Friday Confessional

I saw this over on Mammarazzi's page and followed the link and it just kept getting better and better and so I confess that I...

• just talked Ralph into having PopTarts for lunch because I was too tired to make a sandwich.
• have started nursing Booger Head laying down when I am at home, so I can nap for a few minutes.
• didn't even ask the eye Dr. if Stinky could play in his last baseball game of the season, I just told him he wasn't going. Because I didn't want to go. But he was still miserably light sensitive on Thursday night, so I stand by the decision.
• am seriously annoyed with people who send their kids trick or treating and then throw away the candy because it's unhealthy. Seriously. Get over yourself. Let them eat candy or keep them at home and feed them those annoying little boxes of raisins.
• was a little bummed when the new security guard at Dad's work just let me right in yesterday afternoon. They've had a rash of car thefts at Dad's work recently and are screening everyone who is coming in. I was all set to argue with him that I was totally there to trade my minivan for something better and I brought my four children along for the crime. The family that steals together stays together.
• am one of those people who throw away Halloween candy. But it's not what you think. I use it as a disciplinary tool. Last year when my kids laughed at me as I bagged up the toys they wouldn't clean up I changed tactics and started throwing away Halloween candy by the handful until it wasn't funny anymore. "How about now? It is still funny?"
• plan on eating all the peanut butter cups myself. Chocolate tax.
• sometimes sit in the shower and wait for Booger Head to stop crying and fall asleep before I get out.
• was relieved when Pinky decided that she wanted to be a black cat instead of a cupcake for Halloween. Way less work for me.
• ordered a book about a black cat rather than wait for her to pick a story book character to dress up as for school. Plus I'd rather buy a book than a second costume for the year.
• thanked Stinky for going as Jack from the Magic Tree House books for school because it meant he could just go in his regular clothes. He was my favorite for the day.
• was so proud of him for picking a clever costume for Trick or Treating in this year. There will be pictures...
• hate that the school won't just let them dress up. They have to smart it up by making them pick someone from a book...makes it such a pain to pick a costume.
• refuse to decorate the trunk of my car for the church party. I don't put Halloween decorations on the outside of my house, why on earth would I drive them around in my car? If you wanna complain about it feel free to walk right past my bowl of candy.
• take off my jeans and go for the yoga pants as soon as I get home. Like I abandon Dad to get the kids and/or groceries out of the car and make a b-line for the closet.
• started wearing the Yoga pants out of the house when I was pregnant with Booger Head and I still do sometimes. I know, I know...
• watch The Vampire Diaries. And love it. 
• don't put on make up or do my hair if I don't have to go anywhere that day.
• have to take a shower before bed if I get all sweaty and smelly during the day. Otherwise I'll puke.
• argued with the sewing machine for half an hour last night before I realized that the bobbin was not in fact in the bobbin case...
• argued with it another few minutes before realizing that the thread also wasn't strung through any of the tension things, just threaded through the needle. Yeah. I may have been too tired for sewing. 
• went to bed so late last night that when I got up this morning my hair was still wet from the shower I had to take before I could go to bed.  
• don't really care if we don't carve the pumpkins at all this year. We haven't had time and it's a pain anyways. 
• just discovered that the cowboy shirt Ralph needs for this year got put away dirty after Stinky wore it. Three years ago. Nice to know that we have always sucked and it's not a new thing.
• need to go take a nap now.

Safety Glasses

I've been sort of absentee blogging lately, I blame baseball. Thank heaven we are almost done...this is the last week and we won't be going to Stinky's game because he got a huge scratch on his cornea. Again. In his short 7 years he's done this three times, though never this bad. I'm debating making him wear a pair of these full time...the kid already wants to be a scientist when he grows up.

I picked him up early from school, with my little kids and Sam's little kids since it was our volunteering day, and took him to the eye Dr. as soon as they could get him in. As a side note I was THRILLED to discover that the eye doctor we see, that is literally 5 minutes from my house is covered on the stooopid new insurance we got this year! Hooray! So I didn't have to take him to the pediatrician 45 minutes away and it's good to know it'll be covered if I get another big nasty sty! Yay! Anyways, back to the story...

