Here are a few discarded memories I found on my husband's phone. Enjoy!
I have some funny sayings for tomorrow. Until then, dear ones!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
A Few Lost Memories
Thanks for indulging me yesterday. I got a lot off my chest. I have had some high and low moments since then, as I'm sure I will continue to do until I find a new way of coping with my new reality.
Here are a few discarded memories I found on my husband's phone. Enjoy!
Aw, who can resist a puppy and a baby? Where has my baby gone?
At my b-day dinner.
On our Chuck-E-Cheese's Date with this little four year-old birthday girl and dad.
(Remember our date night? Lol)
More birthday date.
A rare hubby and me photo taken by the said 4 year-old birthday girl!
I have some funny sayings for tomorrow. Until then, dear ones!
Here are a few discarded memories I found on my husband's phone. Enjoy!
I have some funny sayings for tomorrow. Until then, dear ones!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wherein I Spill My Guts and Talk Brains and It's Not Even Halloween
I was sitting on my bedroom floor, knees propped and a little baby nursing into sleepy bliss under the honey diffused nighttime lamp, with a book propped on one knee. The book was Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. I've talked about it before, and will probably talk about it again. Mr. Kim John Payne, who sounds like the kind of guy I'd like to invite over to our family dinner, was talking about de-cluttering kids' lives (stuff and activities) in order to give them a better childhood. I don't know how we got on the subject, but he mentioned that he feels ADD ought not to be considered an attention deficit disorder but rather a problem of attention priority. A bell went off in my head and I felt something-- a mixture of relief and hope?
Because I have built elaborate walls around something I haven't been quite ready to face up to for a very long time. Something that frightens me and makes me feel bad as well as misunderstood. This book, and an adult cousin who had the courage to share his recent diagnosis off ADHD on Facebook, and some life circumstances, have pushed me to tentatively peer through a couple of the chinks in my wall. I have always wondered if I could have ADD, but I didn't see that I could do anything about it, so I've gone on functioning in my dysfunctional survivalist way and kept those walls high against anyone who might suggest I have a problem.
One of the first questions the doctor asked in trying to decide whether I might have ADD is whether it has been a problem for me in my life. Has it been a problem?!? When I allowed my guard down for just a second, to look inside myself and see what I really thought, I realized that every part of me was screaming inside "yes! it has been a problem!"
My whole life I've been what others might term forgetful, spacey, dis-organized. And everywhere I go, I can tell that I frustrate people. But inside, I have always known that I'm not stupid, that I'm a good person, and that I'm doing my best. Maybe that is what is so confusing, is that my best frustrates people, no matter how hard I feel I'm trying.
One of my earliest school memories involves an old teacher named Mrs. Bradshaw, a billowy middle-aged woman with a big tan-colored mole on her face and a stern colorless disposition. I was always a little late finishing my work. One day, I remember trying to focus on finishing something, kind of in my own little world I guess, when I reached a little finger up to scratch the outside of my nose. She shouted at me to "quit picking my nose and get to work!" And I don't know why, but I've always been really sensitive. As a child, I remember things like this physically hurting, as if someone reached in and grabbed my guts and twisted them. And a familiar feeling of confusion would follow-- I knew I wasn't trying to be bad, I just got distracted. At one point she complained to my mother about how "slow" I was, and my mother went home distressed, thinking maybe it was true.
Then a few months later we received a special letter in the mail. Because I'd scored in the 98 and 99th percentiles on my standardized tests, I was being invited to a special school for what they termed "gifted and talented" kids. So up went the first wall. I have often felt some weird sort of need to prove to people who think I'm ditsy that it's not that I'm not thinking when I appear spacey, I'm thinking a lot-- just not about the task at hand. So, when I seem to zone out during a conversation about waxing versus laser hair removal, it's not that I'm not thinking, I'm probably thinking about particle physics (ha, not really) or about something I read about the Panama Canal that morning or about Graves Disease. My first grade teacher was not the only person to humiliate me in front of a big group. I had many teachers over the years who did (while a few were very patient), including a basketball coach who would yell at me fairly incessantly in front of half of the school at my basketball games. I always felt pretty sheepish, as if I deserved it somehow for being so forgetful. This has continued even into adulthood in a couple of realms, and the funny thing is, no matter how loudly someone else berated me, there was no one doing it louder than I was inside.
