Little Gym: Parent and Child Class

The end of an era.  Regan had her final Parent and Child class tonight.  Hopefully she will be attending the Jazzy Bugs class which learns tap and ballet.  She has a trial class next week to see if she likes the class then we have to enroll that night if she likes it.  She still has 2 make up classes from this semester and I might just put her in the class that lets her run around with the instructor and no parents.  She is growing up.  Enjoy the pics.

Jumping is part of the warm up. Oh and that is “Rose“

Running is also part of the warm up (Speed Demon)

E-mail

I got this from a friend today and I think that it is a good reminder to all of us mothers!  I am not religious but it reminds me that someone out there DOES notice.  Read this however you would like to and take from it what you like

Subject: Invisible Mom

I’m Invisible 

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’ Obviously not; no one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I’m invisible; “The Invisible Mom.”  Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? 

Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’ I’m a satellite guide to answer, ‘What number is the Disney Channel?’ I’m a car to order, ‘Right around 5:30, please.’ 

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She’s going, she’s going, and she’s gone! 

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, ‘I brought you this.’ It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription: ‘To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.’ 

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. 

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, ‘Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.’ And the workman replied, ‘Because God sees.’ 

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, ‘I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.’ 

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. 

When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, ‘My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.’ That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, ‘you’re gonna love it there.’ 

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!

Bath conversations

Last night was Regan’s bath.  Daddy now has Sunday’s off so he was around and about.  He came in towards the end of the bath and this is what ensued…..

Daddy:  Wow, look at all the hair.  I think that we should cut it about here (marking just under her chin).   ……   Then you could give the cut hair to Daddy.

Mommy:  Yeah, daddy with Blonde hair!

Regan:  …….  Then you would be Hannah!

Mommy:  (ROFL!!!!!)

I must have been tired for it to make me laugh so hard.  Then again the lights were out at 9:50 - which is early for me lately.  Still freakin over-slept this morning!

Sundays

Sundays are my mini-chill days.  I take my time in the morning, get ready to go get coffee.  Regan and I sit around and chat with our friends from the coffee shop, run whatever errands need to be run, come home, eat lunch and take a nap.  I try not to take naps on Sunday because then I will be up too late and hate Monday morning with more of a passion.

I knew that I was going to have to come back into work this weekend but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it before today.  I was pushed into it today though.  The schedule bumped my job up 12 hours so…..I had to put out the paper work.

I don’t mind really, at least it wasn’t half the day.  Now I can go home and relax, do laundry, get ready for tomorrow and HANG!

Better today

So I had no coughing last night - Whoopie!!!  Seriously I still sound terrible but my throat feels better so it won’t be long now!

Yesterday Regan talked about making a snowman after nap (bedtime).  This morning she said it was too cold outside to make a snowman.  Well she finally decided it would be fun to do so here is the results of our efforts.

It was actually GREAT snowman making snow!!  And yes, I made him a midget.  I’m feeling better but I don’t think that we had quite enough snow left to make a big one and I know that my energy still wanes a bit.

Blech!

Honestly, I’m so terribly sorry to do this to you all.  However, from the week that I have had, the fact that I have finally gotten sick (physically!!  Obviously you all don’t know me well enough if you went with mentally - THAT is a given).  I’m exhausted, brain dead, and unfortunately still working right now (just from home, thank GOD!).  I’m gonna just leave it at this and hope for a better weekend even though I will still have to go in just really quickly.

May we all have a GREAT weekend - no matter what we decide to do with it!!

Peace!

Stinky

I had to see if I had ever said anything about this before but I don’t see anything, so I will dive in!!

David and I have a joke about his farting gaseous explosions.   Any time that it is a really horrendous explosion - I mean even he doesn’t like to stew in it, we say that he needs a breaf (breath) mint for his butt.