I left Pinky and Ralph at my house with Sam and all of her kids and took Booger Head and Stinky with me. Pinky had her last TBall game last night (Thank the heavens above!) so I left her uniform out and discussed having Sam's hubby Roon take Dad and Pinky to the ball park if needs be. (Sam is the greatest by the way...three cheers for Sam!)

I took him in and he was totally miserable and the gal tried to check his vision in the scratched eye but he couldn't open it without crying so his vision was 0. They got his eye all numbed up and we hurried through the exam, since the drops only last about twenty minutes. His vision had decreased a bit and the cut was more like a gouge and it was huge. She said it covered almost the entire pupil and was deep enough she was concerned that his eye may have been punctured. Luckily there didn't seem to be any fluid leaking from the scrape itself. She dialated his eye with some stuff that should last a few days, which will help with the spasming every time he opens it, and they put a bandage lens on his eye. It is just like a contact lens, he did really well for that, I was surprised...but he was still very numb at that point.

I made it home just in time to take Dad and Pinky to Tball and then headed to WalMart to get the boy some sunglasses to help keep the light out of it and to fill the prescription for antibiotic eye drops made of gold. OVER AN HOUR and $50 later we left the pharmacy. Don't get me started. There is no reason whatsoever it should take that long to put a sticker on a box. Morons.

He'll be home from school tomorrow so that I can put eye drops in his eye every hour all day long (sounds like fun, no?) and maybe Thursday too. He's really concerned about missing trick or treating but he should be at least okay by Friday night (church party) and able to go with Dad and the kids on Saturday night...at least I hope so or my late-night-candy-stealing pickings will be a bit thinner. :) Chocolate tax baby!

Now I just have to track down the child who poked him in the eye and ransom the $150 this is going to end up costing me out of his parents...haha, kidding. Mostly.

TMI

I tried THIS out and it worked. Trust me BOYS, you don't want to know...but all you nursing girls out there know how awesome this is. I HATE and DESPISE my nursing bras this time around.  

HATE and DESPISE. 

I would like to say, just for the record, that this tutorial is the only thing on this website (related to nursing) that I think is cool. Bunch of weirdos nursing for YEARS. As in more than one. Ugh. This may be my last baby but I am counting down...seriously. 199 days...

Embrace the Camera

Me and Ralph being silly...

Me and Ralph being less silly...or maybe just me being less silly.

Love you silly Ralph.

40%

A 40% chance of afternoon showers is enough for a person to get excited and start to think that maybe she won't have to go to T-ball tonight...ask me how I know.

 

I gotta say, Larry, I am having a hard time seeing your 40%...would you care to enlighten me?

I Made It!

But I can't get a good picture if it...

It really is hard to capture its awesomeness. I love it!

Inspiration came from HERE. It screamed "Halloween!" at me when I saw it and I went to the store ASAP to get the stuff. I don't put up many Halloween decorations, I am my mother's daughter and I think Halloween is a stupid holiday, but I LOVE this!

It took me three boas to cover the 14" wreath, not sure how she managed to do it with two...I was so bummed when I didn't have enough stuff.

This is such a cute idea...I'm thinking in white for winter time (sparkly of course) with some pale blue ribbon...in pinks for a small diva's bedroom...in brown above my TV maybe...

Love it when stuff turns out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go look at my cool wreath while I don't make the grocery list.

Top Ten

We are in desperate need of some blessing counting around here...so here goes. The top ten for this week are...

1. Getting to see an old friend who I haven't seen in waaaaay too long and getting to take another friend with me. We should totally do that more often. I miss you Bekah!

2. Booger Head doesn't hate pears as much as he hates apples. He still LOVES rice cereal. Weirdo.

3. We played our last "double header" of the season last night. Pinky played at 6 and Stinky played at 7:30...Ugh. From here on out on baseball nights we only have one child having a game and not two...we were at the ballpark for 4 hours yesterday. No joke. Just two more weeks to go!

4. Pinky got up this morning at 6 in the freaking AM because she was SOOOOO excited about her pumpkin patch field trip today and then she cried when we told her it wasn't time yet.

5. I had a brief stroke of genius and thought of a fabulous, non-messy, Christmas present for the kids. They are going to love it, I will survive it and we won't have to clean it up or fight over it for the rest of the year. Everybody wins!

