My poor lil Myles isn’t feeling tip-top today. He came home from our weekend away with this “seal-like” barking cough. Poor lad! His little voice is horse and he’s congested. He doesn’t seem to mind too much, but the cough just sounds awful! I called his doc’s office this morning, but they were totally booked, of course. The nurse was nice enough to tell me that there have been some upper respiratory viruses, and RSV going around. Oh, well that’s encouraging to a mom who can’t bring her baby in! Good grief! Myles did have the RSV vaccine so I’m not really worried, but if he’s not doing better tomorrow I’ll call again to see if I can bring him in. Just in case.

I snapped a shot of some really great stuff the other day when we were heading to Stu’s parents. Starbucks is our “treat” when we’re on the road. I thought you NEEDED to see this picture, and don’t worry, if it makes you drool and you simply have to rush out of your house to the nearest S’bucks, they aren’t paying me for advertising.

Well, I was a little at a loss for dinner ideas, but one just struck me! Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup!!! The wind has picked up and is blowing in very gray, gloomy clouds, so I think it’ll just do the trick! Hope you all are having a faster week than me. Toodles!

So while I wait for my mint tea to steep I’ll tell you MY thoughts on it. This article is different from the other in that it’s not OTHERS expectations or projections that make us think we can’t be the “perfect” parent, but rather our own self-critisism about “doing it right!” I know I fall into this “Mommy Guilt” trap often myself. Because when I’m in the midst of an issue with one of my children, it sometimes seems that no matter what I do or how I attack the problem, nothing is working!! I’ve talked to my friend, Mirm, about it many times. We find ourselves in the same boat, kid wise, frequently and it’s nice to bounce thoughts off of each other. Anyway, one time while talking we touched on the fact that we do have to stop and look back to really see that there have been successes. Life moves too fast with the little ones, and we’re always on to the next character or behavior issue before we have time to see that there really was progress in that last one we worked on. I’ve been trying to do that more. Look back and see the progress we’ve made. It really helps when I’m in the midst of trying to deal with something else that has me feeling, “What am I doing wrong???”

For what it’s worth there you have my thoughts. Hope you get a chance to read the article. I thought it was worth the time. Besides it’s from a ‘zen’ site so of course it’s pretty short, not like that last epistle I linked ya to. Toodles!

I remember thinking as a teen that I didn’t want to “risk” having kids because too many of them simply rebel and turn their backs on all of the “right things” their parents have been trying to train them in. In reading this book and the article, which is kind of an abbreviated version of the book, I myself, find encouragement. It’s NOT “up to me” to be the perfect parent, and it’s certainly not “up to me” to raise the perfect kids. Yes, we parents have responsibilities, BIG ONES, when it comes to our children, but NO, we cannot guarantee that our children are going to CHOOSE to be godly and live holy lives. You can follow every system that’s been published to a T and think that because you have it’s a shoe-in for your kids to “succeed.” I’ve personally watched people try these very “experiments” on their children only to have the kids grow up and turn their backs on everything they had ever been taught. What do the parents feel like then? Failures!

Sure, I often feel like I fail at parenting, but I’m learning that it’s not going to be my failures that make or break my kids. I believe that there really are “bad” parents out there. I see the proof of it all around me in this place where I live. But for those of us who are Believers and are striving to live godly lives and show, and teach that to our children, we do not need to carry around this weight of guilt about not being good enough to raise good kids. We’ve got to teach them to discern good and bad, rather than just give them a list of do’s and don’t’s. There are examples all around us of people reaping the rewards of sowing to the flesh. We should point that out to our children and let them see those things instead of trying to keep them hidden away in a little bubble so they don’t see evil. We should teach our children about responsibility and trust and let them learn that when they break trust that privileges are contracted. They will learn that there are indeed hard consequences for bad choices, but then when it comes down to it, God gave them their very own “free will” as well and THEY will have to chose to live a life with a relationship in Christ or not. We can’t make them do it. We can’t force them into it by restricting their world to a narrow system that someone, somewhere felt was “God’s Way.” We must pray for them to make those choices and guide them to places where they can make right choices. Still it’s never up to us to make our kids godly. And we should never carry around the guilt of failure because our kids haven’t “lived up” to our ideals of them.

Just spilling out some of my own personal thoughts again. Ha ha… What do you guys think, really? I’d like to know. Oh, and read the article, or if you want more, get the book because it’s really eye opening. At least it was for me. Ta ta!

Happy viewing!

This little cheesester likes to pose, can you tell?

I got Myles to actually SIT for a moment or two, but looking at the camera… not so much!

Love this one!

Love this one too!! I was thrilled to actually get a looking at the camera smile!

Silly-willy

Uh-oh. Guess I’m wearing him out!

One of my favorite faces in the world!

As you can see from the bed-hair this photo shoot was just after nap time. And yes, I did bribe them with fruit snacks too. Ha ha!! Oh and Myles found a water bottle left by his Grandpa, and refused to put it down for anything! Still, I think they’re cutie-patuties!

These were just too sweet with both the lads. It’s amazing how relaxed and ready they were to have fun while we where doing this as opposed to Sears portraits. I’m thinking hasta la vista FOREVER to Sears and JC Penny and ESPECIALLY Wal-Mart portrait studios.

