RazNoggle

Hey friends! I follow a blog by a lady that I don’t know, and probably will never meet, but I still feel like a part of her life, and I’ve only recently “discovered” her. She’s a mommy of 4 beautiful children. She calls them Big Mac, McNugget, Small Fry and the last is McMuffin. McMuffin’s name is really Stellan and he will be one tomorrow. He has battled with a condition SVT which is some kind of heart defect from what I’ve gathered. Anyway, lil guy had a bad episode last night and landed in ICU. HERE is the blog McMamma posted about it today. I’m only mentioning it because I’d like to share it as a prayer request. I guess it’s close to my heart because Stellan is so close in age to Myles and I can’t imagine having him be so sick. So if you think of it please pray for this baby boy and his family. Thanks!
I’ll post about OUR day later! I’m gonna go have a sweet potato for lunch. Ta ta!

I came across this article titled A Short History of Vaccine Panic. I found it interesting because as I and quite a few of my friends/family are traversing those vaccine laden years with our little ones, topics like this inevitably come up. It was interesting to kind of see it set out in this format and see some of the results more than 10 years later with diseases making a come back due to lack of vaccination. Interesting read. You should check it out if you wonder about vaccines, like I do, at all.

Welcome to Monday! I missed my “not me” blog last week due to some one or another drama, I’m sure, but this week I’m happy to be back.

I did not leave my 12 mo old in his 2 and 1/2 yr old brother’s shirt when I got them mixed up. I did not just roll up the sleeves and say, “It’ll work” and let him swim around in it all day simply because he hates to be changed, and is such a wiggle worm that it was “easier” that way. I wouldn’t let him wear oversized clothes just for a little convenience sake. NOT ME!

Niether did I allow my potty training tot to run around in his soaked unders, knowing that the plastic pants would provide a level of safety, when we had company over just to avoid a bathroom induced drama. NOT ME!

I did not let my exhausted children take their nap in the car seats so that I could shop at Wal-Mart without them. (and NO I really didn’t leave them alone, Daddy was with them.) Neither did I feed them nuggets and fries in their car seats knowing that it was going to be a disaster that I would later have to clean up. Nope!

Never would I let my youngest just “wiggle it out” in his bed when he’d rather not just shut those sweet eyes and take a nap. I would, of course, keep him up and play many educational and coordination building games with him. I wouldn’t let him be bored for even a second of his precious awake time even though his brother is napping, and this may be my only chance for some peace the entire day. Not me!

I did not let my toddler walk around in a stinky pull up for an hour because “he didn’t mind” and wait for Daddy to change him. No, I’d never never ever do that….. Not Me! Ha ha ha ha ha….

I did not in the least enjoy lots of wet kisses, snuggles and nuzzles, tummy tickles, drooly laughs, and hysterical moments through my whole week. Who’d like that anyway? Not me!

Enjoy writing your own “Not Me” posts with the rest of us inspired by McMamma!

