Sweet Escape

If I were technically savvy I would put the song by Gwen Stefani with the same name as the post title to play in the background....WOO HOO, WEE HOO....but I'm not!

I really need a sweet escape right now. I thought I needed one last week, but now I reeeeeally need it. I have been looking forward to a girls' retreat with my book club/small group, L7, for weeks. Well at 2a.m. 3 days before I was to leave Anderson began vomiting. The same day Justin started to run a fever, feel achey, and flu-like. By Thursday, Justin was confirmed to have the flu at Urgent Care and Anderson was admitted to the ER with dehydration. My first trip to the ER as a mommy, and hopefully (but probably not) my last. I had to take him by myself because Justin was so sick. That was the beginning of a very long and exhausiting week. My capacity for sleep deprivation and caring for my family have been pushed to the limits. I thank God for my family and Justin's family. They have been such an enormous help to us. I was able to shuffle around Anagrace and Ashton the past few days among our relatives so that they were only minimally exposed to the germs around here. This is the 3rd night they have been away from home...I miss them so much!

Things have been so crazy that I have had very little time to do anything other than change countless diapers, administer medicines, and care for my sick fellows. Even finding time to shower and eat have been challenging. So even the simplest of escapes have been few and far between. My typical escapes from stress are the computer, TV, and food...not very proud to admit that. I wish I could say it was exercise or something more productive.

Tonight I got a chance to catch up on blog reading and write this post and I visited facebook briefly. Wednesday I watched LOST and Friday I watched the movie The Secret Life of Bees. Last night, I ate some Chinese food. I think the portion was intended for two people because they gave me 2 fortune cookies. Hmmm...Oh well! I was hopeful after reading the first fortune:

But, then I opened the second one:

Not exactly true at the moment.

I have decided to hold on to these true promises:

God is [my] refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 .

and

I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Phillipians 4:13

I know that I will get through this and afterward all of the daily stresses that go along with motherhood. I must look to Him and His Word for a true sweet escape.

Would you Rather...

Back in the day, my friends and I would play the "would you rather". The choices were always difficult. (Compound that with the fact that I am super-indecisive and this game could take forever!) Well, I was on the elliptical at the gym tonight reading a Parents magazine and they had a poll with a "would you rather" question. I, of course, had a difficult time and pondered it while I ellipticized...or whatever you call it?! Now I pose the question to you. Come on bloggy friends, won't you play along?

Would you rather have MORE MONEY or MORE SLEEP?


By the way, the Parents magazine had the statistics at about 80% for more money and 20% for more sleep.

Our Soon-to-be-Kindergartener

Anagrace is officially registered for kindergarten! One paper in the registration packet had questions that focused on her personality and learning style. This posed a challenge to me because she is a lot like me in that she has personality traits that seem to change according to mood or circumstance....shy or outgoing...leader or follower...independent or dependent...stubborn or compliant...it just depends. These words and other adjectives were scattered randomly on a section of the paper. I circled the ones that seemed fairly consistent with her: sympathetic, friendly, fearful, helpful, and happy. There was also a section that I could add more to describe her so I wrote "she is the oldest of three and the only girl", and those facts of life have definately shaped her personality. I didn't write the following, but that paper made be think about my soon-to-be Kindergartener:

Being a big sister has made her helpful and increased her compassion. She has certain traits that are characteristic of the first born: she is picky and precise, likes to be in control and doesn't like surprises, can sometimes be a "know-it-all", often bossy and feels that she is right, responsible and tries to keep the rules and will misbehave if rejected, and she tries to please others.

Parenting her, a firstborn, I know that I need to be careful in what I expect from her. I can be a perfectionist, and I see that in her too. I don't ever want her to feel like she cannot live up to my ideals. I need to try really hard not to "fix" things that she has done. I need to praise her in all of her attempts and try to minimize the pressure she puts on herself. I need to not demand so much from her and expect her to behave older than her age. I must remember that she is still only five. I need to make sure to devote one-on-one time with her. I spend so much time and energy with the boys, but I need to set aside some "girly time" for my only girl. I can see so much of myself in her. And I know she watches me. I want to be a better mother for her. She challenges me and she is helping me to grow, just as I am trying to do the same for her.

Lucy

Today was absolutely beautiful. The weather could not have been better. Justin dropped me off at our small group leaders' house after church, lunch, and a few hours enjoying the beautiful day with the family at the McMullen Creek Greenway. It was a ladies only small group gathering this week. The men were on "daddy duty". We sat out at a picnic table by Lake Wylie. Great view. Great weather. Great conversation. And the beginning of great friendships. Could it get any better?
After praying with the group, I started walking home. Their house is only a few miles from ours and even closer if you take a shortcut on the golf cart path. I was only a few yards from thier house when a black lab with a Mickey Mouse collar started to follow me. She followed me to the end of their road before I turned around to see if any of the people out on their street (which were a lot due to the lovely weather) knew who owned the friendly pup. No one knew. One boy on a bike said that the dog just showed up at the park. So, I continued on my way, thinking that the dog would eventually quit following and head home herself. But, that dog followed me all the way home. I did not say one word to her or show any kind of affection, but she insisted on staying by my side. I put her in our fenced-in back yard and was planning to take her picture and post some "Found" posters. Then Justin suggested I call the non-emergency line to the police department. I felt silly calling the police department to tell them about our situation, but once I began to explain the man on the other end asked "Is it a black lab?". Before we knew it a lady was at our house picking up the sweet dog she called Lucy. She said her children had been walking the neighborhood and golf course for hours looking for their dog. Lucy was a good ways from home, a lot further than we walked together. Lucy's "mom" was so grateful and they were so happy to see eachother. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.

