James Joyce Knows Motherhood

“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”
— Agatha Christie

such a beautiful quote on motherhood

yesterday my day was more like this quote

“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world, a mother’s love is not.”
— James Joyce

emphasis on the dunghill

I came back from work yesterday, said goodbye to the babysitter, and told my daughter I needed to “go potty.” Yes, I am a grown woman who says “go potty” probably 20 times a day – even in reference to myself.

Caroline took off like a rocket towards my bathroom. She grabbed the kid potty out from under the sink and set it on the floor. We are not potty training her. She just found the potty stored under there one day and takes it out every once in awhile.

She took off her pants and made it clear she wanted to take off her diaper. I helped her, humoring her since I needed to change her diaper anyway. She wanted to take her shirt off but I refused. Just for the record, no one else takes their shirt off here when going to the bathroom.

I realized I didn’t have a clean diaper so I walked around the corner to get one.

When I walked back in I found this…

Poop.At first my eyes to brain connection wasn’t working. I couldn’t figure out what the pile was on the ground. When I suddenly made the connection…

Oh Sh*t!

LITERALLY!

I calmly grabbed her, cleaned her up – this included taking off her shirt which was now dirty (I should have listened to her about taking off her shirt), her dirty socks (she had managed to run all around the room in the 5 seconds I was gone), and her body.

I cleaned up the mess and put her down for her nap.

All rather calmly if I do say so myself.

An hour later I found another pile of it in my the closet……on the carpet.

My Very First Giveaway!

I thought the best way to celebrate my first guest posting was to have my first giveaway. When I told my husband he said, “Wait a minute…shouldn’t we think about this.” I told him to relax and not to worry. It’s not like I was planning on giving away our car or even his flannel pj’s…although on second thought. No, no I’ll stick with the plan.

What I am giving away is one completed coupon box of activity cards.

Activity Card Holder with pencils, eraser, and pencil sharpner.The winner will receive 48 activity cards, 3 pencils, 1 pencil sharpener, and 1 eraser.

In case you are not familiar with my activity coupon box, go here to read about my idea.

Here are the ways you can enter:

1 entry if you make a comment on this post

1 additional entry if you are a follower (leave a comment to let me know)

*You have until Sunday Jan 16 to enter*

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

Listening Around the House

“Poopy face”

“Go poop in a bucket, pooper”

“Why did the chicken cross the road?…to get poop”

What? You are not laughing hysterically?

You must not be an 8 and under boy.

The above is what life at my house is like right now.

Wait till I introduce them to: defecation, excrement, stool, and dung.

Then we’ll really be having good times.

Just Like her Brothers

Caroline loves Alex and Andrew more than anything in this world.

She also has a love for clothes.

She is always trying to take things off the rack and try them on in stores.

Folding laundry at home with her is difficult because she’s always trying to put things on.

Today she insisted on combining her 2 loves.

caroline in alex's underwearI drew the line when it was time to leave the house.

The Best Made Plans

Derek and I have had today scheduled for weeks as a designated “Santa Works Around the House & Helps Mrs. Claus finish Christmas shopping and wrapping day”. He was planning on taking the day off from work and help with the above. Boy oh boy I have had plenty of plans for projects just brewing in my head.

And then Friday Alex gets sick.

Why do they always get sick on a Friday afternoon?

Is it their way of avoiding the doctor but still ruining your weekend? Perhaps a little harsh.

So the whole weekend Alex was sick. He was mopey, tired, lethargic, running a high fever.

Out the window went Angel shopping, seeing Santa ice skate & do back flips, going out to eat, and visiting Santa.

Monday when he woke up he immediately started to complain that his throat hurt. It looked red to me but the fact that he was literally wrestling with Andrew made me question the seriousness of the problem.

So Derek and I pondered and pondered, “Should he go to school?”

I decided to take him to the doctor. I immediately started second guessing my decision since he was singing, laughing, and hopping around in the parking lot.

Turns out he has strep throat. With lots of energy.

Doctor said he can’t go back to school until Wednesday.

Now what are Santa & Mrs. Claus going to do about their day? Mrs. Claus is pretty sure she is going to ban Alex to his bedroom from 1-3 so that serious Santaring can get done.

Two days home. These are the only days Alex has been absent from school all year.

I think he knew the plan and wanted to be an elf.

Self-Sufficient?

Yesterday morning Caroline woke up early.

As she was cruising around the house I was doing some laundry.

I suddenly became aware that I hadn’t seen her for awhile.

Worse yet. It was quiet.

Quiet = Trouble

So I went looking for her.

As I rounded the corner of my bedroom I noticed the fridge door was open.

This is what I saw.

caroline eating out of fridgeShe was helping herself to left over doughnuts in the fridge.

caroline doughnutSelf-sufficient:

1. Able to provide for oneself without the help of others; independent

2. Having undue confidence; smug

3. Caroline

Influences from the Past

I only ever remember lacking two things when growing up. Other than those two things I had an amazing childhood.

We had a house of 6 people – 4 girls, 2 boys. We were constantly going through supplies and my mom made runs to Sam’s or Schwegmann’s all the time. But…we were always out of toilet paper.  I have used thousands of napkins in a way not intended by their manufacturers. When we would get to the point of using napkins, my dad would always go out for toilet paper.

For some reason he would always come back with one roll!  I never could understand it. We had two working bathrooms and he would still just come home with 1 roll of toilet paper. So before the night was over we were back to napkins.

Besides toilet paper we always ran low on toothpaste. A countless number of times we would have cut open the tube and would scrap our toothbrushes in there..for days. It didn’t always happen but it happened enough to make an impression on me.

As a result of these memories, I currently have no less than 24 rolls of toilet paper and probably 5 tubes of toothpaste in my house. You never know when you might run out.

Well fear not, I too am making my children obsessive about something.

I don’t know what it is but I hate buying socks. The thought of spending money on socks drives me crazy. I would rather wash and rewash two good pairs of socks then buy another pack.

But recently this is what I heard, “Mom I need new socks.” “Mom, there are holes in all of my socks.” “Moooooommmmm, I can’t find any socks.”

I don’t know what they are talking about.

sock feetIn fairness, I would like to say that not all socks find the laundry bucket. In the last day I have found socks in random places – under the TV table, under a bed, 3 on the playroom floor, 2 in the car, 1 on the stairs, and 1 on our entry way ledge which is at least 15 feet off the ground. Why would a sock possibly be up there you ask? Alex: “But Mom, I needed a football and couldn’t find my football so I used my sock.” So you see, I only accept 50% off the blame.

So the other day during our Christmas shopping we went out to buy socks. Each boy got 6 pairs of socks of their choosing. I’m sure when they are old enough they will each have 63 pairs of socks in their drawer.

No family… you do not need to give my boys socks for Christmas. Nor do I need any toilet paper or toothpaste.

Obsessions anyone?