Hmmmm…. basically what I’ve been up to today is sitting in front of the computer to avoid other tasks that I’d rather not do. You never do that, do you? Ha! That’s okay, I did actually get some things done this morning by plopping monkey #1 in front of Wall-e so that I’d only have to answer the occasional “Wheres’ Wall-e, Mommy?” question instead of have him following me around howling my name. I love to hear my babies say “Mommy” or “Ma-ma” in Myles’ case, but Qade has recently been saying “mommy” in a way that doesn’t thrill my heart. It’s a cross between a scream and a really aggravated whine, and is typically several decibels louder than I care for. I have been hearing this mutilation of my very special title name frequently recently, and it does get old FAST! Whenever anything is slightly “wrong” in his little world, from the blocks not stacking properly, to no being able to get his color box open, this wretched noise fills the house. Hmmmm… so this morning I “bought” a bit of peace and quiet for the price of a Pixar movie. Ahhhh!
So as we blunder and plod through the land of parenting, if it isn’t one thing it’s another. I’ve realized that Qade keeps us well supplied with projects to keep life from getting stale. No boring days around here, oh no!
Potty training is one “project” that I’m completely sick of. I’m about ready to just bust out the size 4 diapers again, and forget the whole thing! Let him wait till he is in kindergarden to figure out that he should be going about this differently. But since I’ll probably be homeschooling anyway, I’m not sure that would work either! I’ve heaped up all the “peer pressure” I can possibly think of by letting him know that EVERYONE he knows goes in the potty and NOT in their unders. He agrees whole heartedly and even chimes in, offering names of people who go in the potty. *sigh* He will usually go when I take him, but he does not initiate going EVER and if I don’t get him in there when the “cue” comes, oh well, there’s always unders to go in. This does not a happy Mommy make!
Moving right along… I don’t like to talk about potty training for too long… I start getting irritated all over again!
So on to Myles. Poor boy has a stuffy nose. He slept very poorly on Tuesday night because his nose was clogged, but last night he did fine! He dislike having his nose eve wiped let alone “sucked out.” Ugh! He’s still chipper for the most part. Myles is completely off the bottle now! I’m not sure if I had mentioned that before. I just up and decided about 2 weeks before his b-day that he was ready to be done, so away they went except for right before bed. He transitioned to the cup very very well, and didn’t complain a bit! Last weekend we went to visit the Grandparents and I didn’t bring a bottle for bed-time. Myles never even noticed. He is officially and completely a sippy cup boy now! Kinda makes me a little bit sad. While he still got at least one bottle a day he was still more a baby, ya know? Now he’s all grown up and drinking milk and juice just like his bro. *sigh* Still no steps, but he gets around pretty fast all the same. He loves playing in the dirt and the leaves with his brother outside. In fact today it was fun to watch him ever-so-busily moving dirt and leaves from one half of a cinderblock to the other and back again. It was important work let me tell ya! Myles is turning into quite a little person lately too. He pesters his big brother then yells for help once Qade has “had enough” and tackles him. Of course, it doesn’t take much for Qade to have enough so usually they both get corrected. Sometimes when I tell Myles “no-no” he stops whatever it was, but then he chuckles like he was just joking, not really going to touch it, ha ha! Funny funny boy.
Well, I have some very squishy bananas on the counter begging to be put into bread so I’d best do that or else they are going in the trash! I already baked 2 loaves of banana bread this week. I have no idea how we ended up with so many over-ripe bananas! They usually don’t last long enough in this house to even have brown spots! Hope you all are enjoying your Thursday. It is the best day of the week after all!

If your a mommy I’m sure you know the feeling. It’s that feeling that somehow we’ve let the world down, or at least our children and/or hubby. It’s a ridiculous weight that we often lug around with us as a cherished treasure that we can’t let go of. Maybe it’s just me. ???? Mommy guilt is different from real guilt. Real guilt comes from the Holy Spirit’s conviction about a sin in my life that needs to be confessed. Mommy guilt is the stuff I pile onto my own shoulders. It’s typically not even an expectation of any other person. Those people who I feel like I’ve let down, don’t think that I’m perfect, neither do they expect me to preform at a perfect level at all times. There is no such thing as perfect people! We all know and agree to this adamantly! However when I put on the shroud of Mommy guilt I think that I should be perfect, and each and every mistake adds to my “guilt” because I’m less and less perfect. I feel like if I’m not the “perfect” mom my kids will have no chance to turn out right. I feel like if my kids aren’t behaving “perfectly” it’s because I’m a “bad mom” and therefore I must pile on more Mommy guilt.

Thinking about it tonight I realized it’s just another manifestation of personal pride. Seems weird because guilt makes me feel “bad” but the reason I’m feeling guilty in the first place is because I have an elevated opinion of who I am, or should be or something. No, I’m not perfect and no matter how hard I try I never will be. No matter how much Mommy guilt I load onto my head it will never make me one bit better. In fact the Mommy guilt will simply drag me down, and keep me from being the best I can be. I need to accept the things that come along in the way of personal mistakes (not sins, that’s unacceptable), in the way of misbehavior in my children, and in the way of things to work on and improve in my marriage. Those things, instead of creating more Mommy guilt, should help me exercise my dependence on God for one, and also just problem working skills. If my toddler isn’t responding “right” to a certain form of correction, rather than feel like a flop, failure and I-should-just-have-been-a-hermit, I can re-evaluate the situation and come up with a more creative solution, or realize that what I’m doing WILL eventually work, and just have some stick2it-aveness. Like that word?

