Jen's Space

Confirmation

Sometimes I wonder if I know what the heck I'm doing in my role as a mother.  I feel doubt a lot of the time.  I'm not seasoned enough to have conviction in all that I do.  I end my days hoping that all that I've done has been for the best and, through it all, my girls grow and remember their childhood as an era of fun and loving moments. 

Tonight, just before I was planning on going to bed, I heard Molly in a fit of deep, full hearted belly laughs.  I thought she had woken and was calling for me.  I went to her crib to realize that she is in a deep sleep with a smile on her face and fading giggles on her breath.  I take this as a sign that I must be doing something right.

She Has A Message

This is the most amount of talking that Audrey has ever done in her entire life.  I guess she feels strongly about politics.  If you're wondering, I don't normally feed my child sandwiches the size of her head :P

Thank You

My headache went away sometime today.  Not sure when, I was too busy to notice.  All four kids were keeping me very busy today.  Audrey woke up and didn't want to detach herself from my body after I pulled her out of her crib.  I really wish that I had the time to let her be my baby for the day, but I just didn't.  She cried and begged me to hold her.  Mary showed up and her mother said out loud to Mary, "Is Audrey's fussing making you upset?"  I'll be honest, that kind of bugged me.  Mostly because on a day to day basis Mary is the one screaming her head off.  I felt like saying, "Yeah, maybe you should have someone else watch your daughter today so as not to upset her."  Jeremy said that I was being sensitive, maybe I was. 

I think I'm having a hard time disciplining Audrey.  Not that I'm not doing it.  It's just hard for me to do so.  She seems so little still, she's the middle child, and her little sister came into the picture while she was still a baby herself.  I know that I need to guide her and not allow her to have bad behavior, but it's tough.  One good thing, I do time out in her room and she, for whatever reason, does not leave the spot I put her in when she's on time out.  It's like she thinks she's glued to the floor, haha.  She doesn't even try to move until I tell her she can come back out and play. 

Emily is amusing me so much lately.  I've been making her lunch everyday since she started Kindergarten.  I never suggested she go to the cafeteria because I wasn't sure how that worked with Kinder.  On Tuesday Emily came home and told me that she wanted to get her lunch in the cafeteria because "Hunter really really wants me to go with her."  Keep in mind that Hunter was somewhat rude to Emily when school began.  I gave a thumbs up to their lunchdate and sent Emily to school with money for lunch (and a sack lunch just in case :P ).  Emily LOVED the cafeteria.  She thought it was so neat and now wants to go every day.  I'm fine with that as it's not any more expensive than making her lunch and they serve nutritious food that she actually eats. 

Audrey's speech therapist (Miss E) is the mother of a classmate that Emily had in preschool last year.   When Miss E came over last night she told Emily that her son Dean wanted her to know that he "Loves her very much."  Emily replied, "Ooooh, I love him SO MUCH TOO."  This age is killing me.

HELP

I need some feel better vibes ASAP.  I went to bed with a headache and woke up with that same darn headache, DESPITE the fact that I took a vicodin last night.  I hate days that start like this.

Alone

It's a little past 9 p.m. and I'm the only one up right now.  Jeremy worked really hard all day today and needed to go to bed.  He seemed to be a bit stressed and worn out today.

Yesterday was a good day for the girls.  They got along surprisingly well, but today not so much.  Audrey woke up in a miserable mood.  She definitely wasn't wanting any guests in her home.  She's been unusually crabby in the past few weeks.  She has some new teeth coming in but I don't know if that is the reason.  She hasn't been wanting to eat dinner and sleeps so long. I think she's just super hungry and feeling badly from not having anything to eat.  When she eats her breakfast she is shaking with hunger.  I'll be discussing this with her doctor at her annual checkup. 

I have the worst headache right now.  Too bad I started a load of whites a few minutes ago.  Guess I'll be up for a while...

Project

Click on pic for info

Mish Mash

I'm so thrilled. Weather reports say that we are supposed to be getting a weeks worth of cold rainy days.  My most favorite weather.  I need a boost like this as we are, once again, back to "normal" tomorrow.   I'll have my little guest and Emily will be back in school.  In the past month I've only had the little girl I watch here for about 4 days.  First Audrey was too ill for me to watch anyone then the little girl came down with a similar illness after Christmas break.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep all the little girls happy while in the house for the next week.  Molly should entertain them.  She is army crawling all over the place.  She tries so hard to crawl on her hands and knees but just can't seem to figure out how to coordinate everything together.  Audrey was crabby all day today.  I'm not sure what the cause was.  I just hope her attitude is changed by tomorrow.

Emily has been such a goofball lately.  The other night I was tucking her in bed.  I had just finished reading a story to her when she stuck her tongue out and told me to lick it.  I was so shocked.  I didn't know what to say.  My immediate thoughts were, "What the heck is going on at school?"  I remained as calm as I could and I told her I wouldn't lick her tongue and she should never lick anyone else's tongue NOR should she have anyone lick hers.  She begged me over and over to lick her tongue and I was starting to freak out.  I asked her where she learned about tongue licking and she answered, "From that movie with the dogs Mama.  Remember when they shared spaghetti and licked each other's tongues?"   Oh yeah, THAT movie.  Kids.

Speaking of dogs.  When was the last time you saw an ad for dog food?  I remember growing up there were tons of dog food commercials.  Mighty Dog, Chuck Wagon, Puppy Chow (with the dog food that made milk when you added water), Kibble N' Bits, and bits and bits.  Then there were all the doggy treats.  Gains Burger (GAG), Beggin' Strips, Snausages (I hear that voice in my head whenever I type that).  Last, but not least, Milkbone dog biscuits.  Why don't we see these ads anymore?  I miss them.  Just like I miss my Ice Bird snow cone maker. 

Guinea Pig Hunter

Here is Emily's trap.  She did this all herself.

Quiet

Today was a nice quiet day.  Before I forget to mention it later, Molly has started to say "mama".  Not in a deliberate way, but she's definitely saying it.  She sounds so darn cute.  She is a babbling baby nowadays.

We all just hung around the house today.  Emily and Audrey spent a lot of time outside "setting traps" for different animals like, warthogs and bunnies.  Emily even threw a slice of bologna in the middle of it all, haha.  She's just starting to want to have an animal for a pet.  Jeremy and I will are planning on getting her a guinea pig for her birthday.

When Emily and Audrey weren't outside they were inside coloring.  The spend hours and hours coloring.  Emily tapes all her artwork on the wall in the kitchen AND on the doors, the windows, the doorways.  I'm so happy that she is finding pleasure in coloring that I just let her go and do it.

Escape

For the past two weeks we've had nothing but chaos at dinnertime.  Emily is in the "I don't like anything you serve me" phase and Audrey would rather be in bed by the time dinner is on the table.  If one isn't fussing the other is.  Food is a fun adventure for Molly right now so no complaints from her, YET.

This afternoon I was thinking about how frustrating dinner would be once again tonight.  I couldn't bear the thought of taking time to make a decent meal, only to have it snubbed.  I called my mom and asked her if she could watch the kids this evening while Jeremy and I went out to dinner.  My mom is such an angel.  She didn't even hesitate and said she would be over whenever we needed her. 

Jeremy and I ended up at Outback Steakhouse by 6 p.m. and we enjoyed a long, quiet, tasty meal together.  The highlight of my day!