You know one of the funny side effects of being shamed inside and out? I am mortally afraid of being a negative center of attention (though I secretly dream of positive attention, like being an Emily Dickenson-like poet) :), even just walking in late to church (and feeling all of those imaginary eyes) feels like it is about to kill me. Another thing? I'm a pleaser. I have always really wanted to please people, which can be good and bad. In a recent parent personality inventory I took for something completely unrelated, I was told that my need to please others can detract me from some things that I really need to do as a parent (like discipline). And the last thing? One positive of my ADD? I have always tried (though I can also be unintentionally insensitive, for which I beat myself to death later) to be sensitive to others. In part because of the intense way I feel when I have been humiliated or embarrassed over the years, I have always tried really hard to look out for and be sensitive to people who are alone or marginalized in some way or un-included. At the heart of it all, and it is hard to admit this out loud, I think my very best quality is probably compassion, even if it's bumblingly executed. :) Including with my kids. And I guess on the flipside, I can resent someone for a long time who has hurt me deeply or frequently.
In my younger years, I would frequently forget things, procrastinate, appear spacey, talk too much or say things I regretted, fall apart under pressure, struggle to pay attention to anything boring, verbal, or long (ahh, school), suffer from poor impulse control in regards to food or spending, and that doozy-- get my feelings hurt over and over by someone who insensitively made fun of my forgetfulness (I learned from the therapist I visited recently that it is almost impossible for the ADD brain to react intellectually in such a case, that the response is emotional, even if it doesn't show). The thing that hurt the most is that it often felt condescending. I knew inside I was smart, capable, and worth something, but on the outside I built protections. My best friends and family (now this includes my kids, who just know me the way I am and don't see anything unusual), who knew my heart, learned to laugh some of my behaviors off as just part of me, and still focused on my good points (though they too could get frustrated). I was also very active physically, which probably helped mitigate and mask some of the symptoms as well (my reading suggests that exercise is almost as effective as medication at treating ADD). And even though I was smart, I really struggled organizing my time, and that included test taking. I really struggled as a high school student to finish standardized tests and AP tests (in spite of only half-finishing many AP tests, I did scrape by with 3's). I always felt I needed more time. (and that other demon, college, when I would frequently cram at the last minute, including that super healthy stay up all night on caffeine thing)
So why didn't I seek help? I don't know. Procrastination, in part. Labels, for another. I mean, when you spend your whole life trying to prove you are normal and that you have good points, too, and are constantly in trouble or feeling less worthy messages from all sorts of authority figures and peers, the last thing I felt I needed was a label. I just thought I needed to try harder. Also, it seemed that ADD was being diagnosed in everyone for a while there, which took away some credibility for me. And medication, ah medication. I didn't want to go there, I guess. Misunderstanding of the true condition, denial, walls of self defense, an attitude that I just needed to try harder, and a desire not to take medication, it all contributed. And I did learn to deal with some of my demons, even though some were still festering under the surface. In some ways, I have done better with less structured environment as an adult. I took independent study courses from BYU as a young married person and I got straight A's. But I was able to do it at my own pace. As a mother, I have often worried about leaving the baby on top of the car (one of my most morbid fears). Thank heavens, I have been able to be, for me, a very responsible mother. I don't keep the cleanest house, but... I do love being a mom and always have. Certain day-to-day responsibilities are extremely hard for me mentally, but I've learned ways to cope, not all of them good. When it comes time to do the dishes or something mundane, I feel a huge mental roadblock. It's only through pure willpower and determination that I can power through something I know I have to do (and if it's not a must-do, it's almost impossible, hence procrastination). I have learned to turn on the radio (NPR addiction) to help me better sense the passage of time and keep my mind occupied while I do something unpleasant, or unfortunately, I have learned to turn to food (sugar, mostly) to help give me the kick I need to get through it. And I'm often madly cleaning my house at the last minute because I underestimate how much time it will take. And it's not that I don't work hard, I do, I just don't prioritize very well, or organize my time well, so I may waste time working on something at the expense of something else.