Motherhood is Painful

I was laying down with Ashton yesterday. Nursing and hoping that we could catch an afternoon nap together. He was a little squirmy, but once he got his hands to my hair he settled in and drifted off to sleep. Something about twirling and twisting his hands in my hair relaxes him if he is fussy or sleepy or needs comforting. It can be painful, though.

As I was laying there, I started to think of how mothering is such a painful process. Actually bringing the baby into the world is extremely painful! Mothers share their birth stories like veterans share their battle stories. How long the labor was (7-14 hour range for my 3), natural or c-section (natural), meds or no-meds (minimal/no epidurals), and so on. But, the pain doesn't stop there. Eventually, that baby grows up and has to register for kindergarten. And when that happens a mother's heart is not quite sure it is ready to let go. Just retrieving the immunization records for Anagrace's kindergarten registration brought on sadness. It reminded me of all of those shots she endured and how with each one I had wished I could take it for her. I wished that I could take away the pain; I hurt with her. I wish I could prevent the emotional pain that is sure to occur in school. Children can be so cruel. The stronger seem to prey on the weak, the confident on the insecure, and I just pray that she is not on the giving or recieving end. But, I know that she will get hurt, and when she gets hurt I will hurt too. All of these thoughts swirled in my mind today as I sat and waited for her to return to me in the waiting area. She had small tears that she wiped away, trying to be brave as she walked away with a kindergarten teacher to assess her readiness to enter school. Choking back my own tears now that she could not see me, I was glad no one was assessing my readiness because I surely would have failed. Mothering is a painful process. But I am happy to endure hair-pulling, labor, and heartache to get to be the mother of my precious three. With pain, comes joy.

SnOw much Fun!

Monday was a great day. Justin stayed home from work. I made homemade pototo soup. Anagrace made a snowgirl. And we all went sledding on the golf course. We had SnOw much fun! As opposed to the the days preceding the snowfall...they were sNOT much fun. The boys have had nasty runny noses for a while. The doctor recommended letting it "run its course", but after more than 2 weeks of the junk he prescribed an antibiotic. They never seemed to feel bad, just their noses were constantly leaking. They seem to be doing better. But, please excuse the snotty noses in the following pictures and video clips:

He was wearing mittens, but didn't want to leave them on. He wanted to touch the snow, and then say "Toooold!"
Ashton's first snow, well not the first snow since he was born. But, the first snow he saw...and "enjoyed"!

Anagrace with her snowgirl, complete with hat, scarf, raisin eyes and mouth, carrot nose and tomato buttons. She and Daddy built it later in the day. Thank goodness all of the snow hadn't melted away yet!

Here is a video clip of Anagrace sledding by herself:

Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom

Okay, I'm feeling a little guilty and think I should confess a few things:

I watched the final 3 episodes of this season's Bachelor. There was a time in college that I watched a couple of seasons, but not since. That's a pretty funny sentence in itself. It seems that a lot of confessions start out with "There was that one time in college..." At least this one was only about a reality TV show! I don't generally like shows that manipulate peoples' emotions and portray their heartache for the whole world to see. I hate those talk shows that the hosts pretend to really care about a child's paternity or why the spouse cheated with the best friend. But, I sat in front of my TV and watched the finale and "after the rose" show in which the bachelor dumped a girl and proposed to the other, then on the next show dumped the fiance and asked the other to start a relationship. It was a train wreck, I knew I shouldn't look but I just couldn't help it!

Last week I tore a picture out of a magazine from Wal-Mart because I did not want to buy the whole thing. It was $8 for a magazine of hairstyles! I didn't want all of the hairstyle pictures, just one. I thought about buying the magazine and then returning it after showing the picture to my hairstylist, but I thought that was too tacky. So, instead I just ripped out the little 2x2 inch photo. Not good, I know.

Laundry is overtaking our house. I feel like I cannot keep my head above the sea of clothes. I have tried and tried to get a good routine, but have failed each time. Okay, here's the big confession. I have used a "wash, dry, fold" service 3 times in our marriage because it has been such a problem...and...my mom has taken some of the kids' clothes to wash for me on several occasions. I am trying very hard to get this clothes situation under control, but I may have to rely on some "old friends" for help!

Well, I feel a little better now that I got those things off my chest! Gotta go so I can start a load of laundry and wash my pretty new hair-do before the Bachelor-After the Final Rose Part Two comes on!