Another Monday

Well it's Monday again.

This one was not a typical Monday though.

It started out early.  W had an appointment at 8am to get his giganto-tonsils out.  It has been over a year in the making.  He has been snoring like a chainsaw for almost two years now and last year we saw the pediatric ENT in my hometown and decided to wait on a tonsillectomy for awhile.  Then the snoring got worse, and then came the tonsillitis.  He kept telling me it felt like something was stuck in his throat.  Looking in the poor kids throat you could see why!  His tonsils almost touched!

So the appointment was made, and we made the trek to our hometown for the procedure.  W did amazing!  He wasn't afraid of anything, he seemed to like all the attention from people he didn't know, and couldn't wait to have the doctor take out his tonsils with the "grabber."  So back he went and Mr. L and I settled into the waiting room.  

Coffee and magazines in hand, thinking about a good snack and Mr. L's phone rings.  It's my dad, who was watching D and the twins.  H, who has recently discovered his climbing abilities, climbed up onto a kids chair and then promptly decided he was going to crowd surf minus the crowd.  Right onto the hard wood floor.  He stood up and cried, then when picked up his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out!  Freak out Papa: check!  We were seconds away from a pricey ambulance bill, but he seemed to recover well and Mr. L went and picked him up to keep an eye on him in case we needed to take him to the emergency room.

About the time Mr. L returned with our rattled H the nurse came out and took us back to see W in recovery.  He was not happy.  He was curled up on my lap for about 45 minutes as he tried to bring his brain out of the anesthesia fog.  He cried and cried, and we asked him if he wanted a Popsicle and he kept telling us he couldn't have one because he hadn't had his tonsils out yet!  Then, almost as if a switch flipped, he sat up on my lap and said I want a Popsicle.  He ate/drank a blue Popsicle and then the discharge procedure could get started!  IV removed, check, clothes changed, check, wheelchair ride, check!  (He wanted to take it home with us)  We were planning on hanging out at my dad's house for a little while to see how W was doing before we went home but after our morning we decided to just load up and head home - we were tired, W was out of it, and H had a doctor appointment to get checked out in the afternoon.

Almost two hours, two pit stops, and two potty accidents (thank you anesthesia!) later we finally pulled into the driveway.  I loaded up D and H to head to the doctor, who was quite impressed with the account of his injury.  After a thorough examination H was given clean bill of health.  Phew!

Home.  Semi-quiet.  A few more gray hairs.

Just another Monday, right?

Easter

Warning:  this post is history and information filled!  Enjoy!

Another Easter under our belts.  Ah, Easter - or as Mr. L refers to it: mini-Christmas.  I tend to agree with him and have recently been developing some minor issues with the modern celebration of Easter.  I have always enjoyed Easter.  Decorating eggs, Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, dinners with family and getting dressed up made up our Easter celebrations.  But as typically happens, especially in our culture of excess, things have escalated quite a bit from the Easter celebrations I remember as a kid.  

Mr. L and I believe in a higher power.  We do not attend church.  I know this can bother some people, but we have always been of the opinion that we don't have to go to church to be able to pray or talk to God.  So because of this our children do not know much about the bible and Christian church.  To each his own!  We have talked to the older boys about the meaning of Easter.  We told them it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the cross.

D seems to understand this and I think it'll take a couple of years for W.  A couple of nights ago D asked Mr. L: if Easter is about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus why does a bunny hide eggs and bring gifts?  What a great question!  For someone so young he seems to have a deeper comprehension of many things and a questioning mind - which is fantastic!  I didn't have the answer to his question and my curiosity was piqued.  So I have decided to do some research into the history of Easter traditions and symbols to help D, and myself, understand more about our modern Easter celebrations.

Lets start with when the celebration of Easter occurs every year.  According the bible Jesus was resurrected on a Sunday, but due to different calendars Easter would sometimes fall on another day.  This caused controversy in the church because many felt Easter should always be celebrated on a Sunday the day of resurrection.  In 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea a formula for determining when Easter would fall was determined.  Easter would be the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox that occurs on March 21.  So Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25 - for the Western Christian churches.  Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar to calculate Easter Sunday and this typically falls one to two weeks after the Western Christian Easter.  Have I confused you yet?

Now lets move on to the Easter bunny and eggs.  According to some sources in the Christian church the egg yolk represents the emergence of Christ from his tomb and originally eggs were painted red as a symbol of the blood shed by Jesus on the cross.  Also, it is thought that eggs were on the list of foods banned by the Christian church during Lent so people would decorate then eat them as a celebration of the end of Lent.    But where did the idea of a bunny that lays eggs come from?  Rabbits were an ancient pagan symbol of new life and fertility - due to their procreation abilities, both of which are symbols of springtime and Easter.

