Good Day

We had a good day which is refreshing after yesterday. I rarely get tension headaches but yesterday I had a large one of which I had to take medication in order to relieve it. I don't have much to say today. I wanted to write about Nathan and his new word which is "dicle" which stands for popsicle. After dinner and before bed he stands a the freezer saying dicle and basically screams for it. Our nightly summer ritual revolve around eating dinner, playing outside then having the girls clean up their toys and if they do they get a popsicle (the popsicle is also dependant on if they ate most of their dinner). So Nathan kind of skips the cleanup step and just stands at the freezer demanding the dicle. It is really funny and the girls do not correct him they just keep saying it. I wish I could record him saying it but unfortunately we only have a camcorder which uses VHS tapes, yikes!!  

Things I am grateful/thankful for: 

-participating in a great, energetic spinning class. 

-laying in bed and snuggling with my husband in the morning before the chaos begins.  

-seeing my children smile everyday 

-having Tucker back to his usual sweet self 

-having Mallory yell in her gymnastics class "Mom do you see me!" Until next time..

Gratitude

Every time I write in this journal I am going to write 3-5 things that I am grateful/thankful for. I think that this is important for me because I have a tendency to only talk about the things in my day that drive me crazy or that tend to be negative. I don't think I am a very negative person but sometimes I feel like I am complaining (or I know that Hubby thinks I am complaining) more than I should. It is not really that I want to complain it is more that I am expressing how the day went and the negative things are things that I am asking advice for or trying to figure out if I could have done something better or different. Mostly this has to deal with being a parent and trying to raise three children. So if I try to recongize postive things throughout the day then it will give me something to talk about as well as see that things are not always as bad as they may seem. I am already grateful for my husband who is an amazing man, husband and father. He is very understanding and compassionate and really tries to be a good man, husband and father. I am also grateful for all my children and their amazing personalities and just their "being". This also applies to my family and close friends. I am glad to have such great friends that really are there for me when I need them and I hope I am there for them also. So I am going to get that out of the way so that when I don't specifically say I am grateful for my husband, kids, etc. you will know why. This is going to be for noticing the little things and recognizing them as well.  

 

I am grateful for the times that Nathan wants to kiss me. 

I love that Julianne wants me to snuggle with me every night. 

I am thankful for the bread store and their free large samples of bread with the delicious assorted butters. 

I am happy to see Julianne finally comfortable enough to swim by herself and really enjoy herself in the pool without getting to nervous. That is it for now....

We have wireless

We now have moved into the wireless world. I was a little hesitant because I am actually somewhat opposed to having all this technology right here/right now. That mentality just drives me nuts. I don't understand why so much of american consumerism revolves around having the latest/greatest/fastest technology product ever. Why do we always have to be in touch with someone while we are away from our house/business? Why do we have to have internet access from every room in our house or while we are drinking coffee at the local store? I think that personal relationships have suffered since technology has become such a large part of our lives. I rarely use my cell phone and actually my husband got a cell phone for the first time about a month ago. We actually shared our other cell phone and everyone thought we were nuts. We lived without it for so long why do we need it now? It was used in an emergency or if one of us was traveling. I hope that I can keep my kids away from video games, thinking they need a cell phone, watching too much TV, using the internet too much, etc... for as long as I can. Don't get me wrong there are many positives about having the latest/greatest/fastest technological products.  

One of the positives for me is that most of us live away from family and friends and it is nice to give everyone updates on how the family is doing. It is nice to set up this blog and share my thoughts and show pictures of my kids to my close friends and family. So I am grateful that the internet and free websites are available for everyone to do that. I will still continue to pick up the phone and call my friends and family but it is convenient to share information quickly to a large amount of people. That is why I get mixed feelings on this issue. I sometimes think that I should have grown up in the 40's or 50's when this stuff did not exist. Well that is enough talking about that issue.  

The girls weekend was really fun. We had a great time and really enjoyed taking care of ourselves, shopping, getting pedicures, missing my family, and hanging out with a great friend. We will have to do it more often.  

We had a pretty good Monday and Tuesday. The girls were happy that I was back and everyone got back on track on Monday. We took Tucker to the vet and he got the OK to take off his cone and become a free dog again. He seems in better spirits but also looks a little thin. I think because he could not get scraps off of the floor from the kids so he has been eating less. We will make sure to give him more food in the weeks to come. I took him to the dog park for the first time on Monday night with Mel and Mallory and he had a good time. He did not run off and was very obedient. Mel on the other hand did well at first off the lease but then started for the playground and did not stop until Mallory and I cornered him and got him back on lease. I don't think I will ever be able to trust time off of the lease. In Tennessee he used to run away from our house and take off when he was off the leash so I have too much going on to have to worry about him. He is staying on the leash during our trips to the dog park.  

Julianne was a little emotional today and I think because she may be starting to worry about beginning first grade in a few weeks. She told me that she did not want to "work, work, work all day" and that "Mallory would have fun with you at home". So I think she is thinking about it and slowly starting to worry about it. Well that is all for today.