That comes to something else. ADD isn't all bad, just like I always felt in my gut that some of the things that got me into trouble were also an important part of who I am. As I've studied, I've learned a few things. ADD'ers are often creative, outside-the-box thinkers. One benefit of ADD is the ability to hyper-focus-- something that drives me to learn or accomplish something that really interests me. It was this very trait that often threw me off when I wondered if I had ADD. I could sit for hours and draw, or read, but sitting through a boring lecture was extremely difficult. In one English class I remember studying Puritanical law, and for whatever reason, it really fascinated me. I wrote and re-wrote (at the last minute) a paper about situational ethics just because it interested me keenly. My teacher (I never had a great relationship with teachers, I always somehow felt like I was bad somehow, as I sensed how I frustrated them) called me up to her desk one day after class. She looked at me through suspicious half-closed gray eyes framed with soft wrinkles and an estimating expression. She told me I had scored unusually highly on my essay-- 100 out of 100-- and asked me if my essay had been plagiarized. In one way I was totally horrified, and in another, weird sort of way, very flattered.
(Here is a list of famous people who have either been diagnosed with ADHD or were predicted to have had it. On the list, some of my favorite people, including Abraham Lincoln, who was reported to have been very disorganized (and also reported to have read while he plowed the fields).)
In retrospect the hyper-focus thing has helped and cursed me. It really helps me to get some things done, but it is also hard to get things done without being able to hyper-focus, which is one reason the "interruption factor" is hard for me. I look back now on the year after having each of my babies. This was always a chaotic time, as it probably is for most new mothers. I always nursed and changed diapers on demand, which meant a constant state of interruption. (I also rarely exercised consistently in the first year, which probably exacerbated my symptoms without my knowing it) Without a way to really have a chunk of time to get something done, I would get really de-motivated by the stopping and starting, and distracted by other tasks. I have always tried to put my kids first, too, (hyper-focus on something interesting?) but everything else can go to pot, especially during stressful times. And even spending time with my kids had to be a daily thing in which I initially forced myself to detach from a task and hurdle that wall, after which I was fine and enjoying myself.
I learned that ADD is a brain chemistry thing. The frontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, motivation, and focus, is lacking in the chemicals it needs to function, including dopamine. ADD'ers can often become addicts, in part because it gives them the dopamine and endorphin surge they are lacking (sugar, for me?).
Whew! We are both tired of this crazy rambling post. In short, I found someone who treats ADD without medication. It is called Neurofeedback, which increases activity in the frontal cortex. Patients who have been treated using this method have been shown to have permanent increases in cortical function, as opposed to medication, which only lasts as long as someone takes it. I have been to one session, and I was amazed at how focused I was the rest of the day.
So, thanks for listening to me as I try to understand myself, get help so I can be less frustrating to my loved ones. Thanks for being my sounding wall as I finally allow a lifetime of struggles to finally settle in my heart, as I see the difficulties it has caused me, the heartache, the frustrations, the frequent feelings of less-than and shame, and the need to somehow prove something.
I never knew why I needed this project so badly. I just knew I needed it. Some tasks I desperately needed to do seemed to require almost Herculean strength. I figured that if I could find a way to say it out loud, to recognize the things I need to work on, and to have some accountability, it would help me. This blog has been a lifesaver in a lot of ways, even though many days I know I don't really have time for it. It has helped me through some challenges and helped me see some good sides to myself, as well as remembering all the good times we have around here. It has provided a creative outlet-- something essential to my well-being in ways I'm just coming to understand and given me hope for the future. Thanks for following on this journey and for being so patient with this scattered mind.