6. Dad got all of his time in this week so he doesn't have to go into work after the field trip, which means he should be here and done for the day by 3pm. Hallelujah! Also means that I don't have to get the house all cleaned up for our half of the babysitting swap by myself.

7. I finally figured out how I am going to redo the stupid paper letter. As soon as my thumb gets over its play pen folding injury I'm going to start working on it. Stupid, sore, old fingers...

8. I made the most delicious chicken pasta dish for dinner on Sunday night...we are SOOO having that again. Hopefully soon!

9. I did all the laundry and, brace yourself, FOLDED IT TOO! I haven't put it away yet...don't want to freak people out too much around here.

10. Stinky decided on a very easy, and very funny, costume. I only have to buy one thing and the rest will take me less than ten minutes. There will be pics...don't you worry.

11. I got to talk to my super busy Mom for about 40 minutes one day.

12. I found out that Stake Conference is acutally going to be in my building and not a hour away in a building with an afterthought type Mother's Room.

13. I figured out a way to salvage a cute dress I bought when I was in Utah that got about four inches shorter when I washed it.

14. Booger Head started sleeping a reliable 12 hours at night and I had him bed before 9:15 twice this week. Baby step to 8 o' clock, baby step to 8 o' clock...

Okay so that's more than ten. Lucky me :)

Some People's Kids

After nearly soaking the linoleum off of the floor while they were showering this evening I told the boys they would have to clean up the mess they made.

Stinky sauntered into the living room a while later and I told him to turn it around and clean up the water. He informed me that he had already cleaned it up.

"Really? What did you use to clean it up?"

His response?

His sister's towel of course. What else would he have used?

I Made These...

You shouldn't make these. They're disgusting. You would hate them. In fact you better just give them to me so I can save you from the nastiness.

Mmmm. Mmmm... How I wish I still had a pan of these bad boys sitting around. As you can imagine they didn't last long here. We made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls on Dad's birthday, which also happened to be Conference Sunday. Holy freaking wow, they were SOOOO delicious. I liked them better when they were cool, I thought the sweet was a bit too much when they were still warm.

If you aren't familiar with Pioneer Woman you're missing out. Everything she cooks is good...brisket (no smoker required and we eat off of it for 4-5 meals), apple pie (I will NEVER make another double crust apple pie, and I mean NEVER), drip beef (LOVE the Italian version)..it's all good. And she wrote out the whole story of how she met and married a fourth generation cattle rancher on her way from LA to Chicago. It's an awesome story... awesome website.

Okay, so things I changed. Obviously I had no coffee to put in the icing. It was good anyways. I used half brown and half white sugar in the rolls themselves and I added about 1/2 c. finely chopped pecans to them as well. They were truly amazing...and honestly not that much work.

I so wish I had one right now...

Exhaling

Relax. I put down the ornery stick. :)

"When you're in a slump you're not in for much fun,

Un-slumping yourself is not easily done."

                                          -Dr. Suess

Today I owe this little Booger big time. Thanks for smiling and giggling the moment you saw me this morning...I really needed it Man.

I had a rough weekend. Just in a yucky funk I couldn't shake. Just a minute ago Dad asked me if I was feeling better?

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm over it."

Then he says, "I meant your cold."

Oh. Yeah. That's better too. :)

Craptastic

Just a warning, if you're looking for something bright and bubbly to start your week off with you may want to look elsewhere... I'm armed with an ornery stick and am not afraid to burst some bubbles with it today.


Craptastic: I have been battling a sinus thing for what feels like forever now...I have to keep reminding myself it could be worse. The time last year I was just barely pregnant with Booger Head and fighting off the swine flu. On my own. Without medication. Because no one will touch you with a ten foot pole when you're pregnant and have the swine flu.

Fantastic: I AM NOT pregnant and I do not have the swine flu.

Craptastic: I spent all day on Friday updating and balancing the checkbook, which was off by an even five dollars (GGRGGGGRRRGGGRRR!!!), and paying the bills; and did not get the grocery list done so we could do the grocery shopping on our date. If that sounds like a lousy date to you then you have obviously never taken four children grocery shopping on a Saturday...trust me. I'd rather sacrifice a date.

