To be more positive...
Two more posts until my 200th post! You guys definitely want to watch for it... there will be a giveaway! :) Of course, not to everyone, but to a couple of lucky people. :)
Just wait.... I hope that it's something that everyone gets excited about. We'll see!
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I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, I promise
I am such a Debbie Downer this week! I don't mean to be, I swear it. :)
But today was another great day in the life of...
So, remember how I thought I was such a pansy? Well, maybe I wasn't as big of a pansy as I thought. Or I could be, but the verdict is still out on that.
Before I go any further, I need to remind everyone of how important food is to me. How I love food... especially greasy, fattening food. You know, fresh green beans cooked in bacon grease, type of good food.
OK... back to the subject.
After running on Monday, my side continued to hurt. And it continued to feel worse. As in, every time I take a deep breath, I feel like I'm being stabbed. It comes and goes... it's not constant, but it's not ever completely gone either. I determined that I just must have pulled an ab muscle (and that still could be it). After Bible School last night, I collapsed into the recliner and debated with Brad and our friend, Paul, about whether or not I should go to the hospital. It was getting worse. I went to bed, determined that a pulled muscle would be it and I'd wake up better. This morning, I was sick to my stomach. I called the doctor, made an appointment, and my hubby came home to take care of the kids. Oh, no worries... I did a fair share of googling this, too. So, you know I've had everything from a pulled muscle to a collapsed lung, from appendicitis to liver cancer. Yep... love Google. Anyway... the doctor ruled out bladder/kidney/urinary issues pretty quickly. She told me that it sounded like my gallbladder and we'd have to do some more tests to see. So, now I'm waiting on blood results... and to get an ultrasound scheduled. Yay.
Sadly, do you know what I'm most concerned about? (Foreshadowing, anyone?) My diet. I can't imagine a life worth living without my greasy foods. Surgery? Sure... just let me have my grease, please. :) I know... that's probably going to have to change with or without surgery, if it is indeed a gallbladder issue. But, I will have to mourn and grieve for this particular change in my life. I don't want to live without all of that wonderful deliciousness. :(
Debbie Downer, for sure.
But today was another great day in the life of...
So, remember how I thought I was such a pansy? Well, maybe I wasn't as big of a pansy as I thought. Or I could be, but the verdict is still out on that.
Before I go any further, I need to remind everyone of how important food is to me. How I love food... especially greasy, fattening food. You know, fresh green beans cooked in bacon grease, type of good food.
OK... back to the subject.
After running on Monday, my side continued to hurt. And it continued to feel worse. As in, every time I take a deep breath, I feel like I'm being stabbed. It comes and goes... it's not constant, but it's not ever completely gone either. I determined that I just must have pulled an ab muscle (and that still could be it). After Bible School last night, I collapsed into the recliner and debated with Brad and our friend, Paul, about whether or not I should go to the hospital. It was getting worse. I went to bed, determined that a pulled muscle would be it and I'd wake up better. This morning, I was sick to my stomach. I called the doctor, made an appointment, and my hubby came home to take care of the kids. Oh, no worries... I did a fair share of googling this, too. So, you know I've had everything from a pulled muscle to a collapsed lung, from appendicitis to liver cancer. Yep... love Google. Anyway... the doctor ruled out bladder/kidney/urinary issues pretty quickly. She told me that it sounded like my gallbladder and we'd have to do some more tests to see. So, now I'm waiting on blood results... and to get an ultrasound scheduled. Yay.
Sadly, do you know what I'm most concerned about? (Foreshadowing, anyone?) My diet. I can't imagine a life worth living without my greasy foods. Surgery? Sure... just let me have my grease, please. :) I know... that's probably going to have to change with or without surgery, if it is indeed a gallbladder issue. But, I will have to mourn and grieve for this particular change in my life. I don't want to live without all of that wonderful deliciousness. :(
Debbie Downer, for sure.
Finding Balance...
Last week we had a great evening with Bret and Cilla and meeting (finally, after e-mailing for what seems like forever) Dawn and her family. We had a great time, just hanging out and eating wonderful Mexican food (by Cilla & Bret) and some delicious apple goodness by Dawn. We all enjoyed spending time getting to know each other better and Dawn presented me with a fabulous (FABULOUS!) training book. I just can't get over how much work she put into it. It's huge and has a training schedule for me to train for a 10K in eight weeks, as well as tons of information on running and training. Her excitement, enthusiasm, and encouragement just makes me want to go run right now. Anyway... Dawn was everything I expected... wonderfully sweet and easy to talk to. I felt like we had hung out 100 different times (I guess we have through e-mail!) and could easily see us hanging out together plenty in the future (if she will just not move!). Brad and Brandon and Bret all seemed to have a good time, too. I was really happy about that... because it isn't always easy to find a whole family or even a couple that meshes with your whole family or you as a couple. Not with Dawn, Brandon, Bret and Cilla, and us. It was just easy. Well... almost easy. :) The kids could have made it easier.
They had a great time, too. Probably too much fun. :) They were extremely wild, bouncing off of everything, running in circles, and shrieking almost all night long. I'm quite sure that Jackson (Dawn's oldest child) wasn't really sure what to think about all of this, but was happy to join in on the ruckus without his parents telling him to stop. :) My kids are the terrible influences that I always knew they'd be. Go Ootens. :) Carson, Dawn's youngest one, was absolutely adorable and the center of much attention from Bailey and Jake (who you would think had never seen a baby before, what with all of the cheek-squeezing they were resisting and all of the giggling they did when he did anything). All of that was fine and good. All of it. I could even deal with the occasional shriek (as bad as I hate it) and the rough housing with Bret (which is just something I'm giving up on... it's inevitable to happen every time now).
The thing I hate the most about parenting is discipline. No matter what I do, I feel like I'm either not doing enough or I'm doing too much. I can't figure out that right balance. It just seems like it is a constant struggle... especially with Bailey.
