Category: happiness

happiness, kids, life in pictures, parenting

Kung Fu Fighting

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A lot has happened in the past 24 hours. First and foremost there was some serious kung fu fighting. I think these post pictures will prove that my boys could cause serious damage with bow staffs. I am allowing them to use nerf swords with the stipulation they only play against Mad Dog one at a time. The sparring matches were hilarious. The boys may have a ways to go in terms of technique, but they have the spirit of true warriors (just a note, Full Speed’s eye is patched for vision issues, not an injury sustained during the fighting).

For a lady who enjoys quietly sitting on her lanai watching birds as a favorite pastime, it was a bit much. I was more than ready for bed by day’s end and I didn’t do any of the fighting. Unfortunately, little T.Puzzle’s allergy symptoms had other plans for all of us. He was incredibly fussy and couldn’t be soothed by the normal routines. He wound up in our bed late in the night and the only way he would sleep is if his head was nestled in the crook of my arm with his face smashed (and yes I mean SMASHED) up against mine. He also could only lie in a mostly perpendicular angle to me and had to (and yes I mean HAD to) have his feet resting on Mad Dog’s back. Little sleep was gained by anyone.

I took him to the doctor the next morning and prayed (and yes, I really did pray) that he would be cooperative. Shockingly, he was an absolute angel. Maybe he was just too tired to be feisty. Turns out he is on the verge of a sinus infection and was prescribed an additional allergy medication to use as part of his daily regimen. Because not only did he inherit my incredible kung fu skills, my little T.Puzzle inherited my allergies. Now, if only he could inherit my love of sitting quietly. Then, we’d be on to something.

children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood

Good Stuff

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Life is all about celebrating the little things. You successfully poop on the potty and that’s a reason to cheer (it’s nice because your Mom cheers, too). You get to wear big boy underpants, and life is good!

Or, if you are old enough and have good reports from school, your Dad takes you to work with him.

If your Mom is lucky, she gets to pick you up from downtown and spend the rest of the day with you. Then, when you say stuff like ‘Mom, I really like dating you,’ it makes her day.

This is some of the good stuff.

happiness, mommyhood

Family Vacation

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It’s family vacation time. If you have to pack for young children, this means your workload increases by a factor of ten. So, you can call it a ‘vacation’ if you want, but everyone knows if you are a stay-at-home-mom, your work comes with you and then some. Since you are not going to be in your normal setting, you have to work hard to pack for as many worst-case-kid-scenarios that your trunk space will allow. It’s a little overwhelming but you do your best. You do your best because in your heart you know that the most important part of the vacation will be the family part. That makes all the extra work worth it. I’m only saying this because my kids are over the age of two. If you would have asked me how I felt about family vacations when they were two and under; well, let’s just say, all bets are off. With time comes wisdom, and with age (meaning that of my children) comes a whole lot less of your house you need to pack up to have a great vacation. Regardless, vacations are fun; even if you have to work really hard for them.

Family vacation pic from a 2008 Disney trip

We are heading to Gatlinburg, TN to meet up with my sister and her family. I will try to post our adventures along the way. Be patient and know I am committed to daily posts (at least until my blog’s one-year anniversary) and will get them out when I am able. Thanks for your continued readership and I love each and every comment. Have a great day!

gratitude, happiness, mommyhood

St. Patrick’s Day (the Aftermath)

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I survived both classroom parties for the boys (looked at how dazed they are in this post-party pic). It was actually a lot of fun despite what the title of this post implies. Full Speed  was over the moon to have me eat lunch with him and little T.Puzzle danced up a storm for me. I was feeling very thankful to be able to attend both these parties that took place smack-dab in the middle of the day. I know that I write a lot about the challenges of being a stay-at-home-mom so it was nice recognize this perk of my job. It also helped put my kids’ behavior into perspective. Seeing them with a large group of their classmates, I could see that they fall in a mostly normal behavioral range. That was reassuring because when I have just the two of them out in the world, they seem turbocharged compared to their peers. Maybe it will all be okay after all.

Now, the real aftermath of these parties with green-themed food (the rice-crispy treats looked absolutely neon-toxic), will be how long they poop green.

children, gratitude, happiness

Another Day, Another Purple

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Ouch. Yesterday was a toughie. Glad it’s over and I have officially made it through that dreaded first year without my Mom. I need to shift my mood so I am going to share something positive. Remember how Full Speed had a choking-of-his-classmates phase? Unfortunately if you don’t, I do. No matter how much denial I throw at the memories, I still cringe at the thought of red-marks on little Jimmy’s neck (name changed to protect his identity). It got to a point if Full Speed received a yellow mark (just okay) for talking out of turn or not waiting in line properly, I wasn’t upset at this behavior but infinitely relieved that no bodily harm had come to any of his peers.

Anyway, over the past two weeks, Full Speed has consistently gotten green marks for behavior (green is good). And, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I walked in his class, checked the behavior chart and saw he had a purple mark (above and beyond good, and, dare I say it, exceptional?) resting under his name. To celebrate I told him he could pick where we would have dinner the next day. Like any red-blooded American boy he chose…., McDonald’s.

So, the next day I have little T.Puzzle in tow and we head to pick up Full Speed for our fine-dining McDonald’s experience. We walk in the room and guess what? Full Speed had ANOTHER purple mark. I had to run it past his teacher to make sure it was legit and not an error in record-keeping . Turns out, it was a completely approved purple mark.

Two purples in a row. Here’s hoping for another choke-free day (fingers crossed!).