Craptastic: Pinky and I went grocery shopping with Booger Head while Dad stayed home with the two little pigs who refused to clean up their rooms. Booger Head screamed bloody-freaking-murder the WHOLE time we were in Kroger.

Craptastic: When I got home the house looked just as crappy as it did when I left.

Fantastic: The living room is clean.

Craptastic: It got to the point where Mom dissolves and cries for an entire day before anything got picked up. Seriously. If I am the only one who cares what it looks like out here then why bother..."My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?" -Erma Bombeck

Fantastic: When the two little pigs finally started cleaning up their room, after being grounded for two days because of the mess, it took them under twenty minutes to have it all cleaned up.

Fantastic: I got a new book on our poorly planned date on Friday night. We had no idea what we were going to do after we dropped the kids off so we spent most of the night avoiding traffic only to get caught in different traffic. Oh well.

Craptastic: I want to find a large coffee table I can refinish and turn into an upholstered ottoman for my living room...I am also keeping my eyes open for an end table, a sofa table and a buffet type cabinet with good bones so that I can try my hand at refinishing furniture. So we went to a really skeevy Goodwill store on our date. Yeah. Nice.

Craptastic: We paid too much for dinner and it wasn't that great. (At least I didn't think so.) I also paid too much for my book. I saw it for half what I paid for it at the grocery store (WTC?!) the next day. I think I'll stick to ordering my books online. In fact I was so annoyed that I came home and ordered two books from Amazon just to spite Barnes & Noble. Neener neener. 

Craptastic: Dad had to work all night long on Saturday night because he's taking Friday off to go on Pinky's field trip with her, because I can't go. Because I am joined at the boob to a small whiny person who is not welcome on the kindergarten field trip.

Craptastic: I was up late and slept really poorly while he was gone...which made it hard to shake the lousy day I had on Saturday.

Craptastic: I also forgot to wash whites on Saturday so I was short on undies on Sunday morning. I gave up and went back to bed. So we missed church.

Fantastic: Tomorrow is Monday. Oh wait... Did I mislabel that? No! It is fantastic! To the best of my knowledge we DO NOT have to go to anything at the ball park! Halle-freakin-lujah!

Here's to leaving the past in the past and starting over tomorrow.

I Don't Have Time For This

You know that commercial for cold medicine where the lady has the big teddy bear head in place of her own? I looked for one but the closest I got was this.

Hmmm...maybe that helps. A little.

Anyways, I totally get how that chick feels now...I have had a major case of "bear head" lately. My sinuses are packed with nasty crap and my throat feels like I swallowed a Brillo pad.

Maybe I need some medicine...

 Then again, maybe not.

Enough Already

Dear face,

We are not 14 anymore. So cut it out.

Seriously.
Mom

Embrace the Camera

I rigged up the camera in an effort to get a shot of the kids and I for Dad's birthday. I had had pictures taken of just the kids and I before...like four years before...when I was pregnant with Ralph. So I suppose now is a good time to update that...Here's the top two from the shoot...

I framed the top one for Dad...though I like the bottom one more...I wish Booger Head had been looking at the camera in both of them...

Just Keepin' It Real

As I type this I am debating whether or not I should actually post it. I know that this is a sensitive issue for many people...in the last two days I've read no less than six blogs or statuses about how much this bothers people.

And I am starting to feel sort of like I need to come to my own defense...

I have been known to complain about my kids.

Sometimes I even complain about them in real time on Facebook. I know, it sounds horrible and I feel bad typing it. But it's the truth and I own it.

It's a coping mechanism.

On those days when I am at my limit and my darling little monsters are either totally oblivious or simply don't care I NEED to know that some one out there is having the same kind of day. I need to know it's not just me. I know that not every moment of motherhood is going to be sunshine and bubbles but I need to know that I am not the only one out there who is trying hard to have a good day and failing dismally. I am venting in an effort to get myself to the point that I can laugh it off. And I know that I can count on one friend in particular to laugh it off with me or for my Mom to tell me that I am doing a good job and to just hang in there.

And I need that.

I have four children and none of them were an accident. I tried, and prayed, and cried over becoming pregnant with each and every one of them. 

