There's Fun in the Little Things

If there's anything I've learned from being a mom it is the fact that fun can be found in the simplest things.  I remember back when I was in the fourth grade, my parents had just built a new home; my older brother, Tory, and I discovered the large box that one of the appliances was delivered in and we played for hours in that box!  Though I must admit that the box lost its appeal when Tory put me in it and stood it up straight (the box was much taller than me) and walked away.  Having to knock the box over when I was in it and take the brunt of the fall was not fun at all!

One of the things that my boys have loved to play with is a huge styrofoam container that protected something our friend, Chris, had ordered.  When he had the container left over, he knew it was something the boys would enjoy, so he brought it over for them.  What they discovered in this is an instant hockey goal!  They've had a lot of fun hitting "pucks" with their "hockey sticks" (which is usually a golf club!) into the goal and using a laundry basket as their goalie.  The things these amazing boys come up with never cease to amaze me!

Our newest fun toy, though, came in the simplest form I can imagine ... and Colin had quite a blast playing with it, as you can see:

That's right, we cut out a face (and a kind of creepy one, at that!) from a paper bag and my super tough guy walked around the house for several days being the "bag robot".  What a hoot!  I will admit, though, that I couldn't resist but to get in the fun and play along:

Oh the crazy things that we moms do! :)

I Can't Think of a Title

I can't find a good title for this blog post.  This topic is something that's been on my heart for awhile and I think it's definitely worth sharing.  I remember at a young age having a very idealistic perception of how my married life was going to be.  We would always be happy with one another, my house would never be messy, life would flow smoothly and things were always going to be great.  Marriage is what I longed for, what my heart desired, as my lifelong dream was to be a wife and a mom.  Well, I can tell you that, truthfully, my marriage is not that far off from that idealistic picture I had in my mind!  I am incredibly blessed in my marriage, but I believe it's because we both work very hard at making it so wonderful.  Granted, that whole 'my house never being messy' thing probably needs a lot of work, but I'm proud to say that my first fifteen months of marriage have been fabulous!  

What's the catch?  Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we work really hard to edify one another.  I make it a very big deal not to cut Monte down.  In fact, I do just the opposite - I lavish him with compliments!  I make sure that he knows how much I appreciate the hard work he does at his job.  I make sure he knows how much I love the way he interacts with our kids.  I also make sure he knows how much I appreciate how wonderful and helpful he is to me, how much he loves me (and you know that I make sure to let him know how much I love him!), how great it is to have him home after work ... you name it!  If he's done something that pleases me, I make sure to let him know.  Much like the way we use positive reinforcement on our children, I also use it on my husband.  By no means do I think this is a demeaning tactic to use.  Put yourself in those shoes and think about whether you want the good things you do to be recognized and appreciated or not.  I know I most definitely do!

Another thing I think is extremely important is recognizing my need to put my husband before my kids.  Oftentimes (especially in sports season!) things get to be really chaotic with our kids' schedules and everything else can so easily be swept by the wayside.  While it's not always easy, during these crazy moments I remember that my husband comes first.  This doesn't mean that we skip an obligation (practice or a game) because one of us just doesn't feel like doing it, but it does mean that, no matter how busy I am getting dinner in my kids and rushing them off to their sports, I always welcome my husband home from work with a kiss and with a few minutes of undivided attention.  I can tell you that it makes a huge difference when you have your priorities in line.  We learned in premarital counseling that we should first consider our relationship with God, then our relationship with each other, and finally our children's needs.  By no means does this mean that we leave our kids screaming in hunger/irritation/pain/etc. while we gaze into each other's eyes, but it does mean that I work very hard to let Monte know how absolutely important he is to me.  I work hard at letting him know how thrilled I am that he's home from work.  I work hard at letting him know just how much my life is blessed because he is a vital part in it.