On the way to Little Gym tonight, Regan asked Daddy to sit by her on the way there.  He obliged quite happily.  David and I were talking around the music and I vaguely heard ’something’.   Anymore I almost don’t hear them, that is how used to it I am (unless it is disgustingly obvious that he just shat himself).  All the sudden Regan says “Mommy, something doesn’t smell right!” and Daddy owns up and says “That is just me”, Regan proceeds to tell Daddy that is smells REALLY bad.  He chuckles.  So I tell Regan, “Tell Daddy that he needs a breaf mint” (leaving off the, for-his-butt part).  Being the smart, intelligent, 3 yo that she is, she says…….

“Daddy, you need a DIAPER!!!”

How right she is some days!

Chaos

I know that we can all relate to the title of today’s blog, and I also know that we can all relate to those days in the office/work that we know that we have been involved but feel like we haven’t done anything.

I seem to be on a work cycle of having slower periods and then you just feel SLAMMED!  This has been one of those weeks.  Work has given me the opportunity to take on more responsibility (which really, I don’t mind), at the same time feeling like you have to learn everything at once, thinking that you are ahead of the game when in fact……you realize that you are still waiting on other people to do this and that, therefore you feel like you are behind or you just simply ARE.  Does the cycle have to include feeling behind every Thursday and Friday though?

So….my question to you all is…..

Do you notice a cycle in your work?  If so, when are your busiest days of the week or month for that matter?  If not, what do you do and can I do it too ?

Non-Stop

So I was basically useless at work yesterday (too tired and grossed out!)

I pick up stinkerpot(5:20pm), got home, go upstairs, use the potty, take the rest of the sheets off the bed, take my comforter out of the cover, fluff up what is already in the drier, run back downstairs to turn on Dora for Regan (5:45pm), turn on the oven for Regan’s pizza, take the comforter outside to air out, spray Febreze on it, get the mail, the phone rings while I’m getting the mail (Regan told me so ), call David back, put the pizza in the oven, shake out the comforter some more, get hugs and kisses and “I want up’s”, while heating up my dinner in the microwave, get pizza out of oven, cut it up, “Pieces are too big”, cut them again, sit down to be asked “Where is my fork?”, get back up, get a fork(6:20pm), sit back down eat dinner enjoy Dora with Regan, back to the kitchen to figure out what noodles to use for casserole since I don’t have elbow noodles, figure out how many tomato soups I have, just use the tomato sauce as a substitute for 1 missing tomato soup, go upstairs, get clothes out of drier, Regan helps put clothes from washer in drier, get bedsheets in washer now, go back downstairs to get treats for someone using the potty (I will be breaking that treat thing soon), pull the comforter in the house, take it and the treats upstairs(6:55pm), ask repeatedly for someone to laydown so that we can get a pullup on (little pullup rash from yesterdays lack-o-nap), repeatedly get kicked, someone has time out (actually it was for me-to get some sanity again),  get her in a pull up, pj’s on, teeth brushed, stories read, songs sung, blown kisses caught (7:43pm), pull out clothes from the drier (well some of them since the jeans waistband are still pretty damp), come downstairs, get started on dinner for tonight, get that in the oven finally, get the rest of the clothes out of drier, put bedsheets in drier (I want to warm up the comforter too), got the casserole out of the oven, looking at finances and just making sure that I’m not missing anything right now (9:42pm), setting up a new budget, pull sheets out of drier, place on bed and close door behind me, put comforter in drier for 10 minutes, make bed with sheets and pillowcases, get comforter out of drier, put it back in the cover, turn off everything downstairs.

God, I just wanted to be in my warm clean bed with the door shut to barfing-4-legged-hoovering-rugrats. 

Pee again - in bed by 10:31pm.

UGH!!

Late to bed (11:30pm), early to rise (1:00am) to get little girl’s cough under control, early to rise again (5:00) to the harmonious sound of the cat puking (in the eff’in bed AGAIN).  Finally wake up after all that at 7:00am.  Only to find 2 more puke spots downstairs, oh and one more right in front of my closet. 

Serious, serious pissed off’ed-ness this morning.

 Ahhhh, my life.

So eff’in gross!