Friday, February 27th started out like any other normal day. My brother dropped off my nephew at 7am; I dropped my son off to school at 8:25am; and my husband woke up around 9:30am, to get ready for his shift that started at 11am. At about 10am, my husband's boss called him and asked him to stop at Coopersville on his way into work. A few weeks ago, the RGM at Coopersville was fired for cooking the books; my husband requested to be transferred to that location because it is closer to our home than Muskegon, where he was currently working. We thought that the meeting was in reference to that request.
My husband called me at 10:30am and told me that he had been fired. Downsized, actually. Yes, the fast food industry - which usually is extremely profitable in recessions - is being forced to tighten their belts, too. Apparently HR has a complex equation that is supposed to determine fairly who stays and who goes. Because my husband was one of the newer managers, he was one of several to get the axe. We were floored. This is unfamiliar territory - we have 3 kids and 2 adults to support and never thought that we would be facing this situation.
We sat down Friday night and hashed out our finances. We decided that, most likely, we will have to cancel our trip to Disney World this year. Fortunately, due to God's grace, we had not yet purchased any of the (non-refundable) tickets and reservations for that trip. My husband had lost our copy of TurboTax and we ended up filing about 2 weeks after we had intended to. So, we can count on that check to help us survive over the next few months. Also, during the week preceding the firing, we had paid all our bills and gone grocery shopping. My father also gave us a LOT of meat - turkey and pork. So, while we only have about 30 between us, we are set on our groceries and utilities for a few weeks.
On Saturday, we sat the kids down and told them what was going on. We told them that Daddy lost his job and why. And we told them that we probably wouldn't be able to go to Disney World. I expected crying and bawling, but they surprised me and made me proud. My son said, "So we can't go to Disney World this year, but we can go sometime?" Yep, that's all he needed - to know that we would eventually get there.
Monday was a humbling day for us. We had to make the trip down to FIA to apply for food stamps and health insurance. What a humbling experience that was. There were tons and tons of people there. I never thought I would ever have to go down to apply for those things. We were there for 3 hours and it was just so uncomfortable. After that, my husband went to the Unemployment office to get that ball rolling.
We are looking into him going back to school and getting into a different industry. He's been working in fast food for the better part of 14 years and would really, really like to get away from it. Hopefully we can figure out a way to make it work without having to move out of the state. I just heard on the radio today that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the union - at 10+%. Michigan has been struggling for the past 6 years and I would really like to see better things happen here.
All we can do is pray.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Spanking
My parents got divorced when I was 8 years old. Prior to that time, my brother and I had the fear of Dad put into us when we misbehave with the ever classic, "Just wait till your father gets home...". We weren't beaten or anything, but we were spanked, and I don't ever recall getting spanked with just a bare hand. My father spanked us with a leather biker glove on, the paddle (a wooden cutting board with a handle), a hanger and a belt when we misbehaved. I don't remember much of my childhood before age 8, but the memories that I do have are definitely not the fondest.
Luckily, after my Mom took us and left my Dad, the spanking stopped. I was only hit one time after age 8 and that was when I was a teenager, mouthing off. My Mom slapped my face, I said it then and I'll say it now, I deserved that one. I was a horrible teenager and pushed WAY far over the limits MANY times.
Fast forward to when my son was born. Now my husband and I had to decide how we would raise our children. We talked it over a bit and really just came to the conclusion that neither of us were better people because of being spanked. It really is an ineffective punishment.
When my son was 2 years old and I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, that conviction was put to the test. He is and has always been a very good kid. The problem was at bedtime. I could not keep lifting him back into bed countless times every night. First, he was literally the size of a 4 year old; second, I was pregnant and exhausted; and third, I was the only one on bedtime duty since my husband and I worked opposite shifts to avoid having daycare. I ended up swatting him as a punishment for getting out of bed. He is has a "people pleaser" personality, so it didn't take more than a light swat on the tush to get through to him. That was pretty much the only time we ever employed spanking with him. During the daytime, a simple time out was sufficient to get his behavior back on track.
