Author: Melissa

One of my children was put into “time-out” at school today.

This child is mortified. She cried the whole way home from school, then cried as she told me about it. She really should have been put in time-out for what she did. She and a friend were using what we refer to in our house as “potty words” and the teacher asked them to stop. And they didn’t. So they got time out. Her teacher told me when I picked her up (Actually, she told me that my daughter had something to tell me and she  promptly burst into tears.  My daughter, not the teacher.) And she encouraged us to talk about it at home.
I talked to her about it and she is really sorry and embarrassed. What I’m wondering is, am I supposed to punish her again? I feel like the time-out at school was pretty traumatic for her. But we’ve been struggling with this issue at home and I want her to know 1) that we’re serious about this issue and 2) that rules still apply when Mom and Dad aren’t around.
Has anyone had to deal with this?

…from quite the day. My day started at 12:15 with a sick child and didn’t improve much.
My kids were totally possessed, apparently on a mission of destruction. They destroyed their room, the playroom and the kitchen (by getting into the food cabinet) and making three colossal messes. They played in the bathtub, toilet and sink during the 15-minutes I managed to sleep this afternoon, waking me up screaming about something both in soaking wet clothes having made a wet colossal mess out of the bathroom. Then they turned the thermostat (which they are not allowed to do) up to 77 because “they were cold,” so they even managed to burn up some money while they were driving me nuts.

I’m taking a long, hot bath, eating some well-deserved dark chocolate that my husband brought me from Switzerland and going to bed, all the while appreciating that as uncomfortable as I am being pregnant, at least the baby isn’t making messes. Yet. 

So as a random act of kindness towards my exhausted and busy husband, I offered to pack his suitcase for his business trip. Now, usually his office is “business casual” but lately with all this traveling, he is finding himself needing to dress up more often. So when I went to pack, I was appalled by his serious lack of nice clothes. Seriously – he has like two nice shirts and about 4 ties. None of which really match the aforementioned shirts. So I realized I needed to go shopping. Darn.
After a trip to the outlet mall (tee hee hee) I had major success. It was divine intervention, I tell you. J Crew and Banana Republic were both having sales. On ties and dress shirts. Like 50% off on sale. On the day I happened to be there. I got him 5 shirts, 6 ties and 2 pairs of pants. Of which he will probably like maybe half. (Husband is very picky about clothes. Ask anyone who has bought him a Christmas present.)
Boy is he going to be surprised when he gets home and – not only does he have a new work wardrobe – but the bathroom that was white when he left now looks like this:
(Sorry so fuzzy – I couldn’t use the flash!)
I’m just full of surprises! Don’t you wish you were married to me?

Tonight the girls had a friend sleep over. They are having a fantastic time, of course. We made little pigs in a blanket for dinner. Dressed up in princess dresses. Destroyed the playroom. All put on pajamas for a “Girls-Only-Pajama-Popcorn-Movie-Party.” I’m about ready to collapse in a heap of exhaustion. (Of course, I also painted the bathroom today and Husband is traveling this week, so that may be contributing.)

Three girls, ages almost 5, 4 and 3 1/2, means there is constant fighting. Oh my WORD, they are so bossy to each other! If it wasn’t getting so annoying, it would be hilarious. Textbook female behavior, all fighting to see who is going to be the queen bee. Right this moment they are fighting. One thinks its time to go to sleep and her feelings are hurt. One is jumping on her bed singing. One is tattling on another about saying potty words. Sigh.  Now I have to go downstairs and talk about not using potty words and encourage sleep. Which I’m sure will work and they will all quietly lay there and fall asleep like little angels. Right.

If I had to describe last week in a word it would be “Sucked.”

This week – much better. No sick kids, no waterfalls in the mudroom… This week, my kids were healthy and happy. I’ve had several hot fudge sundaes. I actually had several nights of good sleep (which is happening less and less, due to this baby who never sleeps, preferring to perform great gymnastic feats that keep me awake all night. This does not bode well for when he is actually born). And I finally decided what color to paint the bathroom and will be painting said bathroom this weekend.
Oh, and my husband got a raise yesterday. Woo-HOO!  He was supposed to get his yearly review/raise in August. As in August 2007. And they just now got around to giving it to him, which is very nice of them. They must have been so busy counting their billions of dollars in earnings that they failed notice that they forgot to give their puny employees their raises. Completely understandable. But, moving on, this also means his next paycheck will include six-months of back pay to make up the difference. Which will greatly help me forgive them for leaving us hanging for 6 months.
This will enable me to pursue my new obsession: nesting. I am out. of. control. I have an uncontrollable urge to re-paint and redecorate our entire house. It is taking great restraint to control myself. I am limiting myself to the rooms that are not done (our bedroom and bath, family room and – of course – the baby’s room) but I would seriously love to do more. I’ve been to Home Depot so often they probably see me waddling through the parking lot and say “Here comes that pregnant lady who steals all of the paint samples again.”
I’ll post pictures as I finish projects, since I am very proud of myself. Husband is probably very glad that he is traveling a ton this month. Not only does he not have to listen to me blab on and on and on about different shades of tan, but he comes home and *poof!* another room is done! All he has to do is the heavy lifting and things with the drill. Because I’m not allowed to make holes in the walls. Because I tend to make too many holes. Ahem.

