Monday, March 14, 2011

Monday, Monday

Today is Monday. And it totally feels like one… Has since first thing this morning when a 50 lb cute dog stood over me pawing me with her gargantuan paws.

Of course that's the start of every day so that alone could not differentiate it from a regular day to a Monday.


 

Things that can:

Slamming my knee into the doorjamb at our front door while trying to close it

Running into something else (can't remember – short term memory loss) and slamming my other knee on that

Complete lack of motivation to do any homework

Missing RE Class today because John and Grace are sick

Worrying that John and Grace were sick (though this was alleviated after an hour at the doctor's office when given the good news that they just had colds)

Waking up 4-ish times in the night to go make sure they were okay. One in particular I leaped up from the bed and asked (probably really loudly) David if he was okay. I'm sure he appreciated that.

Held a screaming Grace while the doctor gave her a strep test.

Blythe requesting a creative sundae and then getting the wrong kind.


 

But of course, we can dwell on the bad… or we can focus on the good… I choose the good.


 

Good things about today:

Spent the whole day with John and Grace

Woke up next to the man I love

Took Blythe to school and picked her up

Made a delicious bacon, egg and cheese English muffin for breakfast

Did chores with my kids and had a clean house for a short period of time.

Made and consumed The Pioneer Woman's delicious Chicken Spaghetti.

Had Bubbles (ice cream)

Watched Morning Glory with my kids

Got work stuff done even though I wasn't able to work at the office

A beautiful sunset with pink, purple and peach streaks lighting up the sky

Spelled words for John and Grace to sound out phonetically while waiting for the doctor.


 

But the most heart melting moment was:

When Grace was getting her strep test done and Johnny became visibly upset and immediately came up to Grace and rubbed her back with his hand then we all group hugged.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Mommy Anxiety

I was up until the wee hours of the night/morning last night finishing Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. It's really my fault, I should know better than to start a book by Nicholas Sparks and expect to be able to put it down. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. However, if you are looking for a book to read, may I recommend Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks? Or really, anything by him?

So the real purpose of this blog post is to share the tremendous level of anxiety I have. Maybe it's not normal, or maybe it is soooo normal that everyone reading this will be like "Well Duh!"

As usual, last night when I was finally finished with my book I went to the kids' bedroom(s) to make sure they were okay. I stand there with my hand on their chest until I feel it rise and fall. Sometimes I accidentally wake them up, but if I don't do this I cannot go to sleep. Often I will do it and then hop into bed only to pull myself out of it a few minutes later to do it again. If I wake up at night with a start, I get out of bed and do it again. And then first thing in the morning I go in. I should also admit that last night I went in there 2 other times before bedtime. The first time they were awake, the second time they were not, the third time they were also fine.

So the book had some twists in it that kind of freaked me out. This happens extra easily (especially at night). I become uncomfortable in my house, rushing from darkened room to the safety of my bedroom after checking the locks on the doors. Perhaps I'm OCD but I really think its good ole-fashion anxiety.

As I lay down to sleep, my mind is running a million miles a minute. I start worrying about John and Grace while they are at their dad's and I suggest to myself that I text him in the morning to let me know when he's arrived (he has a play date scheduled tonight in Merrillville/Crown Point), then I go the extra step thinking well maybe he can text me and let me know when they get up in the morning. These thoughts are racing through my head and mentally I suggest ways to soothe my anxious nerves to alleviate the tightness in my chest. The fear/anxiety causes me the tightness to be there.

My fear/anxiety is not without cause. My mom had a son (who would obviously have been my brother) who died at the age of 3 from pneumonia. I cannot even fathom how she went on. Even though I wasn't even born until JJ had passed away, but I live with the fear of something happening to my kids. John currently has a cough and while it's not so much I feel a dr. is necessary it still worries me. I know my mom still checked to see if I was breathing until I was a teenager (and perhaps an adult too J). Then my Dad died in November of 2009. From pneumonia. This has exacerbated my anxiety. Shortly after he passed John got RSV and had to be on breathing treatments every 4 hours for weeks. It was an exhausting (and scary) time, but we got through it, but every night John slept next to me. I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep without him there. John gets a cough more often than the other girls and has been put on breathing treatments a couple times a year. Every time, I worry, but I worry anyway so it's just an elevation of my regular worry.

Now maybe at this point you think I'm crazy… and if you are a friend of mine, you may already know this J, but I really wanted to get these words out, so much so that even though I was exhausted at 12:30 AM I had to stop myself from getting up then to write this blog post. Sometimes the best thing for anxiety is talking it out and other times it's pills. I don't want to take pills for something I know I can control. And so what if I check my kids 3 – 4 times a night, my kids know that I love them and I know they love me (even if I'm crazy).

Monday, March 7, 2011

Kid Friendly Chores

My kids love doing chores. I love that they love doing chores. I have had conversations with other Momma's about what I have my kids do as chores and thought I would formulate a list as to what I have them do. It might be helpful for someone. Or no one.

I try and make a chore list with the kids doing 2 chores a day but I have a hard time always sticking to it. Usually I look around the house, assess what needs to be done and what they can do, and dole out the chores. One or two days a week they have no chores.

The following is a list of chores by room (the kids would get a combo of 2 of any of these):

Cleaning Their Room—(Every other day) Cleaning of the room entails picking everything up from the floor that's accumulated, taking laundry downstairs, making beds, and putting clean laundry up.

Bathroom—Clean mirror, sink and put up stuff that's not put up.

Living Room—Clean TV stand, vacuum couch, sweep the floor, line up shoes/boots by the door or just general pickup.

Kitchen—Help me put up dishes or load dishes or set the table for dinner. OH or cleaning cupboards with a magic eraser (John LOVES this one)

Laundry—Help David with Laundry, folding or carrying it upstairs


 

A common chore day would be the following:

Blythe: Help with Dishes, Clean TV Stand

Grace: Clean Bathroom, Set Table

John: Vacuum couch, Help David with Laundry

I recently implemented the allowance, which is $6 a week, sometimes. I suppose I should be more consistent with it but there are evenings when everything is done or evenings that are too busy to do chores.

It is a HUGE help and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!! John often asks for even more chores to do! It teaches them responsibility and the importance of cleanliness, plus we do a lot of the chores together which is really nice.

Power to Cleaning House!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Biggest Loser

Why is it when I watch The Biggest Loser I eat bad things? Just finished 3 deliciously baked break n bake chocolate chip lovers cookies. Doing that basically made my workout today completely null and void. Boo to me. Boo to my love of all things chocolate. Sidenote: They were delicious!