Fast forward to when my daughter was 2 years old. She is extremely stubborn and hard to get through to. Take away her toys? She doesn't care, she's got such an active imagination that she's content to play with anything or nothing. She's not all that attached to any one toy or doll anyways. Take away TV time? Doesn't matter, not that my kids watch that much TV anyways. Raise your voice? She laughs or just ignores. Time outs? No big deal. So, we opted for the "tried and true" spanking with her.
It didn't work.
I'm sure (though I've never tried it) that I could spank her as many times and as hard as I could and it would not phase her for more than a second. Literally. She does the little whine right after the spank and then gets right back to her antics before you're out the door.
Bed time has always been a challenge for us and a few months before the baby was born, the older two became roommates. We kept spanking, with no real results and didn't know what else to do. My sister-in-law suggested that we use a paddle on her, because that's what she does with her kids. She only wants them to associate love with her hands, so she "avoids" the negative by using a paddle. Absolutely absurd, if you ask me. I think that using anything but your hands is cowardly.
From the time the baby was 2 weeks old until she was about 8 months (in December), she was a very difficult baby, especially in the evenings. I kept racking my brain, trying to figure out what to do to get those kids to have a smoother bedtime. We have always done a bedtime routine and that hadn't made any difference. Spanking wasn't working. On top of that, I just felt horrible about spanking my kids when I never wanted to do it in the first place.
And, I was becoming a hypocrite. My son and daughter were hitting each other when the other wasn't doing what the first wanted. How could I talk to them about that effectively when I did it myself?
Fast forward to January 4, 2009. I lost control. I had never spanked in anger until that night. The kids were messing around after what seemed to be 100 warnings. I spanked them hard enough to leave bruises on their butts, and I'm not proud. I called my husband (who was working), in tears. I hated myself and I hated that in that one moment my children feared me. He talked me down and agreed that we needed to sit down and figure out a more constructive way to handle bedtime battles.
I went into my kids' room and apologized and hugged them for a long time.
That was the last time I spanked my children. I will never do it again.
I truly hope that in 20 years or so, that they won't remember that awful night. I want their memories of childhood to be better than my memories of mine.
Its only been about 2 months, but it feels like another person in another lifetime. And for that, I thank God that we were able to work through it as a family and come to a positive resolution. Yes, there are still bedtime battles, but we have minimized them and bedtime is pretty easy most nights now.
Luckily, after my Mom took us and left my Dad, the spanking stopped. I was only hit one time after age 8 and that was when I was a teenager, mouthing off. My Mom slapped my face, I said it then and I'll say it now, I deserved that one. I was a horrible teenager and pushed WAY far over the limits MANY times.
Fast forward to when my son was born. Now my husband and I had to decide how we would raise our children. We talked it over a bit and really just came to the conclusion that neither of us were better people because of being spanked. It really is an ineffective punishment.
When my son was 2 years old and I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, that conviction was put to the test. He is and has always been a very good kid. The problem was at bedtime. I could not keep lifting him back into bed countless times every night. First, he was literally the size of a 4 year old; second, I was pregnant and exhausted; and third, I was the only one on bedtime duty since my husband and I worked opposite shifts to avoid having daycare. I ended up swatting him as a punishment for getting out of bed. He is has a "people pleaser" personality, so it didn't take more than a light swat on the tush to get through to him. That was pretty much the only time we ever employed spanking with him. During the daytime, a simple time out was sufficient to get his behavior back on track.
Fast forward to when my daughter was 2 years old. She is extremely stubborn and hard to get through to. Take away her toys? She doesn't care, she's got such an active imagination that she's content to play with anything or nothing. She's not all that attached to any one toy or doll anyways. Take away TV time? Doesn't matter, not that my kids watch that much TV anyways. Raise your voice? She laughs or just ignores. Time outs? No big deal. So, we opted for the "tried and true" spanking with her.
It didn't work.
I'm sure (though I've never tried it) that I could spank her as many times and as hard as I could and it would not phase her for more than a second. Literally. She does the little whine right after the spank and then gets right back to her antics before you're out the door.
