Not Me! Monday

It's Monday again. MckMama has officially tipped the Not Me! Monday scales with her hickeys and peeing in a cup. But for those of you who don't know her, check out my craziness for the week.

Since last week was the last one without Katie I spent the week disciplining Cole and trying to potty train him fully. I have not discovered that giving my son a nice pinch under the armpit works better than a spanking. There's nothing like a nice pinch in a sensitive area to get some obedience going. But I wouldn't do that, it's just plain mean.

I have enjoyed the time I've had with just my kids (and my husband, unplanned of course) over the holidays. I am totally not crabby about Katie coming back tomorrow. And I am so looking forward to retraining her to sleep/obey/follow my rules. We all know I'll suck it up and deal but I still want to spend my last night wishing and hoping that I never have to work again.

Tyler loves the tiny little Christmas tree grow kit that Kayley got in her stocking from my mom this Christmas. He did not just tell me that he hopes it grows big and strong so we can use it for our Christmas tree next year! Now he's aerating the soil. We are not a tree farm. I suppose I should have a little faith that it might survive since it's not me growing it and I have not killed every plant I've ever been given.

My son woke up in his pack and play yesterday morning calling for mommy. Cole had taken off his pants, thrown out his sheet, blanky, pillow, comforter, and stuffed animal on the floor. He was not trying to fold up the floor of the crib when daddy walked in. Apparently he wanted to fold up the crib and be done with it. He got a spanking for being a silly stinker and we began the day. I told him he wouldn't sleep in his big boy bed for a long time. And no, he is not sleeping in his big boy bed right now, sawing logs. I always stick to what I say and make him suffer. The truth is, I hate the crib sitting in the middle of the room. So I made the transition. Although I may still have a non-complient toddler, I truly have a sense of happiness that it won't be in the room anymore.

Miracles

Some things you can be sure of, others you can't. For me, there's not a whole lotta being sure of anything going around. Except for the fact that when I put my trust in the Lord, He does not return void. I woke up this morning so discouraged. I made the decision to tell myself over and over to expect a miracle today. And right at the perfect moment God blessed our lives with 4 gift cards (with a great deal of goodness on them) that someone put under our gate!!!
Talk about a big old God hug!

God wants to do amazing things in my life, I just choose not to expect him to do things beyond what my eyes can see and what my mind can comprehend. Boy is that going to change!

Accomplishments of '08 and Goals for '09

Wow, as I take a gander at the year that has passed I realize so much has happened! There have been so many changes in our family and in me personally I'm just blown away. These are the things I have accomplished:

• Lost 20 pounds
• Made four new friends
  
• Moved out of one house into another
• Raised the kids on my own for 13 weeks (with the help of my dear parents)
• Went another 8 weeks with Tyler home on just the weekends
  
• Moved out of another house into our condo
• Taught a one year old to sleep longer than 45 min.
• Made friends with a brand new baby named Peyton
• Visited Kim and Cory and discovered that Alabama isn't so bad
• Potty trained Cole (as of 12/31 he has officially done it! Hurray!)
  
• Grown closer to the Lord and my faith in Him has increased by leaps and bounds

I'd say that's a nice stack of accomplishments!

Here's what I would like to see come to pass in 2009:

• Lose 20 more pounds
• Own a car that doesn't require sacrificing food and warmth to pay for it
• Start Cole at Kids Corner
• Start Kayley in Kindergarten (aahhhhh!)
• Stop using the word "freaking" (if you can call it a word- it's more like a substitution for something foul)
• Tyler have a steady job and see his back and knee healed
• To have a stable life!!!

I know that these are just the beginning!!

Happy New Year!

Tuesday Is Not Me! Monday This Week

I was so totally NOT in a funk yesterday.