Now, I'm not saying that we've never had disagreements, because after all, we are human!  The great thing about it, though, is that we know that we need to devote time to each other in the midst of these arguments to resolve whatever conflict has arisen ... and it usually takes only about 10 minutes!  When we put such a strong emphasis on the importance of our marital relationship, the benefits of that relationship will flourish!

Ladies, if there is one final tip I can give you, it would be this: don't dump your frustrations of parenting on your husband all the time!  I know that being a mama to young children can sometimes be completely overwhelming, but when you're in the high tide of a frustrating day and feeling like you're about to be swept under, take some time out for yourself.  Call a sister, call a girlfriend, call another mom who's been in your shoes!  The one thing Monte and I used to have disagreements about was the fact that I was having frustrating moments in my day, and I would vent those out to him.  While I felt much better after these phone calls, he was then feeling a lot worse because, as a man, he wanted to be able to fix this "problem" for me - when all I really needed was someone to listen!  If you come to an understanding that men like to make everything better while women usually just want someone to hear them out, you will find yourself in a much better place!  I now talk to my mom or my sister when I need to vent about a frustrating day - and later (when I'm not upset about it) I tell Monte about it.  I find this to be much easier because, not only am I telling him about the frustration of the day, I'm also telling him about the solution I used to get through it.

More than anything, make your husband know that he truly is the love of your life.  I promise the rewards will be abundant!

Online Shopping

I don't know if you're like me in this sense or not, but I absolutely love online shopping!  I get almost everything online - my groceries, gifts for people, office supplies, CDs and books .. almost everything.  I have a new favorite website, though, and would love it if you would visit it, too!  Why?  Well, because it is my Pampered Chef website!  It's finally up and running and I couldn't be more thrilled!  Won't you stop by?

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/kamirude

Obligations

If there is one thing that I have learned this week, it is the fact that almost everything is easier to do if you're not obligated to do it.  The most obvious of these tasks, to me, is housework.  You see, Tuesdays are my reserved day for housework - this is when I clean the house and do laundry.  The funny thing about that is the fact that it is so hard for me to motivate myself to do the work even though I've set aside that specific day to get it done!

Another obligation I have a problem with is waking up early.  You see, during the week, when I'm helping the kids get ready for school, getting Colin ready for preschool or MOPs, or attending an early morning event (such as I did this morning when Colin and I went to Claire's DARE graduation at her school) I have such a hard time waking up and getting myself out of bed.  It's almost like my body is on strike against getting out of bed!  However, flip that shoe to the other foot and bring on a weekend and I find that I have no problem getting up early - it's the sleeping in that I have a problem with!

However, my most recent obligatory problem surprised me to the extreme.  You see, I have just had another appointment at my OBGYN for the fertility process that I've been undergoing (yes, I did say that I am done, but my being done starts after this round, as I already had my prescriptions at home).  The appointment went well, extremely well, in fact.  I think this is the first time in my fertility treatments that I have left the OB feeling happy and not mad at my doctor (which I informed him of as well!).  This past appointment I learned that I have an egg that is ready for ovulation and ready to be fertilized.  This is HUGE for me, as I haven't heard those words once since I began treatments.  So, I left the OB with a written prescription for Prometrium (which supplies my body with extra Progesterone) as well as instructions to, ah ... attempt to fertilize that egg for the next three nights.

I truly wasn't concerned, as this is an area that we don't struggle in at all.  However, I quickly learned that even the great parts of life, when they become an obligation, are oftentimes hard to do.  We're currently through two of the three nights and I have to admit that both of those nights were a struggle!  I now completely understand what women mean when they say that infertility completely imposes on the enjoyment factor in their intimate life!  Before this, Monte and I have never counted days, never had to know exactly when this and that were going to occur.  I have to say, I'm praying that this one is our ticket because I won't go through this for another round ... it just seems to be too much obligation and a lot less fun, and I'm ready for the fun part to come back!

I've Fallen

I have fallen off of the face of the Earth and I'm wondering when I'm going to come back down!  Wow what a busy weekend it has been!