“Don’t lick the glue. Its not food.”

“No, I do not need any help going potty. Please leave me alone for 5 minutes.”

“Don’t lick the filing cabinet.”

“Give me that booger right now!”

“Where are your clothes? Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?'”

“Stop hugging your sister. That’s not nice.”

“Please don’t stick things up your nose. That’s not what noses are for.”

“Don’t scrub the toilet with your toothbrush! Toothbrushes are for cleaning teeth only! Give me that right now!”

Well, going along with today’s pregnancy theme….
I try not to write about being pregnant very much. Since I’m sure that loyal readers like say, my brother or my grandpa (Hi, Grandpa!), probably don’t want to know every little thing happening to my pregnant body. But I’m going to indulge in a little update with only mild complaining for my fellow moms, who love to know about other people’s pregnancies.

1. I have cried more in this pregnancy than I have in the last 10 years. Seriously. Anything and everything will turn on the waterworks. Commercials. Watching my kids. Mild stress. Hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Discovering we are out of ice cream. Anything. My poor husband, who I suspect has always been grateful not to have a super-emotional wife, at first would try to figure out why I was crying. Because, logically, in his engineering brain, there should be a reason why I am crying. You know, because apparently “because” isn’t a valid reason to be upset. He has now given up and just hands me tissues.

2. OhmyWORD the heartburn. I go to bed with heartburn. I wake up in the morning with heartburn. I drink water and get heartburn. And it is surely going to get worse. So I have decided to just eat whatever I want, since I’m going to get heartburn anyways. Might as well earn it!

3. Recent cravings:
   *Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce. Not chocolate syrup. Ew. It must be hot fudge. With vanilla ice cream. Preferably soft serve, but I’ll take regular in a pinch. 
   *Still the Chex Mix calls to me. The baby’s middle name might end up being Chex, in honor of the 25% of my pregnancy weight gain that is directly from that bag of salty goodness. Oh, I wish I had some right now….
   *The pizza I had at my brother’s apartment. For some reason, this is sticking out in my mind as being amazing pizza and I want it again. But by the time it was delivered from 400 miles away, it will probably be cold. Dang it.
   *Bekah’s guacamole. Those real life friends know exactly what I’m talking about! Heaven on a chip!!!

4. My belly is getting huge. To quote Grace “Isn’t that baby big enough yet?!?!” And to quote Ellie “He’s pretty big. Isn’t that going to hurt?” To quote Hannahumma “You’re going to be huge. HUGE!”

5. This baby is incredibly active. And I’m not just saying that. It is completely normal for my entire torso to visibly shake with his antics. Husband feels this is greater evidence that I am carrying a future soccer superstar.

6. I am totally in LURV with this bedding collection for the baby’s room. I want it. Really. Bad. I think I may purchase it today, seeing as it is on sale with free shipping. (Yes, I know I make custom nursery sets for other people. But this is the third child – he’ll be lucky to get anything new and non-pink! Besides, I just LOVE this!) I cannot believe Dwell – one of the coolest home stores out there in my opinion – has a collection at Target now. Just proves that Target is swiftly becoming the only store I need to shop at ever again.

And somebody yesterday told me I didn’t look pregnant. Seriously!!

“It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us.” Oswald Chambers

1 Corinthians 10:31 says “. . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Do I see myself as bringing glory to God in the little things I do every day? As my daily tasks of caring for my family become chores, I feel like I am wasting my life on meaningless repetitive tasks. How can load after load after load (after load) of laundry be remotely connected to bringing glory to God?  How can this be significant? How can this possibly be important in any type of big picture?
But it is. My faithfulness in my responsibilities – whatever they may be, glamorous or not – is important.  My attitude about these responsibilities is important. I am doing what God has called me to do at this time in my life – caring for my young family. It may not seem important to many people. It may be considered “not working.” (Ha!) But this is where I am. And I have been given a big responsibility that involves thousands of little responsibilities. I am building our home and our family, shaping the lives of my children by my attitudes, by my words and by my example. My faithfulness to my family and God is crucial. To my daughters. To their faith. To the women they will become.
Because my faithfulness brings Him glory. And that is all I am called to do.

Here are the top 5 Superbowl commercials

Usually the only thing I ever remember about the Superbowl 😉