Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe it's been 3 years today since we welcomed Haley Lorraine into our family. It's been a wild ride to be sure! From our first true colic experience to daring stunts we couldn't imagine a little girl (sugar and spice and all that) could even come up with-let alone execute. She has fascinated us, frustrated us. Amused us and confused us. Made us laugh and made us cry. She is a gift from God to be sure and through her He has humbled me daily. If I ever smugly gave anyone who reads this blog advice on parenting...I'm sorry. I'm over it now.
Here's to a great 4th year with our little girl! *cheers*

Shopping!

Ok, so this isn't what I look like while shopping. In fact it's not even close. Picture this: A woman who is looking very harassed. One child being worn (whether in the sling or the Bjorn...). One child being chased-because she was dumb enough to think that a stroller wasn't entirely necessary. It. Is. Trust me. Haley can make store managers ask them to leave no matter how much they promise to spend. Then the boy that is trailing along behind her (7 year old boys don't like shopping anyway) is tossing a football found in the store up and catching it. Only he didn't. Instead she is now the mother whose head has had a football bounced off of it in the checkout line at Old Navy. The 10 year old girl simply wants a chance to look at clothes and decide which outfits would best suit her and talk about those outfits. But, with all the chaos...the mother in the revised picture is not always very patient with the big girl.
Then, even though the mother learned her lesson and put the 2 year old in a stroller at the next store, the 2 year old often escapes the stroller or uses it as a stepstool to get clothing articles. But don't worry, the 7 year old boy will gladly snatch them from her and stubbornly and silently play tug-of-war with her over an article of clothing (that she wasn't actually causing any harm by looking at). But, she is not silent. She is screaming. Loudly.
The mother then decides that it's just not worth it to be in the store at all. The mother then leaves the store with a frown on her face and vows never to do that again. But she will. It's called insanity!

I don't know. I feel like my life is so un-noteworthy right now. Who wants to hear about poopy diapers, waiting for new cloth diapering supplies in the mail (excitedly I might add), washing said diapers, homeschooling, dealing with pre-teen angst (do I really have a pre-adolescent child?? one that fits into the "tween" category? OH MY GOSH!), sibling rivalry, a two-year old that keeps me on my toes all day long...and my longing to lose weight but seeming inability to do anything about this issue?? Who wants to hear about all of that on a daily basis? I don't. It's my life. I love it. BUT...it's not really worthy of a blog entry every day. Besides, when would I do that?
But, I do have a few pictures! Wanna see them? Okay. I knew you would.

Drowning!

I think I'm drowning in tears around here. No, not mine, but Haley's and Nathan's. It always seems as if someone is crying. That's why I haven't posted in so long. I'm tired. The good thing I can say: Nathan is having fairly good nights. Go figure.
I would like to know what is up with this. I'm starting to feel like it's "personal" somehow. Three out of four of my babies have screamed all the time. :(
I'm a good mom. My babies are well cared for...why do they cry? All. The. Time.

Happy New Year!

Despite how I've felt about the rest of the holidays, I am looking forward to the New Year! I love a fresh start. As a kid and teenager it was always about a new start for school-new books, new clothes, new friends (because we moved often enough that I usually started each year at a new school!) and just in general a clean slate. Now, it's always about the New Year (although we do get new school books and supplies once a year around here since I homeschool the kiddos-is that my secret reason for homeschooling? Hmmm...). The new year gives me a chance to figure out a few goals that I want to work towards. Goals that will make me feel better about me.
So, this year here it is!

1. Gotta have the obligatory weight loss goal. This year it's extra necessary since I just had a baby, and unfortunately, he didn't weight 50 lbs. I was really hoping he would...then that would justify that weight gain. Oh well. Guess it's all on me now. :) So, lose weight and exercise??



2. BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET!!!! Gotta get that budget under control. My (lofty) goal for this year is to pay off our "small" credit card balance. It's only "small" if you are looking at that as a relative term. I don't know if we can do it, but I will sure give it a try. The first step is to quit using it. Ha.


3. Quit yelling. Period. I read once in a parenting book (Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel) that yelling at your kids and expecting them to respond is like honking the horn on your car and excpecting the car to respond. It just doesn't make sense. And yet, I continue to yell. I'd like to practice the act of whispering when I feel the need to YELL. Maybe, just maybe, if I do this my children will follow suit and not yell so much. Our house is small and our family is not. Quieter would be better.


4. Not only do I need to budget my finances but I need to budget my time better. It is a resource-one that is more valuable than money if you really think about it-and should be treated as such. Time is a blessing. God gives it to me. I need to use it wisely. I think that the chaos in my house would be less if I budgeted my time (and my children's) more carefully.


5. Read my Bible more. I know it's good for me. And yet I just don't do it. I know that right now might not be the time to expect that I will do it for a certain amount of time every day (my plate is pretty full and I'm trying to find my groove as a mama of four) but just to do it once a day. Maybe post a verse somewhere in my house (kitchen?) that I can see it and think on it. Learn it. Hide it in my heart.

I think that's enough for now.

In Touch With Real People?

So, apparently our president-who is in touch with real people and knows what it's like to be a regular person thinks it's real and normal (in a down economy) to spend 2 weeks at Christmas time in a 7,000 square foot house with a phenomenonal view of one of Hawaii's most beautiful beaches. For the low price of $4000 per night. And don't forget the two neighboring houses they rented for friends and family. 'Cause that's real and regular. Never mind that the average American is struggling to make his mortgage payment. Never mind that food banks are at an all-time low right now because everyone is in need. At least the "regular" person minded president will be swimming in the lagoon style pool that the house is built around. Oh, and the average Hawaiian person (according to GMA's exclusive) doesn't have a real evergreen tree for Christmas-they are not common in Hawaii and are therefore very expensive. But! Don't fear...the Obamas have one! Phew. I was worried there.

Now, I'm not saying the President and his family don't deserve a vacation. I'm sure it's stressful being the President. But, that is just not how "regular" people live.

Can I point out where our former President spent most of his vacations? Yeah. At a ranch in Crawford, TX. I believe I heard that he spent at least some of his time clearing brush. Hmmmm.

Perfectionist No More!

Oh, I still have ideals in my head about how things *should* be. But I am realistic enough to know that I can't do it all now. Not that I could before, but I sure tried-and drove my family crazy in the process.

In years past I might have gone all over town looking for cute hats and making sure the kids matched and had haircuts within the previous 3 months. Oh and found the perfect spot to take the picture...for an outcome something like this:

This year my Christmas pictures look something like this:

Ok, that was not a facsimile, but the actual thing. No Christmas clothes or hats or even colors this year. Didn't even pose them in front of the Christmas tree (that was decorated entirely by the children and looks nicely imperfect-you know the look, globs of ice-cicles in some places and none in the others, some ornaments not even used-what's up with the discrimination of ornaments??? but it looks like a happy tree! Isn't that what counts? Martha Stewart would not be impressed, but hey, she was in prison for a while. I wasn't impressed with that! Oh, and our angel has lost her lights. I have had the same angel since we got married and she has finally stopped lighting up for us. :( But I'm emotionally vested in her. She's part of us now.

And you know how you can buy small extension cords for your Christmas needs? Why would you want that small, unobtrusive green cord when you can have coils of large,orange heavy duty extension cord piled up behind your tree? THAT is the look for this year. I'm *almost* convinced myself. Maybe I'll just hide it behind a pile of folded (but not yet put away) laundry! That will help, right?

All this to say, "Okay God! I get it! I am not in control of everything and everything can't be perfect or even close to perfect! Please stop teaching me these lessons...I promise. I've learned my lesson!"