Sit-at-Home Mom

One day, I was running late for my training appointment. It had been one of those days where everything was a going wrong in the morning. Tantrums over breakfast, couldn't find one of Leah's shoes, spilt milk, the whole hectic bit. I don't really care when I'm late. I figure most the world runs about ten minutes behind so if you show up 1o minutes late, you are right on time. I run on what my family jokingly calls "Egyptian Time." Plus, if you have to pick your battles, running late because I am tending to my kids, doesn't bother me.

Anyway I get in late and my trainer, asks why. I tell him it was a rough morning with the kids and try to explain how it is to be a stay-at-home mom. He says sarcastically, "Yeah, being a sit-at-home mom IS hard." Now, initially I wanted to punch him in the face. Then I realized, unless you are a stay-at-home mom, this would be your impression, although I never get to sit for more than 5 minutes.

I also understand where the confusion sets in. For the most part I don't have a schedule to follow. Anyone without kids would think, "SWEET! I can do whatever I want!" The thing is, with kids, your day is dictated by their needs. I do not get to watch the shows I enjoy because they are watching their cartoons. I can get on the computer, but I am interrupted a millions times. "Mom, I need milk." "Mom, I have to go potty." "Mom, he hit me." "Mom, fix this toy."

Even getting ready is tricky. Yeah some days I don't shower until 3 in the afternoon, but that's because it is a chore to do with kids. For a week straight, during the potty training months, Leah would wait until I was in the shower, completely sudded up, to announce she had to go potty. I don't think people without kids have ever had to get out of a shower to wipe an ass. It isn't fun! You feel sticky and cold and soaking wet. I could have told her to wait a second, but if you have potty trained a toddler, you know waiting is only an option if you want a whole new different type of mess to wipe up.

I am not writing all this to complain, even though that is what it seems like. I wouldn't trade this in for anything, but not because it is easy to "sit" at home and watch the kids. I have a different perspective on life now that I have to put my needs second and my kids' needs first. It makes me less selfish, and at times, completely selfless. I don't mind, but to say I sit at home doing nothing is very far from the truth.

Most people without kids, don't get that constant grind of doing things for kids. And I decided that it doesn't make me mad. No not at all. I don't mind if I get looked at like a lazy house wife. I understand that you can't possibly understand until you have kids. That's why I can't wait for the people who think this is a cake walk to have kids, lots of them, or just one really, really mischievous one.

Hillbilly Day!

Mt. Whitney is a place my parents used to take us yearly when we were kids. This last weekend we decided to hop in the car with my mom and dad to take the kids to this cool place. We made a day trip out of it. I hadn't been there since I had my kids and was excited to see it through their eyes.

My dad has recently taken up an obsession with guns. Real ones!! He has bought three guns in the last year, one of them being a 22 rifle for Bryce. I was not sure how I felt about guns. They scare the crap out of me, even more so now that I have kids. You realize the danger or possibility of an accident and it frightens me. My dad reassured me that if I wasn't comfortable, Bryce didn't have to shoot. My dad was reciting gun safety with Bryce since he bought his first one. Then when I would get my panties in a bunch over the guns, Bryce would recite these gun safety rules my dad was teaching him.

It was all pretty effective. I decided that since there was no way of taking all the guns off the earth, knowledge and empowerment was the best way to avoid an accident. I figured that if I banned guns, the curiosity would still be there. I would rather him know what to do if he found a gun at sombody's house, than be curious enough to play with it. When you ask him what to do if he finds a gun, he proudly says, "Go find a grown-up!" Hopefully we take the curiosity away by letting him shoot in an adult controlled environment.

So this trip up to mountain-ville/ hick ville was to be the trip that Bryce got to shoot his 22 for the first time. He was beaming with excitement and joy! The things that makes a boy happy! I was nervous....but he did great. His got 9 out of 10 shot on the target. I was pretty impressed. He was also very protective of Leah and made sure he recited all the gun safety rules to her. It was cute!

