Melinda Beth

Do-over, please?

2008-05-15T11:32:00.005-04:00

Some days I just want to give up and request a do-over. Like today when I went to the kitchen to get me a glass of water and stepped in a puddle of melted ice in front of the refigerator while at my feet a 2 1/2 year old begs me to watch Nemo despite the fact that I've told her 8 times that our DVD player is broken. I didn't even know she knew that the movie existed.

And then there is the toddler dumping puzzles in the playroom while the 7 and 4 year old are arguing over who gets to place the upper half of Argentina into the South American puzzle. All the while my insides are churning in regards to the clutter that is acumulating in each room of the house.

There is laundry in my master bedroom. In fact last night I did not sleep well, knowing there was an enormous pile nearly creating a fire hazard in front of the doorway. I actually dreamed that a good friend of mine bought a house in my neighborhood and when I went to check it out, I was extremely jealous of her gigantic laundry room with 4 sets of front loading washers and dryers.

In my living room I have a floor full of size 3-6 month girl clothing that I have to figure out where to put because the dresser in the girl's bedroom is at maximum capacity.

My kitchen is just, well, a kitchen with about 20 linear feet of counter space full of dirty dishes and everything else we try to keep out of an 18 month's old reach even though he can get to it anyway with enough persistance.

I have to think about when I am going to take a moment to feed the 4 month old and how to settle the older kid's dispute of whether to eat pasta or cheese and crackers for lunch.

Ok, so in hindsight it might not seem all that bad. But what's a mother going to do in the middle of a day that is going like this? --- Pour herself a frothy glass of Diet Coke, plop on the couch and read People magazine. There's just no use in trying to redeem the day with anything the slightest bit productive.

I am glad I didn't totally give up on the day because I would've missed these moments:

Bradley's self-prepared hot dog.

My discovery of why Jason was crying upstairs for 10 minutes.

The kid's dressing Jason like a girl.

(Hopefully there will be no permanent damage.)

An Orthodontic Challenge

2008-05-13T22:13:00.003-04:00

Sarah is our budding artist. This is what she drew today. She titled it, "A Girl, Sally." I love the coordinating dress and hair.

Clean-up Claire

2008-05-13T16:12:00.004-04:00

We have two new rules in our house. Thou shalt not:

1. Complain that nobody else is cleaning while you clean.
2. Complain that you are the only one cleaning when nobody else seems to be cleaning.

Last night as Emily was picking up the bedrooms before bedtime, she said, "Daddy, I'm the onl..." when Daddy cut her off and reminded her of the rule. She then said, "I'm the one.... doing.... that.... thing."

It's a hard habit to break.

Today I was pleased to find an article in the Friend that addresses this very issue. It's about an older sister that complains that she has to clean up her younger brother and sister's messes. Emily asked me to read it to her and I happily did. I don't think she realized its message when she chose the story and quietly regretted having picked it. What great supporting documentation to back parents up. Church magazines rock!

Quote of the Day

2008-05-12T15:26:00.005-04:00

"I saw my poop hanging and it looked like bunnies."

- Sarah (after going potty)

(I know it's probably gross and inappropriate, but it's the one thing that made me laugh today. It's also late and I need to go watch the Bachelor.)

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T22:07:00.001-04:00

I forgot to the get the traditional photo with mom pic today. So we got one at 10:00PM with Sarah asleep. It works.

A Good Saturday

2008-05-10T20:57:00.002-04:00

We had fun with the camera.

A true princess

2008-05-09T21:36:00.000-04:00

There must be a pea under there somewhere.

A lesson in lettuce

2008-05-08T21:43:00.004-04:00

Tonight at dinner we gave Jason a taste of Romaine lettuce. It was his first attempt and it took a little getting used to. After dinner we went outside and as we watered the plants he decided to sample a leaf from each of them. Jason learned his first lesson on vegetarianism:

Lesson One: Eat leaves.

The things that offend us

2008-05-08T20:06:00.005-04:00

I was upstairs doing laundry when Bradley comes crying. He whined, "Mommy! Sarah and Emily are calling me a little boy!"
"Um...yeah."
"But I'm not a little boy!"
"You're not?"
"No. I'm a big kid. They're being mean!"
"Ok."
Then Emily came in defense and said, "Mommy, he called us babies first!"
"Ok."

Then I thought, when is the crossing over point when we no longer desire to be big and prefer to be considered young and petite? Age 16? Age 25? I don't remember. Probably when the breasts lose their perk and the facial collagen gets looser. I know I wouldn't like it if someone called me an "old fart" or "big girl." So I guess all is fair. "Knock it off kids and just get along because I've got a mountain of laundry to fold."

and there's more... one load in the washer and another in the dryer. I want to live in a nudist colony.