Bed time has always been a challenge for us and a few months before the baby was born, the older two became roommates. We kept spanking, with no real results and didn't know what else to do. My sister-in-law suggested that we use a paddle on her, because that's what she does with her kids. She only wants them to associate love with her hands, so she "avoids" the negative by using a paddle. Absolutely absurd, if you ask me. I think that using anything but your hands is cowardly.
From the time the baby was 2 weeks old until she was about 8 months (in December), she was a very difficult baby, especially in the evenings. I kept racking my brain, trying to figure out what to do to get those kids to have a smoother bedtime. We have always done a bedtime routine and that hadn't made any difference. Spanking wasn't working. On top of that, I just felt horrible about spanking my kids when I never wanted to do it in the first place.
And, I was becoming a hypocrite. My son and daughter were hitting each other when the other wasn't doing what the first wanted. How could I talk to them about that effectively when I did it myself?
Fast forward to January 4, 2009. I lost control. I had never spanked in anger until that night. The kids were messing around after what seemed to be 100 warnings. I spanked them hard enough to leave bruises on their butts, and I'm not proud. I called my husband (who was working), in tears. I hated myself and I hated that in that one moment my children feared me. He talked me down and agreed that we needed to sit down and figure out a more constructive way to handle bedtime battles.
I went into my kids' room and apologized and hugged them for a long time.
That was the last time I spanked my children. I will never do it again.
I truly hope that in 20 years or so, that they won't remember that awful night. I want their memories of childhood to be better than my memories of mine.
Its only been about 2 months, but it feels like another person in another lifetime. And for that, I thank God that we were able to work through it as a family and come to a positive resolution. Yes, there are still bedtime battles, but we have minimized them and bedtime is pretty easy most nights now.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Why Is it Wrong to Teach Kids Responsibility?
My favorite, and the only, mom blog that I read is written by Dawn Meehan - Because I Said So. She posted a few days ago about the responses she received from her readers about her having her older children help pick up the younger children's toys. Apparently, some of the readers were appalled that she would have her kids help her other kids out. I completely, utterly and thoroughly do not understand that opinion.
Since when is it OK to keep kids from helping out around the house?
Since when is it OK to not teach kids responsibility?
In my opinion, Ms. Meehan was completely right to ask her olders to help the youngers out. American society, as a whole has really lost most important aspect of family which is that families are supposed to function as a team. No, families don't get along ALL of the time, but we are all supposed to pitch in and help each other out.
This society is so wierdly kid-centered - parents work and ignore their kids and then give them everything and anything they want to relieve the guilt due to their negligence of their kids. WHY? Kids these days are just overly self-involved and self-centered and its really contributing to the downfall of society. Just look at all the people on government assistance that are still sticking their hands out for more money. Honestly, those people on assistance have more money at the end of the month than we do and we don't qualify.
Kids need limits, boundaries and responsibilities!!!
When I was 5, I was standing on a chair, washing dishes every night after dinner.
When I was 12, I made at least one dinner a week.
I was responsible for doing my own laundry.
I bought my own gas and car insurance - and car.
I was responsible for sweeping, mopping and cleaning the bathroom regularly.
My olders, who are 6 and 4, are responsible for helping around the house. They have to clean their room about once a week. They clean the baby's room and toys up once in a while. They have to set the table. My son helps shovel snow and he cleans the litter box. They help clean walls, windows and scrub floors. And they make their beds every day.
In working within our family as a team - Mom and Dad are the coaches, as well as players - I hope to instill in my children a sense of responsibility, ownership and family values.
Since when is it OK to keep kids from helping out around the house?
Since when is it OK to not teach kids responsibility?
In my opinion, Ms. Meehan was completely right to ask her olders to help the youngers out. American society, as a whole has really lost most important aspect of family which is that families are supposed to function as a team. No, families don't get along ALL of the time, but we are all supposed to pitch in and help each other out.
This society is so wierdly kid-centered - parents work and ignore their kids and then give them everything and anything they want to relieve the guilt due to their negligence of their kids. WHY? Kids these days are just overly self-involved and self-centered and its really contributing to the downfall of society. Just look at all the people on government assistance that are still sticking their hands out for more money. Honestly, those people on assistance have more money at the end of the month than we do and we don't qualify.