I’ve been thinking about this whole Mommy guilt thing for awhile because my hubby got me a book called “Parenting is your highest calling and 8 other myths” ha! I know, interesting title, but it’s been an amazing read for me. I’ve been devouring it as much as possible in the time I can carve out of my busy potty-training days for reading. It strikes a chord with me because I know I’ve been guilty of creating Mommy guilt for myself. But part of that is because I have, as many Christians have, bought into some of the myths that this book talks about. Basically the author is trying to get us back to a biblical perspective of who we are as parents. Just sinners, like our children, who need a real, living relationship with Christ to be an effective parent, or person really. Anyway, I’m bad at book reviewing, so I’ll just say that if you, like me, have ever struggled with Mommy guilt, this book is a HUGE encouragement!! Almost like a cooling salve over a bad sunburn! It just makes sense, and makes Mommy guilt make much LESS sense.

Tonight I fell into the Mommy guilt pit when Myles got tangled up with a wasp. Poor boy was screaming, but I couldn’t tell what was wrong. I was trying to comfort him, but couldn’t see the bug that was stuck under his shirt collar. So our little one year old was initiated into the “not all bugs are fun” club with 2 or 3 stings! Wasps can sting more than once I learned today. Anyway, there was NOTHING I could have done to make the situation turn out any differently. Stu and I had both been in the kitchen with the lad. Neither of us saw the thing flying around, and still have no earthly idea how it got on Myles. Even though that is true, I still started in loading up the Mommy guilt. “Somehow I should have seen it. I should have checked his collar first. I didn’t get the bug off fast enough! etc. etc. etc…” I could have gone on forever. See how silly it is? I do, but I still make myself the victim of a heaping helping of Mommy guilt on a regular basis. Now that I’m aware of it though I believe I am making progress with it. I can’t control everything, try as I might! I can’t change people, circumstance, or emergencies. I can only change myself, and how I respond to life and what it brings. Little by little I can become a better person, though I won’t ever reach that “perfect” pedestal that I have set up in my mind. That just has to go!
These are some of the words to a song that has encouraged me this year.

“Never let them see you when your breaking
Never let them see you when you fall
Thats How We Live
And Thats How We Try

Tell The world you’ve got it all together
You never let them see whats underneath
We cover it up
with the crooked smile
but it only lasts for a little while

there’s no such thing as perfect people
there’s no such thing as a perfect life
so come as you are, broken and scarred
lift up your heart and be amazed, and be changed
by a perfect God

Suddenly its like a weight is lifted
when you hear the words that you are loved
he knows where you are
and were you’ve been
and you never have to go there again

There’s no such thing as perfect people
There’s no such thing as a perfect life
so come as you are, broken and scarred
lift up your heart and be amazed and be changed
by a perfect God

Who lived, and died, to give you life
to heal our inperfections
so look up, and see love, and let grace be amazing!”

A friend sent this to my e-mail box, and thought I’d share it with you this way instead of e-mail. You’re more likely to read it this way. Ha!

Real Mothers don’t eat quiche;
They don’t have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn’t come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don’t want to know what
The vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask ‘Why me?’
And get their answer when a little Voice says, ‘Because I love you best.’

Real Mothers know that a child’s growth is not measured by height or years or grade…
It is marked by the progression of Mommy – to Mom – to Mother…

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE –
My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE –
My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE –
My Mother doesn’t know everything!

14 YEARS OF AGE –
My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue.

16 YEARS OF AGE –
Mother? She’s so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE –
That old woman? She’s way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE –
Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE –
Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE –
Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE –
Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears,
the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows,
and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

I had about a million things I wanted to blog about today, but fortunately I narrowed it down to just a few. However, they are totally disconnected and random, hence the title. Hope you enjoy perusing. If one doesn’t seem interesting to you, just move on down, it’ll change shortly. Ha!

