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.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
My Goals for the Next 10 Years
I ran across a question in Yahoo! Answers asking what my goals are for the next 10 years.
Here's what I came up with:
*Taking the family to Disney World next December.
*Having another baby in 2010.
*Going to Hawaii for 10 yr. anniversary in 2011.
*A larger home by 2013.
*Taking the family to Disney World again in 2015.
My son will be 16 and my oldest daughter will be 14 in 2018, so I hope that I will have given them the knowledge and security to deal with the pressures of being a teenager. I also hope that I will be able to maintain my sanity while they do that!
My baby now will be 10 and if I'm blessed with a baby in 2010, he/she will be 8 in 2018. , so I hope that they would still enjoy being a kid and won't try to grow up too fast.
Thanks for asking!
Here's what I came up with:
*Taking the family to Disney World next December.
*Having another baby in 2010.
*Going to Hawaii for 10 yr. anniversary in 2011.
*A larger home by 2013.
*Taking the family to Disney World again in 2015.
My son will be 16 and my oldest daughter will be 14 in 2018, so I hope that I will have given them the knowledge and security to deal with the pressures of being a teenager. I also hope that I will be able to maintain my sanity while they do that!
My baby now will be 10 and if I'm blessed with a baby in 2010, he/she will be 8 in 2018. , so I hope that they would still enjoy being a kid and won't try to grow up too fast.
Thanks for asking!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Interesting Day
Apparently, my kids' huge stash of toys just isn't fun any more...My daughter decided to make a sunblock and craft paint stew while she was playing downstairs today.
I almost stepped in it.
My son and daughter were wrestling around upstairs after dinner tonight. I usually don't mind them rough housing, when they're downstairs or outside. I also tell them that if they are rough housing, that they should expect to get hurt. Accidentally, of course.
He thought it would be a good idea to haul off an punch his sister in the nose.
My baby likes to eat paper. I am constantly pulling papers and the like out of her mouth.
I found a piece of pink post-it note in her diaper.
My sister-in-law is pregnant with #4. This is the family that is in the Air Force and lives in Germany. My brother-in-law came back 3 months ago after being deployed in Kuwait and is leaving again in January for another tour (not sure where). Of course my father-in-law and mother-in-law are thrilled for this new baby (they are Catholic).
But they haven't even met baby #3.
My ex-sister-in-law may be pregnant with #3. Her oldest just turned 10 the other day! She did recently get re-married a short while ago and they just bought a new house.
It's the natural progression of things.
My husband took his car to get fixed 2 weeks ago. It was supposed to be done last Wednesday.
It' still in the shop.
I almost stepped in it.
My son and daughter were wrestling around upstairs after dinner tonight. I usually don't mind them rough housing, when they're downstairs or outside. I also tell them that if they are rough housing, that they should expect to get hurt. Accidentally, of course.
He thought it would be a good idea to haul off an punch his sister in the nose.
My baby likes to eat paper. I am constantly pulling papers and the like out of her mouth.
I found a piece of pink post-it note in her diaper.
My sister-in-law is pregnant with #4. This is the family that is in the Air Force and lives in Germany. My brother-in-law came back 3 months ago after being deployed in Kuwait and is leaving again in January for another tour (not sure where). Of course my father-in-law and mother-in-law are thrilled for this new baby (they are Catholic).
But they haven't even met baby #3.
My ex-sister-in-law may be pregnant with #3. Her oldest just turned 10 the other day! She did recently get re-married a short while ago and they just bought a new house.
It's the natural progression of things.
My husband took his car to get fixed 2 weeks ago. It was supposed to be done last Wednesday.
It' still in the shop.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Griffins game with the Cub Scouts
Oh, my gosh! We had so much fun last night. My family, minus the baby, went to a Griffins hockey game with the Cub Scouts. The kids had such a good time. We went about a year ago with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their kids and my kids got very bored and restless right away. This year was completely opposite of that. My daughter was reading the numbers on the jerseys and was cheering for them. "GO FIVE! GO FIVE!!!" (I just had to remind her that we were cheering for the guys in the white jerseys!) and my son had fun watching, because they have been playing indoor hockey in his gym class.