Kids need limits, boundaries and responsibilities!!!
When I was 5, I was standing on a chair, washing dishes every night after dinner.
When I was 12, I made at least one dinner a week.
I was responsible for doing my own laundry.
I bought my own gas and car insurance - and car.
I was responsible for sweeping, mopping and cleaning the bathroom regularly.
My olders, who are 6 and 4, are responsible for helping around the house. They have to clean their room about once a week. They clean the baby's room and toys up once in a while. They have to set the table. My son helps shovel snow and he cleans the litter box. They help clean walls, windows and scrub floors. And they make their beds every day.
In working within our family as a team - Mom and Dad are the coaches, as well as players - I hope to instill in my children a sense of responsibility, ownership and family values.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
...And A Partridge in a Pear Tree
Oh, my goodness! Am I tired! I spent 13 hours on my feet in the kitchen today, baking. I don't like to bake - I don't like the mess and I don't like that once the food is in the oven I can't tweak it if necessary. Its like the point of no return. So, when I bake, I bake a LOT.
I got up at 7:30 today and fed the baby. I got up again at 8:00 and changed her diaper and fed all the kids and started making batter. I made sugar cookies, thumbprints, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip, white chocolate chip and chocolate raspberry chip cookies. The first 3 required refrigeration for 1-3 hours before baking, so I made those first. Then I started on all the chip cookies, nursed the baby and laid her down for her morning nap, made lunch for the kids, made some more cookies, made lunch for myself, made more cookies, nursed the baby and laid her down for her afternoon nap, and finally finished up the cookies.
Then I took a shower, at 4:30 pm, got out and reheated leftovers for dinner. After dinner, I cleaned up, gave the kids a bath, played crazy eights and started tomorrow's dinner - lasagna. While that was simmering, the kids and I watched the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (animated) and I nursed the baby and put her down to bed. Then I assembled the lasagna and here I am watching the last episode of Friends, Season 7 and blogging. As soon as the episode is over, I'm going to switch the disk, make some popcorn and PUT MY FEET UP!
Back to the cookies, I made what must be about 1,000 cookies (only a slight exaggeration). I used 21 eggs, almost 5 pounds of butter, 6 pounds of flour and about 5 pounds of sugar. It was a lot of fun making the sugar cookies with the kids. I was much smarter than I was last year, when I let the kids decorate in the (carpeted) dining room. They used so much colored sugar that my carpet was red and green and took more than 3 swipes with the vacuum to get it all out. This year, I had them decorating in the kitchen. Still lots of sugar used, but MUCH easier to clean up.
Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get everything done that I need to get done tomorrow: sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, heating up dinner, dropping off cookies to my brother- and sister-in-law's house, taking care of all the kids plus my nephew and dropping him off before getting to church at 7pm; all while being lazy and relaxing. Something tells me that the being lazy part isn't going to happen. Especially with the forecasted 10 inches of snow that we are going to get making the roads all nasty.
I love Christmas!!!
I got up at 7:30 today and fed the baby. I got up again at 8:00 and changed her diaper and fed all the kids and started making batter. I made sugar cookies, thumbprints, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip, white chocolate chip and chocolate raspberry chip cookies. The first 3 required refrigeration for 1-3 hours before baking, so I made those first. Then I started on all the chip cookies, nursed the baby and laid her down for her morning nap, made lunch for the kids, made some more cookies, made lunch for myself, made more cookies, nursed the baby and laid her down for her afternoon nap, and finally finished up the cookies.
Then I took a shower, at 4:30 pm, got out and reheated leftovers for dinner. After dinner, I cleaned up, gave the kids a bath, played crazy eights and started tomorrow's dinner - lasagna. While that was simmering, the kids and I watched the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (animated) and I nursed the baby and put her down to bed. Then I assembled the lasagna and here I am watching the last episode of Friends, Season 7 and blogging. As soon as the episode is over, I'm going to switch the disk, make some popcorn and PUT MY FEET UP!