In the pagan tradition rabbits are also associated with the moon and the egg with the sun so on the spring equinox when the night and day are the same length the rabbit and the egg come together.  Easter bunnies became associated with Easter in 17th century Protestant Europe most likely as Christianity spread across Europe and merged with some pagan traditions.  Children would build nests for this egg-laying rabbit called "Osterhase" to lay its eggs in.  Some sources say that the tradition of the Easter bunny came to America with German immigrants in the 18th century and the nests developed into baskets which eventually developed into games of hunting for the eggs.  Decorating eggs for Easter can be dated back as far as the 13th century to some sources!  Here's an interesting tidbit: in Switzerland a cuckoo brings Easter eggs to the children and in different parts of Germany the animal that brings the eggs can be a fox, a rooster, chick or a stork!

Candy makers eventually got into the game when they  started making things like chocolate Easter eggs to fill the baskets in the 19th century.  Jelly beans didn't become associated with Easter, like we see today, until the 1930's when candy makers pointed out how their shape resembled an egg.  Peeps, the mass of sugar molded into bunnies or chicks, came to be in the 1950's.  Of course these days you see marketing by toy companies aiming to get you to add lots of toys the the Easter baskets too.

So these are a few of the basic origins behind a few of our modern Easter traditions.  As for our Easter - it was good.  Emergency room and illness-free makes it a success in my book!  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and now know a little more about the history of Easter celebrations.

One last note:  I love researching history and learning new things!  It makes me feel like I have gotten some use out of my brain.  Also please forgive my writing, I'm just getting back into some of this stuff and am a little rusty.  Maybe down the road there will be some other posts embracing my inner nerd that will cover various topics such as mathematics and science!  Yipee!


The information I used was gleaned from: 

Easter Symbols and Traditions,  authored by History.com Staff, from History.com, published in 2009 by A+E Networks and the article and video can be found here http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/easter-symbols

Blessed

Today I am feeling blessed.

I have good days and I will readily admit to the bad ones.  I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of.  Nobody has 365 good days a year and if they say they do, they are lying to themselves.  Today I am reflecting on the good.

Growing up surrounded by extended family, I could never have imagined living anywhere other than the city I was born and raised in.  I never fathomed living in a town without a giant support system made up of both sides of my family.  But, as typically happens, the universe had other plans for me.

We found ourselves living in a town where we knew no one and were two and a half hours from the nearest family.  This felt like it was so far but now with some perspective I have realized it's really not that bad.  When you don't have that support system you need, the only thing you can do is build your own.  You create a family, and that is what we did.  There we found our closest friends and even though we miss them every day, some more than others, when we are together it's as if no time has passed.

Then after building our lives there we were faced with moving on again.  It's terrifying leaving a place you've grown so attached to.  The feeling reminds me of closing my eyes and stepping off of the high dive at the pool; a gut wrenching free-fall.  So almost three and a half years ago we started building a life where we currently live.  It is a wonderful town, and as we've discovered there are amazing things to find in most places.

As much as we love living here, the location is not my favorite part.  My favorite part about living here is the new family we've built.  Now this is not saying we are replacing our biological family or our new family from our previous town (J.N. we are bound for life), but since my oldest has started school, I've met and become friends with some of the most amazing women.  We are sisters; sisters in the trials of motherhood, and the struggles of daily life.  Our experiences have bound us together.  I know I can call on any of them in a time of need and they are always there to help, and I for them.  

A sudden lack of childcare after my twins were born and my old friend J.S. dropped everything, including work, to take my kids.  An emergency appendectomy on a Sunday night last summer and there was J.C. volunteering to take my older two in addition to her four at home!  Unexplained medical issues and there was M.P. offering me all the support she had even as she struggled with her own!  The unexpected and very much appreciated offer of C.H. to take my oldest to school every day so I didn't have to load up all my kids.  My cousin and his wife moved here not too long ago and have saved us with childcare numerous times since.  These experiences have bound us together.

Today I am blessed.  I am blessed with the support system we have built and the family we have created here.

Errand Day

Ahhh Wednesday.  Errand day.  I usually like to minimize my trips to the store, so I try to do as much as I can in one day.

My plan for this lovely spring Wednesday was to start out at a dentist appointment for W, head to Target (and try to keep it reasonable!), pick up D since he had early out at noon, and then head to Costco (there's no way to keep that reasonable), and then come home for some much needed quiet time.

