What have the mamas learned about life, parenting, and the mix this week? Read on. At the end feel free to add what you've learned by adding a comment - we'd love to hear from you!
Robyn:
1. Forceable love
My 14 year old son, Bailey, and 5 year old son, Kasen, have had some difficulty getting along lately. They bicker and complain constantly (ex."He hates me" "No I don't" "Yes you do" "No I don't" "You said you did" "No I didn't") I now know how my mother felt all those years that my brother and I did the same thing. It just makes me want to pull my hair out, and lock them in a closet with a juice box and some Cheetos until they work it out themselves! DING!!! In my head, my creative parenting lightning bolt turns on. I'll make them work together. Instead of being a bully, I offered the choice of being grounded for electronics for a week (which is like death according to my teen) or to teach his brother some board games. They both didnt want to do it, cried like babies, and then an hour later, I hear laughter. Ahhh...Bliss! Then today, they even hugged each other! Mom-1, kids-0
2. Put that thing away!
I'm always looking at the newest things people come up with. Gadgets and gizmos of plenty...whozits and whatzits galore (can you name the Disney movie? Little Mermaid!) It never fails that every time I see a 'as seen on TV' item in the local grocery store, I think two things: 1. OMG I NEED THAT! 2. Does it really work? Reality sets in with thought #2, and then I turn and walk away. The latest seen gadget blew my mind. Have you heard of mouth guards? What about toe guards? What about CAMEL TOE GUARDS? That's right ladies. I've learned that there IS such a thing. You can get your very own Cuchini! Your 'V' cleavage is noticed, but you should buy bigger yoga pants or (seriously) hide that shit. Or maybe you like to advertise that moose knuckle. But please, I beg of you do everyone else a favor and buy a Cuchini!
3. What's really in BC?
3. What's really in BC?
Taking birth control in the pill form sucks. It's not the physically taking it part that's bothersome. It's the remembering to take it. Everyday. Around the same time. I can barely remember if I showered and brushed my teeth today! As I was taking my vitamins and BC in the dark kitchen the other night, I felt a pill slip and heard it hit the floor. Oh No! Instantly, I hit the ground like a soldier in the field. Trying to get eye level with the tile, my husband says, "What are you doing?" I frantically replied "I dropped my BC. I have to find it. We can't have another baby! I need it. Help me please! Gotta find it (as I'm bearcrawling through my kitchen)" To which he says "Huh. Maybe BC really does have crack in it."
Lisa:
1) Hard work really does pay off. I worked hard on a photobook for Banshee's first official year of school and it turned out really great. Better than I expected. Seriously loving on Shutterfly right now!
2)Sometimes taking a break just to play together is a blessing in disguise. We all decided to hang out in our bed and have a tickle fight. It was awesome and gave us the energy to continue packing all our things into boxes.
3) Taking 15 minutes to clean one spot in the house, really does help me out. I have been attempting this FlyLady program for years; it hasn't really worked. Mainly because I am tired. But, this 15 minute cleaning has really helped me out this time! Especially now that our house is constantly being visited by inspectors in preparation for the move.
4) Take time to commune with nature. The girls and I like to take nature walks and bug safaris. It is during this time that we really listen to the sounds of nature and just learn to take a minute to breathe...until one of the wolves ends up jumping off the observation deck into the pond while chasing a goose. Sigh! :)
Liz:
1) My 1-year-old hates shoes. Like hates them. He won't walk with them on. He'll crawl instead and cry the whole time. Really kid? So I've started putting socks on his feet all the damn time so that he gets the idea. Sometime soon hopefully we'll graduate to shoes without drama.
2) I tell everyone else not to procrastinate but man, if procrastinating working on my dissertation was a job, I'd be on the cover of Forbes. Here's the sad part. Once I sit down and write, I'm great, I can do it for hours. It's the forcing myself to open the file folder full of interview transcripts that is daunting I guess. I'm forcing myself to do one per day (at least reading, coding, and writing about the data). I will be done. I will not be ABD.
3) Telling myself that I have to save money elsewhere because gas for the Pilot is literally 3x as expensive as the Prius is hard. I didn't do very well this week. Mike's laptop died so I bought him a tablet...and a keyboard...and one for myself (to work on the blog, ya?) and a keyboard for me, because that's fair...here's the funny part. That same day Mike came home and told me he'd gotten assigned two projects at work that required a database program or at least Excel but the computer he used at work only did ordering. "Aw what if I told you you could do them on Google Docs and save it to Google Drive and access it anywhere?" Well that would be great, he responded. "OK good, our tablets arrive Friday." Liz for the win!
Lisa:
1) Hard work really does pay off. I worked hard on a photobook for Banshee's first official year of school and it turned out really great. Better than I expected. Seriously loving on Shutterfly right now!
2)Sometimes taking a break just to play together is a blessing in disguise. We all decided to hang out in our bed and have a tickle fight. It was awesome and gave us the energy to continue packing all our things into boxes.
3) Taking 15 minutes to clean one spot in the house, really does help me out. I have been attempting this FlyLady program for years; it hasn't really worked. Mainly because I am tired. But, this 15 minute cleaning has really helped me out this time! Especially now that our house is constantly being visited by inspectors in preparation for the move.
4) Take time to commune with nature. The girls and I like to take nature walks and bug safaris. It is during this time that we really listen to the sounds of nature and just learn to take a minute to breathe...until one of the wolves ends up jumping off the observation deck into the pond while chasing a goose. Sigh! :)
Liz:
1) My 1-year-old hates shoes. Like hates them. He won't walk with them on. He'll crawl instead and cry the whole time. Really kid? So I've started putting socks on his feet all the damn time so that he gets the idea. Sometime soon hopefully we'll graduate to shoes without drama.
2) I tell everyone else not to procrastinate but man, if procrastinating working on my dissertation was a job, I'd be on the cover of Forbes. Here's the sad part. Once I sit down and write, I'm great, I can do it for hours. It's the forcing myself to open the file folder full of interview transcripts that is daunting I guess. I'm forcing myself to do one per day (at least reading, coding, and writing about the data). I will be done. I will not be ABD.
3) Telling myself that I have to save money elsewhere because gas for the Pilot is literally 3x as expensive as the Prius is hard. I didn't do very well this week. Mike's laptop died so I bought him a tablet...and a keyboard...and one for myself (to work on the blog, ya?) and a keyboard for me, because that's fair...here's the funny part. That same day Mike came home and told me he'd gotten assigned two projects at work that required a database program or at least Excel but the computer he used at work only did ordering. "Aw what if I told you you could do them on Google Docs and save it to Google Drive and access it anywhere?" Well that would be great, he responded. "OK good, our tablets arrive Friday." Liz for the win!
What did you learn this week? We'd love to hear about it - add it in the Comments section!
Siblings. Mine seldom get along, but I've noticed that electronics is what separated them to begin with. When those things are made to be put away, they actually talk and laugh and get along!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing ladies, as these were quite funny. I too hate wearing shoes; I refuse to wear them in my house and while driving, and I'll take them off at any other opportunity. I've also created a couple photo books on Shutterfly and they came out beautifully. They're totally worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteLiz is it possible that the shoes hurt his feet, when he walks?
ReplyDelete