Back to the cookies, I made what must be about 1,000 cookies (only a slight exaggeration). I used 21 eggs, almost 5 pounds of butter, 6 pounds of flour and about 5 pounds of sugar. It was a lot of fun making the sugar cookies with the kids. I was much smarter than I was last year, when I let the kids decorate in the (carpeted) dining room. They used so much colored sugar that my carpet was red and green and took more than 3 swipes with the vacuum to get it all out. This year, I had them decorating in the kitchen. Still lots of sugar used, but MUCH easier to clean up.
Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get everything done that I need to get done tomorrow: sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, heating up dinner, dropping off cookies to my brother- and sister-in-law's house, taking care of all the kids plus my nephew and dropping him off before getting to church at 7pm; all while being lazy and relaxing. Something tells me that the being lazy part isn't going to happen. Especially with the forecasted 10 inches of snow that we are going to get making the roads all nasty.
I love Christmas!!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas "Break"
So, we had ourselves another busy weekend this past weekend. My son was a reader in the Church Christmas Program. He had a practice on Saturday at 3pm, while he was practicing, we went to Meijer down the street to get some groceries. The place was an absolute madhouse! Every single checkout lane was open and had at least a 15 minute wait. By the time we got done shopping and got back to the church, we had about 20 minutes to pass before the first performance, which took place at the 5pm service. We left as soon as the performance was done - we had to feed our dog and get the kids home, fed, bathed and in bed at a decent time. As it was, my oldest daughter fell asleep in church and didn't wake up until we got home.
The kids were in bed by 8pm and asleep by 9. I went to bed at midnight, well, I attempted to anyways. The baby woke up just as I was laying down, wanting to nurse. I had to get up at 6:30 the next morning. I got up at 6:30 and got myself ready, then woke up the rest of the clan at 7am to get dressed and out the door. Did I mention that it was blizzard conditions that morning? Being that there were 40mph winds, I let the van warm up for 30 minutes rather than my usual 10 or 15. The roads were nasty and visibility was worse. I had to drive the whole way with my hazards on, because there is a fuse out or a loose connection causing my tail lights not to light.
We got to church by 8am. I nursed the baby and got her dressed while my wonderful husband got the breads that I brought ready for the breakfast after the program at the 8:30 service. The kids performed, had breakfast and then went to Sunday school. I went to the nursery to feed the baby some Cheerios and crackers. And to change her clothes 2 more times because she managed to pee through 2 diapers within one hour. Then we went in for the 11am service and performance. We left as soon as the kids were done with that one. We were all tired and had had enough. We went to Meijer to pick up a few things that we had forgotten on Saturday and we bought our "big" family Christmas gift - a Wii. Yay!
We went home, had lunch and the kids watched a movie while Mom, Dad and baby napped. We were beat!
The kids were in bed by 8pm and asleep by 9. I went to bed at midnight, well, I attempted to anyways. The baby woke up just as I was laying down, wanting to nurse. I had to get up at 6:30 the next morning. I got up at 6:30 and got myself ready, then woke up the rest of the clan at 7am to get dressed and out the door. Did I mention that it was blizzard conditions that morning? Being that there were 40mph winds, I let the van warm up for 30 minutes rather than my usual 10 or 15. The roads were nasty and visibility was worse. I had to drive the whole way with my hazards on, because there is a fuse out or a loose connection causing my tail lights not to light.
We got to church by 8am. I nursed the baby and got her dressed while my wonderful husband got the breads that I brought ready for the breakfast after the program at the 8:30 service. The kids performed, had breakfast and then went to Sunday school. I went to the nursery to feed the baby some Cheerios and crackers. And to change her clothes 2 more times because she managed to pee through 2 diapers within one hour. Then we went in for the 11am service and performance. We left as soon as the kids were done with that one. We were all tired and had had enough. We went to Meijer to pick up a few things that we had forgotten on Saturday and we bought our "big" family Christmas gift - a Wii. Yay!