COFFEE
Well, I admit that the content of my RSS reader is pretty random in itself, but I came across this article on what is in a cup of coffee. Ha! Pretty weird. Especially the part about the roach pheromones. I wonder if sprinkling coffee all around your house would discourage them from coming in??? SO glad we don’t have those ickies out here! Stu and I were going through some old photos of us in G’ville, and saw some of the “prize” pictures from the critters he caught and dispatched while we were there. Made my skin crawl!!! But that’s neither here nor there. If you’re interested in the chemical breakdown of coffee check out THIS article.

DEVOTIONS
I came across this blog that does “Devotions for Moms” which I need!! One area in which I struggle a LOT is being consistent in my own devotions. I can’t use my kids or hubby or home as an excuse! I should have the discipline it takes to MAKE the time. Things like this really help me out though. It’s just one more little way for me to get the Word and some external input on it into my day. Now I’m not going to tell you that you’ll agree with all of the things put out on this site. I haven’t read it enough to know, but I’m sure you’re able to “eat the fish and spit out the bones” if necessary.

NOT ME MONDAY
I absolutely DID NOT leave my youngest child in the same outfit for two days straight simply because it was easier on me, and because he hates to be changed. I did NOT bribe my toddler with yet another matchbox car to do a “pooey” in the potty. Nope, not me! I did NOT forget to put the beans on to soak over night and therefor NOT fix the wholesome dinner I had planned and instead feed my kids Spaghetti- O’s. I did NOT let the littlest lad have a cracker in the living room and then brush off all the crumbs on the floor because I would be vacuuming anyway. Ha! I did NOT escape into the land of Facebook and let the boys “work it out” in their room. They did by the way. I guess I don’t ALWAYS have to intervene. And the big one, I DO NOT plop my son in front of Baby Einstein nearly every morning, to give me 30 min of peace to drink my coffee and breathe. *sigh* This from the mom who NEVER wanted her kids to have the T.V. babysitter. Shhhhhhhh!

US
So what have WE been up to? Oh, so glad you asked! This weekend we went to Page, AZ and had a wonderful time with the pastor and church up there. It’s a beautiful place, right at the southern end of Lake Powell. I had no idea that was up there! Just goes to show you can live in a place all your life and not really know what’s around you if you don’t look! Anyway, Stuart was able to present the camp ministry and preach. Our boys were just the ages of the pastor’s grandkids, so they were happy to see them! We had a great time just getting to fellowship with the people up there, and see the amazing work that God has done in that little Navajo church!! They are planning to send their kids 20 or so to camp this summer! We can’t wait for that!
The boys did well on the trip. This was Myles first forward facing car ride! I think that he liked it except it took him a little while to figure out how to sleep in that position. I was very proud of both of them, they did such a good job and behaved very well in people’s home and the church as well. Whew! Qade did a fantastic job with his “training” even on the trip. He waited to do a “pooey” till we were in the hotel on Saturday after driving for so long! That really impressed Stu and me! On our way home Qade’s favorite thing to say was “Qade funny” and he’d say it over and over with different people’s names. He seems to think that every time we get in the vehicle for a trip we’re going to “Oma’s home!”
So today I need to “recover” from our trip, but something else happened that I’m going to have to recover from. As I was helping Qade wash his hands this morning, I was going to adjust his stool right as he was launching onto it, and we collided. My face to his head! Ouch! So I now have a big fat lip thanks to my tooth nearly going through it! Fortunately Qade’s head made out much better, and after his M&M’s he was fine. Mind you, this happened BEFORE my coffee this morning, so that was nearly a disaster! But I managed to get it all under control with a wet washcloth and ice pack. So now I’ve had my coffee, and think that I can carry on without too much of a problem. Ha! No one ever tells you of the perils involved with potty training, ya know? I should write a book.
Anyway, I hope your Monday is spectacular, and you don’t have any head butting issues yourself!