Sadly, we had to leave at the beginning of the third period, because it was already 10pm and we had church today. Because it was already 2 hours past my kids' bedtime and they were having so much fun, this caused quite the commotion. "I don't WANNA go!" I didn't want to go either - I love hockey. But I knew that by the time we left and picked up baby from mother-in-law's house and finally got home, it would be 11pm. If we stayed till the end of the game, we wouldn't have gotten home until midnight. No thanks! Sure enough, as soon as the car was moving, my daughter was asleep. My son fell asleep as soon as we got to Grandma's house.
I went in and grabbed the baby and all of my other daughter's things from her overnight. It turns out that the baby cried (screamed), inconsolably for 2 1/2 hours. This is exactly what she did the night before. All night long. I felt terrible. Luckily, my mother-in-law doesn't let crying bother her as easily. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it besides just holding her. Needless to say, I am exhausted. Of the past 3 weeks, she has only slept more than 3 hours at a stretch about 3 nights. I ended up not going to church because I couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning. We think the antibiotics are making her have an upset tummy. She has had just nasty diapers and a little bit of throw up too. I can't wait till her meds are done!
All in all, we had a terrific time last night. I am so glad that my kids are getting old enough that we can do things that the adults like, instead of always going to the playplace in the mall, or the Children's Museum or Chuck E. Cheeses. Which are all good places, but its nice to do adult-y things too!
Sadly, we had to leave at the beginning of the third period, because it was already 10pm and we had church today. Because it was already 2 hours past my kids' bedtime and they were having so much fun, this caused quite the commotion. "I don't WANNA go!" I didn't want to go either - I love hockey. But I knew that by the time we left and picked up baby from mother-in-law's house and finally got home, it would be 11pm. If we stayed till the end of the game, we wouldn't have gotten home until midnight. No thanks! Sure enough, as soon as the car was moving, my daughter was asleep. My son fell asleep as soon as we got to Grandma's house.
I went in and grabbed the baby and all of my other daughter's things from her overnight. It turns out that the baby cried (screamed), inconsolably for 2 1/2 hours. This is exactly what she did the night before. All night long. I felt terrible. Luckily, my mother-in-law doesn't let crying bother her as easily. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it besides just holding her. Needless to say, I am exhausted. Of the past 3 weeks, she has only slept more than 3 hours at a stretch about 3 nights. I ended up not going to church because I couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning. We think the antibiotics are making her have an upset tummy. She has had just nasty diapers and a little bit of throw up too. I can't wait till her meds are done!
All in all, we had a terrific time last night. I am so glad that my kids are getting old enough that we can do things that the adults like, instead of always going to the playplace in the mall, or the Children's Museum or Chuck E. Cheeses. Which are all good places, but its nice to do adult-y things too!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Tales of an Oppressed 6 Year Old Boy
Who knew that 6 would be such a rough age? My son is, generally, a pretty good kid. Sure, he had the terrible twos and threes, but even that only lasted from when he was 18 months until he was 30 months. So really, he didn't even make it to the terrible threes. It only took him about a month after my oldest daughter was born (he was 28 months) to get used to her and the same to get used to the baby (he was 5 1/2). Shortly thereafter, he was daytime potty trained. He was a good 3 year old, very eloquent and smart. He was a good 4 and 5 year old, very polite and creative. But 6, oh 6, is very rough.
We already had the "Its not fair" thing. Now its just a bunch of whining, demanding and bragging. All things that I DON'T put up with. Everything has to be his way. He questions everything that is asked of him. He constantly tells his sister how much better he is than her at Super Mario Brothers, Tag, Ring Around the Rosie, coloring, writing, building with Legos, etc. He threw a fit today because my wonderful husband turned off the Super Nintendo for him while he was getting his gear on to go to school. He then attempted to turn the system back on so HE could turn it off like he wanted. Everything has got to be his way or he's throwing a fit.
Needless to say, he's been spending a lot of time in his room lately with only his thoughts and a book to read - his toys are downstairs. My wonderful husband and I are "Love and Logic" parents and we do not care to listen to his attitude. So there's a lot of "Uh-ohs" going on in my house. Hopefully, soon, he'll remember that if he wants to be in the rest of the house with us, and his playthings, he's going to have to treat us all with respect.
