelly” but I do live with 3 guys… guess I’ll keep them around anyway! :-)

I gained 5 pounds, but then lost one, yay!! :-) I was way too flabby to begin with starting out, drat being so lazy last Fall, so I’m looking forward to the second trimester and warmer weather to get in my habit of walking again.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m thinking of a nice warm bed and fluffy pillows, and not many mid-night potty breaks. :-) Here’s hoping! Good night!