Stay at home Moms

I had to post this on my blog. I found it on Deanaland's blog. It explains to a T what a stay at home moms life is like all the time......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201554.html

Wednesday update and apology

I am sorry I didnt update yesterday. My internet is acting up and I dont even know if this will make it on here. I did not lose any more weight according to the scales, but I can get on a size smaller pants and a size smaller dress that I had hanging in my closet. Now keep in mind that they are not a very good fit but the fact that I can put them on and actually button them makes me happy. I did not get to walk very much last week because of all the rain and I have not purchased my DVD's for walking indoors yet. I found some that are supposed to be really good and want to try them but we have to put new tires on Pauls car this week and since he uses it to go to work I think they are more important than my DVD's dont you.

I started really trying with the school stuff this week. I have finally found enough energy and Kylie is all for it so we did some handwriting worksheets and worked with the letter A and Alaina colored with a red Crayon and Colored the letter A. It is so cute cause when I would ask her what color she had she would tell me ELMO.....well he is red at least she can match colors but hey, she is only two so what more can I expect since I havent really worked with her all that much.

Anyway, Jason's Colic has returned in full force so I have less time at nights now and since my days are so full of learning I may not post as much, I will try though. But if I dont, have patience......

Love and Prayers

Sunday

Note: please read note at bottom too.....



What can I say, It was a Sunday is a Sunday and I dont feel very religious right now. I found out today that most of my friends from Church are going to try and move to the town where their relatives live. Mostly for the money and partly because they found this Great Church down there. My question is what makes a Church great? My husband says it is mostly because they have a great leader. Okay I'll admit we dont have any great leaders around here in our churches. most of them just sit back and dont do anything AND THEN THEY WONDER WHY EVERYBODY LEAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Most of the reason that we go to Church where we do is because my husband is allowed to preach. See most Churches have this thing that he cant preach because he has been divorced and remarried. BIG DEAL....Yes I know that the Bible tells us not to put away our spouses, but he didnt put his away, she left him and took his son and he didnt see him for three months and she filed for divorce. So YOU TELL ME WHERE HE IS WRONG!!!!!! She put him away not the other way around.



Also we go there because at the Church that we previously attended, they had a big blow up because I wore pants to Church one sunday when I was pregnant with my second child. No one knew that I was pregnant yet but I plain did not feel like wearing a dress that day. They were not Jeans, they were nice dress pants and a nice shirt. They threw a fit. I personally believe that if you are going to wear a dress on Sunday and that that is your best, then you had better wear your best the rest of the week and wear dresses because Christ never said he would come back on Sunday and arent we supposed to be Christians every day of the week. I believe so. If I am wearing pants during the week but i change myself and my appearance to go to Church on Sunday and get all fixed up so people can see how nice I look then I AM GOING TO CHURCH FOR THE WRONG REASONS.....



But anyway, the realatives that these people are moving closer to, are the ones that started the Church that we attend now and they moved away and left it. When they left, there was another family attending that did not completely agree with myhusband preaching. The Sunday after they left, there was no one else to preach and so my husband preached. The other family left because of this. If they did not like it they should have spoke up then and The man in that family could have started preaching that day. but nope, they just left. Well now more people are leaving to go to this GREAT CHURCH.



I dont know what to do. I have tried in the past to get kids activities going and to have dinners and get stuff going to have more fellowship. Nothing happens. They say they want to but then when you suggest it nothing happens.



I am so frustrated right now. Come on MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.....You wonder why our branch of the Church of Christ is constantly downsizing in members and why we dont get anybody new and why the kids grow up and go away. OPEN YOUR EYES......If you dont do stuff to keep them in and interested , if they have to turn to the world or to other religions to get activites then we arent doing our jobs as CHRISTIANS........And further more if you hear sombody say that they arent getting anything out of Church, it probably mostly is because they are not putting their hearts into it. Yes the activities help but you have to put your heart into it. If your heart wants to be somewhere else because you think it would be better than what you got, then chances are you are not going to get anything out of Church. SO dont give me that i'm just not getting any thing line. And dont tell me what this other Church has that we dont, If we did the same things but your heart wasnt in it, then you still wouldnt get anything. So lets all as Christians PUT SOME HEART INTO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! see where we get withh that and then tell me that you dont get anything.......