She's tough. She's spirited. She's full of life. I love all of this about her. She's the kind of little girl that talks too much, forgets that she's not an adult most of the time, and expects to be able to do what she wants all the time. She's spoiled. We know that. She's also typically a good little girl.Her biggest flaw is that she gets way too excited and forgets that there are rules. Most of the time, we can remind her and go on and life is fine. Sometimes we have to repeatedly tell her, but even then, she's usually easy to distract and we can entertain her with something to calm her down. Well, that night was the perfect example of her poor behavior and our problem in disciplining her. She was wild at Bret and Cilla's, which is not that atypical. She and Jake love to go wild there, especially if they have new friends to play with or if Bret decides to wrestle with them. But, that night was especially bad. Not only did Bailey act up a little more than usual (or a lot more), she refused to listen to us. Flat out ignored us. Like, no threat was going to work because she wasn't even going to hear what we had to say kind of ignoring us. I felt exasperated with her. Brad was really ready to kill her. We both felt helpless... useless.
So, the past week has been interesting. I've been so frustrated with her. I sat her down the following morning and talked to her about it, thinking that maybe if I discussed this with her in a mature conversation, she'd be more likely to listen. I thought that maybe it would help since she was really tired and probably didn't really care if we were upset with her after we left Bret & Cilla's. I told her about how disappointed I was in how she acted. She cried and apologized. I talked to her about how we don't ignore people, including Cilla who had tried to get Bailey to leave her "photo" room only to have Bailey shove her and try to get into the room. That has never happened before. I made sure to explain to her that we loved to have fun with our friends and that we wanted her to have a good time, but that from now on, we will not be going to friends' homes and ignoring everyone, regardless of what's going on. So, in the future, I predict, we will be leaving someone's home early to prove a point to Bailey. It sucks. We are not that strict. We are pretty flexible and understanding and really don't ask our kids to be little soldiers. We just have certain expectations... like don't be freaking rude to people, listen to us when we talk to you, and don't intentionally disobey us. Apparently, we need more specific rules for Bailey. Ahhh.... it's so frustrating. I don't want to give her so many rules and so much "structure" that she can't be her lively, spirited self. But, I also don't want to have "that" kid when we go some place. I mean, seriously... she was bad.
Oh well... there are always struggles with parenting, right? I guess I should just take this one and realize that it's only one of many struggles that we're going to have over the next 13 years (if not more).
I wrote nearly all of this the day after our get together last week. And, then, for some reason, I was playing around on one of my friends' blogs, looking at some things that she had posted before. I stumbled across this blog... and this was the post that I read. In tears. I read this post. And, I realized that my daughter would have been the little girl that would have done everything in the world to make her daughter feel a part of the group. She would have been the little girl in the group that would realize there was a difference, but would have done everything in the world to find a connection with her without any prompting from an adult. I am so blessed.... even when she's bad... Bailey has the kind of heart that I always dreamed she would.
This made me smile
Monday, July 26, 2010
Perfect timing.
Sometimes you just need something at the right time... and this really helped. :)
Read... please. :)
Pansy
I could cry.
Sometimes I think I gloss over things... sugarcoat them so that I can convince myself through writing to be more optimistic.
Not tonight.
I was scared. Do you know how many times I've watched a football game and called the quarterback a pansy for falling down instead of taking a hit? Do you know how many times I've watched a game and pegged the running back that had been hurt before because he avoided being hit by a defensive player? Yep... called him a pansy, too.
I'm officially a pansy. I ran scared tonight. Every time I started to pick up speed, I'd feel like one of those players. I would pull back, slowing down or avoiding a hill, scared. Scared to get hurt. Pansy.
I ran. I sucked. I sucked in air and it hurt. I didn't really have a hard time breathing - my breathing was normal and even, not heaving or anything. Yet, I had a hard time breathing, because it felt like someone had kicked me in the ribs and my ribs were going to pierce through my lungs. Really and truly. I sucked. I ran about a mile. Then, I walked a minute or so. I ran about another quarter of a mile. I thought about punching the skinny girl running toward me that looked at me like I was a loser for walking. She probably really wasn't, but she looked like she was. I could have totally taken her. She should be glad that I went to Bible school with the kids tonight and felt closer to God. :) Because at that exact moment, I was mad at the world.
I walked about three quarters of a mile home. I started to cry, but realized that I'd look stupid crying and that crying wouldn't do anything anyway. I just walked home... like a pansy.
My ankle doesn't hurt. YAY! I should be celebrating my running again, right? Yep... on a normal blog post, I would. But if I'm really going to share how I feel about all of this. Well, I'll just say, "It sucks." My vocabulary is awesome, I know. :)
I just can't believe that me taking two weeks away from training and I can hardly make it through a mile.
I have a training plan to run a 10K in eight weeks. It involves running 4 miles 4 times a week. Yep. That's going to take a while.
Sucks.
Sometimes I think I gloss over things... sugarcoat them so that I can convince myself through writing to be more optimistic.
Not tonight.
I was scared. Do you know how many times I've watched a football game and called the quarterback a pansy for falling down instead of taking a hit? Do you know how many times I've watched a game and pegged the running back that had been hurt before because he avoided being hit by a defensive player? Yep... called him a pansy, too.
I'm officially a pansy. I ran scared tonight. Every time I started to pick up speed, I'd feel like one of those players. I would pull back, slowing down or avoiding a hill, scared. Scared to get hurt. Pansy.
I ran. I sucked. I sucked in air and it hurt. I didn't really have a hard time breathing - my breathing was normal and even, not heaving or anything. Yet, I had a hard time breathing, because it felt like someone had kicked me in the ribs and my ribs were going to pierce through my lungs. Really and truly. I sucked. I ran about a mile. Then, I walked a minute or so. I ran about another quarter of a mile. I thought about punching the skinny girl running toward me that looked at me like I was a loser for walking. She probably really wasn't, but she looked like she was. I could have totally taken her. She should be glad that I went to Bible school with the kids tonight and felt closer to God. :) Because at that exact moment, I was mad at the world.
I walked about three quarters of a mile home. I started to cry, but realized that I'd look stupid crying and that crying wouldn't do anything anyway. I just walked home... like a pansy.