Because I have built elaborate walls around something I haven't been quite ready to face up to for a very long time. Something that frightens me and makes me feel bad as well as misunderstood. This book, and an adult cousin who had the courage to share his recent diagnosis off ADHD on Facebook, and some life circumstances, have pushed me to tentatively peer through a couple of the chinks in my wall. I have always wondered if I could have ADD, but I didn't see that I could do anything about it, so I've gone on functioning in my dysfunctional survivalist way and kept those walls high against anyone who might suggest I have a problem.
One of the first questions the doctor asked in trying to decide whether I might have ADD is whether it has been a problem for me in my life. Has it been a problem?!? When I allowed my guard down for just a second, to look inside myself and see what I really thought, I realized that every part of me was screaming inside "yes! it has been a problem!"
My whole life I've been what others might term forgetful, spacey, dis-organized. And everywhere I go, I can tell that I frustrate people. But inside, I have always known that I'm not stupid, that I'm a good person, and that I'm doing my best. Maybe that is what is so confusing, is that my best frustrates people, no matter how hard I feel I'm trying.
One of my earliest school memories involves an old teacher named Mrs. Bradshaw, a billowy middle-aged woman with a big tan-colored mole on her face and a stern colorless disposition. I was always a little late finishing my work. One day, I remember trying to focus on finishing something, kind of in my own little world I guess, when I reached a little finger up to scratch the outside of my nose. She shouted at me to "quit picking my nose and get to work!" And I don't know why, but I've always been really sensitive. As a child, I remember things like this physically hurting, as if someone reached in and grabbed my guts and twisted them. And a familiar feeling of confusion would follow-- I knew I wasn't trying to be bad, I just got distracted. At one point she complained to my mother about how "slow" I was, and my mother went home distressed, thinking maybe it was true.
Then a few months later we received a special letter in the mail. Because I'd scored in the 98 and 99th percentiles on my standardized tests, I was being invited to a special school for what they termed "gifted and talented" kids. So up went the first wall. I have often felt some weird sort of need to prove to people who think I'm ditsy that it's not that I'm not thinking when I appear spacey, I'm thinking a lot-- just not about the task at hand. So, when I seem to zone out during a conversation about waxing versus laser hair removal, it's not that I'm not thinking, I'm probably thinking about particle physics (ha, not really) or about something I read about the Panama Canal that morning or about Graves Disease. My first grade teacher was not the only person to humiliate me in front of a big group. I had many teachers over the years who did (while a few were very patient), including a basketball coach who would yell at me fairly incessantly in front of half of the school at my basketball games. I always felt pretty sheepish, as if I deserved it somehow for being so forgetful. This has continued even into adulthood in a couple of realms, and the funny thing is, no matter how loudly someone else berated me, there was no one doing it louder than I was inside.
You know one of the funny side effects of being shamed inside and out? I am mortally afraid of being a negative center of attention (though I secretly dream of positive attention, like being an Emily Dickenson-like poet) :), even just walking in late to church (and feeling all of those imaginary eyes) feels like it is about to kill me. Another thing? I'm a pleaser. I have always really wanted to please people, which can be good and bad. In a recent parent personality inventory I took for something completely unrelated, I was told that my need to please others can detract me from some things that I really need to do as a parent (like discipline). And the last thing? One positive of my ADD? I have always tried (though I can also be unintentionally insensitive, for which I beat myself to death later) to be sensitive to others. In part because of the intense way I feel when I have been humiliated or embarrassed over the years, I have always tried really hard to look out for and be sensitive to people who are alone or marginalized in some way or un-included. At the heart of it all, and it is hard to admit this out loud, I think my very best quality is probably compassion, even if it's bumblingly executed. :) Including with my kids. And I guess on the flipside, I can resent someone for a long time who has hurt me deeply or frequently.
