You Don't Have To Be A Pinterest Mom

 

It's been a while. Life has gotten away from me these last couple of weeks.
I've been busy weaning my nine month old daughter the last several days. There has been crankiness and tears.... from both of us. (wink)
I praise God for the nine months that I got to nourish my daughter and the special bond it created between us.

Something that has become a mild obsession of mine is Pinterest. I LOVE the information that I can find so easily with just typing in a few words. As a mom, that is key. Time is money (as the saying goes) but for me, time is sanity. The less amount of time that something takes me to do, the better.

With having three kids ages 3 and under, I am ALWAYS on the lookout for something fun to do with them. Something that will keep their attention span for more than 5 minutes and maybe even keep them busy on their own for a while. Those dirty dishes, clothes, toilets etc won't clean themselves!!

I was 8 months pregnant with Miss Boo and desperate for a new activity when I stumbled upon cloud dough.

It seemed like a God send at the time. It only took 2 ingredients, and I was thrilled to see that I had them on hand. I mixed it up with Bear and Bunkin at my heals, excited to see Mommy stirring a concoction of messiness in our laundry basket.

I put everything in our bathtub and watched as they had a BLAST!! I was feeling very pleased with myself. I was this laid back, relaxed mom who cared more about her boys having fun then the HUGE mess it was creating.

By the time I convinced them that they were done, I was totally exhausted. I gave them baths in our other bathtub and left the "little" mess for Daddy to clean up when he came home. I figured what more could he expect from his 8 months pregnant wife who also had a prolapsed uterus??? To be honest, the boys were lucky that they even got baths at all. :)

When Daddy did come home, he was a little surprised by the mess, but fully understanding why I didn't feel up to cleaning it myself. Well, he was until he tried to tackle it.
Since it had set for a while, the cloud dough had hardened into this horribly ridiculous goop that was all over our bathtub, laundry basket, toilet, bath toys, and floor. It took way more than a little elbow grease to clean it all up.

My husband is no dummy. You don't mess with an extremely miserable pregnant woman. This was his third baby after all. He kindly but firmly got his point across to me that in the future cloud dough would be an outside activity only. I agreed, although I haven't made it since.

In a way, this was my first Pinterest Fail. Yes my kids loved it, but I still haven't lived it down with the hubby ;)


My next Pinterest Fail happened more recently. I came across this wonderful crafty woman's blog and immediately saw something that I HAD to make for my boys.

A DIY Toy Car Wash made out of a diaper box. I definitely had plenty of those on hand and I just new how much fun they would have with it.
I stayed up til well past midnight the night before making this thing. It looked NOTHING like the one on the blog looked, but I figured, they're kids, they'll like it no matter what.

And they did like it.... for a half an hour. The flimsy thing broke on me. The thing I slaved over for an hour an a half had the gull to fall apart on me.

I'm really not a terrible mom who just takes pictures of her children crying. I was taking it in disbelief to send to my husband and poor Bunkin started crying. :( 

I came to a conclusion.
I am not a crafty mom. Oh I'd love to be, but I'm not.
I'd also love to have a perfectly clean house all the time.
I'd love to have little birdies and woodland creatures come and help me clean it.
I'd love to be upbeat and put together all the time.
I'd love to NEVER raise my voice to my kids.
I'd love to have a perfect marriage.
I'd love to take a shower every day (wink)
I'd love a lot of things.

But the truth of the matter is, I'm me. And that's all I can be.

I love simple, silly, imaginative play. It comes natural to me.
Here are some things that we have been up to lately in that category.

Fishing with tent poles for their toys. Bear had watched a Curious George where they had went fishing and he had become very interested in fishing. I was able to talk to him about the logistics and came up with this silly game for them to play.

Three little pigs role play. The story that was read when we went to the library (you can read more about that in "Library Story Time = Death") was "The Three Little Pigs". I found a box and had Bear and Bunkin use their tools to pretend build their houses. I was the big bad wolf and would knock their houses down, obviously until the very end. When Daddy came home, he wanted in on the fun. :)

Using a box as our TV.  I My kids watch Rugrats. It was one of my favorites growing up, and they really like it too! Do you remember the episode where they make a box into their pretend TV? Well we've seen it, and so out same a box again. Bear and Bunkin enjoyed hours or pretending to put on their own shows for everyone.