W's dentist appointment went great!  No issues and he loves to brush his teeth!  Even the babies were quiet and happy the whole time.

After the dentist we had a little time to kill and I was apparently feeling quite brave so I took the twins and W to the library.  The library is within walking distance from the dentist so I thought: what a great idea!  The public library has a pretty cool Chuggington train table in the children's section - downside is it's almost impossible to pry a three year old's fingers from said table and train toys when it's time to move on.  W was not happy about having to walk away from the train table and his patience in general was wearing thin so we headed to checkout to blow that popsicle stand - I'd had enough.

Next up: Target.  My last trip to Target resulted in the discovery of a cart I had not previously seen there.  The first time I saw it I swear the heavens opened and I heard angels singing.

My typical way to make it through Target before this discovery was to put one twin in a front pack, one twin in the front of the cart and W in the back of the cart.  W does not like to keep seated and we keep getting nasty looks and talking-to's from the lovely people who work there.  This my friends, is the dawning of a whole new era!  The twins LOVE to sit in the little seats and W gets to sit up front - which he is not crazy about, he wants to walk, and that is definitely NOT going to happen.  Today I discovered that our Target apparently has more than one of these heavenly devices when I saw another mom using one.  The only problem for me was that she had ONE child.  ONE child in a little seat with a STUFFED DOG belted in the other one and the rest of the cart was empty.  Other parents of multiples would probably back me up on this one: completely wrong use of such cart and if I were unable to find said cart when needed and saw this situation, there is the possibility that someone might be bailing me out of jail.  I ran across this mom and her child later in the store, and to make it even better the child was now just walking next to this cart.  Grrrr.  Anyway...other than that and spending a little more than I had planned on - typical at Target -  that trip was a success.  No tantrums, no fits and mommy didn't go to jail.

Next we headed to D's school to wait for a half an hour to pick him up.  Why so early you might ask?  If you don't get there early, you park in Timbuktu and D won't know where I am parked.  There is no way I am unloading three little kids to go find D.  He knows where I park, and we just read books until he's out.  It's just become a part of our day.

After we retrieved D we headed to our next destination: Costco.  Costco has become a little bit easier to maneuver through since the twins are now old enough to both sit up front in their double seater carts.  W sits in the back and D walks next to the cart.  There is no way to keep it reasonable at Costco when you have four growing bottomless pits...er, boys, at home.  If you listened to them you would think I never feed them...ever.  All I can say is thank the good lord for Costco.  I do probably 90% of my grocery shopping there and it is also where I buy diapers.  Giant, giant boxes of diapers.  Without Costco we might be bankrupt, and insane - from multiple trips to different stores.  I usually try to hit Costco without D because it's one less kid to listen to whine about wanting and not getting something but today it couldn't be avoided.  I had a strict shopping list today - and I still ended up with extra things.  That is the magic of Costco.

Towards the end of the Costco trip I was getting tired, the twins were getting cranky and the older two shockingly were hungry.  We finally made it home, I managed to unload the spoils of our trip, make lunch for everyone, and go to the bathroom.  Yes, you heard correctly: I got to use the restroom and I was excited about it.  Probably too much information for some of you out there but as a mother of four boys it is a moment of peace for me...until they discover where I am.

Sometimes I try to milk it for as long as possible; it can be the most relaxing time of the day on some days.  As I was washing my hands I looked in the mirror and I swear even this uneventful errand day had aged me ten years.  I'm tired.  I have other chores to do but the minimum will get done on the rest of this errand day.  And that's ok.  They will still be there tomorrow.

I just wanted to share a snapshot of an errand day in this chaotic household.  Today was pretty good.  Others are not.  We try to take each day at a time and tackle the adventures each one brings.

Until next time!

Just a note

It's Monday night, the kiddos are in bed, I'm drinking a hard cider and listening to some Kate Rusby music to help me wind down and relax.  If you haven't heard of her, check her out!  She is amazing!

http://www.katerusby.com/recordings/sleep-less/

I don't have a full blog post tonight, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm working on getting some guest posts!  They should be pretty amazing and I can't wait for these talented people to share with you!

As a close since it is Monday, obviously the only day you can start something new, I set up my daily schedule and started working on my living area in the beginner's guide to cleaning today!  It wasn't completely smooth but it was definitely a success in my book because I got quite a bit accomplished and still managed to sneak in some time for me!  I'll continue my efforts tomorrow and try to work out some kinks!