The Rescue

2008-05-06T23:31:00.005-04:00

As I rummaged through the toys in the playroom, I came across Woody. I was wondering why I didn't see him during the yard sale because I was sure I had put him in the yard sale box. I also thought it strange that the Cinderella carriage didn't sell. Now I realize that it must have been used for the rescue.

In the eyes of a child

2008-05-06T23:15:00.003-04:00

I took Emily out shopping tonight. It was a little mother, daughter bonding time. We went to Goodwill to see if any of our stuff that we donated was on the shelves yet. We didn't see anything. Then we went to Walmart. We shopped for a couple of hours. I bought her a big ice cream cone from the McDonald's inside of the Walmart. She was thrilled and ate the entire thing. On the way home she saw that the car clock said 10:04. She was surprised to see that there were other cars on the road. She said, "Mommy, why are there so many people out at 10:04? They should be in bed!"

Ultimate Bed Head

2008-05-05T21:32:00.002-04:00

However, his hair looks like that all day, not just in the morning. No joke.

I'm converting

2008-05-04T21:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to the local Walmart Supercenter to pick up some wipes, diapers, and Pull-ups. I decided since I was already there, I might as well do my grocery shopping. As I shopped I realized how much cheaper a lot of the items were. For example, the milk was $3.40 compared to $4.19, the bread was $1.54 compared to $1.69, and the cheese was $7.34 compared to $7.99. I felt disloyal to my favorite grocery store, where it's a pleasure to shop, so on my way home I stopped by the shopping plaza to order some Dominos pizza. While I waited for my pizza I went to the grocery store to give it a little snuggle. I began the weaning process and purchased a couple bags of barley, toilet seat covers, Hefty ziplocs (can't beat those BOGO sales), and some perfume and dye free detergent for my poor eczematic Sarah. Also, I bought a reusable shopping bag bearing the store's logo as a souvenir of my regular shopping days there. I'll miss you, grocery store!

"50 % More! Than our 8 oz. Package"

During my shopping at Walmart I came across this package of cheese. Ok, so....thanks for doing the math for me, Sargento. I almost needed my calculator for that one. The 12 oz. package actually cost more per ounce than the 8 oz. package. My husband calls it "evil marketing." They must be marketing toward the dumb housewife. I'm no dumb housewife, but I bought it anyway so I could take a picture of it.

Oh and happy half birthday to Bradley!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

2008-05-03T17:05:00.000-04:00

Today we had a Yard Sale. It went well. I dreaded the whole process of getting up at 5 am to set up and dealing with bargainers, but I was pleasantly surprised that most people accepted my prices. I grossed $217 and netted $186.50 after the cost of advertising, and sign supplies. I suppose it was worth my time considering that now I don't have to haul a desk, dresser, office chair, and grill to Goodwill. I felt a little exposed having all of my junk displayed in my yard. But hey, people were willing to give me money for it. Only a couple of people tried to talk me down in price for some items. I was asking $2 each for two Lord of the Rings DVDs. One lady tried to get them for a dollar a piece. I said, "No, I'm going to stick to $2," because it was like only 8am. Sure enough about 5 minutes later some other lady came along and bought them for $2 each. I also discovered that I have some sales skills. I convinced a guy to buy my broken DVD player for $0.50 and another lady to take my scanner that was missing it's power cord for $1. One big item that I couldn't get rid of was our 5 year old gas grill. I was only asking $3 for it. But at 4pm after the sale was all cleaned up, some little hispanic man came knocking at my door and said, "You said three dollar for the uh...?" I said, "Yes!" and took the three ones he handed me and the grill was gone. I love the concept of yard sales - people paying you to haul away your junk!

Orphaned or neglected?

2008-05-02T21:29:00.004-04:00

Do Max and Ruby have parents?

Maximum weight: 11 lbs.

2008-05-01T21:20:00.002-04:00

Rachel has exceeded the 11 lb. maximum weight on my postage scale. Now she weighs EEEEEE.

I don't hate many things, but I HATE cockroaches. I think one of the first questions I'm going to ask when I get to heaven is, "Was it really necessary to create roaches?" Seriously, what's their purpose?

Dairy Queen

2008-04-30T12:44:00.000-04:00

Frustrated with my lack of milk flow today I got out the breast pump. Intrigued with my dairying, my older kids intently watched my boob get vaccumed by the electic pump. They asked, "Mommy what are you doing?" I explained the process and then Wendy came over and said in her high pitched munchkin voice, "Mommy, what you doing? You making ice cream?"

