The Dreaded Christmas Letter

So ever since Mike and I got married, the only Christmas tradition Mike has any interest in is the annual Christmas letter - he insists that we send one in our Christmas card every year. So every year I buy cute paper, write a letter, lay it out, print it (send Mike to Staples for more ink), sign, fold and stuff it in with our card, all the while swearing and complaining.  In theory, I like the idea of a Christmas letter, but really only for the far away relatives who we never see. The other people on my list see me all year round and they already know all this stuff!

This year however, there was no Christmas letter. I finally said no. I was behind in getting my cards done and it was Dec. 23rd and I was freaking out because I had too much to do. And I sealed up the envelopes and put them in the mail.  30 seconds after opening her card, my mother-in-law texted me - "No Christmas letter?"  (She used to live with Mike, so you can imagine how horrifying this must have been for her) - My reply: "No, there's always next year!"

So I'm apologizing here to my husband and to all of you who missed my annual letter this year. I plan to do a post of the "year in review" and hopefully that will make up for some of it (assuming you actually read my pathetic blog). If not, there's always next year.

School Days

I realze that it has been forever since I have blogged, and I have some catching up to do. So I sat down with a list of topics and tried to get going again.

The cold weather is setting in and school has been in session now for like 85 days. Emma is in third grade and seems to have a ton of homework compared to years past. She is still a perfectionist, and gets extremely upset if she doesn't get all "E"s on her papers and report card. She is learning cursive, science, health, and social studies now and gets to exchange with the other 3rd grade classes for one subject. I am starting to feel like that game show, "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader", only it's more like "Are You Smart Enough To Help Your Third Grader With Her Homework"? I challenge you to name the 6 Nutrients, and examples of each, demonstrate a food chain and food web, define consumer, producer, community, population, ecosystem, etc. etc. That was just this week.

Now I'm a wiz at spelling, reading, anything to do with English or of course the Arts. Just please keep me away from math, science and history. Did you know that there are more than 3 different ways to solve a two or three digit addition problem? Well, there is.

This is where Mike and I need to divide and conquer. He is never allowed to do spelling homework (he can't spell, AT ALL), but if it's Social Studies, then I defer to him. The trouble is that Emma would prefer that I help her, as daddy doesn't have a lot of patience (hello, have you met Emma?) which means my reading and inferencing skills are put to use on a nightly basis. It's pretty sad when your 8 year old knows more than you do on a particular subject. I'm already dreading 4th grade!

Aiden goes to preschool two days a week.  He jumped right out of the van on the first day of school and never looked back. He's very social, but he could care less if he learns to write his name or hold his crayon between two fingers. He loves to be read to, but not necesarily where there are 9 other kids distracting him from the story. He can recognize his name and tell you some of the letters, but that's basically enough for him. He loves paint and playdough, and give him some blocks or Little People and he's happy just to sit and play. I keep reminding myself that he just turned 3 AND he's a boy, and it is impossible to compare him to Emma at this age. But what he may lack in academic skill, he certainly makes up for in personality. He is incredibly sweet, funny and extremely animated when he tells a story. And, he's completely potty trained! And hopefully, he's adopted more of Mike's laid back attitude than the OCD personality of his mother. (I'm sorry, Emma)

We are looking forward to Christmas break and putting the backpacks and homework away for awhile!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Since it's been quite a while since I have blogged, (and I know the 3 or 4 people that follow this have missed me so much!) I decided that like in school, I would fill you in on "What I did this Summer". Here's the recap:

I did spend a fair amount of time in the car, driving Emma to art class, tennis lessons, vacation Bible school and Girl Scout camp. She also went to a dance workshop in Des Moines and to dance Nationals at Kalahari in Wisconsin. Aiden got the short end of the stick for sure, stuck in his car seat while we drove his sister everywhere! We did have some fun down time, swimming, visiting the zoo and playing at the park. This summer seemed to be the hottest one I remember!

I got a new job (I know, like I needed one more thing to do!) as a local high school dance team coach. I spent 4 days in a college dorm with 13 high school students. Let's just say it's been a few years since I've slept in a dorm bed, but thanks to some very fun people it was actually a pretty good time!

I did a lot of dance choreography and I fractured my ankle in a small accident - which was really frustrating since I have not ever been really injured in more than 20 years of teaching dance. Fortunately it has healed and is causing me no trouble.

We also celebrated Aiden's 3rd birthday, first day of preschool (that is a whole different post!) and Emma's first day of third grade! The summer absolutely flew by!

As I write this, we are four days away from a much needed family vacation. We leave for Orlando on Saturday! I'll say Hi to Mickey for you!

Worst. Mother. Ever.

I am not a perfect parent. (I believe I’ve mentioned that here more than once). But today I am definitely up for worst mother ever.

Emma did not get any teeth until she was 14 months old, so she didn’t lose one until after she turned 8! And although the first one was a big deal, her permanent tooth grew in basically the next day so no one even knew she’d lost it. And her other bottom tooth was already growing, so they had to pull her 2^nd tooth. Same story again.

But FINALLY she had a loose tooth on top and it finally came out last night during dance class, and she has a huge, gaping hole in her mouth that’s she’s showing everyone (even people she doesn’t know!) And she brought it home last night from dance and her dad helped her to put it under her pillow.

And she woke up this morning and THE TOOTH FAIRY NEVER CAME.

Now, it’s one thing for your child to be mad or upset (especially if it’s directed at you). But it’s totally another thing to hear your child’s voice when her spirit has been crushed and she is completely disappointed. I practically cried. I thought about distracting her and throwing money on the floor quick and acting like it fell out – but she was holding the envelope with her tooth in it! So today, I am officially the Worst. Mother. Ever.

I did assure her that maybe a lot of people lost their teeth yesterday and the Tooth Fairy was just really busy. One of the carpool girls suggested she may have had a broken wing (apparently, the same thing happened to her – I did think that was brilliant, however!)

Emma says she’s writing a letter to the Tooth Fairy tonight to ask her what happened. I’m frantically Google-ing “responses to questions about the tooth fairy”. I guess I better get out my sparkly silver pen. Wish me luck.

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.