Love and prayers.



NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont mean anything bad towards anyone about this, this is just how I feel and some truth about what we asChristians, Gods Children need to do to keep our Church strong. If I hurt Anyones Feelings, I am soory and I am apologizing ahead of time But if I hurtyour feelings, then you are probably one of those that needs to put some heart into it.....

Pictures of Daddy's and their babies.....

I found these pictures on my camera of My husband and our four kids and My brother in law and his baby girls pluse 2 of mine. I dont have a picture of any of my other brother in laws with them.....I dont know why...



yes I claim the Red Headed one as mine. But you tell me who all my kids look like....?
Kylie didnt quite make it into the picture and Claire was trying to get to daddy but they were all so excited over Baby Lily.


I dont think there is anything sweeter than this.......Well maybe watching the grandparents enjoy the new grandbabies.

Love and Prayers

Weight loss kids menu

Okay to start with, I dont have time today. My kids are sick and cranky and my husband is working late yet again and i am tired. I have lost 4 lbs this week. I know that is more than I had hoped for but it came off so I am not complaining. So.......................................

220
-160
------
60
- 4
-----
56

I only have 56 more lbs to lose but on the bright side I did lose 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, if you notice my menu missing this week It is because we dont have one......lol WE are winging it. I started one but with two sick kids, it is rough..

Kids......Alaina has an ear infection in both ears.....Jason has Bronchitis and almost an ear infection,, she is glad we caught it... I have to take them back next wednesday and if they run any fever at all Thursday night or Friday morning, I am to take them back in. She doesnt want them going the weekend with fever.

We really have a great doctor. she has raised 4 of her own kids and has a grandbaby so she is pretty wise to all the tricks they can pull when they dont feel good...Hey anybody that can get my stubborn two year old to open her mouth is doing good....

Love and Prayers.

ps...Julie is back sometimes if you want to catch up with her. She says she is feeling better. About as good as you can feel with sleep deprivation. I know how you feel Julie. I am still there some weeks. Love Ya though....

Happenings

WE had an eventful weekend. My nieces came over Saturday and we played and watched movies all day. Then we grilled outside for supper. We changed our menu around this week. Most days were what they were supposed to be. Thursday, we had left over sloppy joes, Friday we took the girls to the park to fish and we cooked hamburgers on the grill. Saturday of course we grilled. We really enjoyed ourselves. Sunday we ate out and went to the lake so paul could finish up part of a job he is doing out there. We took the kids to a park out there and let them play. One of our nieces came along with us to help out.

Church sunday was good. Pauls dad came out to preach for us and give paul a break. A girl that I grew up with was in from Japan. Her husband is stationed over there. She came in to see her family so it was nice to get to see her and her kids.

My uncle was put back in the hospital yesterday. (he has congestive heart failure) his kideys have started shutting down. Please pray for my family. It is very rough on all of us as he is a very special uncle.

I guess that is all that I have to post for right now. I will try and change my menu here in a little while and get some recipes on here.

Thanks to all who read this.

Love and Prayers

Comments

Thank you for your comments.....They really keep me going. I do write this mostly for myself and so I can see how far we have come or what I need to improve on. But it is nice to have others provide their input. Thank You Julie for your motivation and suggestions. And yes the sleep deprivation does get better....I think. Jason has started waking up twice a night and I have yet to figure out what to do about it. Thank you anonymous for the website. I will look at it here in a little while when the kids are down for a nap...(maybe) My nieces are coming over today to play so we may not get naps and we may be so busy we wont notice.

Please keep leaving comments as they are an inspiration and a help to me.

Love and Prayers.