Seems to be Myles mantra these days. He is a bottomless pit!! I think that he’s gotten over his texture issues (mostly) and now just wants to eat everything in sight! This can include leaves and sticks and various other nummies that he finds while playing outside. The other day I had to pry a pebble out of his mouth and then reprimand Qade for filling Myles high chair tray with rocks. That was the day of our picnic on the porch. Lately though Myles has taken a very great liking to scrambled eggs!! I had a stroke of brilliance this past Sunday when we took the pastor out to Cracker Barrel. Usually I try to get Qade one of the kid’s chicken strip meals, but he rarely eats more than a few bites of it. Arg! So this time I ordered one of their smaller breakfast meals for the boys to split. Qade ate the bacon, a little egg, and a biscuit. Myles devoured the rest of the eggs, had grits, and a bit of biscuit too! I tell ya, he attacks those eggs with all the gusto in his little self! Myles also has decided that he loves to eat Vienna sausage, and spaghetti o’s. Great! Yesterday he had his first taste of PBJ and that went over pretty well too! Yes, I know that he’s not one yet, but he’s had peanut butter, eggs, whole milk, yogurt and chocolate, (which he didn’t like!) before his first b-day. I don’t think that makes me a bad mom quite honestly.
Qade has been a fantastic eater lately too. I almost never get complaints about his food. Shocking!! He loves “muffin” which is what he calls my homemade bread. He also really loves bacon and eggs, sausage, and chocolate milk. Those don’t make up the main part of his diet though. He generally eats whatever Stu and I are having, and has become such a good eater with his own fork and spoon. He is also drinking out of a regular cup at meals now. So far we have had minimal disasters with that. Mostly his issues come from accidentally tipping it too much while he’s drinking, and getting a big of a bath in the process. His vocabulary is constantly astonishing Stu and I. The other night, Stuart told him to “obey right away” which is one of our key phrases. He was in the process of whining about whatever it was he was supposed to do, and replied, “I don’t want to obey right away.” Ha!! That was one of those parenting moments when you nearly laugh out loud and ruin a perfectly good training moment. In fact Stuart had to turn away really fast to hide his smile. Fortunately I was sitting behind the lad, and could indulge in a smile. Yesterday I took the boys to school to meet up with Stu before he had to run to town for errands. He kissed me bye and said “I love you.” A minute later from the backseat I hear, “I love you, Mommy!” Awwwww!!! So I said, “I love you too, Qade” and he replied “I love you too, Mommy” ha! Love it!!!! Qade is improving on his obedience without whining. He certainly has his moments, but when I remind him of the correct response, “Yes, Mommy” it will usually cut the whining short. I know it takes a lot of consistency on our parts, and that’s probably the hardest thing about parenting.
Today I’m not quite sure what’s on my plate. Ha! I got up early again!! I’m so glad God has helped me do that this week!! It’s an important part of my own discipline that needs work. But anyway, I have yet to plot my day. I’m going to attempt to make pizza dough in the bread maker today. I’ve never done that before so it should be fun!! Homemade pizza is way yummier than Pappa Jon’s. I’ve figured that homemade anything is generally better. I’ve mostly been a convience foods kind of person, using canned soups and store bought bread for most of my life, but it really tastes so much better made at home, AND it’s NOT that hard! I’m growing and learning in life too! In fact the other day when I made chili I figured out (duh) that if you spray the crock pot with nonstick spray before putting the food in, it scrubs off WAY easier when you clean it. I fixed homemade split-pea soup yesterday! It’s one of my favorite soups, but Stu doesn’t like it. Since he was gone for dinner I made it and it was DELICIOUS!! Way better than the condensed canned stuff!! Oh and can I just say that the bread machine was one of the best investments that we have made!!! I love the bread, and I love that I don’t have to knead it! Ha! I was inspired by my friend Emily and think that I’ll use it to make some amazing cinnabon knock-off rolls tomorrow!! Sounds like just the thing for a cool Fall weekend!
This week in potty training land has been a bit of a flop. Qade did not recover well from Sunday last week, and we’ve been trying to gain ground since then with little success. He has been going in the potty, except for pooeys, but he hasn’t been keeping dry very well, so we’re still working on it all. Just in time for another weekend away! This weekend we will be presenting the camp ministry at a church, so it’s going to be very hard to keep Qade on any kind of potty schedule. Oh well, we’ll take it one day at a time and forget about worrying over it. As my frue reminded me yesterday, he’ll be potty trained before he goes to college. Have a great weekend friends!