We went home, had lunch and the kids watched a movie while Mom, Dad and baby napped. We were beat!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Kids Say the Darndest Things
I was listening to the "Rick and Scott Show" yesterday morning, substitute hosted by Allen Hunt. I enjoy Mr. Hunt, who is a former minister and now radio talk-show host who focuses on societal issues of right and wrong, not 'left' and 'right'. One of his topics today was asking how people are handling tightening their belts for Christmas.
One woman called in and told a story about her kids' wonderful demonstration of love and maturity. Basically, she is a wife and stay at home mom of 5 kids, I'm not sure what ages. Her family has weekly meetings (a really great idea) and at a recent family meeting, they were going to discuss with their kids about what one really special gift they would want for Christmas, without breaking the bank. Each and every kid told Mom and Dad what toys that they wanted. The special part is, as Mom found out later, the kids had their own meeting prior to the family meeting. They discussed their Christmas gifts and they knew that money was tight and they all agreed to only ask for gifts that were less than $10.
What wonderful kids! Obviously, they understand the TRUE meaning of Christmas and I think that the initiative that they showed is indicative of what good parenting they've received.
I can only hope that my kids are even moderately as compassionate as those kids are.
One woman called in and told a story about her kids' wonderful demonstration of love and maturity. Basically, she is a wife and stay at home mom of 5 kids, I'm not sure what ages. Her family has weekly meetings (a really great idea) and at a recent family meeting, they were going to discuss with their kids about what one really special gift they would want for Christmas, without breaking the bank. Each and every kid told Mom and Dad what toys that they wanted. The special part is, as Mom found out later, the kids had their own meeting prior to the family meeting. They discussed their Christmas gifts and they knew that money was tight and they all agreed to only ask for gifts that were less than $10.
What wonderful kids! Obviously, they understand the TRUE meaning of Christmas and I think that the initiative that they showed is indicative of what good parenting they've received.
I can only hope that my kids are even moderately as compassionate as those kids are.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Holiday Craziness Isn't So Crazy This Year!
This past weekend, however, WAS crazy. Since 1999, my Decembers have been a flurry of activity, being double and triple booked for Christmas parties each of the 4 or 5 weekends of the month. Both my wonderful husband and I come from divorced (and mostly remarried) parents. With all that dysfunction comes a lot of holiday expectations. There's always the party with my Mom and Step-father, the party with my Step-father's family (who are all great), with my Mom's side of the family, with my Dad and Step-mother (which has recently been eliminated - their decision, not ours), with my Dad's side of the family, with my wonderful husband's Dad and Step-mother, and my former employer had a party and we each threw parties at our respective restaurants. And then, there's the Christmas Eve service at church and, starting last year, the children's musical at church. Finally, there's Christmas day, which we ALWAYS spend at home, because its no fun to open all the presents and then leave.
This year, we only have/had a few parties: with my Dad's side of the family, with my Mom's side of the family, with my Mom and Step-father and siblings and, eventually one with my wonderful husband's family - that still isn't set.
Over Thanksgiving, my wonderful husband's brother asked him to help him clean up and and make his desktop and laptop computers more efficient. They live in Sterling Heights and we live in Grand Rapids. My wonderful husband thought it would be easiest to go there and do what needed to be done. My sister-in-law insisted that our whole family come over to their house so that the kids could play together. Then, all of us were invited to a birthday party of a different nephew, who lives in Holly. And, there was an extra practice scheduled for the musical at church on Saturday morning.
So, Friday night, my husband has to work the closing shift - until 4am. I spent Friday evening packing and making a fruit salad and cutting vegetables. Saturday, I had to get up at 7:30, to get everything else ready that couldn't be done the night before. I let my wonderful husband sleep for as long as possible. So, we all loaded up (including the dog) and went to my mother-in-law's house to drop off the dog, the husband and the girls. Then I took my son to church for practice, went to Meijer to pick up some baby food and juice and dropped my chopped veggies off to my brother's house so he could bring them to the party for me. Then I went back to my mother-in-law's house so that my wonderful husband could go deliver the rest of the popcorn from the Boy Scout's popcorn sale.
