You Know Your A Mom When...

You know your a Mom when...

I am sure that every Mom could complete that sentence quite easily with all the things that we do for, put up with and have had to do for our children.

This week my sentence would read...

You know your a Mom when you have had to replace your laptop after a run in with 4 year old kid flu. Sadly this isn't the first laptop that my dear daughter has ruined a laptop. Now before you go ahead and start judging me thinking that maybe I should be putting my laptop up...

The first was resting safely at my side while I wiped down the coffee table...and she used it as a trampoline.
The second was sitting within arm's length and attached to my ear with headphones.

Thankfully my husband was kind enough to take requests for my birthday presents. Sadly though his ideas for presents this year leave me wondering if I could stand to give up a home computer:

A 50 mm lens for my Canon Rebel
or tickets to see Ronnie Dunn in concert
Urban Decay make-up pallete
or
A romantic dinner at The Melting Pot.

In the end my love of blogging and social media won out.

So how would you complete your sentence?

You know your a Mom when...

Any Day Can Be Day One

This morning was day one on take back the mornings. I have been checked out of the morning routine for so long that I don't even remember what I used to do but I do know what I have become accustomed to:

All out brawls over toys, TV channels and clothes

Yelling, screaming and harsh words

Watching Hubby take kids down in their underwear at 8:59

Misplaced shoes, coats and homework

Unbrushed teeth and uneaten breakfast

Why did the morning routine have to be so hard and what exactly caused it to get so out of hand? 

This morning I greeted the sun as it came up. <-- as evidenced by this morning....this is what it is going to take. I had time to go to the restroom, enjoy a cup of coffee and read a few chapters in my book before I saw the first sleepy face. 

Thankfully I had already had time to wake up so I was ready. 

I had 45 minutes to get everyone dressed and out the door but reminded myself to stay calm. The more anxious I get about the time these days the faster it seems to fly. 

I was able to do it, but with a sad heart. Just the addition of myself to the mornings ensured that not only did everyone do what they were supposed to but with mostly happy hearts. They all walked out the door, fully dressed with full bellies and brushed teeth. 

Is there a part of your day that has become so stressful that you have just checked out? 

I challenge you to take it back. The wisest words that I have heard in 2012 are any day can be day one. 

It's A Numbers Game In My House

Last night was so full of all of the things that I needed to do that I didn't even realize that I hadn't eaten until Hubby got home from work. He went to the kitchen to make a sandwich and I realized...that even though I fed 4 kids I hadn't eat anything since I had last saw him 5 hours ago.

Instead of eating I:

Played 6 games of Jenga, 2 games of Trouble and 1 game of Uno Moo.
Made 4 sandwiches, Cut up 3 carrots and 2 sticks of celery, opened 4 yogurts,  saved 1 Boxtop and poured 5 glasses of milk.
I checked 3 sets of homework, practiced spelling and reading with youngest and vocabulary with my middle son.
I bathed one child and supervised the baths of 2 more.
I read 3 library books to Madilyn and 4 chapters in 2 books to Ethan.
While doing all of this I got 3 kids to clean up 2 rooms and 1 closet.
I bought groceries for the week and spent some time chatting with Madilyn as we put them away.
I took 4 kids to the library to pick out 10 books.

Thankfully Hubby took pity on my growling tummy and made me a sandwich too. I am really trying to focus on my kids this year. I want to get back into the same mindset that I had when I was staying at home with them. I miss the exciting projects that we would do, the amount of time that I got to spend with them and the closeness that I felt then. 

Get Outside and Do Something

I sometimes forget that the best way to have a good day with my kids is to wear them out. They behave better, go to bed better and are generally in better moods when they are worn out. After taking them fishing, metal detecting and then lake bottom hunting for shells and other treasures - I realized that I have gotten away from this practice as the kids have gotten older.

My New Year's resolution this year is to learn to use my Canon Rebel. So every weekend of this year we have done something physical:

Rock climbing.
3 miles nature hike.
2 hours spent at the lake.

But what about the weeknights? This is when we experience the most bad behavior. The most whining. The most sloth.

Every night this week I am going to try an experiment: Get my kids outside to play, go for a walk or just do something physical. 

What I Make Time For Is Changing

Everyday there are the mundane things that must be done, there are the things that pop up out of the blue and then there are the things that we make time for. 

This change started before Christmas. I worried over the things that I was leaning towards buying - books and games. I wanted my family to spend more time together. My kids on the other hand were asking to spending more and more time playing video games and watching TV.  So this year I fulfilled a few wishes in the electronic department but mainly I bought books and games. 

Each night before dinner I have been playing Battleship, Trouble and Uno Moo with the kids. It's amazing how much of a fight they put up when it's their turn to play but once they get into it...they always ask for a rematch. 

Each night before bed I have been making time for the older kids to read in bed. I read as many books as Madilyn asks for, then read four more chapters to Ethan. I was really excited to read him the series that I picked out as I had read it when I was a kid. The Boxcar Children. It was written by an elementary school teacher and used the 500 most common sight words in the English language. I didn't think that he was really liking it as the books that he picked out from the library (Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid) were a little more on the grotesque side. But he was so excited when we started reading the second book bouncing around on the couch and saying remember when from the first book. 

My DVR is really full because of what I am making time for but so is my heart. 

P.S. I suck at being unedited. I used the delete key and spell check the whole way through this. Is there a way to turn off the red squggly line under misspelled words so that they are not so apparent? 

It Will Be What It Will Be

I am putting way to much thought into this. It's supposed to be an exercise in writing. It's supposed to be a way to stretch myself and my ability. So why can't I let go and just let it be what it will be? Why am I so worried about the header, title and the fact that blogpot.com is following my url? 

Today my heart is so full of pride that I can barely contain the smiles that bubble up every few minutes. I have wanted to get control of my house the way that I once did with my finances. I have this dream home in mind but it's not exactly what you might see in a magazine. It's more just a space that I feel comfortable welcoming family and friends into. It doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to be clean, organized and full of life. So everyday when I once was watching TV, I am taking the time to clean. When I used to spend my money on what ever caught my attention that week, I am saving it instead for improvements. 

Today one of those improvements will be installed and I can hardly believe that is less than 8 hours time that I might be sitting in front of a fireplace lit just for the sake of heating my home.