I think Bobby also got the gun bug and couldn't stop shooting. He now wants to get a gun. GREAT!! I took a couple shots on the 22 and one on my Dad;s 45, but it really didn't do much for me. I will just cheer from the side lines.

We also got to take the kids fishing at the little pond up there. Bryce has been fishing several times and has never caught anything. I don't even know why he wants to still fish! Growing up at this water hole, I knew that we would probably not catch anything because my brothers tried for years and maybe pulled out a couple tiny fish. He was excited though, so we didn't want to discourage him. Well, it must have been Bryce's lucky day! He pulled in two fishes. Within 5 minutes of dropping our lines, my dad caught one that he let Bryce reel in. Bryce was excited but knew that he wasn't the one to catch that fish. He wanted to catch one all by himself. Bobby says, "Oh, we must have gotten lucky."

Next thing you know, Bryce says, "I got a fish!!!"

Bobby says, "He must just have caught the bottom."

Then he looks and realizes he really did have a fish. Bryce pulls in this huge fish. The excitement was awesome!! He caught his first fish all by himself. We were all buzzing.

After the photo shoot was done he tells his dad in a panicky voice, "OK Dad, put him back now, he's still breathing and I don't want to kill him!" That's my boy. Too sweet. Bobby asked if he was sure we didn't want to eat him, but Bryce was like, "Put him back now Dad."

We roasted marshmallows, sat by a campfire, got to shoot, fish, play in the stream, visit fossil falls, eat some camping food, and look at the amazing stars!! We squeezed all this into one day! Needless to say the kids slept well on the way home. It is days like this that I feel so extremely grateful and content with family life. Bryce said it was his favorite day of his life! The next day we were all feeling lazy and Bryce asked if we knew why he was so calm? We said, "No why?" He said because he got to shoot his gun and go fishing, his two favorite things. We'll have to do this more often!

Beauty Sleep

In our house, the boys are early birds and the girls...well...aren't. It works out good for Leah and me because we get to sleep in while the boys wake up and watch ESPN and make us breakfast. Nice!!

When we first brought Leah home from the hospital we didn't wake up until 10am the next day! I was like, "This is my type of girl!"

Sometimes she is wakened by Bryce but I continue to sleep. Really, this is the time Bobby gets to hang out with them, because he usually works past their bedtime at night. It is a routine I have really come to love! I get some time to myself in the morning and choose to spend it sleeping. In true mom fashion though, I will sometimes feel guilty and wake up and go down to hang out with the family. Most morning I can't even open my eyes wide enough to feel the guilt, so I continue to sleep.

Now, when I say sleep in I am only talking 8am, people! Not like the good ol' teenage days of sleeping in till 11:30. Remember when you just woke up in time to eat lunch? Those days are gone, but sleeping in until 8 is really a treat for most moms.

The other day Bryce asked me, "Mom, why do you like ALWAYS sleep so long in the mornings?"

Of course I felt guilty, but then reminded myself that it is OK for Bobby to take the morning routine, since I have the evening one. Equal partnership...right? I'm all for it!!

I tell Bryce I need to get my beauty sleep in. To that my little charmer says...
"But you are already beautiful!!"

Gotta love my little early bird too! Must only be beautiful because of all that sleep I'm getting...

Tiny Tots

Leah started preschool last week which makes me both happy and sad! Happy because now I get a couple hours a week of guilt free/ kid free time. Katie signed Cody up too, so we get to do lunch or our grocery shopping together without kids. Really relaxing!! I am a little sad that my youngest is in school. What does this mean for me?? Pretty much it means that I probably won't start over and have another baby...nothing in stone yet, but I never wanted the gap between kids to be so big!

Leah and Cody, who, if you frequent this blog, you already know, are boyfriend and girlfriend. It is too cute they have class together and I'm glad they know at least one familiar face as it has seemed to make the transition easy. It could be that we just have well adjusted kids though!