Then we made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Holly and did the birthday party thing. It was a nice party, but very busy. My baby just started the separation anxiety thing (I've never had to deal with that before!) and with that, she had 2 offended Grandparents. Can she help that they've only seen her twice? After we left the party that ended late, we drove another hour to brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner and computer stuff. I got the kids ready and in bed by 9:30. My son fell asleep by about 10, which wasn't bad, since he was sleeping on an air mattress with 2 of his other cousins and another cousin was in the bed. My oldest daughter fell asleep around 1:00am and the baby never slept for more than 1 hour at a time.
She cried all night long. As a result, I only got a cumulative 3 hours of sleep. Then we went to church, where my wonderful husband proceeded to fall asleep about 1,000 times. Then we went back to the house, where my husband worked on finishing up computer stuff until 1:30. At which time, we said our good-byes and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to Greenville. We had to stop 3 times! My oldest daughter slept for about 3 hours, which was definitely necessary.
We had a good time at the Christmas party and left at 7:00pm, at which time, my daughter had already had at least 2 meltdowns and the baby had already offended almost every adult there with her mommy clingy-ness. We drove 45 minutes to my mother-in-law's house to pick up the dog and then another 20 minutes home.
We got home, got the kids in bed, unpacked and crashed. The baby slept all night, until 5:00am and we were back to business as usual Monday morning, with a 2 hour school delay.
Yeah, not so crazy...Yet.
This year, we only have/had a few parties: with my Dad's side of the family, with my Mom's side of the family, with my Mom and Step-father and siblings and, eventually one with my wonderful husband's family - that still isn't set.
Over Thanksgiving, my wonderful husband's brother asked him to help him clean up and and make his desktop and laptop computers more efficient. They live in Sterling Heights and we live in Grand Rapids. My wonderful husband thought it would be easiest to go there and do what needed to be done. My sister-in-law insisted that our whole family come over to their house so that the kids could play together. Then, all of us were invited to a birthday party of a different nephew, who lives in Holly. And, there was an extra practice scheduled for the musical at church on Saturday morning.
So, Friday night, my husband has to work the closing shift - until 4am. I spent Friday evening packing and making a fruit salad and cutting vegetables. Saturday, I had to get up at 7:30, to get everything else ready that couldn't be done the night before. I let my wonderful husband sleep for as long as possible. So, we all loaded up (including the dog) and went to my mother-in-law's house to drop off the dog, the husband and the girls. Then I took my son to church for practice, went to Meijer to pick up some baby food and juice and dropped my chopped veggies off to my brother's house so he could bring them to the party for me. Then I went back to my mother-in-law's house so that my wonderful husband could go deliver the rest of the popcorn from the Boy Scout's popcorn sale.
Then we made the 2 1/2 hour drive to Holly and did the birthday party thing. It was a nice party, but very busy. My baby just started the separation anxiety thing (I've never had to deal with that before!) and with that, she had 2 offended Grandparents. Can she help that they've only seen her twice? After we left the party that ended late, we drove another hour to brother and sister-in-law's house for dinner and computer stuff. I got the kids ready and in bed by 9:30. My son fell asleep by about 10, which wasn't bad, since he was sleeping on an air mattress with 2 of his other cousins and another cousin was in the bed. My oldest daughter fell asleep around 1:00am and the baby never slept for more than 1 hour at a time.
She cried all night long. As a result, I only got a cumulative 3 hours of sleep. Then we went to church, where my wonderful husband proceeded to fall asleep about 1,000 times. Then we went back to the house, where my husband worked on finishing up computer stuff until 1:30. At which time, we said our good-byes and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to Greenville. We had to stop 3 times! My oldest daughter slept for about 3 hours, which was definitely necessary.
We had a good time at the Christmas party and left at 7:00pm, at which time, my daughter had already had at least 2 meltdowns and the baby had already offended almost every adult there with her mommy clingy-ness. We drove 45 minutes to my mother-in-law's house to pick up the dog and then another 20 minutes home.
We got home, got the kids in bed, unpacked and crashed. The baby slept all night, until 5:00am and we were back to business as usual Monday morning, with a 2 hour school delay.
Yeah, not so crazy...Yet.
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