In my younger years, I would frequently forget things, procrastinate, appear spacey, talk too much or say things I regretted, fall apart under pressure, struggle to pay attention to anything boring, verbal, or long (ahh, school), suffer from poor impulse control in regards to food or spending, and that doozy-- get my feelings hurt over and over by someone who insensitively made fun of my forgetfulness (I learned from the therapist I visited recently that it is almost impossible for the ADD brain to react intellectually in such a case, that the response is emotional, even if it doesn't show). The thing that hurt the most is that it often felt condescending. I knew inside I was smart, capable, and worth something, but on the outside I built protections. My best friends and family (now this includes my kids, who just know me the way I am and don't see anything unusual), who knew my heart, learned to laugh some of my behaviors off as just part of me, and still focused on my good points (though they too could get frustrated). I was also very active physically, which probably helped mitigate and mask some of the symptoms as well (my reading suggests that exercise is almost as effective as medication at treating ADD). And even though I was smart, I really struggled organizing my time, and that included test taking. I really struggled as a high school student to finish standardized tests and AP tests (in spite of only half-finishing many AP tests, I did scrape by with 3's). I always felt I needed more time. (and that other demon, college, when I would frequently cram at the last minute, including that super healthy stay up all night on caffeine thing)
So why didn't I seek help? I don't know. Procrastination, in part. Labels, for another. I mean, when you spend your whole life trying to prove you are normal and that you have good points, too, and are constantly in trouble or feeling less worthy messages from all sorts of authority figures and peers, the last thing I felt I needed was a label. I just thought I needed to try harder. Also, it seemed that ADD was being diagnosed in everyone for a while there, which took away some credibility for me. And medication, ah medication. I didn't want to go there, I guess. Misunderstanding of the true condition, denial, walls of self defense, an attitude that I just needed to try harder, and a desire not to take medication, it all contributed. And I did learn to deal with some of my demons, even though some were still festering under the surface. In some ways, I have done better with less structured environment as an adult. I took independent study courses from BYU as a young married person and I got straight A's. But I was able to do it at my own pace. As a mother, I have often worried about leaving the baby on top of the car (one of my most morbid fears). Thank heavens, I have been able to be, for me, a very responsible mother. I don't keep the cleanest house, but... I do love being a mom and always have. Certain day-to-day responsibilities are extremely hard for me mentally, but I've learned ways to cope, not all of them good. When it comes time to do the dishes or something mundane, I feel a huge mental roadblock. It's only through pure willpower and determination that I can power through something I know I have to do (and if it's not a must-do, it's almost impossible, hence procrastination). I have learned to turn on the radio (NPR addiction) to help me better sense the passage of time and keep my mind occupied while I do something unpleasant, or unfortunately, I have learned to turn to food (sugar, mostly) to help give me the kick I need to get through it. And I'm often madly cleaning my house at the last minute because I underestimate how much time it will take. And it's not that I don't work hard, I do, I just don't prioritize very well, or organize my time well, so I may waste time working on something at the expense of something else.
That comes to something else. ADD isn't all bad, just like I always felt in my gut that some of the things that got me into trouble were also an important part of who I am. As I've studied, I've learned a few things. ADD'ers are often creative, outside-the-box thinkers. One benefit of ADD is the ability to hyper-focus-- something that drives me to learn or accomplish something that really interests me. It was this very trait that often threw me off when I wondered if I had ADD. I could sit for hours and draw, or read, but sitting through a boring lecture was extremely difficult. In one English class I remember studying Puritanical law, and for whatever reason, it really fascinated me. I wrote and re-wrote (at the last minute) a paper about situational ethics just because it interested me keenly. My teacher (I never had a great relationship with teachers, I always somehow felt like I was bad somehow, as I sensed how I frustrated them) called me up to her desk one day after class. She looked at me through suspicious half-closed gray eyes framed with soft wrinkles and an estimating expression. She told me I had scored unusually highly on my essay-- 100 out of 100-- and asked me if my essay had been plagiarized. In one way I was totally horrified, and in another, weird sort of way, very flattered.
(Here is a list of famous people who have either been diagnosed with ADHD or were predicted to have had it. On the list, some of my favorite people, including Abraham Lincoln, who was reported to have been very disorganized (and also reported to have read while he plowed the fields).)
