Are We Organized Yet?

My tip: I have started leaving my toddler in his booster seat after our meals until I have finished cleaning up our meal.

I used to wipe his hands and face and let him down as soon as he was finished. It didn't work very well. He would wander around while I was cleaning up. Sometimes he tracked crumbs and other remains from the meal around the house. Sometimes he would get into mischief while I was busy. Sometimes he would fight with his brother. Sometimes he would just want attention.

The distractions made my cleanup time drag on. (I often came back into the kitchen an hour later and realized I still hadn't done dishes or even wiped the table.) The messes he made while I was distracted would be another thing I would have to deal with later. I tell ya...it was never-ending. Just to cleanup a meal.

Now, it's quick, it gets done right after our meal and everybody can leave the dining room at the same time.

I'm Tired

I'm tired.

Very, very tired.

This is the type of tired that isn't fixed my one good night's sleep. It's past that.

When Dylan was a baby, I was up every.two.hours until he was 7-months-old. Lack of sleep changes your personality. It was bad. Very bad.

Enter Kobe. He slept great. Not sleepthroughthenightat2weeksold great, but it was much better than with Dylan. Now that he's older...not so much. He doesn't need near as much sleep as anyone else in the family. And he doesn't think anyone else should sleep when he's awake. When we built our house, we insulated his bedroom because he sleeps so lightly and is such a squack-box when he wakes up. Sadly, it didn't help much.

Enter Zane. He is Dylan's twin...only 5 years late. He wakes often and believes that he should be within sniffing-distance of my breast.

All of this has left me exhausted. I have bags under my eyes that look like they've taken up permanent residence. I cannot start my morning without a stiff cup of java. I pray daily for rest and for patience to tide me through when rest is just not meant to be.

This week, Zane has gotten a doozie of a cold. Last night was a sleep for 20 minutes, up for 20 minutes kind of night. Add this to the above sleep issues, and, 'Houston, we have a problem'. I awoke this morning wanting to pull my pillow tightly over my head and ignore my household all.day.long. Then it clearly came to me: 'Be thankful in all circumstances (1Thessalonians 5:18).' Wow, I'm going to need some help with this today, Lord.

I'm not a fan of blogs that are full of complaining. I'm sorry to have one of those posts today. I'm sure tomorrow will be better. In the meantime, please pray for me (and my sick baby).

Wordless Wednesday

It's All Real Life

The other day I was ignoring the laundry, wandering around blogworld. Just before I realized that I was sufficiently lost in blogworld, I saw something called 'It's All Real Life'. It looked neat so I thought I'd give it a whirl - we all need to be a little more 'real' instead of only showing ourselves under the best of circumstances. After all, it seems that vulnerability breeds vulnerability.

I wrote down the requirements, but didn't write down the blog it was from. If anyone knows who started it, please tell me. That way I can link them and give them sufficient credit!

Okay...take pictures of the following:

~ Your Fridge
~ A Closet
~ Kitchen Sink
~ Toilet
~ Your Favourite Shoes
~ Your Favourite Room
~ What The Children Are Doing Right Now
~ Your Laundry
~ Self-Portrait

You can put a little comment about each. No prep or cleaning first...no cheating! Be real.

Okay, here it goes...

My Fridge

My Closet

I didn't realize how hard it is to take pictures of your closet. It is hard to get a full picture, so I took two. I was surprised at how much messier it looks in pictures!

My Kitchen Sink

My Toilet

My Favourite Shoes

These shoes are nothing fancy, but they make the best footprints in a touch of fresh snow! See the flowers on the bottom...

My Favourite Room

This is our master bedroom. Dwayne designed it to be our own little oasis. There is a tray ceiling and he put the jacuzzi tub right in our room instead of the ensuite. That way, we can bath together or if only I wanted to bath, he could visit with me while lying in bed. We still have some finishing left to do, like the tile steps up to the tub, but it is coming along. Soon it will feel like our private hotel suite - without the bed being slept in by thousands of other people!

