Tag Archives: toddlers

Mozzarella in the Toaster?

Let me start out by saying that yesterday was perfect. No problems at ALL with the girls – I didn’t have to discipline either one of them even once. I was also up at five a.m. and able to get to them before they got out of their room. We had also received a YogaKids DVD in the mail and they did that three times – yes, my kids did 90 minutes of yoga yesteday! :-)

 

This morning however – complete opposite. I set my alarm for 6, thinking it wouldn’t matter – WRONG. I overslept until nearly 7 and as soon as I opened our bedroom door and made it far enough out to see the kitchen, I knew we were in trouble. The closer I got to the kitchen, I could smell something but didn’t place it until I got into the kitchen and felt the top of the toaster. Hot. So I asked Alli (who was still in the kitchen) what she had put in the toaster. She responded with “Cheese.”

“And then I put it in the sink to cool it off!”

Um, well, hey, at least she can think, right? (Apparently a little too well)

(Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, yes, we have a tremendously loud alarm on their gate. And no, it didn’t go off – because Alli dragged Charlotte’s bed over to the gate and proceeded to bypass the gate entirely by climbing OVER and dropping down into the kitchen. Welcome to my life with my kids)

So today is going to be one of those days again.

I refuse however, to let this define my attitude today.

I refuse to be dragged down into the murky depths of anger and depression because of this.

That WILL not happen.

I am giving this all to the Lord and am going to rely on my faith in Him to get me through this. Because frankly, if I try to deal with this on my own, I will break and that won’t be good for anyone.

AP News Alert – First Ever Indoor Hurricane strikes Home in Rural GA.

Rural GA, sometime last night – Odd Weather has struck again. This time, it struck inside a home. For the first time ever, an indoor hurricane is strongly suspected for the damage. Hurricane AlliChar is being blamed for a horrific trail of destruction.

The hurricane seemed to have started immediately outside the children’s bedroom, continued into the kitchen where it opened drawers, appliances, and even pulled items from packaging. The Hurricane then took a sharp left turn through the back door and appeared to have done the largest amount of damage in the bathroom, tossing magazines, toys, and other various sundries about.

Residents are in quite a state of shock but do plan to rebuild with a tremendous increase in property protection planned as a large part of their rebuilding efforts. An estimate of damage was not immediately available.

Funny thing is that I read at One Step Ahead’s website just yesterday day if your child is over 30in tall and 30 lbs, ditch the gate and be extra vigilant. Apparently “THEY” have NEVER met my kids.

I admit, I overslept this morning and did not get out of bed until shortly after eight. First mistake.

Second mistake – thinking the door alarm would be a deterrent. It was not. The beginning of the trail

In fact, we awoke to the biggest trail of toddler destruction we’ve ever seen. Someone alert FEMA. We need federal aid. I think there would have been less of a mess if a tornado or hurricane had ripped through.

Our two year old was in the floor blissfully shoveling Neopolitan Ice cream into her mouth with her hands. (Our four year old had gotten it out of the freezer by standing on a stool) Oh yeah, and most everything else that looked “cool and fun” was out of the freezer too – those long ice pops you can  buy in the huge box, fudge pops, italian ice bowls, yeah…. all in the floor. (I managed to recover the italian ice bowls – they hadn’t opened them yet – and the freezer pops, well, they’re impenatrable so they’re back in the freezer as well. The ice cream was an unfortunate victim as were the fudge pops.)

Our four year old was still digging through the freezer and had the refrigerator door open as well. The pantry door (which DOES have a latch on it) was open, a brand new box of cereal, a jug of juice, and the syrup had been removed. And the destruction continues

They had also gotten into the drawer container on the VERY top of a VERY TALL white shelf we have – removed one of the drawers, spilled grits everywhere and the rest of the packages – country gravy mix, roasted potato seasoning, onion ring coating, etc – were scattered about quite randomly.

A pink inkpad had also been wrought free from one of the drawers – they left a trail of little pink fingerprints all over the kitchen.

And no, I’m not even close to being finished.

It continues, Oh yes it does.

The trail led to the bathroom. They had gotten the hair clippers down (at least they didn’t figure out how to plug them in or we might have two very bald little girls right now)

There was poop on TOP of the toilet lid. Yes, on TOP. (and yes, I laughed when I saw this – I mean, seriously. On TOP???)

And it endsMagazines were strewn everywhere – my Nair strips were all over the place – again, imagine how funny THAT would have been! Two toddlers with Nair wax strips stuck to them… I’m giggling just thinking about the possibility!

Toilet paper had been intertwined with the mess – not much, just enough to make one frustrated. As if everything else hadn’t already gotten to us. Oh, and Chris’ tool box has been dragged in there as well. Thankfully we didn’t find anything IN the toilet as that has been known to happen.

Some sort of white powder – probably a gravy mix of some sort had been spilled in the bathroom right outside the shower. Chris commented about stepping out of the shower into the gravy mix and I retorted, “Well honey, that’s what you call INSTANT BREAKFAST!”

