Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Dreaded White Smear!

Disclosing the child's identity would not be prudent and I want to avoid mocking the child...just the behavior. haha

While waiting for one child to join the others for our nightly story time, I heard incredible screams reverberating through my house, "MOM!!! Hurry, come quick! It's an EMERGENCY!" I feared the worst aka "Is there poop all over?" Rapidly I was met with "NOOOO MOM IT'S WORSE!" Oh you know I bolted up those stairs.

As I rounded the corner I came face to bum with a child standing on the bathroom sink, cupping their hands around their calves. White melted goo had run the length of, not only this child's legs, but their entire body . I glance over and see a new tube of Desitin three-quarters of the way empty. The rest... was on... the child.

The smeary mess covered their hands, arms, chin, legs, bum, toes, and stomach. My initial reaction: how awesomely hilarious!! Next I remembered how hard it was to clean off, how hard it is for me to remember to buy that stuff when it runs low, and a bit of peeved moodiness that the children would now be late for bedtime due to scrubbing a kid for 15 to 20 minutes.

"Why did you do this??!!??" "Uh mom, because my butt was really itchy." I guess really itchy has to be answered back in style.

Pulled the kid down, handed it a bar of soap and said, "Get to scrubbing." That was pure delight on my part watching the nature of life teach the lesson for me... Desitin doesn't come off easy!! haha

The slop proceeded to turn into a greasy concoction that painted my tub, faucet, and increasingly white child. I jumped in and started to help this poor little wild thing (who's frustration was mounting). After I deemed the cleaning sufficient (or my tiredness said who cares), we dried the little desitin hound and lotioned the child's now drier-than-ash body. On the plus side, we now both smell baby-butt fresh!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

2 Baby showers & 2 weddings and and

Please tell me this happens in your house too? Trying to capture a moment of suckers with an Iphone for the friend who gave the suckers to the squirrely suckers.








2 baby showers down & two weddings to go... also conquered a lingerie shower, family visits, trip to AZ after finishing a week of finals for college, and raising 4 kids & two pups & keeping track of hubby! Now on to a wedding reception this weekend, anniversary over Memorial Day Weekend (12 years!... I think if I am subtracting correctly this late at night), a neice being born beginning of June, another neice & grandnephew in July. Alright!!! Surviving with style!

I know I bombed at writing more often. I think I promise because I despise breaking promises.... my kids always know that and try to make me promise to things like ice cream when I'm not paying attention (sneaky!!). I did finish my classes and received 100% in Political Science and 97.9% in math... ok not too happy that I didn't receive 100%... it was because the final was on a pc & the answers I gave were correct but not in the pc acceptable rounded format grrr. Perfectionist anyone?

I also said I would be more blunt. Yes, here is some of what I had rolling around in my head the last year or two. When Milana came home, I noticed my time was spent really being mom, which it was supposed to be. I also found that I started to think about what I would post all night long ... all the things I would write about, but morning would come & the thoughts were gone. I wanted to make grand gestures for momentous occasions but found myself needing to keep things within the family. How was I supposed to blog about feelings and thoughts and their significant meanings when I didn't even understand them myself. I knew if I wrote, the next day or week, I would feel completely different. I came to find that my family dynamics had changed so much that I didn't know what was up and what was down. One minute things were going smoothly and then when I thought, "ok, I can report about my events"... a boom would hit. My children were all adjusting and going through powerful waves of adjustments.


Now all kids go through phases... but these were over the top phases. Ones that I don't know if I'll ever be able to explain. I've learned a huge amount of patience... but the one person I don't have enough patience for is myself. I started taking on too much... telling myself constantly that "I had time"... like Mr. Incredible who ends up being late for his wedding. I never thought I would see the day that I was disorganized.... it's here. I'm learning to accept it (for the time being while the kids are young).

I can't imagine our life without Milana... she is an absolute ray of sunshine & a bolt of lightening, beautiful to see but almost impossible to explain or catch & sometimes harness that power. She has brought so much "life" to our family. I have seen huge growth and enriching thoughts come from our children as they have grown together. The children are inseparable and fiercely look out for, protect and love each other. They fight and make up like other children but there is something magical when they discuss openly observations they have made. They have brought Milana into this world of discussing feelings & "talking back" (grrr) & learning ogre mom is tamed by explaining what you were doing (haha).


This is all off-the-cuff and me talking while sleepy....better now than not at all. So thankful for the insight I've gained because of being a mother. I never imagined all the things I would have learned when I first started this journey. I hope maybe by writing some down... I can leave some hints to help fellow moms & parents. 11 years of being mom...& barely scratching the surface :)