Life Is Beautiful

It's not fair! I hear that a lot at my house.  The kids say it quite a bit too.  ;o) fair (adjective) --  free from bias, dishonesty or injustice.  Legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc. The older I get, the more I am completely certain that fairness only exists in Heaven.  Down here on the Earth, it's 100% true what they say: Life's not fair! Some folks get the "thin genes" some of us don't.  Some work hard all their lives and still can't make enough money to cover the month.  Some people seem to have all the illness that would be too much for four people.  Others enjoy good health.  It's NOT fair. And it's probably a good think that life isn't fair.  If I got paid back in justice, honesty and non-bias for all the things I ever did -- I would be on the streets with people walking by to kick me for fun.  Seriously.  It's a GOOD THING we don't get what we deserve. Just something I was thinking about. ...

First, a couple of cute things said by our 4yo son, Cameron. "I'm done with getting dressed.  I'm going to stay in my underwear now." --During yoga with me "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  Yah, I should definitely buy a cow when I grow up." I'm trying to soak up every single minute that I have with him this year.  He will start Kindergarten in 2014, so I am counting my blessings! On to the fish oil experiment.  David and I started taking Fish Oil pills last Friday.  We've taken them before, but not for a purpose other than "because they're good for you."  I did some research on the fat burning qualities and decided to begin taking 6g per day split into 3 doses with meals. I began a bit conservatively to avoid any digestive upset.  I've not had much luck with my guts lately, so I started with just 3g per day on Saturday.  On Sunday and Monday I took 6g and by Monday night I realized a strange thing.  I felt prett...

Despite the selfish storm of emotion that has been swirling around in my heart and mind this last couple of days, life does  go on. Oh, and thank God that it does! I can't imagine the bitter mess I would be without our children to distract me.  :)  Today, we celebrated Cameron Allen's 4th Birthday.  He is my baby.  The last of 4 children.  My sweet, sweet boy.  I can never stay in my own thoughts when this cuteness is around. We don't do a whole lot for birthdays.  A small gift, a box-mix cake and the birthday kiddo gets to choose what's for supper.  Cameron was very excited with his Red Ranger mask and saber.  We did some lessons on ABCMouse.com together until his buddy, Dylan, came over to play.  That always trumps Mom.  I made Cam's requested meal for lunch, but made a big batch because I knew the other kids would be envious.  Home Made Mac N' Cheese...mmmm....  And canned fruit.  Strange, st...

Some days, I have everything planned out - then I wake up and remember this and that and finally recall that it's not about me.  Today was one of those days.  Schedules get so tight on the weekends, that if an outside party changes plans, we generally have to chuck our initial plans.  Such was today.   Still - we got to church, got fed, and got our rides in.  I even got to Menards for gardening supplies ($13) and made my little pepper and tomato plants happier.  They were out growing their little egg carton homes.  My bike ride was okay.  It seems folks are not used to watching for cyclists, yet, this Spring.  I stayed on the bike paths 90% of my ride and still risked being creamed twice.  *sigh* My ride made me think of this: All of that aside - I came home to a sweet little boy on his bike for the first time.  My husband cleared our garden plot AND taught Cameron to ride his bike while I was gone.  Over achie...

Oh my goodness, I got owned this morning.  By my bike.   I used to ride every Sunday morning in addition to a few times per week.  Once upon a time, in a land far far away...  But due to illness, and the fact that I signed up for my first Marathon on May 5th...I've had to run when I can and rest the remainder of the time.  I could NOT believe how difficult 30 minutes on the trainer was.  My handy dandy Garmin Speed and Cadence Sensor ($30 and hooks into my phone!) just HAD to be wrong.  I was only averaging 13mph and had sweat dripping ALL OVER MY BIKE .   After being made a fool of by my Trek, we drove to GI to get my Mom's van back to her. What a gal - loaned us her beautiful red van for over a month until we could afford to fix ours.  Momma supports us in not going into debt.  "Aint nobody got time for that."  Love my sweet Momma.  She drove sub-standard while we were riding luxury.  Even at my age, my Mom ta...

He was making this "embarrassed" face for us while we sang. So cute. Bye-bye to having any babies in the house. Next thing you know - potty training - then college. *sniff*

Well, chalk four more things up to the list of "Things Out of My Control." Liam, age 12. Alahnnah, age 8. Susan, age 3. Cameron, age 21mo. Lord, I'm sorry that I thought I had any sort of influence on my children. They are your children, after all, and maybe some day they will listen to you. They SURE aren't listening to me. But whatcha gonna do? I go the positive reinforcement route for one, negative for the other, time outs, and consistency across the board. At the end of the day, I can say that I did what was right (well, except for today when I bruised my hand by smacking it on the counter when I was mad) and didn't try to belittle, injure or bully anyone. The last couple of days have been better. Cameron wakes at 5am (nearly) each and every morning. Dave gets up at 5 for work, so he goes in and lays him back down. The last two days he has gone back to sleep for 30 - 45 minutes without screaming, so that's something. Several days I just put the pill...