My ankle doesn't hurt. YAY! I should be celebrating my running again, right? Yep... on a normal blog post, I would. But if I'm really going to share how I feel about all of this. Well, I'll just say, "It sucks." My vocabulary is awesome, I know. :)
I just can't believe that me taking two weeks away from training and I can hardly make it through a mile.
I have a training plan to run a 10K in eight weeks. It involves running 4 miles 4 times a week. Yep. That's going to take a while.
Sucks.
Updated... again
I've been blogging less in the past week or two... mainly because I've been busy with the kids and all of our fun activities, but also because I've had a hard time sitting down to blog.
I have too many things on my mind.
Way too many things.
So, I open up my blogger account and stare at the empty screen until I just decide that I can't start a post without it connecting with another post that I have yet to write. So... I just don't write.
I hate not writing. For many reasons, but mainly because I love to write things in the moment, while they are fresh and full of raw, real emotion. I don't like my posts that are about things that happened two weeks ago. Typically, they are missing the emotion and "feel" of the moment.
So, I am now going to write some posts that aren't exactly going to go down in the books as my favorites.
:)
One of the things that I'm sure all of you are wondering about is Jake's speech evaluation. I haven't posted a blog about it because I've been waiting for his "results" to come in the mail. It's been a week and we still have yet to hear. I'm hoping that the mailbox has some good news today... will post it if it does. :) His evaluation seemed to go really well. He was hilarious in it. As I've indicated before, Jake isn't big on reading or writing or drawing or basically anything that involves him to "work." He's much more interested in playing with his figures and making them all fight or make friends. :) He knows his colors, shapes, etc., but doesn't really like to participate in activities where he has to recall them. Usually, he'll get through about two questions before he says, " I not do this anymore." So when the therapist pulled out a flipchart-style book to go through with Jake, I thought, "Well, this is it. They'll have him diagnosed as a mute before it's all over." :) He did really well. He did really, really well in Jake terms. :) He made it like 15 minutes in before he put his head on his hand, took a deep sigh, and rubbed his forehead like he was exhausted. Gosh... Kindergarten will be rough for him. :) He proceeded to act like he didn't know what a drum was because he was too lazy to even say it to her. Funny to us now, but it won't be later. We know. :) Fortunately, Brad and I were able to tell the therapist that he does indeed know what many of those items were, but that he was just being lazy. We also were able to coach him and tell him to think and respond. When we talked to the therapist at the end, she seemed very positive. She seemed to say that he did need some help with enunciation and use of certain words, but I'm not sure that it was bad enough to warrant a daily program or anything. So, we'll see. We don't have official news, so it's hard to say what will actually happen, but overall, we felt pretty positive about it. And, he seemed to feel pretty confident about it, too. We really made a big deal about how good he did, so hopefully that helped him feel more secure, which is what all of this is about.
School starts in about two weeks for my oldest baby. I was expecting to feel like an empty-nester when Bailey hit this point, but I'm really looking forward to it. Haha, I know you are all thinking that I'm just looking forward to some peace and quiet while she is in school. :) Yes, partly true. But, mainly I'm excited about it because she is SO excited about it. We have Kindergarten evaluation on Friday, where they evaluate where she is to gauge what she knows, etc. Then, we have Open House on Monday, August 9, where she will see her school, classroom, and cubby. I know she's going to be nervous that night... as will I. But, then, she'll be all keyed up on the first day (the following Wednesday) to get into that room and add her two cents to everything. :) It's bittersweet in a lot of ways. I can't believe she's already grown this much. I can't believe that in 5 more years, she'll be going to a middle school. It's just unbelievable. But, it is fun to see her in this phase of her life. She'll learn so much, including how to spell all of the things that I currently spell out to friends and family so she won't know what I'm talking about (darn). She'll grow into less of a baby and more of a little girl. And, while we might feel like we are losing part of her (the baby), we will gain so much more in a mini-adult (is this really a good thing?). :)
School also starts for my other baby in a few weeks, too. You know... my baby brother. Last week, I spent a day with him, reliving my college years, when I took him to his freshman orientation. We had a good time. I have to admit that I hated the part where everyone looked at me and wondered, "Is that his mom? His girlfriend?" Yep. Either way, it was equally as bad. I was either a really young mom or a really old cougar. At least one person did ask me if I was a transfer student (thank you, mister, for making me feel like I at least look somewhat like I could still be in college). Other than that whole awkwardness... we were able to get him set up in classes, get his financial aid situated, check out where he classes would be, etc. I love doing all of that stuff. I know, I am a complete dork, but I swear, if I could have a job where all I did was take kids to look at different campuses all over the region, I would totally do that. :) I have a blast looking at all of it. I think I just love that feeling of change... of starting something new. I just love that feeling of a fresh start. You'd think I have a horrible life that would make me love that feeling, but I don't. I just love feeling like there's so much potential and so many fun adventures to be had. :)
So, that's what's been taking up most of my time for the last week. That and a few other things that I'm going to post about soon. :) Yep... soon... procrastinator. :)
I have too many things on my mind.
Way too many things.
So, I open up my blogger account and stare at the empty screen until I just decide that I can't start a post without it connecting with another post that I have yet to write. So... I just don't write.
I hate not writing. For many reasons, but mainly because I love to write things in the moment, while they are fresh and full of raw, real emotion. I don't like my posts that are about things that happened two weeks ago. Typically, they are missing the emotion and "feel" of the moment.
So, I am now going to write some posts that aren't exactly going to go down in the books as my favorites.