Using boxes as pretend towns. If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for boxes. You can dream up for it to be literally anything and everything. My sons love to dress up and one of their favorites is the Melissa and Doug cowboy costume. I can't say enough about how much I love their dress up products. They are VERY durable which is a must in this household. You can find this particular outfit here ----> http://www.melissaanddoug.com/cowboy-role-play-costume-set
Bear loves to dress up in this and catch Mommy and Bunkin. the "bad guys", by chasing us around and around the town.
By the way, if your in need of a box for play, I'll gladly sell you one ;)

A beans sensory tub. This is a hit for all three of my kids (I watch Miss Boo with hawk eyes) It's amazing how long this will keep them occupied. Just give them some dump trucks, bowls and measuring cups and they will stay busy with this for a good hour.


I think us as Mom's can start to feel very pressured by Pinterest. Yes there are millions of great ideas on there, but you have to remember to be yourself.
Figure out what comes naturally to you, and use that to your advantage when it comes to things you do with your kids. Trust me, your kids won't be disappointed if you play with them with a box or a tub of beans for an hour. They'll just be thrilled that their Mamma, the most amazing woman in the world to them, is playing with THEM!!!



What do you enjoy doing with your kids??

Mommy Drivers

 

I'm sure we've all heard the saying, you need to watch out for women drivers. I had always taken GREAT offense to that statement. Why are women getting stuck a bad rep?? I know that I am personally a better driver than my husband... at least in my opinion... (wink)
So I never understood..... until I had children.

The saying should really be watch out for MOMMY drivers.

When we first brought all of our little bundles of joy home from the hospital, you would think that we were being tested to get our drivers license for the first time. We went the exact speed limit, came to a complete stop at every stop sign, and watched everything else around us with hawk eyes.

But inevitably, life happens. My once over protective driving has now become a slightly watered down version of a NASCAR driver.

It's not that I've planned it this way. I have good intentions, honestly I do. But just ask anyone who knows us very well and they will tell you that we are either RIGHT on time, or late. Every time.

Let me be straight with you. Sometimes I wonder which is easier, giving birth, or getting three kids out the door. Considering that all of my labors normally make other woman a little cranky with me because they were so easy, I'm tempted to side with it.

Morning appointments/things to do are the worst. And yet I schedule it that way every time in hopes that the COVETED nap time may possibly happen later on. I normally try to let my children sleep in as much as possible before waking them up. No one likes grumpy kids and I am definitely not the exception. To be honest, I am not a great planner. Just ask my husband. I once forgot to bring plates to Bunkin's gender reveal party, and had to call my mother-in-law to stop at Dollar General and get some on the way to the party... yeah not my best moment. I'll blame it on pregnant brain...
So since I'm terrible at planning, I almost always end up waking them up later than I should, thus adding to the craziness.

That would by my mom and sister

So there I am, trying to change three diapers, convince Bear to get himself dressed, get the other two dressed, nurse Miss Boo, get cereal and sippies, and trying to find a show that both Bear and Bunkin will agree on. It's been WWIII here lately.

Mommy confession- Oh yes, I let my children watch TV while they are eating their breakfast. Not all of the time, but especially when I am trying to get ready. Trust me, it is best for everyone.

And then comes the diaper bag. I have to pack extra outfits (because you know the one time you don't, you'll need it) diapers, wipes, pacies, bottles, formula, baby food, books, cars, a rattle (Miss Boo's favorite toy right now) and so on and so forth. I really should start packing myself an extra outfit too. It's pretty much a proven fact by this point that I will get either spit up, pee or poop on me somewhere at some point.

So everyone's dressed and the diaper bag's packed and it's time to get shoes and coats on. By this point I am looking at the time on my phone and trying to hurry things along.
I have a theory. Shoes and socks have it out for us. They play games with us to make us go crazy!!!
Do you REALLY believe that your dryer eats your socks??? How ludicrous does that sound? And yet they disappear all the same.

 And why is it that ONE toddler shoe likes to go missing periodically?? I certainly didn't move it. My toddlers promise they didn't. I think they must walk off on their own... I mean they are shoes and all.