In retrospect the hyper-focus thing has helped and cursed me. It really helps me to get some things done, but it is also hard to get things done without being able to hyper-focus, which is one reason the "interruption factor" is hard for me. I look back now on the year after having each of my babies. This was always a chaotic time, as it probably is for most new mothers. I always nursed and changed diapers on demand, which meant a constant state of interruption. (I also rarely exercised consistently in the first year, which probably exacerbated my symptoms without my knowing it) Without a way to really have a chunk of time to get something done, I would get really de-motivated by the stopping and starting, and distracted by other tasks. I have always tried to put my kids first, too, (hyper-focus on something interesting?) but everything else can go to pot, especially during stressful times. And even spending time with my kids had to be a daily thing in which I initially forced myself to detach from a task and hurdle that wall, after which I was fine and enjoying myself.
I learned that ADD is a brain chemistry thing. The frontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, motivation, and focus, is lacking in the chemicals it needs to function, including dopamine. ADD'ers can often become addicts, in part because it gives them the dopamine and endorphin surge they are lacking (sugar, for me?).
Whew! We are both tired of this crazy rambling post. In short, I found someone who treats ADD without medication. It is called Neurofeedback, which increases activity in the frontal cortex. Patients who have been treated using this method have been shown to have permanent increases in cortical function, as opposed to medication, which only lasts as long as someone takes it. I have been to one session, and I was amazed at how focused I was the rest of the day.
So, thanks for listening to me as I try to understand myself, get help so I can be less frustrating to my loved ones. Thanks for being my sounding wall as I finally allow a lifetime of struggles to finally settle in my heart, as I see the difficulties it has caused me, the heartache, the frustrations, the frequent feelings of less-than and shame, and the need to somehow prove something.
I never knew why I needed this project so badly. I just knew I needed it. Some tasks I desperately needed to do seemed to require almost Herculean strength. I figured that if I could find a way to say it out loud, to recognize the things I need to work on, and to have some accountability, it would help me. This blog has been a lifesaver in a lot of ways, even though many days I know I don't really have time for it. It has helped me through some challenges and helped me see some good sides to myself, as well as remembering all the good times we have around here. It has provided a creative outlet-- something essential to my well-being in ways I'm just coming to understand and given me hope for the future. Thanks for following on this journey and for being so patient with this scattered mind.
Monday, March 25, 2013
A Week That Began With Creepy Bad Guys and Ends with a Bunch of Crap
For a recap of a little over a week or so, here goes. We began two weekends ago at a book launch party for Brandon Mull's new Beyonders book. My eleven year-old had been begging and begging and begging to go (and giving me minute by minute status updates from Brandon Mull's website for several days), so I mustered the courage and took all five kids and stood in line outside a brown brick high school in a mild March evening with other excited (geeky?), book-toting fans and a demon or two. Because I'm such a stellar planner, I invited my husband a little too late and then my phone battery died, so I never knew whether he was going to be meeting us or not (not).
At first it was a very exciting party, which involved other authors in addition to Brandon Mull, some fun background from Mull's wife (one of my favorite parts of the night-- when she showed all these slides of her husband "zoned out" at different activities, lol, I can relate), and some fun from a comedy group. Perfect timing too, because we have just started listening to Fablehaven together and my seven year-old has been riveted. But after trying to keep the littlest ones suppressed and oppressed :) on no dinner for over an hour, they had enough and wanted to run around. So we had chips for dinner from the vending machine, licked up dusty orange handfulls of end-of-bag goodness, and waited. And waited. And ran around. My littlest was in explore mode, and didn't care one bit about being out of my sight. Keeping track of him was hard. I somehow made my four year old mad at me at one point, and she ran the other direction.