Science and homeschooling

We had a science lesson yesterday. Whoohoo....It was over frogs....We have several that have been climbing onour windows and patio door. I dont know why they want to climb on there but they are. Yesterday, Kylie noticed one climbing on the door and asked me why they do that and of course that led to how do they do that. Well, we got on the internet to look up Frogs and wy and how. This particular frog we think is a gray tree frog and the other one I discovered when I went out to take pictures is a green frog. Whether it is a tree frog or not, it is really green. But we also got an upclose look at the underside of a frog and his webbed feet. Kylie thought that was really cool and Alaina now when you ask her how a frog swims, she hold up her hand and points to inbetween her fingers. It is really cute and funny.

this morning, we had another science lesson. just a little bit ago, their was frost on our window. Yes I know frost in May sounds crazy but it was. Kylie got up and wanted to know why it was their so we looked it up on the net and found out why colliding air tempatures make moisture.

She may or may not remember this stuff in the future. Chances are when you ask her about it, she wont be able to tell you but if you listen really close to her playing, she will be telling her dolls or reading it out of a book. it is so cute to listen to them playing.

This as I have been reading and finding out is a form of homeschooling called unschooling. Most people when they think of School in any form, think of it being like public school. You know desk and lesson plans and learning certain stuff by a certain age or you fail. Well unschooling is where you let life dictate what you teach and when. Like the frogs, I wouldnt have thought to teach it until at least fourth grade level. but we taught it and we may teach it again and again depending on what comes up.

I dont mean that I am not going to teach how to read and write and count and all that stuff, I just mean that we are going to have a schedule and goals but if something more interesting comes up that day then we will study it. Our curriculum will be some books with a lot of life experience added in.
I really think Kylie especially will learn better this way. If she was in public school right now, she would be labeled as disabled. Just because she is stubborn and doesnt want to learn her ABC's. What I have learnt is that alot of kids learn how to read before they can say their ABC's. When I was in school, they taught us our abc's and then how to read and they taught us our numbers and then how to add.....kylie wanted to know the other day what 1 + 5 was. She is learning at her own pace and I may think that she doesnt know her numbers or her letters but if she can ask that question, she is smarter than even I give her credit for.

anyway, more ideas and comments in my head but I need to go and get Alaina up. She was running fever all night and I need to see if she is okay. or if I need to make a trip to the doctor today.

Love and Prayers.

Comments

I just thought I would leave a note that any comments are appreciated and welcome...I did fix my blog where anyone can comment... just click on the comments word at the bottom of my post and leave your comment.. If you do not have your own blog name to sign in with, then just leave it as anonymous. Julie since you are the only one who ever comments you have a lot of catching up to do....I have posted alot while you have been out....

Love and Prayers

Dieting and Exercise

I know I know....dirty words huh......I found on one of the blogs I read that the lady is doing something called Tell the Truth Tuesday, I thought I might do mine on Wednesday since that is uaually my down day. By down I dont mean that I have nothinhg to do, I mean it is usually my most depressing day. I figure if i do this then if I make any progress it will pick me up and if I dont then it wont make any difference.

anyway, this woman began by posting her beginning weight and how many pounds she has lost in the past week and her desired wieght loss goal.. And every tuesday, she post how she is doing. she also posted some tips on wight loss today. I have the same problem as her, I crave sweets and carbohydrates......which essentially means that i dont have enough protein in my diet. So......I am going to post my current weight, which isnt pretty, my goal weight and then next week we will post and see if I have lost or gained and what improvements I need to make.

Current weight--220 (told you it wasnt pretty.....)
Goal weight -----160
Total to lose------601bs.

If I can lose a total of 2lbs a week, then i can reach this in 30 weeks. But I will hit a point where it doesnt come off as easy. So then I will have to either exercise more or figure out different foods to eat.

But for now, starting tonight,

• Eat smaller portions
• keep walking (have been doing laps around my back yard. go ahead and laugh but it is a huge backyard and i did 30 laps in 15 minutes the other night plus jumping jacks and jumping rope with kylie.....)
• Do Tae Bo twice a week. ( I love Kick boxing)
• Dont eat as many sweets. Or none at all (dont think i can do this)
• Cut back on carbs but not entirely because it is not good to do completely without carbs.

I cannot afford to eat like someone on a diet because that would mean buying and cooking two different meals for my family. Paul will eat some healthier but not completely like I want to and since he is the head of the household, I have to do as he says. If I had more grocery money then I probably could afford it but I am not asking for it right now.