The backpack was almost as big as her! Nice one of Cody digging in the trash!

We'll have to save this one for their wedding

Cutting the cord...=(

The well-adjusted Tiny Tots!

I Need a Man Around HERE!

Bobby took off this last weekend for his annual backpacking trip. Basically, he fishes and carries everything he needs in a backpack and poops in a hole. No thank you! I sort of dread this annual trip because truth be told, I don't like not having Bobby around. He already works many hours during the week and the weekends are our designated family time. This last weekend it was going to be just the kids and me.

To say I managed without him, would not be an accurate statement. I was miserable. And as much as I don't like to admit I am dependent on a man, I totally realize I am! And I don't want to change. Much props and admiration to my single moms out there who do it alone and have even come to like it! I don't like it one bit.

For starters my daughter had a severe allergic reaction while he was gone and had hives all over her body. It was horrible. We were back to the doctor's several times and I really wanted Bobby to be there, if for nothing besides support.

Then there are the nights that just seem so quiet when I am sleeping alone. Every noise makes me wake up and thinks someone is breaking in. I made the kids sleep in my room both nights because of all the scenarios I was creating in my head. If someone was to break in, I wasn't sure if I could grab both kids and escape effectively. Much faster to grab them both if they are laying next to me. Maybe I'm crazy, but I had to become the protector, a role I do not like. When Bobby is here, I know he'd take care of an intruder and help grab the kids. I don't even worry when he's here. It's so nice to realize the security I feel when he's around.

I realize that this makes me weak, the fact that I do not want to function when he's not here, but there has never been a point in my life when I didn't have a man to take out the garbage, protect me, comfort me and just make me feel safe. I went straight from my parents home to living with Bobby. Is this such a bad thing?!?!

Bully Boy

Not just because Bryce is my kid, but he is a cool kid. Really! Here is a story to illustrate this point. Last year he told his teacher he was having a rough day. When she asked why he said, "Everyone wants to be my best friend and they can't ALL be my best friend." Not a bad problem to have. If that is your only problem, you really don't have a problem.

Bryce's first day of school was on Tues. When I asked him how his day was he said in great excitement, "It was great Mom, I get two recesses now!!"

My mind was at ease. All day I was wondering how he was doing and if it was going well.

Later that day Bryce comes over to me, smelling of men's cologne and says, "Mom, smell me!" As he breathes his breath into my face. I tell him his breath smells good and he tells me he brushed his teeth. Then he says, "Now Josh can't say that my breath stinks or that I smell!"

Let me give you the background on this little shit, Josh. He was in Bryce's class last year and he is a mean boy and not just to Bryce. He walks around the playground like he owns the place and makes kids feel bad. All the boys hang out in a group called the boy group, clever huh? They made that name up. Josh would single out a boy and tell him that he wasn't allowed to be in the boy group today. Why?? Who knows, because Josh would just come up with this on his own. He is just a bully!!

Bryce still considers Josh his friend even though he can be cruel. He is also a bit of a class clown so the boys like to laugh at him when he isn't terrorizing the group.

I tell Bryce that he doesn't smell and that Josh is a bully. I tell him that if Josh tells him something like that again to go play with other boys. I am in mom-protective-mode now and seem more upset than Bryce even is. Bryce simply took what he said literally and went to brush his teeth and spray cologne. I'm pissed because I know for a fact, Bryce doesn't stink and has pearly white smelling fresh breath. I make sure of this. So now this is an attack on me!

I explain to Bryce that Josh must be jealous because Bryce is so cool. Bryce asks me what jealous means. I say, "Josh thinks you are cool and he wants to be like you, but isn't as cool, so he puts you down to make himself feel better."

Bryce says, "So Josh wants to be like me?"

I say, "Yes!!"

Bryce says, "But why would Josh want to have stinky breath?"

