Pictures of the latest incident…

These (in my opinion) hardly show the damage done to her legs, feet, hands, clothes, the carpet, and the chair…the poor lighting combined with the sparkly polish makes it rather hard to see on camera but trust me - in person it was very noticeable…even if I hadn’t smelled the disaster I certainly would have seen it!

The other thing that I don’t understand is how this keeps happening when I’m alone with the kids…granted that’s pretty much 95% of the time…but still! When Micah is alone with the kids he’s typically watching Fox News, surfing the internet, mowing the lawn, or watching whatever sports is on TV and letting the kids have free rain, basically unsupervised fun throughout the house. When I’m alone with the kids (all day & usually most nights) I’m playing with them, building towers, reading books, coloring, playing with cars or houses or Barbies or babies…usually interacting with them on a constant basis. I don’t watch TV until after they’re in bed for the night (if even then lately) I don’t go on my computer except during nap time or when they’re off playing with some other friends. I try and save laundry and cooking for during naps or after I have them safely, fully involved, playing with something. Yet this happens on my watch! What oh what am I doing wrong? Or is the perfectly normal, typical behavior? Do all kids hit an early age where they try & break all the rules they already know? Test all the limits and boundaries? Ignore protests and instructions to stop? Is this a phase? Is this a permanent behavior? Will these questions ever stop swimming in my head???  

Here we go again…

I fully realize many people think I’m crazy. I’ve accepted that (probably because I am) and its fine with me. What you’re about to read will probably only lead you to think that even more! All I know is I am in serious need of input and advice on how to get through to my almost 4 year old little girl! 

Yesterday I had put Alexa in her room for quiet time and Logan down for a nap. While I was sitting in my own room taking care of some things I heard Alexa sneaking around in the kitchen. I caught her red-handed in the jar of candy from the parade. I scolded her & returned her, empty-handed, to her room. She stayed in her room the rest of nap time & I thought all was well. In reality, she had snuck a piece of gum into her pocket, unknown to me. When Logan woke up from his nap I quickly gathered both kids up & put them in the car to head to my mom’s. It wasn’t until I was in the car and on my way to my mom’s house that Alexa tells me, “Mom there’s something sticky in my hair.” I turned briefly to look and noticed she was right. By the time I got to Mom’s she had told me the story -- she’d snuck gum into her room, chewed in while “napping” and it had fallen out of her mouth and into her hair while she was laying down!

Thankfully we googled how to get gum out and discovered that by putting ALOT of creamy peanut butter into the hair and brushing, working and combing it through the hair it will eventually come out. Needless to say it was an awful, painful mess but we got it out, didn’t have to cut her hair, and she hopefully knows she may never again chew gum while laying down or having her mouth open!

Then on to today - (well actually for the last several days) I felt awful. My head feels like I’d assume it would if a semi truck smacked into it. I’m not sure if its my allergies on overload (we’ve had the windows open in the house the last few days) or if I’ve managed to catch something from the many snotty noses I’ve wiped over the last 2 weeks. Either way I’ve felt horrendous for  the last few days & have been doing my best to keep functioning. If I were a man, or at least my husband, I’d have been laying in bed doing nothing but moaning & groaning for the last 48 hours, but we all know that as a mom, and as a stay-at-home mom I certainly can’t do that.

As a result of feeling this way and of knowing I’d committed Alexa to going to story hour at the library today, I figured I should shower to try & at least look better than I felt. I called my mom as I obviously wasn’t about to shower with both kids awake and have them get into disaster while I was in there. She kindly obliged and came over.

After story hour I made it home and Micah & I fed the kids. By this point I was completely wiped out. So Logan went down for a nap and Alexa refused. We decided, as she’s old enough to know right from wrong and she’s generally a pretty well-behaved child, that should could have quiet time instead of a nap, so long as she let mom nap. Micah brought her to her room & instructed her to stay there until nap time was over (when mom comes and gets her.) Great right? After all when I’m awake this is fine with her & she stays in her room like a good little girl. I locked the front door of the house, unplugged the doorbell and went to enjoy my rest.

Oh how wrong we were. I zonked out - literally - I was out moments after my head hit the pillow & I didn’t really awaken until I heard Logan crying. I vaguely remember (in retrospect) hearing Alexa go in the bathroom and then go to the basement to play - but these are safe areas where there isn’t anything she can get into that she’s not allowed to play with.