After the show, we waited for an additional tortuous two hours before I finally begged for them to make an exception and let us just meet our authors and go home! (we would have still had over an hour to two to wait and it was already 10pm) (right after I chased down baby and lost my four year old simultaneously, then heard someone announcing that they had a cute little girl in cowboy boots up front and would her mother please come claim her! aaaaaaagh!) My older kids just could.not.leave.without.meeting Christopher Paolini and Brandon Mull. We ended up inhaling a little In-N-Out on the way home while the older kids breathlessly exclaimed between fries that it was the best. night. ever. (are we on the same planet?) Of course it was worth it. I hope this extra long run-on paragraph was worth it, too.
For a quick re-cap of the rest of the week, lets just say this: pink-eye, sinus infection= dr. visit number one (he said she was pretty much the poster child for bacterial pink eye). Next night, company from out of town. My house a wreck. Next day= dr. visit number two, for a double ear infection, sinus infection, another, single pink eye, and some antibiotics for the momma too, who, along with the littlest ones, has had a cough and sinus yucky stuff for three weeks. Saturday= we decided to top off the week with a bunch of crap. Yes, my husband noticed one of the walls in the basement was damp, so he and the kids dug a hole (the big kids have been spending all their free time digging a hole in the garden) and found that our sewer line was cracked right in half. Yum. So we spent the day not being able to use the facilities or the sinks. Creative. Uh-huh. Its not like we have tools for outdoor usage around here. Good news, I finally cleaned the house (hey, I couldn't do the dishes! Blessing in disguise), and we went out for dinner. Then had our previous wonderful company come and stay again, as if nothing had happened. So glad I have a handy hubby, thankful for sewers, and even for adventurous weeks that I get to spend with my favorite people, even if we are miserable together.
Whew! It wasn't an all-bad week, but I'm glad its over! How about you?
Morning routine update: two days of practice turned into a whole week. Ha. But the kids were on time to the bus today, with very, very little nagging or reminding! Getting better!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Mini Vacation
Dearest friends, I am taking a few days off. I have some posts I'm working on, I'll be back next week! Believe me, I will miss you!
Until then, enjoy a few links:
Design Mom has some cute egg painted cartons and other fun Easter-related stuff here.
This woman, who survived a plane crash and burns over 80% of her body, is such a great example of a dedicated mother (one way she helped motivate herself to survive through a very long and painful recovery) and someone who is courageous and positive in the face of extreme hardship.
And these two, just for fun. Here is a lifestyle blogger who went to Harvard with my sister. She has a cute personality and helps those of us fashion-challenged people know what goes together and that kind of stuff. And this one, a woman named Andrea, whom I found on Instagram. I have really come to love for her open, confident, friendly personality, her love of her family, and her fun sense of style. And she always responds to my comments in a friendly way-- she is the real deal. The kind of person who sounds fun to go get some ice cream with or something.
I have some super talented friends whose blogs and ideas I'd like to share, I'm just thinking maybe I should check with them first (?).
I will miss you! Have a super happy week.
Until then, enjoy a few links:
Design Mom has some cute egg painted cartons and other fun Easter-related stuff here.
This woman, who survived a plane crash and burns over 80% of her body, is such a great example of a dedicated mother (one way she helped motivate herself to survive through a very long and painful recovery) and someone who is courageous and positive in the face of extreme hardship.
And these two, just for fun. Here is a lifestyle blogger who went to Harvard with my sister. She has a cute personality and helps those of us fashion-challenged people know what goes together and that kind of stuff. And this one, a woman named Andrea, whom I found on Instagram. I have really come to love for her open, confident, friendly personality, her love of her family, and her fun sense of style. And she always responds to my comments in a friendly way-- she is the real deal. The kind of person who sounds fun to go get some ice cream with or something.
I have some super talented friends whose blogs and ideas I'd like to share, I'm just thinking maybe I should check with them first (?).
I will miss you! Have a super happy week.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A Few Things
We tried our morning routine for the first time this morning, and I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but it didn't! Ha. The kids didn't wake themselves up, we barely ate breakfast as the bus was pulling away, which meant I had to take the kids to school (0 minutes to spare, but not late), and I forgot to pack lunches! Ouch. It turned out okay, because I had a few errands to run, so I got out of my PJ's and got my errands done and picked something up for the kids for lunch. I love eating with them at school and watching them show off the littlest ones to their friends and watching them interact with their friends and even -gasp!- girls (or boys, as the case may be). It was a gorgeous day and I watched as my two oldest took turns taking the baby down a shiny metal slide over and over and he ate it up and the sun was warm on my back and I felt so good watching them run around after such a long winter.