What My Children Are Doing Right Now

Lego! The baby is sleeping, but you know the rule...never wake a sleeping baby...even when taking his picture.

My Laundry

Which Stage?

In the basket...

In the machine...

Unfolded on the couch...

Notice, there are no pictures of the folded laundry. That's because I'm blogging. Grrr...

Self-Portrait

There you have it - my real life. Your turn! To anybody who reads my blog, consider yourself tagged.

Are We Organized Yet?

My tip for the day...get the family into wearing Crocs or hard-bottomed slippers in the house. We have wood & tile flooring throughout. There is no carpet to stop messes from spreading from room to room. If the children empty the sand from their sandals in a pile at the front door, I have 2.2 seconds before it is spread throughout the entire house. When we are wearing our Crocs instead of socks, it doesn't get drug around as easily and I have time to vaccuum it up before it spreads.

Sunday Morning Smiles

This morning I peeked into Dylan's room to see if he was awake. He was slowly trying to wake up. He groggily looked over and smiled.

"Mom, I have a song to sing you."

"Oh? Which one?"

"You don't know it, it's new."

"Mmmm..."

"A six-year-old boy is very strong.
A six-year-old boy takes care of his mom.
A six-year-old boy is very strong.
A six-year-old boy takes care of his mom."

Awwww...I love these moments.

Laptop Computer

I'm looking at buying a laptop. Any suggestions? What do you have? What do you like? What don't you like? Mac? Other? Fire me some info.

Organizational Challenges

I used to have a sharp mind. A good memory, great organizational skills - after all, I was an accountant!

That was before diapers, runny noses, endless questions, sleepless nights, goodnight cuddles, skinned knees, kissed owies...

When I had my first child, all of my brain cells either transferred to him or came out with the placenta. I don't know what science says about this, but I've experienced it - and it gets worse with each child!

To compensate with this scatterbrainness, I have had to be on the lookout for organizational tips. Organization just does not come naturally to me anymore. As I come across these, or as I come up with them myself, I will share them. I just know there have to be some of you out there that have experienced the placenta-transfer too!

My first tip is to take a look at http://www.motivatedmoms.com/about-us.html. This is the best 8 bucks I've spent in a while. It is a simple, daily chore list. A small to-do list for each day of the year. I used to find I was playing housekeeping catchup all.day.long. I would clean my house when it was so disgusting I couldn't ignore it any longer or would give up and put socks on so I didn't have to feel the remains of the last seven meals grit from the floor on my bare feet. Now, when I keep up with what's on the list, it doesn't get to the point of being unbearable & overwhelming. Also, when a list is sitting right there in front of me, if I have 5 minutes to do something, I don't spend that 5 minutes trying to think of what to do next.

That's my two cents. BTW, they have not paid me or given me anything free - I just like their system.

Memory Verses

Today Dylan (6) recited his A to Z memory verses that he has been working on this year. He entered into a memory verse challenge and won a gift certificate for remembering all 26 of them. That's right...26! Great job, Dylan!

Wordless Wednesday

Things Are Not Always As They Seem

I look out the front door.

The hair goes up on the back of my neck.

There is a van driving very, very slowly past my driveway with his window open. He is talking to my 6-year-old, who is cautiously walking closer to the van. I am about to race out there and see what is going on when my boy comes barrelling back to the house.

"MOM! He said there is a bear next door!" A bear? I thought my boy was about to be stolen, not eaten! I quickly ran out to gather up my 2-year-old and gave a sheepish, but friendly wave to the driver of the van. Just as we were coming into the house, we saw a black bear crossing by the end of our driveway.

I am thankful for the stranger (who may not even be a stranger, but I didn't have my glasses on) who stopped to tell of the danger. I am not, however, impressed that my children will not be able to be outside unless I join them. That sucks!

Sorry, no pictures of the bear. Too busy trying to save the children.

Father's Day

The dads led Sunday Service on the beach.

There is a Father's Day tradition among our friends. The dads take the children camping - all the children (except for nursing babies). There are usually a handful of dads that go and many, many children. They take all the gas-guzzling toys they can fit into their vehicles necessities and off they go for the entire weekend.

