Leftovers…

Like a lot of mothers out there i spend a lot of time cooking meals in my kitchen. Most of what we eat is organic and the kids eat a lot of low sugar or no sugar for their reflux. Cooking at least two meals a day, also means that there are a ton of leftovers. I am sure that like a lot of kids, it takes many, many, many tries before an “acceptable to eat” verdict is declared. We use the “two bite” rule. Everything must be tried on the plate. Two bites minimum for everything, so that at least they have eat some of a new food. Our boys are pretty good about sticking to this rule, although my oldest has gotten rather sneaky in trying to get out of it. He will wait until i am busy getting the baby changed and his plate will go into the trash. Ahh 5 year olds are SO much fun!

Leftovers in my house only get eaten by one person, my husband, M. M has decided that he doesn’t want a big dinner on the days that he works as he is eating out everyday and is normally eating a lot of food. Ok fine with me, however this means that the leftovers are going uneaten. Great. Now i do try to not make as much, really i do, but i think that i was meant to be a cook in a much bigger family. My sister comes over three times a week and i normally give her all of the leftovers, since she isn’t as keen on cooking as i am. I do love to cook! (and eat!)

In reading back on this post, i am thinking it may of been best left in the bin itself.

Twitter?

Like many people out there i have an account with Twitter. Now i have spent a lot of time posting to it and i am still absolutely confused on how this works. I have quite a few people that i follow and maybe that is the problem. I have a lot of people that i follow, yet i still haven’t mustered up the courage to actually interact with these people. Twittering for me is a lot like approaching the popular group in high school. You hover around the sidelines and listen to the stuff being said, laugh at the funny jokes, but the times you speak you feel like you are never heard.

Content

When i started keeping this blog, i thought i would keep it strictly for mommy things. My kids have set fire to the couch or dyed the dog’s hair purple, those types of things. As i have gone along though i have found that i want this to be more of an all encompassing blog. One that i can talk about my personal problems as well as things the kids do and share recipes and/or school stuff that i think is useful. A sharing blog because i like to share.

I need a place that i can sit down and write my feelings about anything, and i am just incapable of keeping up with more than two blogs at a time. My craft blog is currently in limbo because i am just unable to actually pick up a camera and take a picture of anything i complete. I totally rock in that area. Good thing my etsy business totally relies on pictures of what i make in order to work. This would explain why the shop is currently empty and the stuff i need to get sold is sitting in a cabinet collecting dust. I pick up a camera now and i take pictures of the new baby or the boys doing something cute or unbelievable.

I hope that through this blog i can redevelop my writing skills and loosen up and become a little more appealing to a wider group of readers. For now though, Hello to the two people that read me! Thanks for coming by and checking in on me.

Home or school or…

Both?

My neighbor is struggling with a dilemma that i am just unable to help her with. While i like to think that i know quite about the pros and cons of public school vs homeschooling, having done HOURS upon DAYS upon MONTHS on research on this subject. I am just not thrilled with how the public school has been attempting to handle J and his speech issues. While i believe that he needs the public environment in order to overcome the social issues that he has, the public school system is starting to curtail what he will be taught in the up and coming years. I don’t want him to be limited on what he is taught and i want all of my boys to want to learn everything. For this reason i am looking at adding a homeschooling curriculum into the home. We have the time for it, why if you turn off the TV every day you will notice how the day seems much longer. No? Maybe that is just me. Not only will this encourage J to learn different things, but his brothers are fast coming of school age. D is only 3 and he knows the whole alphabet, can count to 20, write three, four and words like “Umbrella” and “Elephant”. He is learning math now and all of this he is teaching to himself with the benefit of the workbooks that we have here at home. So i am encouraged that i may not suck at helping the boys learn something.

Oh yes, my neighbor and her problem. Well she has two boys and the older one has Asperger’s Syndrome and is a high functioning Autistic. However, he is over-stimulated in the classroom and is being written up for things that are part of his syndrome. Most of this is due to the teachers that are in the school system are just not given enough tools to deal with someone like him. He is a sweet boy and is in 3rd grade, but he is regressing at this point after all that the school year has done to him and the level of anxiety he is dealing with. My friend is at her wits end, she spent a long time getting him to a level in which he would be able to handle school for the most part and is now looking to take him out of public school. The teachers are very over worked and they are not given enough help or training to help them deal with special children. I am seeing this as well with J and his issues. They just want to hold J back until he “catches” up when that isn’t the problem, he can do the work and is doing it some, but he isn’t functioning like all the other kids. He may never be like all the children and i never expect him to be like someone else. My friend does not either.