Even though the morning routine wasn't hitch-less, it was still good! My kids had their beds made before school for like the first time ever (not really, but close) and I didn't have to nag (okay, I did a tiny bit-- but mostly to remind them about the new routine!).
I can't remember if I shared this, but I learned the key to a routine is to keep whatever motivates them most for last. For us, that is reading (yes, I confiscated two books this morning, and I didn't feel bad, because I see it as helping them and not being the bad guy), breakfast, chess or news on the computer (for my oldest, the news has been especially fascinating lately), or a quick game with me.
So, I'd count it as a success. Just got to keep it going. :)
Even though the morning routine wasn't hitch-less, it was still good! My kids had their beds made before school for like the first time ever (not really, but close) and I didn't have to nag (okay, I did a tiny bit-- but mostly to remind them about the new routine!).
I can't remember if I shared this, but I learned the key to a routine is to keep whatever motivates them most for last. For us, that is reading (yes, I confiscated two books this morning, and I didn't feel bad, because I see it as helping them and not being the bad guy), breakfast, chess or news on the computer (for my oldest, the news has been especially fascinating lately), or a quick game with me.
So, I'd count it as a success. Just got to keep it going. :)
Monday, March 18, 2013
Some Funnies
I feel like it's been a little hard-hitting around here lately. We need some fun stuff to liven up this boring blog.
Like the above photo-- I was trying to capture a cute little cars-playing moment when I was "caught" and cheesed for.
And this little girl wearing pants for the first time in millenia. Shh. I won't tell if you won't.
I have been saving my kids sayings on a notepad for a month to share them and now I can't find it! Darn. So here are just a couple I can remember (all those old ladies warn you that you will forget funny things your kids say if you don't write them down. In my mind I was picturing, you know, a lot of years elapsing between remembering and forgetting. What they didn't tell me is that I wouldn't remember the little sayings five minutes later.)
My four year old said to my seven year old: "Maia, I'm going to promise you something that's really nice of me."
When Ava was crying yesterday, E. (baby) said: "Ava is crying on her face."
Ava has come down with the dreaded Pink Eye. She kept asking me yesterday "is my eye still pink?"
If I find the others little sayings in my cluttery kitchen, you will be the first to know. :)
I hope you have a wonderful day!
If you are in need of additional laughs, check out this and this (making fun of politicians, and not completely "G" rated) and this (for all you Harry Potter fans out there).
Miracle of miracles, the baby has been sleeping in his own room, with a little help. I didn't think I could do it, and wahoo! Thar she blows.
Like the above photo-- I was trying to capture a cute little cars-playing moment when I was "caught" and cheesed for.
I have been saving my kids sayings on a notepad for a month to share them and now I can't find it! Darn. So here are just a couple I can remember (all those old ladies warn you that you will forget funny things your kids say if you don't write them down. In my mind I was picturing, you know, a lot of years elapsing between remembering and forgetting. What they didn't tell me is that I wouldn't remember the little sayings five minutes later.)
My four year old said to my seven year old: "Maia, I'm going to promise you something that's really nice of me."
When Ava was crying yesterday, E. (baby) said: "Ava is crying on her face."
Ava has come down with the dreaded Pink Eye. She kept asking me yesterday "is my eye still pink?"
If I find the others little sayings in my cluttery kitchen, you will be the first to know. :)
I hope you have a wonderful day!
If you are in need of additional laughs, check out this and this (making fun of politicians, and not completely "G" rated) and this (for all you Harry Potter fans out there).
Miracle of miracles, the baby has been sleeping in his own room, with a little help. I didn't think I could do it, and wahoo! Thar she blows.
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