I'm not even looking forward to what's going to happen when he gets home from school today. My mother-in-law is picking him up, as my husband is driving our only functioning vehicle. When she gets here, she will be taking my oldest daughter to her house for an overnight. My daughter asked and grandma said yes. I am quite certain that he will promptly throw a fit as they are getting ready to walk out the door. Personally, I am thankful that they are getting some time apart from each other. They each need a bit of space to just be themselves. And, hey, if he wants to go, he should just ask!
We have some pretty fun things planned for this month and over Christmas break. I really hope his attitude doesn't force us to leave him behind or change our plans. Or return his Christmas gifts.
We already had the "Its not fair" thing. Now its just a bunch of whining, demanding and bragging. All things that I DON'T put up with. Everything has to be his way. He questions everything that is asked of him. He constantly tells his sister how much better he is than her at Super Mario Brothers, Tag, Ring Around the Rosie, coloring, writing, building with Legos, etc. He threw a fit today because my wonderful husband turned off the Super Nintendo for him while he was getting his gear on to go to school. He then attempted to turn the system back on so HE could turn it off like he wanted. Everything has got to be his way or he's throwing a fit.
Needless to say, he's been spending a lot of time in his room lately with only his thoughts and a book to read - his toys are downstairs. My wonderful husband and I are "Love and Logic" parents and we do not care to listen to his attitude. So there's a lot of "Uh-ohs" going on in my house. Hopefully, soon, he'll remember that if he wants to be in the rest of the house with us, and his playthings, he's going to have to treat us all with respect.
I'm not even looking forward to what's going to happen when he gets home from school today. My mother-in-law is picking him up, as my husband is driving our only functioning vehicle. When she gets here, she will be taking my oldest daughter to her house for an overnight. My daughter asked and grandma said yes. I am quite certain that he will promptly throw a fit as they are getting ready to walk out the door. Personally, I am thankful that they are getting some time apart from each other. They each need a bit of space to just be themselves. And, hey, if he wants to go, he should just ask!
We have some pretty fun things planned for this month and over Christmas break. I really hope his attitude doesn't force us to leave him behind or change our plans. Or return his Christmas gifts.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A House Full of Sickies - Let the Fun Begin!
Two weeks ago, me and all the kids got flu shots. The next day, we all started to get the scratchy throats and runny noses. I've been fighting it off as best as I can, but the sickies are running through our house. My wonderful husband (who didn't get the vaccination) came down with a nasty cold over Thanksgiving weekend. My baby has a nasty cold and a double ear infection. My son also came down with a cold and had a stomach bug. My oldest daughter also came down with a cold, but not overly bad. I have been fighting off a little cold and also had the stomach bug.
The fun part is, ever since they pulled all the good kids medications off the shelves, I really have no good way to help ease the girls' symptoms so that they can get the rest that they need to fight off the colds. And, I don't know what medications I can take, being a breastfeeding mother, that won't get to baby through my breast milk. The only thing I know I can take is Robitussin DM, which I won't because I don't DO liquid cough medicine. Except for the Robitussin with codeine, but even then, its a last resort.
I have been toying with the idea of homeopathy. I put out some feelers on a forum that I post on. It seems that it is more difficult than I think it should be. We'll see how it goes... Hopefully the rest of the winter isn't as fun-filled as the past two weeks have been.
The fun part is, ever since they pulled all the good kids medications off the shelves, I really have no good way to help ease the girls' symptoms so that they can get the rest that they need to fight off the colds. And, I don't know what medications I can take, being a breastfeeding mother, that won't get to baby through my breast milk. The only thing I know I can take is Robitussin DM, which I won't because I don't DO liquid cough medicine. Except for the Robitussin with codeine, but even then, its a last resort.
I have been toying with the idea of homeopathy. I put out some feelers on a forum that I post on. It seems that it is more difficult than I think it should be. We'll see how it goes... Hopefully the rest of the winter isn't as fun-filled as the past two weeks have been.
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