:)
One of the things that I'm sure all of you are wondering about is Jake's speech evaluation. I haven't posted a blog about it because I've been waiting for his "results" to come in the mail. It's been a week and we still have yet to hear. I'm hoping that the mailbox has some good news today... will post it if it does. :) His evaluation seemed to go really well. He was hilarious in it. As I've indicated before, Jake isn't big on reading or writing or drawing or basically anything that involves him to "work." He's much more interested in playing with his figures and making them all fight or make friends. :) He knows his colors, shapes, etc., but doesn't really like to participate in activities where he has to recall them. Usually, he'll get through about two questions before he says, " I not do this anymore." So when the therapist pulled out a flipchart-style book to go through with Jake, I thought, "Well, this is it. They'll have him diagnosed as a mute before it's all over." :) He did really well. He did really, really well in Jake terms. :) He made it like 15 minutes in before he put his head on his hand, took a deep sigh, and rubbed his forehead like he was exhausted. Gosh... Kindergarten will be rough for him. :) He proceeded to act like he didn't know what a drum was because he was too lazy to even say it to her. Funny to us now, but it won't be later. We know. :) Fortunately, Brad and I were able to tell the therapist that he does indeed know what many of those items were, but that he was just being lazy. We also were able to coach him and tell him to think and respond. When we talked to the therapist at the end, she seemed very positive. She seemed to say that he did need some help with enunciation and use of certain words, but I'm not sure that it was bad enough to warrant a daily program or anything. So, we'll see. We don't have official news, so it's hard to say what will actually happen, but overall, we felt pretty positive about it. And, he seemed to feel pretty confident about it, too. We really made a big deal about how good he did, so hopefully that helped him feel more secure, which is what all of this is about.
School starts in about two weeks for my oldest baby. I was expecting to feel like an empty-nester when Bailey hit this point, but I'm really looking forward to it. Haha, I know you are all thinking that I'm just looking forward to some peace and quiet while she is in school. :) Yes, partly true. But, mainly I'm excited about it because she is SO excited about it. We have Kindergarten evaluation on Friday, where they evaluate where she is to gauge what she knows, etc. Then, we have Open House on Monday, August 9, where she will see her school, classroom, and cubby. I know she's going to be nervous that night... as will I. But, then, she'll be all keyed up on the first day (the following Wednesday) to get into that room and add her two cents to everything. :) It's bittersweet in a lot of ways. I can't believe she's already grown this much. I can't believe that in 5 more years, she'll be going to a middle school. It's just unbelievable. But, it is fun to see her in this phase of her life. She'll learn so much, including how to spell all of the things that I currently spell out to friends and family so she won't know what I'm talking about (darn). She'll grow into less of a baby and more of a little girl. And, while we might feel like we are losing part of her (the baby), we will gain so much more in a mini-adult (is this really a good thing?). :)
School also starts for my other baby in a few weeks, too. You know... my baby brother. Last week, I spent a day with him, reliving my college years, when I took him to his freshman orientation. We had a good time. I have to admit that I hated the part where everyone looked at me and wondered, "Is that his mom? His girlfriend?" Yep. Either way, it was equally as bad. I was either a really young mom or a really old cougar. At least one person did ask me if I was a transfer student (thank you, mister, for making me feel like I at least look somewhat like I could still be in college). Other than that whole awkwardness... we were able to get him set up in classes, get his financial aid situated, check out where he classes would be, etc. I love doing all of that stuff. I know, I am a complete dork, but I swear, if I could have a job where all I did was take kids to look at different campuses all over the region, I would totally do that. :) I have a blast looking at all of it. I think I just love that feeling of change... of starting something new. I just love that feeling of a fresh start. You'd think I have a horrible life that would make me love that feeling, but I don't. I just love feeling like there's so much potential and so many fun adventures to be had. :)
So, that's what's been taking up most of my time for the last week. That and a few other things that I'm going to post about soon. :) Yep... soon... procrastinator. :)
Help Jess Win!
Friday, July 23, 2010
We were never close friends... we were only friends through our brothers, who played ball together throughout our childhood. I always thought she was a super-sweet girl and loved her family. They were all just good people. So, when I heard that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor a little over a year ago, my heart just dropped. I couldn't believe that she, being so young, had been dealt such a terrible hand. I quickly began following her journey to have "Bertha" removed. I kept up with her progress through Facebook (what else?!) and hoped and prayed that she'd be able to beat this. Fortunately, it was not cancer, but a disease that she would have to beat. And she (with the grace of God) kicked Bertha's butt.
I have to say that I was so impressed by Jess and her story. She is an inspiration. Not only did she beat "Bertha," she did it with the most wonderfully positive attitude. I hope that if I ever received the scariest news of my life that I would handle it the way she did... with prayer and faith. And, if I did pull through it all and beat it, I hope that I would be as thankful to God as she was. I have to say that I doubt that I would be. I am sure that I would focus on the negative and blame God instead of praising him. I hope I'm wrong, if I'm ever dealt something like this, but I just can't see me being as positive as Jess.
Anyway... I don't typically dedicate a post to someone that I'm not that close to, but I have to share this. As a new runner, I want to share Jess with all of you. She is now training to run her first 5K and is in a contest with her other fellow runners. Whoever receives the most comments on their blog will receive a prize! Please read her blog and, if you feel compelled, post a comment. You all know how much your support and comments have helped me to train and feel confident in myself with running. Please share with her what you have with me! And, help her win a prize, too! :) Comment by July 31st.
Here's how you can help.
I have to say that I was so impressed by Jess and her story. She is an inspiration. Not only did she beat "Bertha," she did it with the most wonderfully positive attitude. I hope that if I ever received the scariest news of my life that I would handle it the way she did... with prayer and faith. And, if I did pull through it all and beat it, I hope that I would be as thankful to God as she was. I have to say that I doubt that I would be. I am sure that I would focus on the negative and blame God instead of praising him. I hope I'm wrong, if I'm ever dealt something like this, but I just can't see me being as positive as Jess.
Anyway... I don't typically dedicate a post to someone that I'm not that close to, but I have to share this. As a new runner, I want to share Jess with all of you. She is now training to run her first 5K and is in a contest with her other fellow runners. Whoever receives the most comments on their blog will receive a prize! Please read her blog and, if you feel compelled, post a comment. You all know how much your support and comments have helped me to train and feel confident in myself with running. Please share with her what you have with me! And, help her win a prize, too! :) Comment by July 31st.
Here's how you can help.
1.Create a free account at : http://www.active.com/page/Add_or_Edit_Account/?show=create&referrerUrl=http://www.active.com/
2. Visit the Team GoSmart blog: http://community.active.com/groups/team-gosmart
3. Leave a comment, question, or motivation on any of my posts before July 31st.
4. Feel free to add me and Jess as your friend!
Great day...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A day full of running. Or not running. I didn't run at the Bluegrass State Games, which was probably a good thing. More time to heal... and to get back into my groove.