I have tried eating those Weight Watchers meals and the Desserts.....They are okay but they dont satisfy me...I think I need to really be able to afford to eat what I really want...Steaks and Salads...I would be really happy and since I would be getting lots of protein then maybe I wouldnt crave the sweets...

Oh well, I have to go to WAL Mart today (ughhhh) and I guess I will get me some peanuts or something like that and lots of fruit and start snacking on those when I want something sweet.. We will see how it goes. Any suggestions please let me know. I really want to lose this weight. I have been carrying it around for 4 years now. (since kylie was born and with each pregnancy I kept about 10 lbs of it) Anyway..... Wish me luck and hope I do well... If you want to join in with me it would be great and I could use the support...maybe with all the motivation, we could really lose some weight.

Just a note, I am not only wanting to lose some weight, I want to be in shape.....I miss being in shape like I was when I played Basketball in High school.....

Love and Prayers.

Several post all rolled into one.

I am going to try and post several things that I have been wanting to post about in this one. We will see how far I get. My internet is acting up tonight and my kids are all cranky.

• In my post on appreciative husbands the other day, I mentioned about not being taught how to be submissive in some things. MOM, THIS IS NOT ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!!!!

I read an article a while back about being a cranky wife. It explained alot of what I had been missing in my studying of my life. I will try and link to it later. It explained that if we do not study or realize that there is a different way of life then we go on in the same patterns that our mothers or our role models did. I realized that my mom not being submissive in all things and having a rebellious nature that wasnt always quieted when it should have been came partly from her mom and grandmother. If any of you reading this knew my great grandmother, you would realize that mostly it came from her.... She was very vocal and very rebellious. I believe that my mother tried her best and did her best according to what she was taught and not ever realizing that it was not all correct, never studied to be any different. I dont fault her or blame her for this, I have a choice now that I realize this that I can either continue in this rut or I can study the correct way to be. I have been working on this alot. So far, Paul says I do okay. Some days he gives me this look that says I need to go read my Bible some more. So I do......

I love you Mom. You are the best mom anyone could ask for. Like I said, I do not fault or blame you for this. I am so glad that you are my mom......

• I have also been wanting to post on my progress with the kids and homeschooling.......We are not progressing......Between Jason's birth, getting him on a schedule, going to see Julie when she had the baby, then I had a really bad sinus infection that had me literally exausted....and now Jason is teething....yes i know he is only 2 1/2 months old, but he is teething so some days are really really trying.....and now Alaina's allergies are really making her cranky. So we are not doing so well....I have been working some with them and we are going to start in earnest with Kylie in August .
• I have been trying to get back on my schedule of cleaning house. It is frustrating. I cannot handle having to do laundry every day. I absolutely cannot. I refuse. But now I need to figure out how to get a handle on it and only have to do a load of Jasons clothes and baby wipes every other day.
• I am going to put a link in my sidebar for my menu every week. Not only will this let you know what I am fixing but it will remind me on days when I forget to open my binder and get on here.
• My sister loaned me a book on nutritional healing. It is really pretty interesting. I am learning alot from it....
• Kylie learned(is that even a word?) how to say part of a prayer....."God is Good, God is Great, Thank him for our food. AMEN" not exactly the right words but she is learning and I am very proud of her. She is trying so hard to make us proud and I cant figure out how to get across to her that I am proud of her already and she doesnt have to make us proud. How do I do this?

I guess that is all for now. I dont really have a whole lot more to say. I need to update my reading list but will wait until I order some of the books that I checked out from the library. They are really interesting.

Love and Prayers.

Pictures

I am finally trying to post some pictures, we will see how well they work.


Puppies............That is the only word needed.........
Claire and her new little sister......

The three little monkeys with their Poppy........They like to climb on him.......

Lily Charlotte Alise.....3days old.....She is a lot tinier than she looks.

I will try and post some more later but we will see how our day goes......

Love and Prayers..