A couple of this week's memories

2008-04-29T23:02:00.002-04:00

1. Emily broke a light bulb at the grocery store on Saturday. Ok. No big deal, but it had to be the most expensive gigantic $7.99 light bulb. It made a huge loud popping noise. Emily cried. I told her not to feel too bad. It was the store's fault for stacking it precariously on the shelf and GE's fault for not making more durable packaging. Thankfully we did not have to pay for it.

2. We made homemade ice cream for our Monday night activity. The recipe called for 4 cups of heavy whipping cream. Needless to say it was super creamy and it made my lips feel greasy after eating it. Daddy commented that he did not like it, so the kids decided that they did not like it as well. Now I have a quart of lip gloss in my freezer.

More Dumb Criminals

2008-04-28T21:11:00.004-04:00

Today when I was grabbing a load of laundry from the hamper I heard some change jingling. A little annoyed that my husband didn't empty his pockets, I began searching through the clothes. It took me about 2 seconds to discover the broken piggy bank and 9 quarters buried beneath a couple of my husband's shirts. What in the world?

"Bradley?"

"Coming, Mommy!"

As I held the broken piggy bank, he walked in and tears welled up in his eyes. I didn't give him too much of a hard time. I asked him what happened and he explained that he jumped off the bed and it broke.

"Ok. So you put it in my hamper?"

Nod.

Seriously? The hamper? Why not put it somewhere like behind the washing machine, or under the duvet in the linen closet, or in my bottom dresser drawer, or in the bread machine? At least put it somewhere that I won't find it for another 2-6 months. I am comforted in knowing that my son will never lead a successful life in crime.

I guess I will have to take another trip to Arizona.

Scripture Yoga

2008-04-27T23:45:00.001-04:00

Emily came home from church with this picture.

Weird!

It's either implying that you should do yoga while reading the scriptures or that scripture reading is one of the leading causes of childhood obesity, enormous feet, and crazy hair.

Learning to Read

2008-04-27T22:41:00.002-04:00

Teaching Sarah to read has been more difficult than the first two kids. Today I was working with Sarah using some early reader books. The first one was about a hen. Sarah asked me, "What's a hen?" I told her that a hen was a girl chicken. When we got to the page that read, "A red pet hen," I pointed to the words as Sarah attempted to read:

"A"
"red"
"pet"
"girl chicken!"

Good enough! Good job, Sarah."

Blast to the Past

2008-04-26T22:27:00.005-04:00

I was going through old digital photos tonight comparing Rachel with her sisters at 3 months of age. I came across this picture of Sarah drinking a Big Gulp bottle.

Picture taken May 28, 2004

(It's only fair to post old baby photos from my pre-blogging years.)

Rachel Update

2008-04-25T20:25:00.001-04:00

Yep! She's still got that crazy tongue.

Sarah, the inventor

2008-04-24T20:46:00.006-04:00

Sarah was building with Mega Blocks after she got ready for bed.

"Mommy, you know what this is?"
Looking at the randomly built plastic colored blocks, "No. What?"
"Guess!"
"Um...an ice cream machine?"
"No!"
"Um...a helicopter?"
"Noo!"
"A popcorn popper?"
"Nooo!"
"Can I have a hint?"
"It's for moms, dads, kids, and babies."
"Oh, a soda machine?"
"No. It's very bigger."
"Can I have another hint?"
"It has a pumper."
"A homework machine?"
"No!!! It's for moms, dads, kids, and babies."
"I don't know. I give up."
Pointing to her forehead, "Mommy, you have to think!"
Dang kid! Stop putting so much pressure on me! "I don't know. Another hint?"
"It's very bigger, it gots things, and it's not a helicopter or a soda machine."
"Oohh. Things. How about a toy picker upper?"
"Ok, Mommy. I'll tell you. You pump it," as she demonstrated the up and down motion of the 4 peg green Mega Block, "and you put it behind your bed and it makes it comfy!"
"Wow! What a great invention, Sarah. "

I was totally going to guess a comfy bed maker next.

Then we went through the whole process again with her next invention. This time it was an invention only for kids. I was guessing until Daddy yelled, "Last one to bed is a rotten egg!"
Then Sarah looked at me and said with a serious face, "Mommy, I have to go to bed now."
"Sarah, are you going to tell me what it is?"
Looking over her shoulder she said very seriously, "Mommy, I have to go to bed. I'll tell you when it's morning."

A good inventor never shares her secrets. Her mother might steal the patent while she is sleeping.

FYI

2008-04-23T21:37:00.000-04:00

5 year old boys like to randomly plug things in. I guess I shouldn't have left my Sterilite plastic container on the electric griddle. (That's dirt from the plants I had in the container.)