The kind of running I did do was to the ball park, to the fabric store, to the gas station, etc. And finally... it rained. :) So, we were confined to our house. Thankfully. Brad went to a Reds game with some of our friends (a guys trip). The kids and I were happy to have a movie night. A night of nothing planned and nothing that we HAD to do.
So, I introduced our kids to one of the classics tonight. The Sandlot. They loved it. Jake was so intrigued by the dog... or the "monster" as he called it. Bailey was more interested in the emotional aspects of it all... her biggest concern was whether or not they'd ever be allowed to go back to the pool. And, she predicted quite early the marriage between the lifeguard and the kid with the glasses, who I have already forgotten his name. :) She was also very interested in learning more about the "Great Bambino." :)
I loved it. It was like going back to my childhood. It was a favorite in our house. My brother, Cory, and I would go around quoting lines from the movie and re-enacting various aspects of the movie. That was at a time in my life when I knew baseball and loved it. The Reds were the greatest team in the world... and we would spend hours upon hours organizing and reorganizing baseball cards by team, year, or alphabet. I guess maybe subconsciously I had these things on my mind because Brad was going to the Reds game, but I didn't really think about it (thus the subconscious thing). lol. And, guess what Brad brought home? A Chris Sabo bobblehead. Absolutely freaking hilariously awesome. :)
And, once the kids were in bed, it was a time for me to watch a classic... Sleepless in Seattle. Ah... what a great movie night.
Tomorrow... to Holiday World! I am SO excited! :)
By the way, I have to say (because he told me to) that my husband is so awesome. He fixed my laptop AND saved all my pictures. Go Brad. :)
And, officially, t-ball is over. :) Back to life as usual.
About my kids
Friday, July 16, 2010
Since I'm frustrated about running or the lack thereof, and because I am nervous about tomorrow morning, and since my husband and two children have been fast asleep since 10, I have lots of energy. Not really energy to go do anything or to fold the laundry that really needs to be folded. Energy to do things like... play on the computer or think too much. I could easily watch a movie, but I can't really focus on the television, what with the thinking and all.
So, I blog... driving everyone crazy with my erratic behavior... blog five times in a day... then don't blog at all for five days... etc. :) Sorry. I know... it annoys me, too.
I have lots to blog about over the past couple of weeks... we have been very busy. I could list it all here, but I'm actually going to do that in my next "big" post. Sorry. I know the long ones aren't everyone's favorites (well, sometimes they are), but I can't see getting "caught up" on all of it without just doing a "Summer Activities" post, complete with lots of pictures and small notes about the actual trips. Hehehe... I know. You are all saying, "Yeah... right... small notes about the trips. That won't happen. She has to tell the backstory on EVERYTHING." :) Are you wondering why I don't just do that post now? Well, I'm being lazy, icing my foot on an elevated chair in the office, and I simply don't want to walk downstairs to get the camera from my purse to download pictures.
Instead, I'm going to tell you about my kids, as if you don't already know a lot about them. You don't have to read if I get too long-winded. I know sometimes I don't want to read what I've written. lol. But, sometimes, I feel like I need to tell about things that my kids will want to read about when they are older... you know, how they acted and what they "did" that made me so crazy. So completely crazy... about them.
I'll start with Bailey... she's the oldest and would totally think that she deserves to go first... it's an argument I hear daily. It's OK though. Jake just looks at Bailey after everything and says, "I win," and she is totally exasperated because she can't make him understand that she won. :)
Bailey is a great little girl... always interested in following the rules and doing the right thing. She does this almost to a fault, driving us crazy telling on her brother or reminding us not to break our own rules from time to time (she loves to lecture Brad when he and Paul smoke cigars or tell me to slow down when I'm driving too fast and yelling at people in front of me). She is going to be the teacher's pet, I'm sure. She just has that personality. If you have seen the movie School of Rock, just imagine the little girl who is the band manager and you'll get a pretty solid idea of why I think Bailey is going to be the pet. :) She loves to play school, often calling me teacher and raising her hand throughout the day. I love it that she's so interested in learning, even if her unending questions sometimes baffle me and leave me wishing that I had all the answers so that I wouldn't have to say, "I don't know... ask your dad," so much. It's a pride thing, people. I don't want to be less smart than daddy, in anyone's eyes. :) She loves to play rough... she can wrestle with the boys on any given day, but is just as likely to be caught kissing one as punching one. She is a girly girl, in every sense. She has this way about her... she is just naturally prissy. She pushes her hair away from her face very flippantly, as if she is a princess. And, she definitely is convinced that she is a real princess, I am a queen, Daddy is the King, and Jake is the prince. I believe that she had a sincere argument with some of the kids in her preschool about this... she came home to tell me all about how one little girl told her that she wasn't a "real" princess and that I really needed to go in to school and explain to them that she was indeed a real princess. Yes, you can imagine my difficulty in managing that conversation. Obviously, I was not convincing when I explained how she is our princess. She still thinks she's a real princess. She even asked when we were going to move into the castle on Versailles Road. :) She is so excited about starting dance classes this fall. I have caught her on multiple occasions dancing in front of her mirror in her room, practicing ballet. It's really adorable.
Bailey acts ten years older than she should be. We forget that she's only five pretty regularly. She is too intelligent for her own good sometimes, which backfires more on her than it does on us. She ends up in trouble for things that most five-year olds wouldn't get into trouble for, simply because we know she understands right from wrong so well. It's not fair to her. I can see that Jake already gets by with things that Bailey did not get by with at the age of three. I hate that. I hate it because that was me and it sucked. The boys always got by with more than I did. Not cool, but a reality that I must admit is simply inevitable. I can't change it, despite my attempts to become more aware of it. It's just simply there.