After finding the lost shoe, I take two separate trips to get my kids to the van. I have tried doing it all in one trip, but at least one person falls down (sometimes it's even me) or the kids like to gallivant around. I buckle us all in, and that's when I remember I forgot to brush Bear and Bunkin's teeth and put deodorant on myself. Oops!!!
Side note: A VERY smart friend of mine keeps a stick of deodorant in her van for such occasions. I am soooo stealing this idea.

Then commences the driving. In all reality, I am even more talented then a professional NASCAR driver. Do they have to deal with 50 questions?
"Mommy where are we going?"
"Mommy, where is Daddy?"
"Mommy why is the sky blue?"
"Mommy where do babies come from?"
And Bunkin's favorite line "VEGGIETALES!!!" at the top of his lungs.

NO they don't!!

Do they sing Jesus Loves Me, stop fights, put a pacey in a sweet babies mouth that is crying, and pass out snacks?? Again, no. I'm sure I'm the ONLY mother who ever has to deal with these sort of crazy/sweet interruptions. So go ahead and pat yourself on your back, I know you want to.

 

 

 

 

 

I do my best (truth be told I grimace if I go 5 over the speed limit) to get to our destination. If I'm checking in somewhere five minutes late, I want to tell the receptionist just why I am five minutes late. Not for their benefit, but for mine.

So after writing all of this I have some goals for myself.

1. TRY to pack the diaper bag the night before. It is something my husband and I discuss quite often. But to be honest, I am always so tired by the time we get the kids to bed that I decide to pack it in the morning.
2. Read more about time management. It has always been something that I've liked to read about. Who doesn't want to learn more about how to schedule their time better? Time is such a precious gift.
3. Reread this blog post on occasion. The more I remind myself what my mornings could look like, the more motivation I'll have to do something about it!!

What about you?? Can you laugh in agreement? ;)

Everyone is Broken

I wasn't planning on writing this. But when God's spirit gets a hold of me and tells me to do something, I do it. It is different than most of the posts I have written so far. Eventually I wanted to write about even more topics on my blog, but like I said, God is saying now.

Broken. It is the one word that keeps playing over and over in my head tonight.
There are many different things that can make us broken.

Rejection, Abuse, Alcoholism, Betrayal, Rape, Lies, Divorce, Murder, Drugs, Depression, Guilt, the list can go on and on.

The truth of the matter is, everyone is broken from something. So if you are broken from something in your past that you have done or has been done to you, trust me, you are not alone.

Library Story Time = DEATH!!!

Sometimes I wonder why God gave women only two arms.

Two arms?? I know we're created in his image, but sometimes I wish that I was created more in the image of the octopus.. or even a spider. (Yes I have problems ;) )
8 arms!! How amazing would that be!!

Or.. maybe you would earn your 8 arms when you become a mother.
The doctor would say, "Congratulations Lindsey. Here's your beautiful bundle of joy, and I see your 8 arms are growing in nicely. Yes, it looks ridiculous, but believe me, they'll come in "handy". (And then the doctor would laugh at his corny joke that he cracks every time while the nurses roll their eyes.)

But alas, two arms we have, and two arms we have to learn to multitask with.

My two arms were put to the test a few months ago. I decided to take Bear, Bunkin and Miss Boo to the library story time for the first time. A wonderful friend of mine that I go to church with, has four kids and she takes her youngest two to story time each week. I thought if she can do it, I can do it!
HA! Famous last thoughts!

Why I Want To Homeschool

Homeschooling
The very word is wired with controversy.
EVERYONE has an opinion about it. From your husband all the way to the nosey lady in the check out line.
It wouldn't be so bad if all they had were opinions, but it seems that everyone thinks their opinion is the ONLY right one.

I'm here to tell you that is NOT the case.

I first got interested in the "idea" of homeschooling by watching the big family we all know and love, the Duggars. I was completely fascinated with the fact that one women could homeschool that many kids, and not only did the seem to learn something, but they were really smart and well behaved.

I started digging into my Bible to see what the big man himself had to say about teaching your children. That's when I stumbled across this...

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NIV


Wow!! When I found this scripture I was pregnant with my second child, but I already knew what God was calling me to do. If you've ever felt "called" to do something by God, you know EXACTLY what I mean. You get this deep overwhelming sense of purpose, plus excitement and chills. At least that's how God operates with this Momma.
It was as if I could hear him saying, "Lindsey!! I want YOU to teach them about me. I want them to learn about life and all of the skills they need, but I want your main focus to be teaching them about me."