She is looking into homeschooling and dear internet i could really use some help as to some websites that would be great information tools for homeschooling a child with autism. Please realize that she knows that he does need to be socialized, but right now if he continues to go to public school he will only regress further and exhibit more symptoms. He does socialize and she will do everything she can to keep him involved with other kids i have no doubt about that. She is working towards helping him live a life outside of the home when he is older and she is determined enough to make it happen. I believe that she knows what is best for her child and she is really struggling with finding support in homeschooling a child with Autism. She has so many questions and is tired of being told that she is doing the wrong thing when she sees that public school isn’t helping right now.

Please let me know of anything that i might be able to use to help her. Thanks!

Did i say that?

Hello Kharma, it’s me. I don’t know if you are busy at the moment, but could you maybe take five seconds to stop bitch-slapping me this year? I think you have done well to make 2009 one of the top 2 worse years…EVER. Is there maybe something else you could do for a while and leave me be, i believe i have had my fill.

Thank you and goodnight.

Yes folks still being beaten with the bad luck stick. J now has strep throat and we have been guaranteed that it will befall at lease tow more kids and myself. I am SUPER lucky that way.

Ahoy Danger Ahead!

There are times in peoples lives when things befall them that they really have no control over. Inevitably though it causes some people to veer from them like a stray dog. It is as if people believe the bad things happening to this poor person may somehow rub off on them, therefore making them miserable as well. Contrary to the popular believe, misery does not always love company or at least those in misery would prefer the company of those who indeed have their best interests at heart.

While i am still not ready to talk about what is exactly happening over here, i can tell you that the few people that i have told about it, are veering from me like i am a pair of cement shoes in the ocean. I understand that people may not understand quite how to support someone during these times and that they feel at a loss for words. I get that, i have been there. However, avoiding me like i will take you down with me is not exactly what i am looking for. I don’t mind if the only thing you know how to do or what to say is not even on the subject, sometimes it is nice to have a break from the misery in our lives. Just to know that there is someone there with a healthy shoulder to cry on, even if it can’t fix the problem for you. Perhaps the problem is that i don’t rely on my friends much for comfort, often times we are all busy in our lives. A lot of time our only contact during the year is via e-mail or voicemail. We have totally gotten comfortable with technology and it has replaced human contact for the most part. I for one, having just gotten a Blackberry can barely raise my head from checking my e-mail to look at the road. Oh yes i am one of those, but the novelty will wear off soon i promise and then i will just be sidewiping you because i am a sucky driver.

I have had most of my friends since i moved to this state and looking back it is a miracle these people have stuck with me. I have been through some truly hideous times and even more embarrassing fashion lacking days. These people have been there every step of the way, whether in the foreground or the back ground they have stuck by me. I will be forever in their debt for this. I have been very lucky to have so many friends that truly know me.

But still i feel a bit like they are looking to avoid being hit by the bad times bus because i could use a bit of encouragement right now.

Take Me Away

Do you notice how there are a ton of T.V. shows with strong females in them, shooting and fighting it out with the rest of them. I love seeing shows with a strong female role model, however, i am becoming increasingly turned off by all the cussing and use of sex to get people to watch the shows. I find that these shows are not what i want my kids watching and not what i want them to bring home in the future as dates. I know that as technology gets more advanced, the networks have to appeal to what the kids are watching, but in turn don’t they also know that they can turn the tide from all the sex and violence to something with morals?

I want my sons to find a strong female, but i want her to have a good moral base and not feel like she has to use inappropriate language to look cool. I can already see that my sons take after their mother and buck the trend and don’t tend to follow blindly along with others. I like that they exert their independence and make their own decision even if it means doing the opposite of what their peers are doing. This will be good for them in the those times in which a beer funnel is being introduced to the party or something illegal is brought out to play. Boys will be boys is a phrase that i hear a lot when people find out that i have four boys. That may be the case, but i my boys will understand that they will be held responsible for their actions and that those actions may impact others in a negative way.

These strong women that society is impacting and help form seem to lack a few values that i find important in life. I think that my boys are lucky to grow up in a time that is finally depicting women as strong, independent individuals, capable of handling the multiple challenges that life throws at them. I just hope that along the way they are also being shown the values to help them grow into wonderful well-rounded women.

Would it kill a network producer to have one woman, who has multiple children, to have to go pee once and a while? I mean if these shows are supposed to imply real life, i for one have to pee…ALOT!

5 year olds are really teenagers in disguise, right?

My oldest has always struggled with his speech. Since being in Kindergarten he has really blossomed and started talking in complete sentences and using phrases he should of been saying years ago. We were super excited about this as years of speech therapy have really been taking a toll on the family. Not to say that he is out of the woods yet, and at this rate his younger brothers will all be talking worlds better than their mother. Ahh the benefits of speech therapy by proxy. My excitement soon changed when J started imitating his best friend and soon learned to imitate his attitude as well. Now i have a 5 year old that is ready to take on the world and beat them up. His mouth knows no boundaries and he cannot be restrained by any rules. He is above the rules and this is something that his friend encourages. I shudder to think of the future. Somedays i look at this child and wonder where my sweet baby went and long for the days where he didn’t speak much.