In light of last week Friday’s nail polish incident I had removed all nail polish (that I knew of) & the entire cabinet I store them in, from my bathroom and put it in my bedroom. (figuring that’s where I am when I’m away from the kids - sleeping, folding laundry, getting dressed, etc.) What I had forgotten was that there was nail polish I had thought I’d thrown away (but apparently hadn’t) and nail polish that I’d hidden on top of the fridge in the kitchen long ago. I had also taken the jar of parade candy off the counter (so she wouldn’t try and sneak it again) and put it on top of the fridge. This apparently wasn’t a good idea.

I’m assuming that while I napped she went looking for the candy, saw it on top of the fridge, climbed up on the counter, stood up, and got not only some candy, but also found the old nail polish. She went to work -- painting a picture on a paper, another on an envelope, painting her toe nails and her finger nails…all the while getting nail polish on the kitchen bench, on her legs, shorts, tank top, the carpet in the basement, and one of our nice comfy couch chairs. She also managed to find tape, tape her picture up on the door in the basement, find the pens that were stored on the top side of the fridge and use the marker in there to color on the wall in the basement and on our nice bookshelf. These are the things we’ve found so far at least…for all I know there could be more!

Needless to say I’m exhausted, still not feeling well, and finding myself dealing with a little girl whom I love but seem to have no influence over…no matter how many times, in how many ways we’ve tried to tell her not to do something…she will not listen and can’t seem to learn a lesson! All I can say is if this is how age 4 is going to begin, I’m not sure if I’ll survive to her teen years!!! I’m too tired to proofread this so please forgive me for all the ramblings or if this makes no sense at all!

Why I don’t take showers…and should possibly consider calling Dr. Dobson!

SO many people think I’m crazy. They think I’m over-reacting or exaggerating. They think I’m being extreme or whatever. They think I’m making it up.

Over and over again I am asked why I don’t think I have the opportunity or time to take a shower more than once, twice if I’m lucky, a week.

Granted I could indeed take a shower at night…if I wanted to risk my children waking up, not going to sleep, or getting out of bed to see why I’m in the shower that is sandwiched in-between the paper thin walls of their rooms upstairs. We’re talking about the ability to stand with my head against my bathroom door, hold both my arms out from my body and touch both Alexa’s and Logan’s bedroom doors. Lets just say unless they were dead asleep (which neither one is a heavy sleeper) - night time showers don’t happen. 

So, most people ask, why don’t I shower during the day? Surely there’s enough time for them to be playing nicely, zoned out on a movie, cartoon, or educational program, or simply distract them while playing nicely and slip into the shower as long as I make it quick right? Wrong! Every time Logan seems to have a radar that goes off. I used to be able to shut my bathroom door firmly enough that he couldn’t open it so as long as nothing harmful was accessible to him I should get a 5 minute shower no problem. Now he’s able to open the door. UGH -- instead of him coming, standing outside the door and banging on it while full-out bawling and calling for me the entire time I shower, he now enters the bathroom and tries to join me in the shower, still crying, while fully clothed. It just doesn’t happen.

The other reason is that my children, although I love them DEARLY, are devious and sinful. (as we all are) Tonight’s escaped is proof positive of this. I left Logan and Alexa in Alexa’s room nicely playing with toys and barbies. I checked to make sure the bathroom door was firmly shut (so as not to tempt Logan or Alexa with an open invitation) and I went downstairs to try and get a few things picked up & taken care of. Within 5, maybe 10 minutes max I headed upstairs to check on them & get them ready to go out. What I found was nothing short of a catastrophe! They had managed to get into the bathroom, climb on one of Alexa’s playtable chairs, get all the nail polish out of the top drawer of a high cabinet and they had proceeded to open and use several of them. In no time at all they had managed to cover both their bodies in a variety of nail polishes, hair from the bathroom rugs, and the worst of it all, steps from a nail strengthening kit. If anyone has ever seen or used one of these kits they probably are aware of what that means -- rubber cement sort of gel, that is hard and very sticky when it dries.

