Category Archives: Life in general

It’s Friday… Friday!

Posted on August 12, 2011 | 3 comments

This has been another one of those weeks where, when each day reaches its end, I have to think of what I’ve accomplished because it doesn’t feel like anything got done. The days flew right by, which is good and bad. But sometimes when these weeks do happen, it’s hard to remember to be thankful for things or what has been checked off the list. So, how about a little thankfulness/done list?

I’m thankful for my husband who did all the kids’ laundry today “so I would have one less thing to think about.” Awww – so thoughtful.
I’m thankful for my parents who spent last weekend with us, herding children and celebrating Liam’s birthday. I hope I can work as hard as they do when I’m 75-years-young
Also super thankful for our families and friends who love our kids and help them have special birthdays
I’m glad to finally get our new smart phones (another Droid for me and an iPhone for Simon to replace his “dumb” phone)
Ever-amazed by capable medical professionals both for myself and for my friends
Grateful to the teachers at the boys’ daycare – they are excited to go there their two days a week and that takes a load off my mind
Blessed to be able to spend time with two of my best friends at the Sara Barielles concert two nights ago (especially thankful for our contraband mixed drinks and wine); equally blessed by the thoughtful husband who gave me the gift.
Glad the flow of work is consistent at my office, though I could use a few more hours in a day at the moment
Appreciative of friends, always.

And because it wouldn’t be Friday, without Five Questions, here are the five questions I hear most often:

Can I watch [Wiggles or Noggin]?
Can I have [food – mainly chicken nuggets, gogurts, monkey drinks or caramel milk]?
Is it my turn to…? (Even though he’s 2.5 years younger, Jack seems to think it’s only fair that he share equal turns/responsibility for things like giving George treats and holding the door open between our garage and house.)
Can I play with my Legos? (We keep the Legos up out of Jack’s reach to avoid the typical choking hazards but mostly to avoid sibling fighting that would inevitably arise from Jack messing with Liam’s toys.)
What are we going to do today that’s special? (Liam’s apparently of the mindset that every day needs to have an element of the unordinary in it – thankfully going to daycare, church and the mall both count as special things along with parks and playdates.)

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general

Bad Word Baby*

Posted on August 10, 2011 | 6 comments

We all know that our kids know how to push our buttons and often they say things more for the reaction they get from us than because they are being bad, saying dirty words with purpose or being mean-spirited.

And we all know that kids pick up everything we say, especially the things we never want them to repeat. And repeat them, they do, at the most inopportune times and with regularity (see above: button pushing).

But does anyone know how my two-and-a-half year old knows to save his mouth from a good soaping when he first says “f*ck” and when admonished, instead sweetly says, “I was just saying foot. Foot. Foot. Foot.” While untrue, it’s a reasonable explanation and one we’ll let people at the grocery store believe is true. But I feel like his knowing this level of word-twisting and conniving at such a young age does not bode well for the teenage years, but after that, I’m quite certain he’ll make a good lawyer or politician.

And don’t get me started on where he picked up that word – not that I would place any blame – but if I were to give you a hint, it would stare with “s” and end with “imon.” [Love you, honey.] From me he’s more likely to learn the word moron, a term I use repeatedly while driving and yet neither of my kids has ever said it.

* The title of this post comes from a phrase Liam used to call Jack when his little brother was messing with whatever he was playing with, “You bad word baby!” It was his clever way of getting around actually saying a bad word.

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Posted in Life in general, Parenting

Five

Posted on August 8, 2011 | 6 comments

Happy birthday to my sweet boy, Liam! I can hardly believe I have a five-year-old and at the same time, I wonder if he isn’t 5-going-on-15 because he’s certainly got the attitude to pull it off and I can’t imagine what life was ever like without him.

After two visits to the hospital and a totally ridiculous number of hours of labor and nearly three hours of pushing, we just made the 8/8 birthdate that Simon was hoping for (in Australia it’s common to write the day first and then the month when writing the date so 8/8 is the same in the US and Oz – win-win). But it was all worth it because we greeted this little guy into the world:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Life in general

Five Question Friday

Posted on August 5, 2011 | 5 comments

While everyone else and their brother seems to be on vacation right now (or getting ready for a blogging conference), we’re still life as usual at our house and will be pretty much up until school starts when the new normal begins. I don’t mind, we had our long vacation when we went to Texas this spring and I’m sure I’ll at least take a week off at Christmas. Continue reading →

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general

Things I Love Thursday: Delegating

Posted on August 4, 2011 | 1 comment

Yesterday was a trifecta of things going wrong. First, our phones stopped working at the office. Next, our email stopped working and kept telling me my ID didn’t exist. Then our brake lights on our one-year-old van wouldn’t go off as expected and twice while I was driving the accelerator/engine acted like it slipped into neutral but would correct itself when I would release and then press on the gas again. Perfect.

The good news is, I have people I can call for these things and I can make my problem their problem to handle. I call this delegating, something I’m trying to be better at doing in the rest of my life and having problems I can’t handle myself means I definitely have to hand the job off to someone else. Do you think God knew I needed some practice?

So two phone calls and technician visits later, my phones get dial tone again instead of only static. One trouble ticket filed and my email is functioning again. And a visit to Toyota service and hopefully I’ll be driving the van to work in less than 30 minutes (keep your fingers crossed).

Not only did I get practice in delegating, but I got to experience how easy and stress free it can be to have someone else do things instead of trying to do it all myself. Now if only I can remember this and apply it to the other areas of my life because I’d rather not continue to have things go wrong so I can “learn” my lesson.

Also, I tried to make the Oreo pops I wanted to try for Liam’s birthday (linked to here) and they were an epic (but tasty) fail so I delegated the boys to eating the crumbled, half-dipped cookies. See, I’m learning already.

This post is linked up with Jill at Diaper Diaries.