Punishment is a hard word to use, but there is nothing that seems to rein in this new found word explosion he has going on. I really try to get him to understand that we need to respect each other and listen in the house, but i tell ya I am really thinking “Shut up!”. *sigh* Parenting just isn’t what i thought it would be.

Just a reminder to everyone that the Ultimate Blog Party is still underway. Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and see what is going on. There is a lot of fun to be had, prizes to be won and great people to meet. Just click the button below to head over and have some fun.

Everyday is a crazy day when you are in our household. We seem to spend a lot of time doing things and getting nothing done. Anyone else feel like this? I am forever wondering why i bother to stand upright since i spend an awful lot of time bending over and picking up the thousands of foot piercing toys that lay around just waiting for me to find them. Ever notice that if you lose a particularly sharp piece of a game or toy that you are sure to have it sticking out of your foot sooner or later? Recently i find myself obsessed with not losing any pieces of puzzles or games, i know it is a losing battle. Why do boys have an obsession with taking one piece of a game (usually the smallest piece) and carrying it around until they find another piece to replace it with or lose it? Of course if they lose it then they most likely will have a fit until you find said object, which will be described as that blue thing or the circley piece, i mean really mom haven’t you been paying attention?

Somedays i think that while i was present during the day in body, my mind may not have been with me. I find myself rarely remembering a thing that i did all day, yet the dishes are done, kids fed and house is in a semi-wrecked state. I think i go into auto-pilot when i get really tired and stay there for all of my waking hours. It would explain why i can’t seem to write a coherent post to save my life or upload any pictures on my laptop of child #3 or #4. So sad really. There are a ton of people that i owe Thank you cards to, birthday cards and baby announcements. I am only promising to get the baby announcements out by the time #4 turns 1. I think that is acceptable, right?

Life with…

I hope all of you are enjoying the Ultimate Blog party being hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, don’t forget it is going on until March 27th, so there is still time to go on over and participate and have some fun with everyone!

One of the most frequent questions i get asked is how we manage to raise 4 children and keep our sanity, mostly the question is phrased towards just me and how i manage my sanity, but really i believe that M should be included in this as well. We don’t have the normal family life with our work schedule. We had originally made the choice that day care was not something that we wanted for the kids. I say we, but maybe it was more me than M. I always felt that we had the children and i couldn’t see having someone else witness their firsts and being there for moments in their life that may seem insignificant to others, but to me were precious. I have no doubt that the parents that rely on day care have to and in a perfect world motherhood/fatherhood would be considered a full time paying job. However, society today does not allow for this and as parents you have to do what works best for your situation.

In our house M and i work different shifts and the kids always have a parent around. This seems like an ideal situation, but it is not an ideal situation if you want to have any sort of a relationship with your spouse. You literally never see the other person unless someone wants to lose sleep and since i was the one working nights and being pregnant and/or nursing that was never the case.

It also means that you are parenting 4 kids on your own when you are the one at home. We had very little parenting together days. This does really cause some crossed paths and things do tend to fall through the cracks. You really rely on your partner to share in your philosophy of parenting and really have to be on the same page as far as discipline and follow through.

Managing sanity is a whole other ball of wax. A lot of days your day is the same. You have virtually no personal time, no time with your spouse, just the two of you and have to deal with so many things on your own. You have to be a strong person to make this work i believe. Is it worth it? Of course it is, as i see it the kids are in each phase of their lives for a brief time. There are days that having to potty train, change two sets of diapers, nurse a baby, deal with school work and a 5 year old that is going through his teenage mouthy years a little early gets to you. It can really wear on you and really wear on your relationship. You have to have faith that your partner is feeling the same and going through a lot of the same feelings you are. Eventually you will get time for yourselves as the kids get older and do more on their own. However, if your marriage is in any way not solid then this schedule will show you and problems will ensue. I am not saying that my relationship is perfect and it has come to light that it is anything but. I never thought that i would have to deal with half of the problems that we are having now. It does go to show that i have been in mom mode for years and have virtually missed a lot of what has been going on with M.

Can i share it with you? No, not yet. Too many of you know is personally and i don’t know that i am ready to say it out loud just yet. I still have my doubts that it will work out as well. This person that i married has become someone else and there are things that once you take them away you can never truly get them back. We have 4 kids however, and we are working on this for them as well as us. At least i am because somedays i have no idea who this person is that i married.

Would i recommend our schedule to others? Sure, it is not a bad schedule. I wouldn’t recommend it though if you don’t trust your partner 100% although sometimes even if you do you can be surprised.