Giveaway

I don't usually do giveaways because I don't usually have anything that I think someone else might possibly want. Today though I think I might have some.

I made fabric party hats for Charlotte's birthday as party favors. I think they were a success and the kids seemed to enjoy them. There were 11 hats leftover after the party. I don't want to move 11 party hats no matter how cute they are. Six of them are "girl" hats with pink ribbons and 5 are "boy" hats with gears on them and blue ribbons. If you want them leave a comment and I'll mail them to you.

If nobody wants them they're going to be given to the goodwill. If more than one person wants them I'll chose at random. I will select the person Friday morning since I have to have the house ready for photos to be put on the market Friday afternoon!

hoodwinked

Today I was ready to buy my son new shoes. For the past couple of days he's been sort of complaining about wearing his sneakers. Then this morning as soon as I put them on his feet he started yelling, "OW! OW!OW!OW!" until he sat down and ripped his shoes and then even the offending socks off his feet. He calmed down immediately, but wanted the shoes back on. I put them on and the same thing happened. I finally convinced him to wear his boots just so we could make it out of the house. Before buying new sneakers I decided to have his feet measured so we went to the stride rite store after dinner and guess what. Both kids have exactly the same size feet they had last fall. Greg is in a 6.5 wide and Charlotte is in a 10. It's a good thing I got it checked because otherwise I'd have been tricked by my kids again.

Sorry for the long absence. We were celebrating. First match day, with its mix of emotions. Then my birthday, with its mix of emotions. Then, we talked to some realtors about selling our house, with its mix of emotions. Then finally, Charlotte's two solid days of birthday bliss, with its mix of emotions.

To celebrate my birthday we had the birthday breakfast and then got to work on the house. We took a short break from work though to take a family trip to the botanical gardens. Charlotte had decided to wear her party clothing to celebrate the day. It was so much fun to walk behind her and watch everyone's face as they passed her. AMAZING. Also, I got the best homemade cards from Charlotte that day, including a portrait of me consisting of a head with arms and legs.

Charlotte was so stoked about her birthday I knew that even with all the stress I couldn't really skip a party for her. We had her birthday breakfast and our family went all out showing their love for her from across the country. She skyped with grandmas and aunts and uncles. She recieved wonderful gifts and cards and she felt so special.

Then came time to prepare for her birthday party on Saturday. She had been talking about nothing else since a week before my birthday. So I decided that I would rather cook a lot of food and have a big family style party than a smaller, kids only party. That way I would get to see my friends close to my birthday too. It started out small in my mind, but ended up HUGE. This was pretty much the last time we were going to be able to invite everyone over to our place. Plus, I figured we could have it outside.

Well, on the day of the party it snowed.

Even though it snowed our friends showed up in droves. We squeezed into the house and I prayed that nothing serious would happen to the place as parents and children moved around en masse. I am so grateful to our friends for making this happiness happen for Charlotte:

What a great week.

Happy Birthday to MEEEEE

It is a little ridiculous how excited I get for my birthday. Every year I keep waiting for me to not get so excited, and every year I still am.

There are two presents and two cards sitting on the top of our secretary for me to open tomorrow. I've been eyeing them for days. What could they possibly be?! And Daniel's present to me isn't even there yet.

I'm also super excited for my daughter's birthday next Friday. We're having a huge informal bbq for her on Saturday and I've been starting to think about how much fun I can make the day for her.

I CAN'T EVEN WAIT.

But I guess I'll have to since I'm married to the King of Waiting.

Boo-yah

Dan's hands were shaking when he opened the letter. I was about to throw up.

Then relief.

Minnesota!

After the ceremony we went home and I practically passed out asleep. I guess the release from the stress was a whole lot.

Add it To the List

Charlotte is a puker. I think she follows in her Aunt Katie's footsteps really well. She once puked totally unexpectedly while sitting on my lap waiting to get the oil changed in the car. It was amazing how quickly those men got me out of there.

Today we went in for her well child check. She has a cold, but I didn't figure it was a big deal. I even told them to give her one shot today so that when we come back after she's well she wont have to get five all together. (FIVE!) There were a lot of coughs and gags during the visit, but nothing big. Then in the lobby on the way out she emptied her stomach on the floor.

And then in the car on the way home.

I want Your Opinion

We found this in our alley. It is sturdy. The wood on the legs is still in tact and isn't scratched up. It's just super ugly and the fabric and padding is totally ripped up. I had Dan bring it home. I know it would take an investment to recover, but I think I could do it. As you can see though it hasn't made it inside the house though. I'm not sure if it would be worth the effort. So here's the question:

Do you think I should keep this to take on as a project?