My poor little guy. He believes this kid, even though he is just a jerk. My heart hurt and I was pissed and felt like walking up to the kid and giving him a taste of his own medicine. Since I am PTA president, I don't think playground bullying a 1st grader will look so good for me.

Bryce puts his cologne on in the morning and has me smell his breath after he brushes. He says, "Now Josh can't say anything!"

I understand this is a part of growing up and that a fair amount of teasing is OK. But when it is your kid, and you know the other kid is a brat, it makes you mad and sad. I don't want Bryce to have this complex about how he smells when he is a clean, well kept kid. Now he is very aware of how he smells and he shouldn't be worrying about that yet. And for those of you who know Bryce, he is a sweet kid. He would NEVER make someone feel bad like that, and for this I am proud of him. I am proud of how he handled it too. He is such a man already. There was a problem, he went and fixed it, by brushing and borrowing Dad's cologne!!

See when your kids get older, you think things will get easier. They won't fall when they are walking like when they were first learning around 1 year. You make it through the tantrums around 2 years. You tell yourself when they are babies and toddlers that protecting them and teaching them will get easier when they are older and can think for themselves. In actuality, it doesn't get easier to shield your children, the challenges just change from sharp ends on the table to bully boys on the playground.

Speech to the Students

To be honest, I'm not sure why such a positive message would be so controversial! Whether you are republican or democrat or other, when the President of the United State wants to address the youth or anyone for that matter, I believe they have earned our attention. For anyone who missed it or thought this meassage should not be aired...here it is to enjoy or pick apart:

Highlights Of Summer

This summer was our first official summer, since it was the first year Bryce was in school. Up until this, everyday kind of seemed like a summer vacation in the fact that we didn't have much to do. Tomorrow is the first day back to school so I wanted to highlight all the fun times we had this summer.

I love the time we get in the summer. We stayed in our jammies all day, or went swimming at my moms, played with our good friends, had tons of bbq's, and threw in a couple fun family trips as well.

I am sad to see the summer gone so fast. I love not having a schedule and just waking up and relaxing or seeing where the day takes us. I am a little emotional about my little guy going back to school too. He is a full day student now and Leah and I will for sure miss him when he's gone all day. He's new teacher won school district teacher of the year last year though, and I'm excited to see his growth this year. Leah will also be starting preschool a couple times a week. While I look forward to the free time, it is a reminder that my little ones aren't so little anymore.

Fourth of July @ Marina Del Rey
Fishing at the marina

Jethawks

Day at the beach

Watching Daddy play softball

Boating at Lake Mead

Backyard FUN

Disneyland B-day trip

Jet Museum

Berry Star with our best bud Cody

How to Revitalize an Injured Squirrel

I have been writing for this online company for a couple months and have really enjoyed the content I have been writing about. It is for a do-it-yourself company so I get to write on decorating ideas and such. They basically give you 1700 different article titles to choose from. You pick and write and return to editing. Some of my topics have been:

"Picking a Room Color"

"How to Organize a Kids Closet"

"How to Keep a Linen Closet Smelling Fresh"

All of this is right up my alley!

They also have articles I'm not too familiar with, so I don't pick those ones. They include:

"How to Build a Wood Deck"

"Changing the Water Heater"

"Easy Ways to Kill a Spider"

I can't write and teach people how to do things, I myself know nothing about.

I was trying to choose an article today and came across the most interesting title for an article.

They have a lot of garden tips and insect tips but this one just made me laugh out loud. Right under "How to Revitalize Your Patio Furniture," was this"

"How to Revitalize an Injured Squirrel"

I mean...what?!!!

#1 Does this have ANYTHING to do with home and garden? #2 Is this really a do-it-yourself job or something you drag to the vet in a cardboard box? #3 Who inquires on the Internet about this? #4 Is this an emergency situation? #5 Do you illustrate mouth-2-mouth for a squirrel? #6 Who does that?