This is my three Jason was about 7 weeks old. The girls were playing dress up in their pretty dresses and i decided that some of these would be his six week pictures instead of going to Wal Mart and paying $50-60.

musings

I guess I am kinda down in the dumps today. I am really tired and cant seem to get any energy. Kylie was sick last thursday and couldnt seem to get over it so I took her to the doctor monday when i took Jason to get his shots. She has an upper respitory infection. Jason had a couple of rough days after his shots but seems better today. Alaina has been sick this evening. AND IT WONT STOP RAINING. I know we need the rain but I just wish it would stop long enough for me to mow my yard and let the kids out to play. I am so tired of being cooped up.

CABIN FEVER MAYBE...... On top of mybusy sick kid week, we are having Church at our house again Sunday because the community building is rented for mothers day. Which means that I hav eto clean up my kinda messy house. I mean it isnt terrible because I have kept it up sorta.....but I still have to pick up the mess that we have made and I havent done any deep cleaning this week except for going through the girls clothes and boxing some of them up.

I know I promised pictures of my kids and of lily but so far my internet wont stay connected long enough to upload pictures. I guess it is the storms or something. I will try and get them on here as soon as I can.

Anyway, I need to go get some stuff done before time to get the girls ready for bed.

Love and Prayers.

Apreciative Husband

Okay, Everyone knows I went to see my family for a week when my sister had her baby. Well I think it made Paul think a little. Or else he just missed me like crazy. Sunday at Church his lesson was on Submissive wives (he actually complimented me on this one.) Loving husbands (he said he needed to work on this one I say he is great) and how much Christ loved the Church. He started out talking about how him and I have been working on having a more spiritual relationship and a more biblically correct one. No I dont mean that we arent married or that we do anything that we arent supposed to. Just that we have been working on our roles in the marriage according to what God commanded us to do. I have been working on being more submissive. Something that is really hard for me because I was raised being rebellious (no offense to my mom but that is another post I might do that later today.) I was not taught how to be submissive in certain matters. Anyway so I am having to study and learn how in order to have a biblically correct marriage. this is very important to me because I want to do what God commanded me to do.

Paul is supposed to love me as Christ loved the Church. He claims that he needs work in this area. I say he doesnt because he is a great husband. Sure we have our arguments, but their is nothing he would not do for me. He has even lightened up on how clean the house is. He used to say he wanted it spotless and now he realizes that with three kids and a home business it is not ever going to be spotless. (well maybe when the kids get old enough that they are not constantly making messes) but anyway, he was talking about how he needs to be more of my helpmeet. I thought I was supposed to be his helpmeet.

It got me to thinking that I dont really appreciate all that he does. It also made me realize that he does appreciate what i do in our relationship. He says he doesnt appreciate it enough. I sometimes feel like he doesnt. But anyway, do we as wives really look at what our husbands do and really appreciate the hard work that they do to bring home the money for our food and clothes and our wants. I know sometime I dont. Every two weeks when it comes time for that check, I figure up bills and groceries(yes Paul can trust me with his house (money included because i do not overspend.) all i can think about is there isnt enough money to do everything that we need to do. I dont ever stop and tell God thank you for my husband having a job and being able to pay the bills and buy groceries. I whine about what i cant do. That is not very appreciative.

I have often heard out of alot of women that their husbands do not do anything but sit in a chair and watch tv. Well.... to those women.....have you stopped to think about how much work he has done over the years. Or what circumstances in his life have led up to him just wanting to sit there. My dad for example sits in his chair alot. he has depression and post traumatic stress disorder (not fun). He gets a disability check from the VA because he was in the service in Vietnam ( reason for the ptsd.) It used to bug me as a teen ager that my dad was like this. He worked alot more when I was a teen ager but he still sat in that chair alot. I often thought that he didn't do anything. I never stopped to realize that he has done plenty. he went to the service, he has worked hard all his life providing for his family. even when he could no longer drive a truck to provide, his brain came up with the idea of building cattle equipment to provide so he started that business. He has always provided for our family. We have always known that if we needed anything all we had to do was ask. But yet we accuse him of not doing anything.
HAHAHAHAH....He has done his part. It is his time to rest. His diablility check now provides for him and my mom. If he hadnt done something, they would not get that. So HE HAS DONE PLENTY.

