What's For Dinner?

I actually love the mundane tasks of being a (mostly) stay-at-home mom. I love calendars and schedules and filling out forms and school shopping. I don’t mind driving kids to their activities or to the doctor, or having playdates or really even changing diapers (which I should be done with very soon)! I pick up the same toys a minimum of 5 times a day, I never forget that Library is on Wednesday, and I am the OCD mother who checks her daughter’s backpack immediately upon her arrival home. Although the state of my house is far from a picture in Family Circle, I try to keep things organized and thanks to my front loading washer/dryer I don’t even mind doing laundry all that much.

Just PLEASE don’t ask me to make dinner.

Every day I get out of bed with all good intentions to actually provide my family with a nice, home-cooked meal.  And every night one of two things happens: I scramble to throw some pasta together, or my husband makes dinner. After he works all day. Because although I may excel at mothering my children, I SUCK at cooking.

I really don’t know how this came to pass. My own mother made home cooked meals EVERY night. She made holiday dinners, candy and cookies galore at Christmastime, and always made our favorite meals on birthdays. I have many of her recipes in a book she made for me on my 24^th birthday. (Clearly, she saw this coming) Eating out at a restaurant when I was a child was always for a “special” occasion. Not weekly Thursday dinner like in my house.

The odd part is, I have Thanksgiving every year (and cook my own turkey), and I’ve even managed prime rib on Christmas Eve and crazy beautiful desserts for Easter, Mother’s Day and baby showers I’ve thrown. I just can’t do the day to day. I can’t seem to think of a single thing to have. In fact, if I didn’t have children to provide for, I probably would never cook! Isn’t that why they invented Chick-Fil-A??

Making better meals was my New Year’s resolution. It’s April now, and I’ve made no progress. I’m sure there’s probably an iPhone app for that. But I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. It’s in print now so maybe I can do better. I’m open to any and all suggestions.

Patience, please.

I am absolutely the farthest thing from a perfect parent. Some days I even just make it up as I go along. I read an article the other day in a Parenting Magazine that asked you to describe your parenting style in three words.  My favorite: Whatever Works Today.

When you have a 5 ½ year age gap between children like I do, sometimes it’s hard to remember how things went with the first child. And if you’re me, then it’s even worse since you all know I have no memory!!

Potty training Emma was a bit of a chore because Emma is very stubborn. But once she decided she wanted to do it, the next day she was completely potty trained and never even wet the bed at night. Getting rid of her “binky” was another story, however. She had “bink” and “extra bink” (one for each hand) and if she should lose either of them during the night, I was getting out of bed to locate them.  When we finally went cold turkey and took them away, she screamed for a week straight! No lie, I seriously almost checked myself in to the Robert Young mental ward. She actually yelled over and over – “Take me to Target to get another bink!” That was by far my worst parenting experience to date.  So you would think I would have learned my lesson.

Fast forward to Aiden at now 2 ½ who is working on both potty training and getting rid of his binky. Unfortunately, to enter pre-school he has to be completely potty trained, but a) he’s a boy and b) he’s six months younger than Emma when she went to school. So we’re in serious crunch time right now to get it done. As for the potty training, it’s hit or miss.  Some days he actually tells me he has to go, others I take him 15 times but his pull-up is still wet. We’ve tried rewards and stickers, but under no circumstances will he go #2 in the potty. I feel like I’m working against a ticking clock.

As far as the binky, I am hoping that will be much easier. Starting this week we are being diligent about only using it at bedtime. He generally spits it out as soon as he falls asleep. He should be easier to take it from, right? RIGHT?

Oh, and did I mention that he doesn’t take an afternoon nap anymore?

So today I’m asking you to pray for patience for me. A lot of it. And if I don’t make it through the next few weeks, please feel free to visit me at Robert Young.

Bad "Chi".

Last week I had an ongoing, migraine like headache.  I could not find anything specifically that I thought brought it on, but I realized with the pain in my neck and head, I probably had something that was out of line or some kind of pinched nerve. I tried resting and took way more than the recommended dose of Excederin, but nothing seemed to help so I called the chiropractor.  With two weekends of back to back dance competitions looming, there is no way I could have functioned without some kind of intervention!

In the past I have used chiropractic and have always had good results.  In fact, getting both an adjustment and a massage was a lifesaver for me when I was pregnant with Aiden. I was hoping this was just a simple thing and could be taken care of in 1 or 2 visits. Apparently, I was really messed up, as indicated by my scan, and still in a lot of pain even after 2 adjustments, so my chiropractor suggested I try acupuncture.

My initial thought was absolutely not – the idea of having needles stuck in my skin does not really sound like a good time!! But since this was seriously the most pain I have ever been in, I agreed to give it a try. I should mention that I am never sick – I maybe get a once-a-year sinus infection and I don’t even have a regular doctor of any kind. I’ve had two C-sections and that is essentially my health history.

Before the acupuncture they do a scan on you, pressing various pressure points to assess your “chi”.  It’s basically the state your body is in, your “life force” or energy level. I know what you’re thinking, (the same thing my husband was), this is more than a little “out there”. But I learned something really surprising: I HAVE BAD “CHI”. In fact, I was kind of annoyed about it.  How come I have bad chi? I have a great (albeit sometimes stressful) life, great kids – I’m not depressed or sick. I have a good quality of life, I take vacations, I have a roof over my head and food in the refrigerator. I don’t want to have bad “chi”!

So I went through with the acupuncture basically to cure my headache (I’ll spare you the details because I decided to keep my eyes closed the entire time!) and decided that although I will not be trying acupuncture again anytime soon (it’s not even covered by my insurance), I am going to try and improve the quality of my “chi”. After a little Google search, as of today I am vowing to:

1. Eat more healthy foods
2. Watch less TV and spend more time outside
3. Have more color in my life
4. Get a better nights sleep

At least that’s a start.  I’ll keep you posted.