Despite the title of this post, today was a better day. Liam mowed the front yard and cleaned the floors in the living room. Alahnnah cleaned up the dishes and played nicely with her sister. There was a marked reduction in the fighting between the two older kids. Hallelujah! I think my leg may have turned a corner. Albeit a very W-I-D-E turn. I was in a great deal of pain this morning. Stabbing versus the normal burning and elevation was not helping. As the day wore on the pain has subsided. I even went in the play room and got some dog pile time with The Littles . I had a few hives this morning in the cricks of my arms. I was afraid it was going to get bad like it did last summer. I had to go get a shot at the ER to calm it down. It was HORRIBLE. All over my face, the tops of my thighs were just cherry red because they all ran together. Nursing a baby when you have hives really stinks. FYI. I thought I had escaped a bad bout as the few that I had were all gone by lunch...

Remember this? I thought of this show and it's theme song today while having a "Bad Alahnnah Day." She spent more time in her room today than she did downstairs with the rest of us. I decided that removing her from the situation in addition to counsel is the best thing to do to deter the behavior . Spanking her has never worked. Taking away a favorite toy, restricting access to TV or computer at her designated times, time out, stern words, screaming and hollering...none of that has ever proven to yield any other result than MY utter exhaustion. She hates to be separated from the action. So - that's what I did. She spent from 9:30 to 11:00am in her room for screaming at her sister (I mean SCREAMING). It was going to be a 15 minute "cool down" stint, but she rolled her eyes at me and told me that "wouldn't work anyway." *head exploding* This afternoon, she and her brother were doing chores - she in the bathroom and he in the toy room - ...

If you pay attention, you can learn a little something each day. Normally, I operate in the mundane. Slow down while eating so you don't choke, hold the baby's feet so he doesn't Riverdance in his own poopy diaper, use electrical tape, not duct tape, to keep the school agers quiet. You know, common sense. But lately I have had my eyes opened to something pretty important. Pride, stupid pride (insert child gasping at the use of the "s" word). The most difficult lessons I have been taught in recent years all have to do with pride. The word is like a nasty taste in my mouth. I just want to spit it out. Such has been the lesson of late. Nursing Cameron came to a point around about a month or so ago, where I was continuing on just for pride. He's had four front teeth for months now, and the kid could probably - quite successfully - drink a triple thick milk shake with a coffee stir stick. About the same time, I realized that he didn't like pureed f...

Not a snow blizzard, a DQ blizzard. I am learning that eating pounds of sugar wrapped in saturated fat will not, as it turns out, solve anything. Hmph. Just like liquor. Damn. Today was one of the worst days as a daycare provider yet. Normally, there is one kid that has "issues" (my own child, usually) because little kids are constantly growing and changing and well, that can hurt sometimes. But this day was special. Both of the 8mo old babies are teething. Acid diapers causing bleeding diaper rash. The Snot Faucet was on full bore so not a nap could be had. There were tears, there was screaming...and that was just me! Also, I seem to have hit some sort of hormonal flux due to the fact that the last time I nursed Cameron (for the last time) was about 2 days ago. Today I felt like the worst PMS ever. The phrase "I hate you, don't touch me or I'll tear your hand off" ran through my mind more than once. I wanted to climb up on top of the house and ...

The last week has been to busy for blogging. I started cultivating a nice infection on Sunday and by Monday had full blown mastitis. I even had DH stay home from work to help me with the children. I was one sick puppy! My weightloss last week came out at -3.8lbs. Oooh, just shy of 4! I was pretty surprised to post a big loss again. That's almost 7lbs for January - only 3 to go for my 10lbs per month goal! I only got to exercise 1 day last week, but I counted every little itty bitty calorie. Sticking to 1800, still. It sounds like a lot compared to most of the ladies on the weight loss boards, but I guess I burn a lot. Whatever works! Back to the subject of my difficulty last week. This was the second HUGE pain and in this area in the last month. I suffered with some terrible scabbing a couple of weeks ago that made me want to *scream* every time I fed him. He has 4 teeth and nearly chews through a feeding. All things considered, I decided to try some formula in a bot...

You awake? Because I am. At 5:30 or so every day. Feed me. Hold me. What was that!? Your 'real' alarm. Yawwnn. I'm tired, put me back to bed, and get to work - those other kids will be here soon. Snooore.