I had to then question myself. How could I do that if I sent them to a public school everyday? I knew the answer. With how strong of a calling that God has placed on my heart, I knew I couldn't.
That's when the fear came.

 

Me?? I'm certainly NOT qualified to teach my children. This is their education we're talking about. I'm sure I'm going to mess it up somehow.

And that's when God started steering me towards different homeschooling books and blogs. The fear started to melt away and I started to get, dare I say, excited!!! The thought of getting to teach my children in a relaxed manner where WE were in control of their days and curriculum started to sound amazing.
Call me a geek if you want, but I even started to get excited about learning WITH them. Pregnant/Mommy brain is a REAL thing, and the thought of getting my noggin filled back up with knowledge and not just how many teaspoons Bear/Bunkin/Miss Boo get of medicine, all the members of the Paw Patrol (including Chickaletta), and trying to recall where that last sippy could be hiding, sounded awesome.

                                        

This brings me back to my original point...
Homeschooling is not for everyone.

I truly believe that it has to be a calling. The personal sacrifices that the homeschooling parent has to make are not small. Could you imagine if every single mom/dad that you know had to homeschool their children? I think it's safe to say that the world would probably change, and not for the better.

I'm just starting to do preschool with Bear. So far it's been great :)





Am I still scared? Absolutely
Am I nervous? Very
Am I looking forward to this adventure?
YOU BET!

I have God on my side, and as long as I continue to listen to his direction for my family, we'll not only be alright, we'll thrive!!


What direction is God leading for your family? I'd love to hear all about it :)

The Family Dinner Table



It's amazing how the ordinary table sitting in your kitchen or dining room can be SO important.

 

 

Our kitchen table (yes that is a cordless sweeper in the corner. I'm no dummy :) )

 

According to an article published in January from the Washington Post, not only is the family dinner time a very powerful predictor of high achievement scores in older children, it also helps younger children learn vocabulary better than being read aloud to!!!
It is an emotional stabilizer in children, promotes healthy family relationships, and on average, children's diets are better.
You can read more about this here----- http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/12/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-with-your-kids-eat-dinner-with-them/

I don't know about you, but that is a little intimidating to me. 
We know the facts and statistics, so of course we want to do as many family dinners at the table as possible right??

When I think about the perfect family dinner I think about this..

 

                                                           Ok, a little old fashioned, but still.

Or..

 

Something like this.

 



 

Family dinners should ALWAYS look something along the lines of that right??

 

HA!!

 

News flash. If your family dinners normally look like that, we need to get together and chat let me brutally interview you.

No really...

 

I don't know about you, but I think it's possible to hate a certain time of the day.. because I do! 4:00 pm, the hour before Daddy normally arrives home, is pure EVIL!!!!

 

                                              

                                                  This is actually 5:00 but you get the picture ;)

 

 

I've tried ALL of the ideas out there to keep the kids happy and entertained while I make dinner, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've learned you just have to put your head down and bull rush through.

 

By the time Daddy comes walking through the door, Mommy is more than ready for reinforcements.

 

A short time (who am I kidding, sometimes it's a LONG time later) dinner is ready. Bear and Bunkin come shrieking into the kitchen as though I haven't fed them in days. After multiple orders of them to stop hanging onto me and to get into their chairs, they do.

 

Then the fun begins.

 

"Bear, use your fork!!"

 

"Bunkin, get back in your chair."

 

"I'm going to take your drink away if you don't stop drinking and start eating."

 

"Okay, that's it, your drink is gone."

 

"Stop crying about it or you're going to time out!"

 

"Look it's Daddy's turn to eat a piece of broccoli, now it's Mommy's, now it's Bear's, now it's Bunkin's."

 

"Dear Jesus please help this broccoli to not hurt Miss Boo's stomach later. I totally forgot and ate some."

 

"How was your day honey?"

 

"Wait, I can't hear you over the noise."

 

"QUIET!! Mommy's talking!!!!!!!"

 

"Miss Boo, I am trying to shovel food into your little mouth as fast as Mommy can, but I'm hungry too!!"

 

"We do NOT bang our forks on the table!!"