On Sunday our family drove to Corona to our first of two gatherings that day. When we were two miles away at approximately 12:30 pm we got a phone call saying that the gathering didn't start at 1pm but instead it started at 3pm! We were a little miffed at the communication issue but glad we were able to find a mall close by to hang at while we waited. I was not aware that the mall was indeed HUGE and had hard wood floors. Have you ever walked on hard wood with high heels you bought from the thrift store? Not me. I would never wear high heels to begin with since I walk silly and they are way too uncomfortable. I'm a jeans and flip flops kind of gal and there is no way I would take that sort of fashion risk. Oh, and I would never buy shoes from the thrift store. That's disgusting. Anyway, my feet were screaming. We made our way to Burger King where we got a tasty snack. While we ate my mom called my cousin to see if we could bring something to her house. We were then told the gathering was not at her house like we thought. It was at another house! At this point we wondered if it was even that day! Once we had the facts straight we finished our snacks and headed out. On our way out we stopped in The Children's Place (fabulous!) and I told Tyler to go take Cole to look at clothes while I looked for tights for Kayley. I expected him to stand against the wall and mutter under his breath but much to my surprise he did not go shopping. And he most definitely did not convince me to buy Cole a shirt. My husband does not shop. And he did not shop on Sunday.

Whenever my kids have their vitamins (we call them vita gummy bears) Tyler and I do not sneak a couple for ourselves. They taste just like gummy bears and since I love sweets I do not sample them once a day, every day. I have noticed that my once brittle and easily breakable nails have become strong and I will not continue my daily dosage of candy/nail strengthener.

I do not still have baby fever. I'm beginning to wonder if I had another one if I would still want another after that. What is this madness?

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and I don't have any great pictures to post. I will hopefully get around to it soon!

I've Got Nothin'

On any normal day I would be posting Not Me! Monday funniness but today I think I'll pass. Making phone calls to creditors and no news from job applications leaves me once again ready and willing to curl up in a ball and sleep it all away. I don't write this for sympathy. I write just because I have to let it out some way or otherwise I will just explode. I wish somehow God could come sit next to me and whisper in my ear His plan, His way, His solution. He has come through for us so many times and in so many ways. I have to just trust in Him, in His provision. But all I really want to do is put my fist through the wall.

Not Me! Monday

Not Me! Monday is here again!

I did not forget to include something I didn't do for last Monday so here it is, just for you Kim!

We were at the mall. Or the walking park. To tell you the truth I don't really remember. Anyway, we were somewhere with Kim and Ashley and we all had our strollers. Cole was walking helping me push the stroller from the bottom basket. I did notice that Cole started going head first into the basket but I really didn't care, I was not too busy chit chatting with my friends. As we went along I realized that my son started to moan. You see, it turns out he crawled himself all the way in the basket and underneath the foot rest for the rear seat (if you have seen a double you would know what I'm talking about) and got stuck. I had to push his head down to the bottom of the very dirty, crumb covered basket and pull him out by his feet! The funny thing is that I would never let my son ever lay (or sit) in the basket. It's clearly for storage only. I would never be too preoccupied with my friends and their darling little babies to forget all about my only son and his safety and well being.

Last night Tyler and I put the kids to bed early. It seems Cole wakes up at 6:30 no matter what time he goes to bed and Kayley is a sleep machine so we put them to bed at 7:30. At 8:30 Cole peeked out of his room saying "I lost my money." Tyler went to deal with it but quickly returned saying "I don't even know how to deal with that!" I walked down the hall into the kids' room and I most definately did not see my son completely naked. I turned around and tried so hard to keep from laughing. He said again "I lost my monies I had in my bed wif me" He didn't even care that he was naked. He was so concerned about the penny (we did find it by the way) that he was playing with in his bed, in the nude. After getting control of my smiles I did not put on the stern mommy face and got him dressed and warned him to stay in bed and keep his clothes on. I would never leave loose change sitting around for my two year old to play with. And I've taught my children that being clothed is better than chillin' in the nude so no, my son did not take off his clothes and play with a small item that could be easily lodged in the throat in his bed in the dark.

Yes, these are my children. No, I did not let them lay upside down for 20 minutes while watching a movie.

I'm not so excited that it's the week of Christmas!!!!

Joyful Job Jubilee

I'm feeling rather happy at the moment and no, it's not because I'm holding a baby. It's because Tyler is filling out a job application and it just fills me with the greatest amount of glee. It doesn't even matter that it's raining and that it has been for the past three days. My house isn't fully clean and, as a matter of fact, my son isn't even wearing pants. And I don't even plan on dressing him anytime soon. I don't care where Tyler works, all I care about is that he has a job. Tyler + a job during the holidays (or anytime really) = happy wife.