She's been harder on us this summer than usual. She is going through a phase where she whines when she doesn't get her way. She whines when she does get her way. She just whines a lot. And if there's one thing in this world that I always swore I would never let my kid do, it was whine. So... you can imagine how tough of a summer it's been in that sense. Vacation was interesting. Bailey whined to go to the beach. Then, when we got there, she'd be satisfied for a few minutes, then she'd whine to go to the pool. She'd whine that she was hot, then whine that she was cold. Everything was hard for Bailey... she just had a rough time realizing that the world does not revolve around her and her alone. It's a tough lesson to learn. There was a time when I actually dragged her off the beach. She kicked and screamed and tried to run. Her little body was greasy with sunscreen, so it probably looked like I was tearing her arms off as she kept slipping away from me. It was horribly embarrassing, and it made me about as furious as I've ever been at a child. Thankfully, Brad intervened and took her and Jake to the room for some rest time. After an hour or so, things seemed to be better. I'm hoping that Brad had a conversation with her on how to act. :) Whatever he did, worked. She was better. And, so we had to come up with some solutions for this behavior. Bailey has never been threatened by time out. She makes everyone miserable when she's in it and it simply doesn't work. What does work is taking things away. And, we finally figured out a few ways to really get her attention. First was the computer. Second was the TV in her room. Third, I promised to buy her a watch ($6 at Target) if she could go a week and a half without losing any toys. And so far, so good. It's a little combo of negative and positive reinforcement. She doesn't like it, but it's working. She even told my parents that when they aren't around, Brad and I aren't nice to her. lol. Yes, this was all during the week that Bailey had lost her computer privileges and the TV for a week. It hurt my feelings that she said it like that, but you know what? It works. She's actually listening better. And, she got the watch. She had it for about 3 hours before I had to take it away because she and her brother wouldn't stop fighting (Jake got one too), but she did get it. And, she'll get it back tomorrow morning. She still whines... don't get me wrong. We went to the Bluegrass Fair on Thursday. She whined when we left that she didn't get to ride some ride (we were there for at least 4 hours and she rode nearly everything there that she was able to ride). I just made the comment that you'd think she'd be happier after spending so much time at the fair. She quickly responded with, "Thank you for bringing us, mommy." It's really not the way that I want to teach her to appreciate things, but I hope that those little reminders of the fun that she's had will help her remember the next time that we go that we don't HAVE to do all these fun things. It's something we've had to have lots of conversations about this summer... I just hope it's sticking.
While it's really bittersweet for me, Bailey is super-excited about school starting in August. When we found out she got into the school we were hoping for, she went through the house yelling, "I'm going to the school I wanted!" It was pretty cute and it made me really happy to see that she's not going to be the kid clinging to my leg and crying on that first day. I will probably be the one crying when I get home... knowing that her little life will pass by so quickly now. I never thought this first 5 years would go by this fast... but I've loved every little phase, good and bad, along the way.
Which brings me to Jake. My little man who is so easy that if I had him first, I would have had like ten kids. :) He is the sweetest, funniest little boy I think I've ever been around. Mommy's little boy is the perfect description. Oh, don't get me wrong, he has his moments. But, he gives the best hugs and is the most cuddly little boy I've ever been around. He could easily sit in my lap for an hour every morning, just content to be snuggling and eating a pop tart breakfast. The complete opposite of his sister in many ways, he is calm and quiet. Not demanding or high maintenance. He follows some rules, ignores others, which can be completely terrifying for a mother. Unlike his sister, who I know would never run out into a parking lot at the ball field, I have to watch Jake's every move. He thinks it's hilarious to sneak away from me and watch me panic as I look for him. I've caught him hiding under the bleachers or behind the dugout wall too many times to count. He's always standing there watching me search for him, with a huge grin on his face. It's horrible that I want to scare him by having someone else grab him up one day, just so he can see how easy it would be when he's pulling that crap. Yes... terrifying. But, he's also a cautious kid... the one who doesn't like water in his face and doesn't like to be the first to try anything. He wants to sit back and see how everything is done before he decides he's going to join in. Yet, if you get him on a roller coaster or anything that goes super fast (sans water), he's going to outlast you. Trust me... he could have ridden the Tilt-A-Whirl for hours... I was about to die after just a few minutes. :) No haunted houses for him though... and definitely no pirates. :)
Jake is sneaky and smart. He tricks us into things all that time. He even tricks Bailey. She's part of his laziness problem. When he avoids helping to clean up his toys, I tell him that if he doesn't pick them all up by the end of a cartoon, they are going in the garage. Instead of letting him lose his toys, Bailey cleans them up for him. She can't stand the thought of toys in the garage. He reminds me of Brad. If he hears me talking about cleaning up anything, he'll sneak down the stairs and get on the couch. Just like his dad. :) He is also stubborn. If he doesn't want to do something, he's not going to. He won't sell out. Ever. You can force him to do things by use of physical force, but he will not willingly do something he doesn't want to do. Once he's made up his mind, you will not change it. Period. While we have a serious tug of war because of that, I am also very happy about this. I just have to teach him to make the right choices and then, hopefully, he'll stick with them no matter what. :) How nice would that be?!
Jake's stubbornness is sometimes his downfall. He refuses to learn sometimes... just because he doesn't feel like it. If I ask Jake his address or his colors or shapes or basically anything and he's not interested in doing it, he's just not going to do it. It makes us nervous about his school days. His speech is getting better, but it's not where we hoped it would be by now. Yet, we don't know if we have realistic expectations or not. It all just seems to depend on what standards we compare him to. What I hate the most about his speech is that it's beginning to affect his confidence. I can see it. It's heart-breaking. He shies away from people if they don't immediately understand what he's saying. He even lowers his head when people talk to him and refuses to answer their questions sometimes, especially if they don't seem to understand his initial conversation. Sometimes, it's not his fault... it's just that the person hasn't heard him or something. But that doesn't matter... he still gets nervous about it. So... we're working on some ways to improve that for him... not for us. I want him to be confident and not insecure being himself. I can't stand to see him avoid talking to people because he's worried they won't understand him. Monday will be a big day for us. We have an appointment with a speech therapist that morning to see what their thoughts are. If he's in a normal range of speech, then we're just going to work with him on speaking more clearly and speaking louder, and being more confident. If he has a delay, then we'll figure out the best route and go from there. In any case, I hope that he can move past that insecurity and grow up feeling stronger.