It was insane! I spent almost 20 minutes trying to get the worst of it off. I used an entire bottle of nail polish remover. Still not much progress. A 20 minute soak in the tub, TONS of soap and shampoo and scrubbing, and they appear to be cleaned. I had to scrape several spots from the strengthening stuff that was left on their skin. It was NOT a pretty sight.

I’m sure many will fault me, after all I let them play alone. I didn’t have the nail polish under lock and key. I didn’t have it (apparently) up high enough.

I typically ride my husband’s case for his method of parenting (watching sports or fox news or his computer for several hours while the kids “play” and destroy every room in our home creating a tornado like effect on the house) whereas I tend to be a mother hen -- playing with the kids most of the day, spending little to no time on the computer minus nap times and play-dates. I do activities with them, draw and color with them, cuddle and read books with them, build houses, play with cars, etc. Rarely do I let them run off and play on their own. This is why!

I wish I had taken pictures of them before I went into panic damage-control cleaning mode. I think the image I have in my mind will live on for months to come. But I would have loved to have proof for one day down the road when I need to remind them of what they put their poor mother through! :) At least perhaps my husband will now understand why I tell him they require CONSTANT supervision! A mother’s (or parent’s) job is never done I guess! :) Its night like tonight I certainly remember (& possibly consider it my mantra): “Lord, grant me the patience to deal with my blessings!” 

A Day off…

Micah got the day off on Thursday because he has to do chores this weekend…so I took full advantage of having him home! :) Here’s what I did:

• Emptied the vanity & doll house from the yellow basement bedroom and brought them up to Alexa’s room
• Moved the chair from Alexa’s room into the basement
• Moved the King bed, nightstands, and the hope chest into the yellow bedroom (from the family room in the basement)
• Cleaned & purged all un-necessary items from the basement shelves :)
• Rearranged the basement family room so that the couches and TV where in one area and the hutch and bookshelf and toy storage bins were in another.
• Sorted through Logan’s closet and set out all his summer clothes :)

Here’s a few pictures of the end results:

View of the family room area and the toy area…if we ever rent the basement out there’s already a fridge in the laundry room (the door pictured in the toy area photo) and the hutch there has a coffee pot and microwave on it :)
 
Bedroom in the basement (I call it the guest room or the yellow room) :) For anyone wanting a place to stay our door is always open & that’s a pillow-top King-size bed in there :) The large walk-in closet is behind the door in the picture with the hutch & its big enough it fits a pack-n-play in it! :)

View from the bedroom into the family room

Alexa’s re-arranged room - complete with my old vanity to store her toys and the doll house I built her (it still needs carpet & tile laid on the floors but we haven’t gotten that far yet! :) (& Yes that is her sleeping on the bed -  I just snuck up there & snapped these pictures while she’s sleeping on the bed  - how do you think I’m able to post to my blog during the middle of the day? - Both kids are actually sleeping at the same time! ) :)

Anyway…

I started out having Micah’s help moving things -- he carried the vanity and doll house with me upstairs and helped me carry the chair downstairs -- but then as he typically does - he disappeared (although this time with the children so I couldn’t complain) :) so I ended up moving the basement furniture by myself -- the king bed was probably the biggest challenge but thankfully it was only from one room to the next! :)

The kids absolutely LOVED having daddy home ALL day -- normally if he has a day off its busy and filled with errands and things -- today was a welcome treat and it was so nice they played outside with daddy almost all day! :)

Logan - 18 months old! :)

Here’s Logan’s stats from his 18 month check-up:

1 - He is 25% for weight
2 - He is 75% for height
3 - He is 96% for his head

End result - he is taking after his daddy physically after all! :)

He was a very big boy at the doctor’s office -- even getting a shot but all he did was watch her put it in, check out the needle as it was putting the stuff in and then he thought the band-aid was pretty neat and after a hug from mom he was good to go! :) He didn’t even let any cry/noise or anything out!

Here’s a few facts about Logan lately:

He loves to feed himself. If we give him a fork and spoon he is the proudest boy ever. He grins from ear to ear and does a really good job of feeding himself!

He loves to do things to get applause. If we aren’t paying attention enough to give it to him ourselves he’ll do something and then clap his hands cuz he’s a good boy :)

He has a bit of a problem sticking his hands where they don’t belong…essentially always down his pants! AHHH! Mommy is NOT a fan of this habit and is working hard to break it!