 

"What did you do today?" (Daddy says to Bear)

 

(Bear) "Nothing!" (Mommy bangs her head on the table. I guess all of the time I spent on   preschool, play dough, playing cars, singing songs, tickle fights, coloring, etc was all for naught! lol)

 

 

But then, everything stops and priorities are set straight when my sweet 2 year old Bunkin says one word. His favorite word right now that he says all of the time.

 

JESUS

 

 

Bunkin

 

 

Because you see, through all of the spilled milk, tantrums, headaches from the noise level and all the other craziness, I know I must be doing something right! 

 

I don't care what anyone else says, if you have children, dinner time is HARD!!

I can attest that some of the time I wonder why I even spend my time cooking when more than half of my toddlers plates end up in the trash.

But that's not what it's all about. It's about connecting.

Connecting with each other, and with God.

 

We have started a tradition of teaching our children Bible memory verses and the Books of the Bible in order. I work with them at breakfast and lunch, and Daddy gets to hear their progress at dinner.

 

So if NOTHING else good happens at the dinner table that night, we at least are striving to instill biblical knowledge and truths into the hearts and minds of our children.

 

I would encourage you to do the same. It's not that hard, and it's totally worth it.

 

     

           Bear saying the books of the Bible he knows so far

 

So keep at it Mamma's. I know it can be tough, but take courage, you're not in this alone.

 

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

 

 

Daddy (giving Bear a look) holding Miss Boo because she was NOT happy

 

 

Bear

 

 

 

 

So what about you? Do you eat family dinners at the table??

 

Do you have any tried and true ways of making things go as smooth as possible??

 

 

 



The WIC Appointment

It was that time again.

It baffles me how I can have such a love/hate relationship with a simple appointment, and yet it's true.

The morning started off as normal... pure CHAOS!!

Having three kids ages three and under = lot's of premature gray hair, I promise, you can come count them.

The appointment started at 10:15 so with the usual amount of this 

Bear and Bunkin fighting

And this...

We finally made it out to the van.

By that time I was already sweating profusely and wondering why I couldn't be more like one of "those" moms. You know, the one's who get their children out the door and buckled into their car seats with the ease of breathing?

I chugged down half of my only water bottle, and pushed away thoughts of how "those" moms would of had filtered water in their stainless steel water bottles. 

My sweet sister had agreed to help me during our appointment. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm a little crazy. You'd have to be to have so many kids in a row, but I'm not a complete lunatic. I know my limits and long appointments with all three kids is a BIG no no.

The appointment was going as I expected. Two dirty diapers, a fussy Miss Boo, multiple trips to the bathroom for Bear, and a slightly frazzled Mama.

Then the last 10 minutes hit.

The bag of goldfish I had found in the diaper bag to bribe keep my two toddlers quiet was starting to run a little on the low side. Couple that with the fact that the WIC lady was talking about my children's BMIs and diets.... well I got the hint. 

I tried to hide the bag of goldfish under my chair, but Bear was to smart for that. While I was chatting it up with the women, he army crawled under the chair and grabbed a handful. I caught him, and tried to pull him out from under the chair without it resembling any sort of abuse. Of course he released ALL of his goldfish all around the room. I let go of him and him and Bunkin feasted upon their loot.

By that point, the lady said, "You sure are busy aren't you!?"
I wanted to say, "Ya think!!", but politely, said "Yeah."

She then went on the ask me about my diet while I was bouncing the crying Miss Boo on my knee and the other two were fighting over the last goldfish. 
I wanted to say, "Lady, do you really want to know about my diet? It exists of whatever I can shove down my throat before someone needs me, and LOTS of chocolate which I eat hiding in the corner of our kitchen.

FINALLY the appointment was over!!! I was ready to get out of there. We zipped multiple zippers, secured hats, and packed up the now gone goldfish bag and empty sippies and headed to the van.

After loading all of the kids in and sweating profusely for the second time that day, I looked at my sister and said, "See you later," and got in the van.

To my surprise, she opened the passenger door and said, "Uh Lindsey, you're my ride!!" And with that I burst into hysterical laughter.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you know that you have most assuredly lost it.

You're not just hanging on by a thread, you've done gone and flipped your rocker.

So... what can you gain from all of this?

Know how lucky you are if you are also apart of the WIC program. We are so fortunate to live in a country that provides such a service for their young families.

Also, make sure and bring carrot sticks and water to your next appointment.

I know I sure will!