Children

The following is an article that I came across on a friends blog. It's titled, "Why don't Friends with Kids have Time?" and was published in The Washington Post. Since then, it's been "published" again and again all over the place..blogs, FB, etc.

So why would I want to post it on my blog? Because I think it speaks volumes and resonates with where I'm at. daily.

I will be the FIRST to admit that I didn't have a clear view of motherhood. When I was working full time I would look at stay-at-home moms with envy and wonder what exactly took up ALL their time. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think they were sitting around eating bon bons all day, but at least they could get laundry done and dinner on the table, right? Both of which I was struggling to do with going to work each day.

Obviously my thoughts have changed. And I still wouldn't change staying at home with Preston. I'm SO thankful for the opportunity to do so. Time is fast, but with young ones at home it seems to be in fast-forward with no pause button. And my favorite line from the article..."It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15!" This is so true for me.

So if you read it...I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

TELL ME ABOUT IT ®
By Carolyn HaxWednesday, May 23, 2007; Page C10
Dear Carolyn:
Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .
Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.
- Tacoma, Wash.

Dear Tacoma,
Relax and enjoy. You're funny.
Or you're lying about having friends with kids.
Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.
Internet searches?
I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.
So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.
It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.
Write to Tell Me About It, Style, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, ortellme@washpost.com.

J's birthday pics

Thank you for all the birthday wishes to Jason!  Thought I would share some pictures of the celebrations.  Please excuse the quality...they were taken from my phone...

Monday night we went to Maggiano's with our dear friends, The Carruth's.  Baby Charlotte looks excited to eat a lemon cookie!  Thought I'd also share that it seems to be a tradition that Caleb and J buy each other white russians on their birthday as well.  ;)

On Wednesday, some of the office staff surprised him with a little celebration before his next meeting.  Cookies-N-Cream ice cream cake from Culvers...yum!  Thanks Ang, Jill, and Mack!

And last but not least we celebrated Thursday night on the patio of Blue Goose with The Bleecker's, Chandler's,  and Patterson's.  Then we moved our stuffed full bodies across the street to the theater to see Slumdog Millionaire.  Fun night!  

Thanks for celebrating with us!

Happy Birthday Jason!

Wanted to give a shout-out to J since today is his birthday!!  I've included some generational pics that were taken this past November.  Been meaning to post some, but kinda glad I didn't because I think they're perfect for a birthday blog! :)

Jason actually gave me these as a Christmas gift and had them taken while I was at a 'Girls Weekend' with some of my college roomies!  He did good...and it was an awesome surprise!  Thank you Brian Braun for taking the pics and thank you Collin for being a good sport and helping out all weekend!

We will be celebrating all week so I'll post some pics of our outings later! In the meantime, Happiest Birthday Wishes babe!  So thankful for your life and another year with you!

Here's a few of my favorites:

25 random things...

So I was tagged on Face Book to write 25 random things...and since I have terribly neglected my blog I thought I would post them on here as well.  My husband even asked me the other day if we still had our blog! ;(  wow.  

And in all honesty I still can't decide what I think about FB.  It's a great connection place, and so fun to reunite with old friends!  But, oh my, you can waste time on there!

 

1. I am right handed but can also write fairly well with my left.
2. Sometimes I get carsick. Unfortunately, I think I may have passed this trait onto our son.
3. I think I could live on eating carbs alone. ;)
4. I don't like wearing a lot of make-up.
5. I really like to wear flip-flops. Much better than being barefoot.
6. I enjoy organizing and decorating.
7. I drink a latte almost every morning...made by my husbband!
8. I'm funny about the temperature of food. Ex: I don't like eating food that's supposed to be hot but has turned cold.
9. I think most everything can be "fixed" with a can of paint.
10. I have a love/hate relationshiop with running.
11. I'm not a morning person.
12. I love when my car is clean, but that seems impossible these days with a toddler in the back throwing food! :)
14. I'm good at remembering dates and directions...this is very helpful to my husband.
15. I think chocolate should be added to the food pyramid.
16. I prefer fountain cokes over canned.
17. In college I lived in the house my dad grew up in. In fact, I had the same bedroom he did.
18. I love public libraries.
19. I usually don't watch movies twice...once is good for me.
20. The Gospel is the best story that will ever be told.
21. Spring is my favorite season (love all the new life and growth), followed by summer.
22. When I yawn, I twist my tongue...not on purpose.
23. I love to swim, but water at night is scary.
24. It's a rare thing when people remember how to spell my name.
25. When I first met Jason I thought he would never "settle down". We've been married for almost 5 years!!