Have a relaxing Monday night!

Plans

Happy Friday to my few faithful readers!

I have had three of the most unproductive and sedentary days that I can remember in the recent past.  Hubby has been gone and kids have been sucking the life force out of me each and every day.  I have a gigantic pile of laundry to fold on my bed (I keep thinking if I put it on my bed I'm less likely to ignore it - so far unsuccessful).  But like I always tend to do I have glorious plans of things I'm going to do.  I, probably not so unlike some of you out there, am not good at cleaning and keeping house.  I am good at obsessing about what I need to do and then becoming smothered by those obsessions and in the end nothing happens as a result; except my stress level soars sky high.  So I am planning on starting a step-by-step beginner's guide to cleaning that I found on another blog.  I'll let you know how it works.

I tend to be  not so good at follow through on things that I really want to do.  I used to exercise 3-4 days a week and make healthier food choices.  I've been meaning to start eating better and exercising more since about six months after the twins were born.  Still have not gotten myself back into a routine.  I made a daily checklist of what the absolute minimum is that I need to do everyday.  I made it about a week.  I still have the list and intend to take it up again - I swear!  I've been intending to take the kids out for walks - and I always seem to find an excuse to not do it.  I seem to have so many things running around my brain that I want to do that I just get overwhelmed.  I can never seem to focus and get these things accomplished.

I'm in a weird stage in my life.  I'm almost 33, stay at home with my crazy boys and feel like I have no direction or purpose.  I fully realize the importance of raising my children but I feel like I'm losing myself along the way and I have heard people say that this is what being a mother is about; but really, can't you do both?  Be a good mother and stay true to the person you really are at your core?  I'm still trying to discover how to balance these things.  Like my friend Mama J says:  you have to treat being home like a job, otherwise you'll never get anything done.  Word.

My new goal, that I fully intend on following through with, is to budget my time as well as I can for housework, quality time with kids, and time for ME!  I want to read books, I want to learn new things, I want to learn how to cook, I want to exercise, I want to do more sewing, I want to make homemade cards again, I would love to reacquaint myself with my cello!!  Maybe if I put in my mandatory hours at my "job" at home I will not feel as guilty doing things for me that I enjoy.  My plan is to get as much done in my allotted time slot and then make time for me.

I'll keep you updated on how successful I am at this.  I love making lists and charts so I guess I need to sit down and make my day-to-day plan of my blocks of time!  Anyone have any good ideas or chart templates that might be helpful with this?  I always love tips and helpful suggestions!

Future:

So to close my post for today, I want to ask what kinds of things you would like to see me write about?  I have so many ideas running around my head as usual that maybe a few suggestions from my readers would help me focus on a few topics.  Would you like to see guest posts from others?  I have very talented friends!  Some are bakers, cooks, crafters, and of course an entertaining movie reviewer (dad).  Please comment and let me know what you would like to see! Also please be sure to follow me so you can get the new posts! 

Thanks!

W

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Oh...wait a minute, did I say Tuesday?  That means it's floor hockey game night for W. Uh-oh...

But wait!  Look how happy he is!  Maybe tonight will go smoothly!

Awww, he's having so much fun running around before the game starts!

Then there's the face that showed up about halfway through the game.  This is the face I saw when I discovered the quickest way to break a mother of four crazy boys.

Amazingly all it takes is one measly hour with a three year old at floor hockey who does not want to be there.  One hour of crying, and whining, and staring at the ceiling and other kids.  Crying because he doesn't want to play and then more crying because he doesn't get to play.  Crying because the ref tried to make it more fun by telling the kids they got to be animals, and W did NOT want to be a dog, he wanted to be a person.  Whining because the game wasn't over yet and it was not snack time.

Suffice to say I have nominated the volunteer coach of this 3-4 year old floor hockey team for sainthood.  I'm waiting to hear back from the Vatican but I'm sure she's a shoo in.

It could have been much worse but thank the good Lord a family member and good friend, H, watched the other three.  So for that I am thankful.

I do love that little stinker, but like all love you may not always like them.

Happy end of the day Tuesday!  Almost bedtime.

(I promise not all my posts will have a complaining air about them! Stay tuned, and thank you for the positive feedback!)

Post Vacation Let Down

We had an amazing kid-free weekend.

We went to a semi-local hot springs resort with our best friends.

Staying in a beautiful private cabin with Mr. L, eating amazing food, relaxing in hot springs and spending some much needed time with my bestest friend, Mama J, was good for my soul.  These are the cabins we stayed in!

