Thankful

I am thankful for a lot of things. Most of all, my family and the chance to be with most of them for the holiday, but as we were driving back from St. George this year and we were approaching Beaver, I couldn't help but remember the trauma from last year's drive home. So, I am also very thankful that we arrived home safely -without any damage to the car.

Positive Reinforcement

Before, I get into my next little segment, let me just begin by saying that I love being a mother. I do. However, it is really hard. It is a thankless and exhausting job that I usually feel like I am not doing particularly well no matter how hard I try or work at it. I get lots of "You hate me", or "you are a meanie!", and whining and complaining and so forth. And I am the first to admit that dividing my time 5 ways has been a struggle. Most of the time I feel like I am barely holding it all together (or that I'm not at all.) However, every once in awhile one of the kids surprises me. Like when I was pulling all of the papers and things out of Jonas' backpack and found this book that he had made at school about dragons and magic and stuff. I opened it and found this dedication at the front:

(Sorry for the poor photo quality - it says, "to Mom and Dad for putting the magic in my life")

Well...maybe I'm doing OK after all. (And I don't mean to say that I don't ever get positive reinforcement in this role, because I do. Listening to my kids play and laugh or seeing their faces light up when they see me, their sweet hugs and sweet words make it all worth it. But getting a little extra doesn't hurt.)

Also, we are always working to teach our children to be good people, and often worry (based on their behavior) that we are failing miserably, but in this book, I got a little glimpse that maybe some of it has sunk in after all. Jonas wrote a "code of behavior". It says, "I want to be my best by being kind to other people, doing my best work, listening" (Oh, maybe there is hope!!!! If only being kind to other people could also include his sisters.) He also wrote: "1. Don't underestimate self, 2. Be proud of your work, 3. Stand up for others" Really, if Jonas could follow this code of behavior all the time, I would think he was doing a pretty good job.

Nothing like a little positive reinforcement to make me realize how blessed I am. I am so grateful to be a mom to these wonderful kids.

A Mall Hijacking

So, I was at the mall today (which thankfully is a relatively rare event). And as is usually the case when trying to reach a destination in the mall, I put my head down and moved as quickly as I could (with a stroller and a 3 year old) and tried to keep from making eye contact with any of the kiosk workers who might try to sell me something. But, at the end of my necessary errand, while carrying the baby and a shopping bag while still pushing the stroller, my defenses were down and I was caught.

The lady lured Duffy in with promises of giving her princess hair. (Of course, it didn't help that she was still dressed in her leotard and sparkly tutu from ballet.) Fine, sure, why not. So with her fancy curling iron, she gets to work. I'm sure that when she found out I had 3 girls all with lots of hair, she had found her target consumer audience. I nodded through all of her fancy talk about negative ion technology, beautiful, shiny curls, no heat damage, blah, blah blah. I'm bouncing a crying baby, trying to be nice. Meanwhile, Duffy is smiling and admiring her fancy hair in the big pink mirror the lady handed her. She starts telling me how much money I can save on salon visits by doing the hair myself. (Uh...this would only be true if there actually were salon visits. Hello, they are 8 and under. I don't even go to the salon.) Anyway, I tell her thank you and I will have to think about it. So she offers me her 30% employee discount. Then she tries to draw me in by throwing in a $75 bottle of hair serum - for free. (Now at least I'm starting to be slightly interested in her offer.) Then she starts whispering to me about how it's a little more complicated but she can make it look like the last person who bought a whole set, just added mine on as an extra - for a great 2 for 1 deal. Okay, isn't this getting to be just a little dishonest? But mostly I'm just thinking how grateful I am that my livelihood does not depend on me being able to make a sale from a kiosk in the mall. (No offense to anyone whose livelihood does depend on just such a sale - but for me it would be miserable.) In the end, I escaped the hijacking, without making a purchase - relatively unscathed even. (I am considering it - just like I said I would - just not very seriously. I can probably never get back to that great deal again, after all.) I lost a bit of my valuable time, but Duffy did still end up with her beautiful princess hair.

I'll let you know if the curls actually last for 2 whole days even after they've been combed. But the price is going to have to come down a bit before I actually consider buying it.

An Early Christmas Present

As a general rule, I don't like to get ahead of myself on holidays. No Christmas before Thanksgiving and so on. But for quite some time now, we have been suffering with a very slow computer. I have loved my iMac, but I've had it for 6 or 7 years, and we had maxed out the memory and who knows what else. So with the touch of every button, we have played the waiting game - never knowing just how long it would take for the computer to actually respond to the command. And too many commands at once or too many open windows would shut the whole thing down. We've been talking about a new computer for months, and something must have nudged Shawn a little. (He may have finally lost patience with the computer.) He decided we needed to go computer shopping, and once he makes that sort of decision, it's time to act, and so here we are with our early Christmas present - the new computer.It is of course, a new iMac, but the screen is huge. When I asked Shawn why I needed a screen this big, he just looked at me like I was nuts. Why wouldn't I need a screen this big? I was afraid the computer would overwhelm the space on my desk, but now that it's here I don't mind it.
The keyboard is much smaller and since everything is wireless, with no extra speakers, I actually have more desk space than I used to!

It's kind of like David and Goliath (only we like both David and Goliath in this story.) And I guess that now I can see what the kids are working on from clear across the room. Two iMacs - one for the kids and one for me (and Shawn). I think we're all happy with this, but I can't get the kids to stop playing with photobooth on my new computer!

7 Months Old

This post is about 2 weeks over due, since Peter turned 7 months on Halloween, but here it is. I can't believe this little guy is already this big. I can't believe how fast it has gone. He is such a sweet baby for the most part. He cries when he is hungry (you would think his heart is broken the way he cries if I decide to change his diaper before feeding him) and when he is left alone in a room. He just likes to have people around him I guess.

At 7 months, he sits up very well. He is very smiley and social. He refuses to take a bottle, and has decided he hates all baby food. He gags and chokes on whatever it is I try to get him to eat if it comes in a baby food container. It's getting pretty tough to feed him appropriate foods. He seems pretty interested in whatever we eat, but I don't really know if he's ready for pizza - although he seems to like the taste. Sleeping hasn't been going so great, but there has been some major improvement and I have hope again that we will all survive.
His first tooth just broke through 2 nights ago. I'm sad to see his sweet little toothless grin disappear, because it will never be the same, but I am still loving watching his personality emerge and I can't imagine our family with out him.

Hallelujah!

Everyone slept. All night. In their own beds. Now I have to take Megan to McDonalds, but it was worth the bribe just to get a little sleep.

Update #2

That's it!!!!  I'm moving out - at least for the nights.  Either that or giving away a couple of kids.  The 3 and under crowd are not earning their keep around here.  It's never good when you need a nap before 7 in the morning.