He loves to say that daddy went bye-bye…or anything that makes him sound like he knows whats going on!

He’s trying to say more & more understandable words (he always babbles away but we can’t understand him) -- now he points and says birdie or other things  -- he will try his best to repeat anything I say as long as he thinks no one is around -- he does NOT like others to hear him try new words unless he knows he has them right!

He still LOVES his golf clubs and hitting balls around is his favorite thing. Although any outside activity makes him happy! He’s even found and been trying to figure out how to ride the tricycle but he scares mommy by standing on the back and trying to hang out that way!

He has problems sharing and has begun to put up fights when things he wants are taken away by others -- he pitches quite the LOUD fit if someone takes something he wanted!

What happens when Daddy’s home…

We’re already in the 5th of month of the year and so far there have been 2 - let me repeat - TWO - Saturdays this year when Daddy has actually been able to be home “all” day & 1 when Daddy didn’t have to get up for anything and he was able to still be in bed when the kids woke up in the morning! :) Here’s a picture of what happened when they found him in bed -- they didn’t want to leave him so they decided to join him! :)

Vacation - a relaxing experience…or so I thought!

My mom planned a trip to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to visit my sister Anne, and her family. I wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of mom driving that far alone and I wanted to visit Anne too, so I asked Micah if I could go.

He was fine with me going, but thought that I should only take Alexa, leaving Logan home with him. I was none to thrilled about this idea. After all, Micah, well lets just say he enjoys his freedom. He tends to go, go, go with little to no thought/worry about what is going on at home. He’s a wonderful husband and father but he relies heavily on the fact that I’ll always be around to watch the kids. Plus I had not been away from Logan for even 24 hours since we were first separated after his birth. I love my snuggles with my baby and I find him to be an extremely easy child, minus the need to change his bum and monitor his feeding habits.

But, at the encouragement of my mom to seize a little bit of relaxing freedom, I agreed with Micah that he could keep Logan at home. Alexa and I packed our things and prepared for our scheduled departure on Friday morning. After talking with my mom we assumed she’d come pick us up around 6:30 or 7 am on Friday morning when she dropped off her dog, Max, for Micah to take care of while we were gone.

I awakened Friday morning around 4:30 or so to the sound of a car pulling onto the driveway. I assumed my neighbor was leaving for work and continued to doze. Then I thought I heard my front door open & close. I perked my ears up a bit but remained “sleeping” in bed. The next thing I know I’m hearing what sounds like rain on my kitchen floor and some uh oh mumbling. My mom had been unable to sleep any longer and had packed things up & headed over. She was in the process of bringing Max’s food dish in when she spilled it all over the floor (the sound like rain I heard). I jumped out of bed and found her standing there in my kitchen trying to pick up the mess. And so the trip began! I quickly started getting ready and packing the van.

By 6 am we were on the road. Alexa, although sleepy, was content to sit awake and watch movies. This would be how she would remain for the rest of the ride! (pictures below) Despite a few detours we made excellent time and even took a long stop for gas & lunch when we reached Mauston.

So far I was thinking this was great, no worries, no obligations, just a relaxing and enjoyable trip. AHHH was I ever wrong! From the moment we arrived at my sister’s house Alexa was on emotional OVERDRIVE! She proceeded to “freak out” about anything & everything! It got to the point where I could not leave the room to go to the bathroom without her or without her at least crying that I was gone. Despite having gone to bed much later than usual (her & me both) she choose to awaken me daily before 6am. Needless to say, I was not only embarrassed and frustrated with her behavior but I was also extremely exhausted! Other than dragging a clingy almost 4 year old wherever I went the trip was fun & enjoyable. Although we missed out on the warm temps back home we managed to survive the colder weather and have some fun too! :) I, however, forgot to take any pictures until our last night there! Oops!

   

 

Logan and Micah survived too. Although between Micah working normal hours, going to run errands, help a friend with chicken chores, attend Karaoke, attend bibl study, participate in a bean bag toss tournament, play in a wiffle ball game, and do morning and afternoon chores at work on Saturday and Sunday, I’m not too sure how much time he actually spent caring for Logan but at least we’re blessed to have family around to help him out!

Next time I’m definitely taking Logan along too or leaving both kids home! :)