His response? “Yuck.”

The excuse we got for all of this mess? ?

“But Mommy, we just couldn’t be patient for breakfast anymore. We were hungry!”

(Nevermind the fact that we don’t usually EAT breakfast until about 830a every morning)

 

My final comment about all of this?

Thank GOD both Chris and I have the blessed ability to laugh at even the worst things. Because if we couldn’t – well, we both probably would have had several heart attacks by now.

 

 

Shirley & Marcy

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school.

He didn’t want his mother to walk with him.

She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe.

So she had an idea of how to handle it.

She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn’t notice her.

She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.

The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew.

She did this for the whole week. As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy’s little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.

Finally she said to Timmy, ‘Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week?  Do you know her?’

Timmy nonchalantly replied, ‘Yeah, I know who she is.’

 The little girl said, ‘Well, who is she?’

‘That’s just Shirley Goodnest,’ Timmy replied, ‘and her daughter Marcy.’

‘Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us? ‘

‘Well,’ Timmy explained, ‘every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, ‘cuz she worries about me so much.

And in the Psalm, it says, ‘Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow  me all the days of my life’, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to  it!’
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always.

Nurturing your Soul

old fashoned photo frazzled momLet’s face it – parenting is rough. I mean, I’d almost rather play full contact football with the NY Giants on the really hard days. I certainly feel like I have at the end of the day. It’s at the end of those days especially that I force myself to sit back and nurture my soul. I’ve nurtured everyone else’s by then and doggone it, I deserve some lovin’ too.

As moms with PPD, we are in a unique class indeed. We marvel at moms in public who seem so put together, at moms in playgroup who calmly soothe their babies. We wonder what is wrong with us and why we are not like that. We need an entirely different set of skills and yet there is no one nearby to share these skills with us and sadly many of us are left to fend for ourselves as families find more and more distance between what used to be right next door or down the street.

Thankfully PPD is becoming more and more recognized and more information is available to us today than ever before. Slowly the stigma is being removed and women and even lawmakers are talking about PPD and coming up with solutions. In the meantime, all we can do is keep the communication lines open, learning to ask for help as well as accept help when it is offered.

I will start by sharing a few methods I’ve used to get through what I call “High Stress Moments.” You know, the moments when the baby is screaming (and has been for hours), the dogs are barking, the mailman is banging on the door, the phone starts to ring, the dishes need to be done, your toddler is throwing a tantrum in the middle of the floor because Cookie Monster didn’t pick the right letter for the day and all you want to do is for Calgon to take you away. Now. Actually, five minutes ago would have been perfect.

Tip #1: Prioritize. The baby will be just fine in his or her crib if you need a few moments to yourself, even if you just step outside or go to your room and scream or sob into your pillow. Or write it down and then tear it up if you don’t want anyone to read it. This accomplishes two things – gets it off your chest and soothes the frustration with tearing. (You could also keep bubble wrap around!) And the mailman? Well he can just leave a note. The phone? Thank goodness for voice mail. Leave a message with updates about the baby and informing callers that mom and baby are resting. Visitors? A mom I know created a letter stating what visitors would be expected to do if they came by. She had her midwife sign it to make it official. Another mom I know had a list of stuff to be done on the refrigerator and yet another mom kept her bathrobe at the door so that she could appear to have been napping if anyone happened by.

Tip#2: Take time for you. And yes, that even means just grocery trips by yourself. Never before has a grocery trip been such a luxurious indulgence and I usually treat myself to something special and it does not have to be high in calories or fat. (Although chocolate ice cream is a favorite of mine!)

Tip#3: Make time for you & your significant other. Does not have to be sexual, just a coffee or even a nice dinner at home once baby has gone to bed or nap. Go to the following website: www.postpartumstress.com and click on their Family Support Link. They have a Postpartum Pact for you and your partner to complete. This will help your partner better understand how they can help you. They also have cards you can print out and hand out to loved ones.

Tip#4: Try to educate those around you about PPD. If you are unable to do this on your own, recruit your physician to get handouts and maybe even make an appointment for both you and your loved one to talk with your doctor about PPD.

And last but not least, please remember that you are not alone, you are not to blame, and you will be well with help.

Busy day today!

Alli and I went to Target this morning to pick out a new Sunday School outfit. She helped me push the cart most of the time we were there, tiring out just as we were preparing to leave. So I picked her up and put her in the seat (OUCH) until we got to the car. She is feeling much better, only had to have tylenol and ibuprofen once each today. And we haven’t taken her temp since Friday evening because she just hasn’t been warm enough to warrant the battle. As it is, we’ve had to come up with creative ways to get her to take her medicine.

After we got home, we had lunch, she went down for nap, and I went back to the store for groceries. My pelvis is KILLING me and I am hoping staying home tomorrow will prove to be a good thing.

Gotta run, time to watch TV with Chris!