Except for some Final Four basketball watching drama the weekend went off without a hitch.  I don't watch basketball, professional or college, and both the guys said they weren't invested in the games but when push came to shove basketball won.  Next time we won't plan the vacation to coincide with the Final Four.

People may judge me for it, but I did not miss my kids.  As we were driving to pick them up from their grandparents house I started getting excited to see them again.  I think a little break from each other can be very beneficial for both mothers and children.  Too much time together can drive both parties crazy.

Coming back to reality is hard.  I have so many responsibilities and sometimes being an adult sucks.  There really isn't any other way to say it.  Bills to pay, kids to take care of, houses to be kept clean, dishes to wash, and mystifying pile of laundry that just never seems to have an end.  But these little breaks are what helps me to keep my sanity, what's left of it.

I guess it's time to buckle down and get back to the daily grind.

Does anyone else wonder what she's on?  I might need some.

Typing out blog posts is my reward to myself for plodding through my to-do lists each day, and I know they might seem random, and I apologize for that, but to be honest that is how my brain functions.  Sometimes I even wonder at myself with all the jumping around my brain does.

Oh well, off to attack more laundry, it really is neveren...SQUIRREL!

Spring Fever and Vacation-itis

So I'll be honest, I have two other posts that I keep working on.  I think they'll be good but I just can't seem to concentrate on anything.

The sun has been shining for the last week, and the temps have finally reached the upper 40s to low 50s, which where I live means capri pants and sandals!  It makes me want to go soak up some sunshine!  Kids just don't seem to be conducive to relaxing in the sun.  Walks are tolerable, but usually after a couple of minutes I get "are we done, I don't want to walk anymore" on repeat from W.  We could go to the park; but I have a paralyzing fear of taking one year old twins and a three year old who has no sense of self preservation to the park alone.  I can barely make it through Costco with my sanity.  So the point of this rambling is that I have a BAD case of spring fever.

To make this worse, Mr. L and I have a weekend getaway coming up: WITHOUT KIDS!  I love my kids to the depths of my soul but the ever constant fighting and whining is starting to sound like nails on a chalkboard to me.  This will be our first time away without our lovely children since the babies were born over a year ago.  You know that week before spring break when you were a kid in school?  You just couldn't keep your mind focused on anything that you were supposed to be doing?   At least back then it was just calculus and the latest english paper, now I have four kids that demand such things as food and attention, and they just don't seem as lenient as the teachers were those last hours before vacation started.

So, I'm going to my Green Day playlist to keep my spirits up and maybe keep me semi-motivated to not put an elaborate escape plan in motion.  I'll just have to bide my time and remind myself that my kids are not silently plotting ways to crack my sanity in two.  They're just kids, and they do love me.  Right?

Once I've reset I'll be back to keep you all updated on my latest adventures in domestication.

Who thought this was a good idea?

So tonight was W's first floor hockey game.  He's three and I'm crazy.

He's cried at every single practice.  I bribed him with a sucker tonight: if he made it through the game without crying and whining about not wanting to be there he could have a sucker.  Mr. L has taken him to all his practices so I was unsure of what to expect.

The whining and attitude started early.  He didn't want to go because he doesn't like it when the other kids take the ball away from him.  Try explaining to a three year old that taking the ball away is part of the game.  It's like talking to a brick wall.  Very effective.

I was questioning why I thought it was a good idea to sign W up for this and then I remember: oh yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment.  Yep that's me.  I want my kids to be involved, active and happy, and then once I realize what I've done the regret sets in. I'm ok admitting that I regret some of my kids activities and the misery that ensues trying to make them work.  I mean, really, what nut bag signs their three year old up for something like floor hockey with one year old twins at home and a husband who travels a lot for work?  Yep, me.

Surprisingly it went much better than expected.  We only had tears three times, one of which resulted from a foam hockey stick to the face.  It was difficult to keep him focused on the task at hand towards the end but what can I expect...he's three.  Instead of the promised sucker he got a special treat of a happy meal for dinner.  Hopefully his improved attitude regarding floor hockey continues because I get to tackle the next one without Mr. L.

Three is such an interesting age for this kind of thing.  Halfway through we were losing kids fast.  W was tracing lines on the court with his hockey stick, one was making snow angel motions on the floor, and others picked their noses and just wandered around staring at the ceiling.  It's almost more entertaining watching the constant state of distraction.

W is already signed up for spring soccer...why you ask?  Because I just love punishment but I love my kids more.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?  Here's hoping.