If my husband wanted to quit his job tommorow and try and find something else, I would not complain. If he got hurt tommorow and could not work, I would not say that he never does anything because he has done plenty. he has provided for his family and if he was not physically able to work, his brain would come up with something to make money.

I just do not feel like we appreciate our husbands enough. This is part of being submissive and loving to our husbands. Because if we dont appreciate them then we do not completeyly love them and we cannot be completely submissive to them.

I know my husband has a new appreciation for how much I do because while I was gone, he had to do some of the paper work, go to work everyday, go to class two nights a week and get ready for the weekend where he set up his T-shirt booth. Yes he used to do all this (minus class) before we got married, but he hasnt had to do it all in a while and he usually has me to help him get ready for shows. It wasnt fun he said. He missed me. lol..........But his lesson at Church Sunday told me just how much he does appreciate me and how much he loves me. I was in tears in the middle of Church. And he says he isnt the best husband he can be..........we will have to see about that.

Love and Prayers
Crystal

Colic Relief

For those of you who have had a baby with colic, my prayers go out to you. It is tough but I have found some stuff that helps alot.....Jasons doctor recomended it. It is herbal so if you are not comfortable with herbal you probably wont like it. I personally would not have gotten the sleep that i have without it. Thank goodness Jasons is better, I have only given it to him twice in the past week. It is called Gripe Water. The brand I use is Baby's Bliss. I am lucky that the pharmacy here carries it. Wal Mart here has Gripe Water but it is not the same brand. The website that I can also order it off of is www.blissbymom.com

Like I said I love it.

Love and Prayers
Crystal

Menu for this week

Sunday
Crockpot Enchilada

Monday
Spaghetti
French Bread
Brownies

Tuesday
Egss & Sausage (paul has school)

Wednesday
Steak
Mashed Potatoes / gravy

Thursday
Grilled Cheese

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
no idea because we will be selling tshirts at a festival.

Sunday
Eat out or have dinner with pauls mom

Home again

I am home again. WOW!!!!! this past week has been eventful to say the least. Julie had her baby on tuesday, Wednesday my birthday, i was feeling pretty awful. Thursday, I felt better but Kylie got sick on me. Tammy gave her some liquid vitamin C and she got to feeling better quick. My uncle Kermitt also got put in the hospital thursday. He has congestive heart failure and has been swelling up like crazy. well, thursday, he was hurting in his chest area pretty bad so they took him to the ER and they gave him liquid lasiks instead of the 4 pills he has been taking and he was doing some better yesterday but still having problems breathing. It is really hard watching him suffer. He is so special to everyone around him. I have accepted the fact that he is going to die, it is just a matter of when. I know it is going to be hard on everyone.

I have several ideas that i want to post about and i hope to get pictures on here this weekend but today i am off to spend the day with hubby and jack, (my red headed stepchild :) ) We havent seen him in a couple of weeks and are really looking forward to spending time with him. it is amazing how much you miss someone when they are not there all the time.

Love and prayers

LILY IS HERE!!!!!!1

Julie had the baby today. May 1 2007. CONGRATULATIONS JULIE AND CHARLIE AND CLAIRE. I am so happy that she is finally here. I will let Julie post allabout her birth if she wants to when she is feeling better. But ...... Lily Charlotte Alise 6lbs 15.6 oz (they put 7 lbs on her card) and nearly 19 in long. She is so tiny but she is adorable. I will check with Julie and if it is okay, i will post some pictures of her when I get back home this weekend to my DSL. I know I am probably too impatient but when you have three kids and you have DSL it is a lifesaver somedays. I dont have the patience to sit here and wait on dial up to load the pictures.

Anyway, I am going to go get in the bed for now. it has been a long day. Mom and i had my three kids and claire today and they were some tired little kids. THANK YOU to Tammy and Sarah and Rose and Granny and Papa F. and aunt Cheryl (Charlies sister, not pauls lol) they were great helps with the kids.

Love and Prayers.
Crystal.