I chose this.  

I chose the exhaustion and mess and the whining and I don't regret that choice. Ever. I love my kids and I know that I extremely blessed not only to have them, but to be able to stay home with them. I just refuse to pretend that it is always easy. Motherhood is hard. Being grateful to be here isn't always easy.

And here's where is gets really dicey. I have a number of friends who have struggled with infertility. I do not pretend to know how devastatingly painful it must be to live that for years. I've only experienced a small sliver of your brand of heartache. I applaud you for being able to go on after years and years of unfulfilled dreams. But please don't tell me how to raise my four children or how I should feel about raising them. Because you. simply. don't. get it. And it's not your fault that you don't.

I'm sure not trying to hurt anyone's feelings here but you can't possibly grasp what it's like unless you've lived it. Having one child doesn't make you an expert on having more than one any more than my having four makes me an expert on having eight. And you can't possibly understand how exponentially harder it gets to be, simply because you haven't lived it. You have no idea how the exhaustion compounds right along with the cleaning and laundry. I don't pretend to know where you're coming from, how about you don't pretend to know my life?

My kids drive me nuts and saying so, or occasionally venting about it, does not make me a bad mother. It does not make me undeserving or ungrateful. It's simply how I best deal with the stresses that if bottled up would make me bitter and unhappy. I know that I am blessed. I know that I am lucky to be surrounded by chaos. I know that there are nights you would gladly take my baby. Believe me, there are nights that I would gladly let you. Just like you, I am doing the best that I can.

How about we mothers would stop beating each other down? How about when a Mom you know reaches out, how ever she chooses to do it, you reach back instead of folding your arms, stepping back and calling her a terrible mother? We mothers are the only ones who truly understand what we're going through. Does she need help? Does she need a laugh? Does she need a treat? Does she simply need to interact with someone who's more than 3 feet tall and speaks fluent, understandable english?

She's having a bad day, she needs help, and she needs to know she's not the only one. And judging her for admitting it isn't helping...

What's On Mom's Phone?

My friend Jessica occasionally does this and every time it makes me laugh...she is a fabulous marine wife, who is currently surviving her hubby's deployment, with her five adorable children and she's awesome. So I am totally stealing her idea. I occasionally take crummy pictures with my phone and then never remember to go through them or post them anywhere, so let's play...


What's on Mom's phone?

Here's Pinky in her get up from her recital this past May...much less itchy than the ensemble from the previous year, thank heaven.

Pinky and I went on a Mother Daughter shopping expedition right before Easter...to search for the perfect shoes and earrings to go with her new dress. Of course we had to have some lunch while we were out.

Here Pickles on the night that we got her. She was about 8 weeks old and weighed less than one pound. She was adorable and cried in the bathroom all night long.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ralph. I'd had my eyes dialated and came home with some of those stupid "glasses" they give you, and he loved them. We tucked a dishtowel into the neck of his shirt and he ran around like a superhero most of the afternoon.

Stinky as a tee ball playing Longhorn, from earlier this past spring. He was very excited about the Longhorn eye black that he and Dad found at the mall...when they abandoned me at Motherhood Maternity, but that's another story for another day.

Booger Head all carseated up and ready to go home from the hospital. Dad forgot to bring the real camera back after he took it home to upload pictures...so all the going home pics we have are scratched camera phone quality. Look how cute he is...

My sister's boy Link. He was sure freaked out by me sitting in the back next to him, when my Mom and sister and I went out. I got to squish between him and Booger Head in the backseat.

We took the kids to breakfast at a local place in Kaysville called Grannie Annie's (which is like Sill's but not the same). We usually try to meet our buddy Matt there one morning when we go to Utah...anyways, the kids ordered chocolate milk and the gal says, "I'm famous for my chocolate milk on Facebook." And I was all...Oooookay. Weirdo. Then she brought each of my children one of these...and then I was all "Yeah. I'm going to need one of those."

Ha haha. Here is Ralph winking. It's pretty funny.

He was ticked off that we put him in the baby swing at the park and wouldn't even look at me for a picture. "I DO NOT want to swing in a bucket." were his exact words.

I also discovered pictures from Stinky's class Christmas party when he was in kindergarten on there...nice job Mom...