This short and sweet post is just to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you, but I am in over my head with laundry and cleaning, planning an adoption shower, planning my family's meals, running to this activity and that, and preparing preparing preparing!

More to come!

Kissy Face

This past week I had an absolutely hilarious conversation with Colin while driving him home from preschool.  I was asking him how his day at preschool went and his response cracked me up:

"My day was fine and fun." (insert 15 second pause here), "Kami, why can't I kiss girls at school?"  I was taken completely by surprise with this question, so I responded by asking him, "What do you mean?"

His answer, "Well, today at school I kissed Grace because I love her and my teachers said that I shouldn't kiss the girls in school.  I really like Grace and I'm in love with her.  Can we go to her house?!"

Oh my!  My little man is charming the ladies already!!  We had an extensive talk on why it's not okay to kiss the girls at school, ending with letting him know that it's okay to hold their hand or to just play with them to let them know how much he loves them.

His response, "Can we go play at Grace's house and we can ask her mom if I can kiss her?!"

It never ends ... :)

I Bet You Didn't Know ...

That:
- I absolutely LOVE office products.  I get really excited when I get to go to Office Max and shop!
- I love to host anything!  Having people in my home makes me happy.
- I make the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies EVER, but I hardly ever make them due to the ever increasing waistline that happens when there are a lot of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies around!
- When I buy a gift for someone that I know they are going to love, I can not wait until the actual occasion for them to open it.  I'm always too excited to see their reaction, and thus it usually gets opened early (this is why Monte and I have "(insert day of the week here) gifts" (i.e. Monday gift, Thursday gift).  I can't ever wait until the actual Valentine's Day, Birthday or Christmas to give the present!
- I have an ex boyfriend with whom I am no longer friends.  However, I am very close friends with his sister, his cousins, his aunt and his mom!
- I love being a part of ministry and hope to involve myself deeper in the near future.
- I can't stand it when people don't RSVP for an event.  Even if you're saying "no", I appreciate hearing that far more than I appreciate not hearing back from you!
- I am an extreme procrastinator, especially when it comes to house cleaning and laundry!
- I can't put Colin in his bedroom for time-out because I usually forget him there when I do!
- I just love to make desserts, but I don't love to eat them.  I really don't have a sweet tooth - it's quite unfortunate!
- I am weird.  Very, very weird.

- My husband and I both tend to get frustrated when plans change unexpectedly.  We have to prepare ourselves for this happening as to avoid going into a funk!

- The only time I take off my wedding ring is when I'm cooking something gross and don't want it to stick in the ring.

- I sing very loudly when I'm in the truck by myself, but rarely sing when others can hear me.  Trust me, if you were around, you would appreciate this!

- I just became acquainted with Vanilla Northern Lites Coolers at Caribou and I'm pretty sure I'm in love.

- I used to love to eat out at fast food joints.  Now I can't stand them (though I will still eat at them when I have to!).

- I finally understand what the term "mommy brain" really means!

- It's not that I forget, but maybe I just forget, but Colin doesn't get bathed all that often.  Maybe twice a week.  This isn't terrible, though, as he has insanely dry skin and his pediatrician said to bathe him as minimally as possible.

- I really love black licorice!

- All of my life dreams came true on December 6, 2008.  This is the day that I became a wife and a mom.

- I have truly enjoyed being a Pampered Chef consultant and am looking forward to my show tonight!

- I love meeting new people.

- I'm a little skeptical about trying new things, but no matter what, I will still put on a good attitude and try it at least once (you know, if it's not life threatening or against my morals).

- I fully believe that people are in charge of their attitude and their mood, so I don't tolerate crabby people all that well (you know, the people who are always crabby!).

- About three months ago, I purchased a few books that I really really really wanted to read.  Ever since I got them, I have yet to read them!

- I don't like getting ready in the morning, but I also don't like spending all day NOT ready.

- I am often a walking contradiction of myself :)

- I am done with this list!