Christmas Tour

Yes, you can laugh at the title of this post. But, since I took these pictures thinking I would participate in the tour again this year I thought I would still post them....exactly one month too late! ;) There are many excuses but I will save you from all of them except one. A very important one. My computer has been sick (wasn't working right) so we took it to the Dr. (the apple store) and they fixed it...sort of. And now it has different problems. So we will be taking it back. Thus, I've been delayed in blogging.



The Beautiful Christmas Tree. I say beautiful because my mother-in-law made it that way. She's a "Christmas tree putting together extraordinaire!" And she came over one night to put her special touch and I am so thankful. I think we put on around 200 ornaments.

Our dining room...
Another Mother-in-law work of art! If you will look again at last year's tour you will see the garland I put up was pathetic. I'm embarrassed.
Hall of fame...Christmas cards.
Living Room with our "real little tree" in it. It has all the cute, family, mismatch ornaments on it.
A Nativity scene...
A cute little "pocket" Nativity of Preston's....

A favorite ornament. My mom makes these with her preschool class. It's made from a laundry detergent scoop. It's a little manger...you can't see it but baby Jesus is sleeping inside!
side view...
And my other nativity. Preston tumbled into it one morning. I was gone somewhere and I got a phone call from J telling me he was okay, but the nativity wasn't. This is what I found when I got home. I think it was a conspiracy. J thinks I have too many nativities. (Again, just look at last year's and you'll see the Nativity in one piece.)
A closer look...if you double click you will see baby Jesus broke his arm.
And here's a decapitated wise man.

And at the end of the home tour I would offer you these pretty, fat-free snacks....
And of course the beverage of your choice!
Thanks for coming!

This post is mainly for the record books (and grandparents).  I am aware that it is all about Preston! ;)

He's been my Santa's helper!  Here he is trying to help me with putting lights on the wreath.  He also tried to help with the Nativity...I will show pics later because it deserves a post all its own.

Preston enjoys using Bella as a back support and enjoys trying to ride her like a horse.  She complies, which is another reason why we love her!

Apparently he got a little friendly with the pen.  Have a mentioned he's getting a bit mischievous?!

Here's where I found him the other morning when I knew things were a little too quiet.  He can now reach into drawers.  I was a bit annoyed, but happy to not find them in the toilet...which is usually his favorite spot for things.

Eating bananas in a box, of course.  This goes along perfectly with my dads theory that children don't need toys, just boxes and pots & pans!

Eating ON the dishwasher.  What's funny is I can remember doing the same thing as a kid!

Reading books in bed.  I've found if I put his favorite books in the crib with him it will buy me enough time to take a shower!  

At snuffers, first time for him to sit in a booster!  What a big boy!

Riding the carousel last week...he wasn't the biggest fan.  

Preston loves to push an pull things.  Here he is at Thanksgiving helping my dad to his car.

t.r.o.u.b.l.e.

The blanket.  oh, the blanket.  He doesn't have to have it everywhere he goes,  but it's a must at bedtime.  And it's also a must to clear out his bed in the morning.  He can't leave anything (blanket, stuffed animal) in the bed.  

Loves to "talk" on the phone.  He can almost slide my phone on which is very scary.

Loves, loves, loves firetrucks and anything that has a siren.  This was a fire truck book I bought at Target for a buck!  Great purchase!

Playing the piano in his p.j's.  He still loves to play with his Dad!!!

17, 18, and 19 months

17 months...

18 months...


19 months...

this is his new face!?!

It's late. and there's so much I should be doing...like cleaning, or wrapping gifts, or making gifts, or sleeping!  but I REFUSE to get any further behind on blogging and pictures!  I have hundreds of pictures on this computer needing to be put on this 'virtual scrapbook' of mine.  It may look like Preston hasn't changed much over the last few months, but he has....with his personality, attitude, and opinion coming out more each day!  And somehow (life gets busy) I have missed the opportunity to capture those moments on here -  as they happen.  So here's my attempt at getting something on here before bed, and hoping for more blogging tomorrow!