The Marathon

I once saw this video of a woman running through the finish line of a marathon to win the big race. Only she wasn't running really. More like she was wobbling her way to the finish line. She kept willing her body to move forward even though it was clearly through with the whole thing. She would wobble and almost fall and then get back up. I think one time she did actually fall, but then picked herself up again. She ended up getting second (if memory serves) to another who came from pretty far behind. Even with having zero experience running the image has been burned onto my memory for years. She was just.so.close.

Today Dan got the email that said he matched. We find out on Thursday where. And also we have the last of the doors for the house drying in the basement waiting to be hung. And we're almost ready to paint the final bedroom upstairs. I feel like we are just.so.close.

And yet, my energy is flagging. Tensions are running a little higher between Dan and I than usual. I keep losing my cool with my kids. They are driving me crazy with fighting and with playing and all the talking (and screaming). When Dan isn't home it's like there's a 10 ft invisible rope attached to me and they can't possibly be any farther away. Sweet yes, but I'd really like to take a shower without having to negotiate a peace pact over the bathroom door. They are also being so cute with each other. I wish I could just stay positive more with them. I just want our positive momentum to bring us on home through this finish line. We really have some good momentum going on, but I feel like all of us in this house are hitting the end of our abilities to cope with this situation.

We may not be getting through graduation with flying colors and flags waving, but I'm sure I've watched races with that sort of ending and I can't remember a single one right now. Perhaps this ending (or beginning?) will be more memorable.

Diagnosis: Fatigue

For a while now I've been getting really tired during the afternoon. I figured everyone got tired during the afternoon and tried not to let it bother me. Then Dan started to have more time to spend at home during the afternoons. He would be working around the house and I would crash on the sofa almost everyday. Even if I pushed through the initial drowsiness once Greg woke up from his nap he would want to cuddle. Sitting on the sofa cuddling with a warm body is not the way to avoid napping. It was really hard to not start feeling bad about it. Dan was working so hard and I was spending at least an hour sleeping in the middle of the day. I still tried to wave away the feeling that something was off. Then Dan told me that I really should go see a doctor. That was a shocker. When the doctor, who doesn't really believe in getting sick, tells you to go see a doctor it really means something.

So today I went to the doctor. I told them I felt healthy and normal, but that I was getting tired in the afternoons almost every afternoon. I have to go in to get some blood work done to make sure I'm not anemic or have thyroid problems, but they're pretty sure I don't since I don't have any of the other symptoms associated with that. The whole thing just seemed like a big mystery and the thought bubble over the doctor's head was reading, "everyone gets tired."

Then the doctor asked me if I'd been sick lately. I told him about the massive cold I had a while back that pretty much wiped me out and the puzzle on his face visibly lifted. Apparently what with that bad cold, and selling the house, being the mom of two kids, and not knowing where we're moving my immune system decided to just stop working so well. Sometimes a virus can just suck the energy out of a person for months even a year after the initial cold is over with. He said to go easy on myself, drink water, and don't really expect to feel 100% until after we move. Great timing huh?

The funny part came when I was reading my discharge papers.
Reason for visit: complaint of fatigue

Diagnosis: fatigue

Really?

A Break

Today I decided to take a break. I didn't go for my morning walk with my friend at 6. I slept in and my sweet husband let me sleep in past the kids waking up. And he got breakfast ready for me when I came downstairs.

My next decision was to take a break from working on our house. I know it's madness this close to selling, but so was my state of mind. Also my house is so messy I can't find anything and so dirty that it sort of grosses me out to walk around in it. My plan was to clean and straighten.

Then Charlotte asked me to make a hand print butterfly out of construction paper with her. So I decided to take a break from everything else to trace her hands four times on each color of paper so we could cut them out and glue them together into the most beautiful rainbow butterfly.

Then Charlotte's dog was bored. So he decided to help me pick up their bedroom/toy room. That is one helpful puppy. Greg also helped too.

I decided that I wanted to get dressed so in order to do that I needed to pick up my room and fold a few items of laundry. Charlotte had other plans. I took a break from that to have show and tell time downstairs. My show and tell item was a red hot pad, Greg's was a toy drill, and Charlotte's was a family photo with Santa from last Christmas.

