gong
Somedays I swear I can hear a gong in the background of my life. Most of the time life is fairly normal and routine but every now and then things get off kilter and we have a regular $h!t show on our hands! Like Tuesday, for example. I was making supper for a family at our church. Baby J was napping upstairs and Her royal Highness was playing quietly with her dolls. All of a sudden the meat I was browning started smoking which set off the smoke detector that woke up the baby and sent G into a whining frenzy. Oh, and then my phone started ringing. In 12 seconds we went from relative peace to blaring sirens, screaming baby, whiny 3 year old and ringing phone. Just a touch of chaos! Thank goodness T works from home. He came downstairs for 5 minutes until I could restore some semblance of order.
In other news, we started our day today with the discovery of an abandoned pair of scissors and a pile of long blonde hair. Turns out that Little Miss Thang wanted her hair shorter and took matters into her own hands. She cut off CHUNKS of hair. There are some places where the hair is only about an inch long. Lovely. Just in time for our Christmas photo. The only redeeming factor is the most of the ravaged parts can be covered with her remaining hair. She looks a little thin on the right side but I’m not about to cut it all to the shortest length. Personally, I think it’s kind of funny (but don’t tell her that!) but T is not able to laugh about it yet. Whoever said that the 2’s are the challenging years never had a three year old!
Filed under Family, Laughing | Comment (0)art of letting go
This Christmas I am learning the fine art of letting go. I have had to decide which things are a priority and then just cut out the rest. Usually I run myself ragged at Christmas striving to make everything just perfect. This year, I don’t have the time, head space or inclination to add a single activity, tradition or side dish to my list that doesn’t have significant value. So far I’ve scratched Christmas cards, cute handmade gifts for our family members, the almond rocca and Christmas relish I make every year for our friends and half of my annual baking list. Staying up until midnight every night in December to get it all done is just not worth it this year. My sanity is up for grabs and I’m desperately trying to maintain ownership!
I’ve also pretty much cut Christmas shopping off my list too! If I can’t buy it online and have it delivered to my front door or pick it up at the grocery store or Walmart then I’m not buying it! This has been a challenge since I don’t like to buy gifts just for the sake of buying something. I think we have managed to come up with meaningful gifts that I didn’t have to tromp all over creation to get.
I’ve also been trying to be more relaxed about involving our kids. For some people this is a no brainer but since I struggle with perfectionism, it’s tough for me. Yesterday we were snowed in (so much for my family birthday supper!) so we spent the day hanging out as a family doing “Christmasy” things. The kids and I baked sugar cookies. Normally I would ice them after the kids go to bed so that the icing would be “just so”. I wasn’t going to get around to icing them that night so after supper I whipped up a bowl of icing and then plunked the kids down at the table with a stack of cookies and a small bowl of icing each. I showed them about how much icing to put on each cookie and then let them do it. Know what? They did a great job and they were so proud of themselves! The cookies aren’t perfect but since Martha Stewart is not featuring them on her show, I think it will be just fine! I also have a sneaking suspicion that Grandma and Grandpa will like them better because the kids made them.
I am enjoying the Christmas season a lot more because I am focusing on what is important: Jesus, my husband and children, our families and friends. It is a relief not to be caught up in the rush of consumerism and craziness that is out there. I’m enjoying the look of pure joy on my kids faces as they layer a fifth ornament on one puny little branch on our tree. It is good to simplify and let go. But don’t think for one second that I’m going to let you get away with trying a new stuffing recipe dear husband. I’m not that relaxed!
Filed under Family | Comment (0)pat-a-bum
What’s up with babies liking it when someone pats their bum to put them to sleep? Quite frankly, if someone was patting my butt, I’d have to throw them out of the room before I could fall asleep.
On the other hand, I wish I still had the ability to fall asleep in the middle of a crowded room when I was feeling kind of tired, bored or fed up with the people around me. I’m not sure people would find it as cute if I was to conk out mid conversation for 30 minutes or so.
Filed under Laughing | Comment (0)soaring
These verses lifted the burden I’ve been carrying from my shoulders today:
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith (Galatians 6:9-10 NLT).
Right now, loving my children is doing what is good and I can’t give up. One day, I will see the fruit of these sleepless nights…
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT)
Lost: sanity, patience and sense of humour. Reward if found.
Yesterday afternoon I had a moment where I swear I felt my brain snap like a rubber band. N was whimpering because he was feeling (understandably) crappy, G was fake crying because her lego tower fell over and that made her throat hurt and then her mean Mommy wouldn’t let her have ice cream or a popsicle and baby J was crying because someone burnt toast in China and it upset him. All of a sudden my overload buttons started flashing and I wanted to run out of our house and hide for a week.
Most of the time I can roll with the chaos that is our life but every now and then it becomes too much and something needs to give. We have been so busy lately and as I look forward to the rest of the month it only gets busier. It’s all good stuff but it’s too much when combined together. Kind of like a chocolate lava cake. I love them warm from the oven with a little whipping cream or ice cream but if you layer on both plus chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis, it turns something delicious into a diabetic coma.