One of my favorite things about having a boy is watching him grow up admiring his dad. Jake has always been crazy about being like Brad, but never as much as he is right now. He wants his mommy at bed time and wants me to treat him like a baby on most days. But, when it comes to dad, he wants to be big. He wants to play basketball like dad. He wants to drive a truck... well, he thinks dad's truck is HIS truck. They have already argued about it. I don't know if Brad knew how much it meant to Jake that he took Jake to Walmart with him a few weeks ago to get a tire fixed and to look around at tools and toys. I didn't know what a big deal it was in Jake's mind. But, today, we walked past the auto center at Walmart and Jake said, "Stop Mommy. Daddy bwought me here. We wooked at tools and Buzz and Woody. Wet's go wook at tools." :) And, since we have to have a hitch for our truck, daddy now has an appointment with Jake to come back to the auto area of Walmart with his little man and look at tools. :)
So, I blog... driving everyone crazy with my erratic behavior... blog five times in a day... then don't blog at all for five days... etc. :) Sorry. I know... it annoys me, too.
I have lots to blog about over the past couple of weeks... we have been very busy. I could list it all here, but I'm actually going to do that in my next "big" post. Sorry. I know the long ones aren't everyone's favorites (well, sometimes they are), but I can't see getting "caught up" on all of it without just doing a "Summer Activities" post, complete with lots of pictures and small notes about the actual trips. Hehehe... I know. You are all saying, "Yeah... right... small notes about the trips. That won't happen. She has to tell the backstory on EVERYTHING." :) Are you wondering why I don't just do that post now? Well, I'm being lazy, icing my foot on an elevated chair in the office, and I simply don't want to walk downstairs to get the camera from my purse to download pictures.
Instead, I'm going to tell you about my kids, as if you don't already know a lot about them. You don't have to read if I get too long-winded. I know sometimes I don't want to read what I've written. lol. But, sometimes, I feel like I need to tell about things that my kids will want to read about when they are older... you know, how they acted and what they "did" that made me so crazy. So completely crazy... about them.
I'll start with Bailey... she's the oldest and would totally think that she deserves to go first... it's an argument I hear daily. It's OK though. Jake just looks at Bailey after everything and says, "I win," and she is totally exasperated because she can't make him understand that she won. :)
Bailey is a great little girl... always interested in following the rules and doing the right thing. She does this almost to a fault, driving us crazy telling on her brother or reminding us not to break our own rules from time to time (she loves to lecture Brad when he and Paul smoke cigars or tell me to slow down when I'm driving too fast and yelling at people in front of me). She is going to be the teacher's pet, I'm sure. She just has that personality. If you have seen the movie School of Rock, just imagine the little girl who is the band manager and you'll get a pretty solid idea of why I think Bailey is going to be the pet. :) She loves to play school, often calling me teacher and raising her hand throughout the day. I love it that she's so interested in learning, even if her unending questions sometimes baffle me and leave me wishing that I had all the answers so that I wouldn't have to say, "I don't know... ask your dad," so much. It's a pride thing, people. I don't want to be less smart than daddy, in anyone's eyes. :) She loves to play rough... she can wrestle with the boys on any given day, but is just as likely to be caught kissing one as punching one. She is a girly girl, in every sense. She has this way about her... she is just naturally prissy. She pushes her hair away from her face very flippantly, as if she is a princess. And, she definitely is convinced that she is a real princess, I am a queen, Daddy is the King, and Jake is the prince. I believe that she had a sincere argument with some of the kids in her preschool about this... she came home to tell me all about how one little girl told her that she wasn't a "real" princess and that I really needed to go in to school and explain to them that she was indeed a real princess. Yes, you can imagine my difficulty in managing that conversation. Obviously, I was not convincing when I explained how she is our princess. She still thinks she's a real princess. She even asked when we were going to move into the castle on Versailles Road. :) She is so excited about starting dance classes this fall. I have caught her on multiple occasions dancing in front of her mirror in her room, practicing ballet. It's really adorable.
Bailey acts ten years older than she should be. We forget that she's only five pretty regularly. She is too intelligent for her own good sometimes, which backfires more on her than it does on us. She ends up in trouble for things that most five-year olds wouldn't get into trouble for, simply because we know she understands right from wrong so well. It's not fair to her. I can see that Jake already gets by with things that Bailey did not get by with at the age of three. I hate that. I hate it because that was me and it sucked. The boys always got by with more than I did. Not cool, but a reality that I must admit is simply inevitable. I can't change it, despite my attempts to become more aware of it. It's just simply there.
She's been harder on us this summer than usual. She is going through a phase where she whines when she doesn't get her way. She whines when she does get her way. She just whines a lot. And if there's one thing in this world that I always swore I would never let my kid do, it was whine. So... you can imagine how tough of a summer it's been in that sense. Vacation was interesting. Bailey whined to go to the beach. Then, when we got there, she'd be satisfied for a few minutes, then she'd whine to go to the pool. She'd whine that she was hot, then whine that she was cold. Everything was hard for Bailey... she just had a rough time realizing that the world does not revolve around her and her alone. It's a tough lesson to learn. There was a time when I actually dragged her off the beach. She kicked and screamed and tried to run. Her little body was greasy with sunscreen, so it probably looked like I was tearing her arms off as she kept slipping away from me. It was horribly embarrassing, and it made me about as furious as I've ever been at a child. Thankfully, Brad intervened and took her and Jake to the room for some rest time. After an hour or so, things seemed to be better. I'm hoping that Brad had a conversation with her on how to act. :) Whatever he did, worked. She was better. And, so we had to come up with some solutions for this behavior. Bailey has never been threatened by time out. She makes everyone miserable when she's in it and it simply doesn't work. What does work is taking things away. And, we finally figured out a few ways to really get her attention. First was the computer. Second was the TV in her room. Third, I promised to buy her a watch ($6 at Target) if she could go a week and a half without losing any toys. And so far, so good. It's a little combo of negative and positive reinforcement. She doesn't like it, but it's working. She even told my parents that when they aren't around, Brad and I aren't nice to her. lol. Yes, this was all during the week that Bailey had lost her computer privileges and the TV for a week. It hurt my feelings that she said it like that, but you know what? It works. She's actually listening better. And, she got the watch. She had it for about 3 hours before I had to take it away because she and her brother wouldn't stop fighting (Jake got one too), but she did get it. And, she'll get it back tomorrow morning. She still whines... don't get me wrong. We went to the Bluegrass Fair on Thursday. She whined when we left that she didn't get to ride some ride (we were there for at least 4 hours and she rode nearly everything there that she was able to ride). I just made the comment that you'd think she'd be happier after spending so much time at the fair. She quickly responded with, "Thank you for bringing us, mommy." It's really not the way that I want to teach her to appreciate things, but I hope that those little reminders of the fun that she's had will help her remember the next time that we go that we don't HAVE to do all these fun things. It's something we've had to have lots of conversations about this summer... I just hope it's sticking.