So that was my fun for today. That and rearranging furniture. My mom scolded me, but sometimes ya just have to do it! I was ready for a change.

The sun was out this afternoon and it was warm enough that I didn’t need a jacket! The lads got thoroughly dirty climbing up and ROLLING down the little hill. But it looked like such fun! I had to intervene in the fun though once they decided to start eating dirt clods. Gross!!! They got plopped promptly in the tub when we came inside before dinner before play and all of that. I didn’t vacuum the floor for nothing today!

Well, in a rather random way that’s what’s been going on ’round here. We’re having fun, and still looking forward to more stable warmer weather. Toodles!

I did NOT figure out that I have been cooking microwavable pot pies the wrong way till… now, because I didn’t read ALL the instructions on the back. Turns out they were missing nearly half the cooking time. Oops! Well, at least none of us ever got salmonella. Way to go Marrie Calanders!

I didn’t, wouldn’t ever consider, not in a million years announce to my family, friends, and the world at large on my blog that we are expecting our third baby! Course not, Myles did it!

Happy week everyone!

So what we did today. For my part I was as LAZY as I could possibly be with 2 little lads in the same house! Last night we had company for dinner, and that was fun, but it was still a lot of work for me. I made Lasagna and it was delish, but that took up part of my morning, then in the afternoon I made homemade dinner rolls which were also exquisite, and a Hershey pie, yum!!! So I was pretty tired today as the “aftermath” hit. Hence my excuse for being lazy… though I don’t know if there is ANY excuse for me having a basket full of clean laundry waiting to be folded for 3 days till today my lovely son #1 decided to climb on the clean clothes with his MUDDY shoes on. *sigh*

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The sun was shining, it was a perfect day to play, we could not sit in the house on this beautiful sunshiny day! So we got bundled up, not too much, but enough cause it’s still cool, and played outside before lunch. My lads behave, mind, and play together so much better when they are in the great out-of-doors. I myself enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air as well. Though I didn’t participate in the “game” of “house” that was played in the dog house. Blah! I was thinking to myself that I used to play around in nasty dirty places like that as a kid all the time. In fact I’d probably be the first one to dive into the dog house and then convince everyone else (because I was a very persuasive child) that they too should join me. Yep, I would. But not now… now I cringed to see Qade ever-so-comfy in the dog house call happily out “My house!” Ha ha! I may cringe on the inside now, but I’m not going to interfere. Nothing in there won’t wash off, and it’s fueling his active imagination AND burning energy! Woo-hooo!

After all that playing the boys had a Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs lunch, which they wolfed down like starving savages. Then came a lovely 2 and 1/2 hr nap which I didn’t participate in, but enjoyed to the fullest with my own little lunch of Italian Wedding Soup, and a great Austen book!

Once nap was over for real and the boys had demolished their snacks of apple wedges we once again went out to enjoy the afternoon sun. Stu’s grandparents came up to get water and told me about a brand new baby calf down at the end of our drive way. So I went to see it. Sure enough. It was BRAND new and so tiny and cute that I immediately wanted it for a pet. But then I looked around at all the big ugly cows standing round it and changed my mind. While I was watching the wee one learn to walk I noticed 2 coyotes eyeing it rather greedily too. These coyotes have been hanging around here for awhile and I dislike them a lot! They are pretty bold and aggressive and don’t seem as “yellow” as other coyotes I’ve seen. They don’t run away when I come out and yell at them, they just kind of saunter off. So I was nervous for the little cow, but our dog Cisco became the hero of the day, surprisingly. He chased off the coyotes! Usually he’ll just bark at them with his tail between his legs, but he had some guts today. I told Stuart the story when he came home and he went out looking for the rascals. I think they will have to be permanently dealt with since they don’t seem to fear us or the dog. They’re a hazard to the new calves not to mention I’m nervous about the lads being outside with them around too. Stu couldn’t find them today, but I’m quite sure they’ll be back.

Anyway, so we enjoyed a lot of outside play time today. We had leftovers for dinner, and sourgum molasses on our rolls. YUM! Just like being at Lamberts! Hope you all have had a brilliant week, and will have a great weekend! Toodles!

Some interesting things I’ve been thinking of concerning pregnancy lately.

Black licorice doesn’t necessarily make morning sickness better for me, but the lads like it. Only problem is that it becomes quite a mess with Myles. Ick!! He ends up looking like a very bad tobacco chewer, and his shirt and anything else near him is completely slimed.

The ONLY time I ever “feel” like sleeping on my tummy is when I’m pregnant. How ironic!

I have the WEIRDEST dreams when I’m pregnant…. don’t even ask about Big Bird!

My super-duper sense of smell does not do well for my queasies. EVERYTHING stinks!! I’ve Fabreezed the house, and tried to get rid of anything “smelly” but I do live with 3 guys… guess I’ll keep them around anyway!

I gained 5 pounds, but then lost one, yay!! I was way too flabby to begin with starting out, drat being so lazy last Fall, so I’m looking forward to the second trimester and warmer weather to get in my habit of walking again.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m thinking of a nice warm bed and fluffy pillows, and not many mid-night potty breaks. Here’s hoping! Good night!