It was just Zane & I hanging out for the weekend. I was looking forward to crossing off things on my ever-growing 'to do' list, taking in some garage sales and going for a Saturday morning brunch with my friend. I have forgotten just how much work it is only having one child. Zane's entertainment had left when the boys drove out the driveway! I still got a few things done, but mostly the time that I had at home was spent being Zane's playmate. Although I didn't get much else accomplished, we had some great Mom & Baby time!

As I was getting us ready for church yesterday, my sister-in-law phoned. The guys had gotten word back to town that they would like the moms to come out for some Sunday afternoon fun. Wow! That was the first time we'd ever been invited at all. It has always been a strict NO MOMS ALLOWED policy. I think I understood why once we got out there. The children were filthy. No nutritious food had been eaten all weekend. I nearly cried when I saw the state of my holiday trailer. It was 10 minutes before noon and the guys were grabbing bags of chips to head out on a lengthy explore. I kept telling myself, "Put the estrogen away, Amy!" It took much strength to not say anything and go along with the fun. Don't get me wrong - I have fun. Just not before everybody is fed, the trailer is cleaned, everybody has peed...

It turned out to be a blast! We went down to the beach, played soccer, went Sea-Dooing & boating and rode the dirtbikes & four-wheelers. Everyone was just headed down to have another boat ride when Tammy and I noticed it looked like rain was coming. We opted to stay back with her baby and my youngest two. Another mom was napping her little one. Tammy & I took our children for a small quad ride and all at once the wind got bad. I mean really bad. It came quickly and hard. We got to the camp in time to see a picnic tent fly across the field into the trees. The wind was gusting hard. We just started to think 'awnings' when Bobbie & Rod's awning when whipping right off their trailer. Tammy, Laurella & I threw the children into the trailers and quickly went to work bringing down the two remaining awnings. We have watched our hubbies do it but really had no idea what we were doing, let alone in a hurried panic. We managed to get them down. I was glad we were there or they would all have been gone. We inspected the damage on Bobbie & Rod's and realized that their vehicle was parked behind their holiday trailer and the awning arms had crashed onto it. The windshield was smashed and the hood was dented. I was sure glad that all of the children had been gone or it could have been dangerous!

Soccer!

I am thankful that we don't generally get extreme weather here. After seeing that wind and the damage, I cannot imagine having hurricane winds!

I didn't get any pictures of any of the action - too busy trying to save things. I did get some of the soccer game, the quadding & dirtbiking and the 'after the storm' clouds.

The storm brewing.

After the wind & rain had passed.

Wordless Wednesday

How Do You Look Her In The Eye?

Do you have products you hear about or see advertised that you've just got.to.have? You know what I mean...the life-won't-be-the-same-without-it-it-will-make-you-so-very-happy-if-you-could-only-have-it-and-then-the-next-thing-you-know-its-in-the-'make-an-offer'-bin-at-your-garage-sale kind of products?

My friend and I were talking about these types of I-need-it purchases. It seems that if we just wait it out and revisit the issue in a few days or weeks we realize that we don't care so much about the things we thought we couldn't live without. Spending money on silly things has been on my heart lately. I keep thinking of mothers of children (Africa, specifically, keeps coming to mind) that are dying because they don't have enough to eat. Yesterday, in the midst of my discussion with my friend, I thought about the I-need-it purchases. How would I explain them to that mother. Could I look her in the eye and tell her how important that I-need-it thing is? How would I feel if I was that mother? Would I resent the greedy, spoiled North American lady telling me her sob story about not buying the thing that she wants?

I've thought a whole lot about this today and I can bet that I won't be making many unnecessary purchases without thinking of looking my imaginary (but very real) African mom in the eye.

What's That?

*UPDATE*

Tara's little boy is right! It is the teeth of a goose. We visited a local farm lately and got some great pictures. I will post more as I get time. BTW...I have a small prize for you Tara. I will come see you at your blog.

Any guesses as to what this might be? Try your luck!

Wordless Wednesday