While it's really bittersweet for me, Bailey is super-excited about school starting in August. When we found out she got into the school we were hoping for, she went through the house yelling, "I'm going to the school I wanted!" It was pretty cute and it made me really happy to see that she's not going to be the kid clinging to my leg and crying on that first day. I will probably be the one crying when I get home... knowing that her little life will pass by so quickly now. I never thought this first 5 years would go by this fast... but I've loved every little phase, good and bad, along the way.
Which brings me to Jake. My little man who is so easy that if I had him first, I would have had like ten kids. :) He is the sweetest, funniest little boy I think I've ever been around. Mommy's little boy is the perfect description. Oh, don't get me wrong, he has his moments. But, he gives the best hugs and is the most cuddly little boy I've ever been around. He could easily sit in my lap for an hour every morning, just content to be snuggling and eating a pop tart breakfast. The complete opposite of his sister in many ways, he is calm and quiet. Not demanding or high maintenance. He follows some rules, ignores others, which can be completely terrifying for a mother. Unlike his sister, who I know would never run out into a parking lot at the ball field, I have to watch Jake's every move. He thinks it's hilarious to sneak away from me and watch me panic as I look for him. I've caught him hiding under the bleachers or behind the dugout wall too many times to count. He's always standing there watching me search for him, with a huge grin on his face. It's horrible that I want to scare him by having someone else grab him up one day, just so he can see how easy it would be when he's pulling that crap. Yes... terrifying. But, he's also a cautious kid... the one who doesn't like water in his face and doesn't like to be the first to try anything. He wants to sit back and see how everything is done before he decides he's going to join in. Yet, if you get him on a roller coaster or anything that goes super fast (sans water), he's going to outlast you. Trust me... he could have ridden the Tilt-A-Whirl for hours... I was about to die after just a few minutes. :) No haunted houses for him though... and definitely no pirates. :)
Jake is sneaky and smart. He tricks us into things all that time. He even tricks Bailey. She's part of his laziness problem. When he avoids helping to clean up his toys, I tell him that if he doesn't pick them all up by the end of a cartoon, they are going in the garage. Instead of letting him lose his toys, Bailey cleans them up for him. She can't stand the thought of toys in the garage. He reminds me of Brad. If he hears me talking about cleaning up anything, he'll sneak down the stairs and get on the couch. Just like his dad. :) He is also stubborn. If he doesn't want to do something, he's not going to. He won't sell out. Ever. You can force him to do things by use of physical force, but he will not willingly do something he doesn't want to do. Once he's made up his mind, you will not change it. Period. While we have a serious tug of war because of that, I am also very happy about this. I just have to teach him to make the right choices and then, hopefully, he'll stick with them no matter what. :) How nice would that be?!
Jake's stubbornness is sometimes his downfall. He refuses to learn sometimes... just because he doesn't feel like it. If I ask Jake his address or his colors or shapes or basically anything and he's not interested in doing it, he's just not going to do it. It makes us nervous about his school days. His speech is getting better, but it's not where we hoped it would be by now. Yet, we don't know if we have realistic expectations or not. It all just seems to depend on what standards we compare him to. What I hate the most about his speech is that it's beginning to affect his confidence. I can see it. It's heart-breaking. He shies away from people if they don't immediately understand what he's saying. He even lowers his head when people talk to him and refuses to answer their questions sometimes, especially if they don't seem to understand his initial conversation. Sometimes, it's not his fault... it's just that the person hasn't heard him or something. But that doesn't matter... he still gets nervous about it. So... we're working on some ways to improve that for him... not for us. I want him to be confident and not insecure being himself. I can't stand to see him avoid talking to people because he's worried they won't understand him. Monday will be a big day for us. We have an appointment with a speech therapist that morning to see what their thoughts are. If he's in a normal range of speech, then we're just going to work with him on speaking more clearly and speaking louder, and being more confident. If he has a delay, then we'll figure out the best route and go from there. In any case, I hope that he can move past that insecurity and grow up feeling stronger.
One of my favorite things about having a boy is watching him grow up admiring his dad. Jake has always been crazy about being like Brad, but never as much as he is right now. He wants his mommy at bed time and wants me to treat him like a baby on most days. But, when it comes to dad, he wants to be big. He wants to play basketball like dad. He wants to drive a truck... well, he thinks dad's truck is HIS truck. They have already argued about it. I don't know if Brad knew how much it meant to Jake that he took Jake to Walmart with him a few weeks ago to get a tire fixed and to look around at tools and toys. I didn't know what a big deal it was in Jake's mind. But, today, we walked past the auto center at Walmart and Jake said, "Stop Mommy. Daddy bwought me here. We wooked at tools and Buzz and Woody. Wet's go wook at tools." :) And, since we have to have a hitch for our truck, daddy now has an appointment with Jake to come back to the auto area of Walmart with his little man and look at tools. :)
To Run or Not to Run... Take Two.
So, I'm running. Or attempting to run. I will probably walk most of it, but I'm going to go and see how I feel. Who knows... maybe it will be better by morning. hahaha. I know. I'm laughing about it, too. Most likely, I'll be last... walking it in. Oh well... I am going to go anyway. Fingers crossed, guys! :)
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