I’m not usually one to moan to everyone I talk to about how tired I am and how much things suck (unless someone who gets 10 hours of sleep a night complains to me about how exhausted they are… then I might snap a little and make sarcastic comments). I tend to go more into bull dozer mode and just try to plow through everything. I get more focused and my sense of humour vanishes like dark chocolate when I’m PMSing. Just get ‘er done! Everyone clears a path for me when I get like this. I don’t mean to be so intense. I just don’t know how to deal with it all and maintain my June Cleaver manners.
Right now I am overwhelmed. I can’t tell you how sick I am of being pawed at, drooled on, hung off of and whined to at all hours of the day and night. The neediness of my children, the little favours people are asking me to do for them and the mounting tasks that need to be done for Christmas (which is another post in itself… the level of insanity Christmas has reached) are making me go crazy. I just want to organize my fruit cellar for once and for all so I can find something when I need it. Is that too much to ask?
Probably more than anything I am so overwhelmed by how things have gone with baby J. At first we thought he was a laid back kid. He slept well and ate like a champ. He still eats like a champ (all day and all night) but everything else has changed. He doesn’t sleep well. He is very sensitive and temperamental. Loud noises bother him. He doesn’t like change, chaos, new people etc. etc. He likes it best when he is alone with Mommy being held at an 87.2 degree angle. I never know what is going to upset him. Maybe it’s his teeth? Maybe he’s got gas? Maybe someone in Germany dropped a beer stein and it scared him? I am sick of feeling like I need to make excuses for why he is crying this time. I wish that he would let other people hold him more often. I wish he didn’t scream so much. I wish I felt like I could put him down to cry for a bit but it just makes him scream louder and takes more effort later. I really wish I could enjoy more of my time with him and that I had more time to spend with my other two kids. I wish I got more sleep and that things were easier. I love this baby so much. He is delightful and wonderful. I love his smiles and sweet little baby coo’s. I love his fat thighs, chubby toes and sparkly blue eyes. I even love that he is sensitive and very much his own person. I really don’t want to change him, I just want to know how to be his Mommy in a way that doesn’t suck the marrow from my bones.
Filed under A time to cry, Me, me, me, me | Comment (0)crystal tumblers make great vomit catchers
Yesterday morning N and I set out at 6:20am for his long awaited tonsillectomy (long awaited because we went through the whole referral process out West but had to lather, rise and repeat here because he didn’t get in for surgery before we moved. Turns out this province doesn’t accept out of province referrals.). By 7:20 we were settled into the kids day surgery wing of the hospital. N had a few minutes of sad tears after he changed into his hospital gown. I think the reality of it all hit him and he got a bit scared. Up until then he had been pretty gung ho about the whole thing because he was rather excited about the prospect of unlimited tv and ice cream! After a snuggle with Mom and a funny nurse telling him jokes, he calmed down.
To make a long story short, N was wheeled in for surgery around 8:15 AM (does it ever suck to hug your little love goodbye and watch him be taken for surgery, however minor it may be). It took exactly 4 minutes to perform the surgery! When the nurse woke him up, N smiled and said, “I just had a good nap. When is my surgery going to be?”. He remained cheerful throughout the rest of our time at the hospital. After several rounds of checking his vitals, many popsicles and a quick pee, they discharged him. By noon we were back at Oma and Poppa’s house (we had to stay there at the doctor’s request because they live a lot closer to the doctors office than we do).
N was such a trouper. He was so positive and tried to be brave, even when his throat started to hurt. Around 2 he suddenly got really grumpy. Nothing was helping to make him feel better. He got more and more foul until he suddenly barfed all over the chair he was sitting in. Oma was thrilled that he initiated her leather furniture but she still helped to clean up the puke and even did the laundry that came with it. Thanks Mom!
N pretty much slept and watched tv all afternoon. He was in fine spirits until supper time when he realized that he couldn’t have any of Oma’s shepherd’s pie. This brought on much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth followed by another round of the grumps. Eventually he settled on Daddy’s lap for a hug. As his mood continued to darken, I was about to suggest to T that he keep the barf bucket handy when N suddenly started throwing up again. T was sipping some scotch out of a crystal tumbler at the time and he instinctively held it up to N’s mouth to catch the puke! I think that was the first time my parent’s crystal was used as a vomit catcher!
Today N is in fine form. We’ve actually had to slow him down so he doesn’t over do it. He’s starting to eat soft food like jello and drinkable yogurt. This morning he had a little bawl fest because he couldn’t eat a cheese bagel for breakfast. Eventually he settled for a banana milkshake and a rain check on his favourite foods. He has quite the menu planned out for the first day he can eat real food! Oh my little food connoisseur!
One thing I have learned thought this is that 3 kids can feel like 10! I don’t think we would have gotten through yesterday so smoothly without my parent’s help. My Mom fed us all day and my Dad helped by holding one kid or the other when he was home. Even so, it was a challenge with N feeling sick, G wanting attention and J doing his usual broken bowel screaming routine. My head is aching today. Can’t wait for bed tonight!
Filed under Kiddies | Comment (0)rhyming
Lately we have been playing the rhyme game a lot. One of us will yell out a word and then say, “rhyme it”. The kids love it! N is getting really good at finding real rhyming words and G has gotten lots of practice getting her tongue around the sounds. Yesterday we were playing while we were eating breakfast. After a few minutes I was running out of words. So brilliant me suggests “kitchen”. Yeah, you know where that went. Bitchin’! Now my kids run around the house yelling “bitchin’ kitchen.
Filed under Kiddies | Comment (0)