Girls Weekend

My good friend from college and I are having a much needed girls weekend. Well we are not really going anywhere but the point is that we are spending time together without our kids or husbands. The only plans that we have are sleeping in, getting food for only ourselves, reading as much of our books as possible, a pedicure, having conversations without getting interrupted, and oh yeah- did I mention meeting only our needs! So like I said it will be a nice weekend.

Julianne did not really want to go to Mimi's house because she wanted to stay with my friend and myself and she did not want me to get in a car accident. I don't really know where she came up with that but I was a little worried that she was thinking that (does she have a sixth sense, yikes!). I am sure she got that from old conversations that we had or that she may have seen in on "Trama: Life in the ER" while I was watching it. I sometimes watch that show because it is on at 7:00 p.m. and usually the girls have cartoon time before we go up to bed around 7:30 pm. and I am so drained by the day that I aimlessly turn it on and watch it while I watch Nathan. However, Julianne has not enjoyed cartoons for the past 6 months, I think because she is only allowed to watch Noggin and the shows are a little young for her, so she ends up downstairs with Nathan and I and I try to flip it when they talk about that stuff but I sometimes miss it. Also she really wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she also likes the show but she is still too young for some of the things that happen in it.

Well I am going to go start enjoying my free time.

A Great Weather Day

Today is a fantastic weather day. The sky is blue with puffy clouds and the humidity is very low. I love these days and I love them even better with the temperature is in the low 70's high 60's. Those days will come soon enough. I can't believe that it is almost school time. I think they go back in 4 weeks.

I went on a weed spraying binge last night. I have so many weeds in my flower beds it is driving me crazy. I tried to do the patient thing and pull them out one by one but it seems like the next day they are back again. It is driving me nuts so this weekend I broke down and bought Weed-b-Gone. I sprayed and sprayed last night and this morning I see some lifeless weeds but still some of the weeds I sprayed are still thriving. How much can the weeds tolerate of this terrible chemical? I don't have to have perfect flower beds but it kind of ruins the look of the beds when the weeds are higher than the plants. So we will see. I will wait a few days and try again.

I set up some boundaries for Mallory and he continual asking for food. She is not allowed to say she is hungry until the designated snack/meal time or she will have a consequence. We decided that she could talk to me about other feelings she was having but not the continual "I'm hungry". We also talked about trying to eat more at the designated times so that she would not feel so hungry during other times during the day. I sound like a anal/strict mom but I really am not and that was just one thing that she was driving me nuts about.

Nathan's favorite word is "mine". Other favorites include-snack, wawa (water), inside/outside, poopo (poop), sissy's (sisters), mal (Mel), more, and ball (second favorite then outside is his third).

More later...

Pictures?

OK I am going to attempt to post pictures of Tucker in his cone after his eye surgery and post pictures of Nathan. I took a bunch of pictures while the girls were at grandmas of Nathan and the dogs. I was trying to use my flash more ever though it was not dark out to see if pictures turned out more vibrant, etc. In other words I am experimenting with my flash.

I hope this works (thanks Katie).

Yoga Fanatic

Since I moved to Ohio I have been taking Yoga about once a week and I really like the way it makes me feel. It is hard for me to admit that currently I enjoy it more than spinning and running. I have been a five day a week cardio woman forever and I am beginning to like the slowness and flexibility that Yoga offers. I really enjoy it becasue I am very tight, I could barely touch my toes a year ago and because it works muscles that I have never used before. I always feel really good after going to Yoga. I also enjoy the peaceful meditation at the end and it helps me to carry that though my day (well that is my intention). So I went to a Yoga Challenge class that is not for first timers today (I attempted to go a couple weeks ago and as everyone was buckled into their car seats I slammed my finger in the door and got three stitches. Needless to say I never made it) and it was not as hard and I expected but very enjoyable. It was a lot of standing poses and not so much vinyesas (which I like because it mixes cardio with stretching). Anyways I liked the class but did not love it. My health club offers other kinds so I may try those while I have more free time during the summer. So I don't know if it is because I am getting older that I enjoy Yoga more or I am just exploring different kinds of physical activity. Why is that when my son wears Crocs he always gets black gunk between his toes? We have hand me down crocs from his cousin that he has been wearing the past month because they are nice and easy to get on a squirmy toddler foot. I am kind of against Crocs. Not to offend anyone but who wants to wear plastic shoes with holes in the them. They are not very attractive and don't seem like they would be comfortable (I have been told otherwise). They remind me of Jellies from the 80's of which I also did not have a pair because I thought those were ugly and they were uncomfortable. So I do not own a pair of crocs nor have I ever bought my girls a pair (they currenlty have two pairs each from grandparents). Another wise question-Why does my 4 year old consistently tell me she is hungry? Even after have a meal it never fails that 30 minutes later she says "I am still hungry". Crazy girl. I need to teach her other things to say when she is bored. That is all for now...