I went upstairs to finish folding laundry. Charlotte decided to be a tickle ghost/zombie by piling 4 or 5 blankets on her and growling at me. I decided to take a break. I played along with her and I grabbed her and tickled her. She squealed, grabbed her blankets and ran across the landing to her room for refuge. Then she came back for more. Unfortunately when you can't see where you're going you tend to walk where you shouldn't. She fell down the stairs. Fortunately she had 4 or 5 blankets on her so she didn't get hurt at all.

While I was showering she put the blankets away (!) and got out towels because we were going to the beach. Greg was acting really sad and screaming. I realized this was probably because it was lunchtime. Time to get back to work. I told her I couldn't got to the beach because I needed to get lunch ready. She was sad. So I decided to take a break and we had a picnic lunch at the beach today. We packed our turkey sandwiches in her picnic basket and climbed the stairs to the beach. She told me the rules at the beach are that there is no "glittering" (littering) and no sharing food. We followed the rules strictly.

The day's only half way over and not much has actually been accomplished. It still has been more fun than anything we've done in a long time.

Please Excuse Me

Dear Friends and Family,

It is a week and a half before we know what our next five years holds. (Match Day: March 17)

I'm hosting preschool this week.

I'm cooking for the missionaries this week.

I'm doing my visiting teaching.

I have to go to the doctor's this week.

I'm trying to get our house ready to sell in about two weeks.

So,

If I end up sounding a little extra crazy I do apologize in advance. Give it a couple of weeks and then I should be back to my normal level of crazy.

Thanks,
Maggie

Shocking

One of the biggest shocks I've had in my life lately came from a casual comment one of my very good friends said to me. We had been talking about how many unexpected struggles we have encountered in motherhood. I can't remember exactly what she said, but it was something to the effect of, when she sees me and how good I am with my kids she sometimes gets discouraged.

This was shocking for a few reasons. First is that I think that she is an amazing mom. One "secret" about motherhood is that although we may love our kids, we don't get to choose their personality. Often times, for me anyway, it is working through the clashes in personality and will within our home that are some of the biggest things my family works on. I think she does this quite well so it was shocking to hear that she may not think so.

The second reason that this shocked me is that we are close enough friends that I feel she's seen me truly lose it with my kids. I mean lose it where I end up having to go back and apologize to my kids. I don't know if other mothers have to do this, but I've lost it before and then felt even more guilt for yelling at my kids. Then I have to go back and apologize and explain to them about my behavior being naughty and doing what I can to fix it. I don't know if everyone agrees with this parenting philosophy, but that's what seems fair to me. I know that she's seen this happen, so it shocks me to think that she has this idea that I'm such a "good mom" it would actually be difficult to be her true self around me.

After thinking about this for a while I think I've learned a few things. First is that, at least for my friend and I, we are harsher on ourselves than we are on others. Why is that I wonder? I'm sure Heavenly Father loves so much despite our imperfections. Why can't we do the same? Second, no matter how close you are to a friend, you never can see behind a closed door or into another's heart. I think I need to ask more questions and wait to listen to the entire answer. Third, being a true friend is to have patience with your imperfections and those of the people around you and being honest and happy about it. I see so much beauty in my friends here in St. Louis that it is heart wrenching to leave them.

Gramps

I was reading this post about grandpas and it made me think of my dad. He has always been such a great example of what a dad should be-someone who takes his responsibility seriously, but also knows that its OK to be the comic relief. I thought about one of the photos that I have on my computer of my dad holding my kid. I loved that photo, but I couldn't remember which kid so I searched around a bit and figured out why.

I guess now I'll need to take one like this for every kid.

Pre-School

We have a carpool for pre-school. I drive Charlotte and her little friend to school and the other mom picks them up. It's pretty awesome.

Also, sometimes we host pre-school at our house and sometimes I'm the helper at someone else's house.

All told Greg has had a pretty good look at what pre-school is for Charlotte and he loves it. Last week I was the helper and Greg came along with me. He sat for storytime, he listened for listening time, he did the exercises during exercise time and the crafts at craft time. I was pretty impressed and I think it was the influence of 6 other 3 and 4 year olds that kept him going in the right direction.

Today I dropped the girls off at pre-school. After they got out of the car and he realized that he wasn't getting out of the car his little heart was broken. He melted into a sad pool of snot and tears in his car seat. I ran in, dropped them off, and then ran back to the car. I asked him, "Did you want to go to pre-school?" To which is sad little response was, "uh-huh." Sorry kid, maybe when you're older.