Locks

Before I get into the topic of locks I wanted to summarize my weekend. Bittersweet indeed! All week I had been looking forward to the weekend but I now find myself relieved that it's over with! Saturday we had a really good day. We went to a new park downtown and it was awesome! It was open and had lots of stuff for the kids to do yet close enough you could keep your eye on them. I meant to bring the camera but forgot. Sunday was a trip. We went to church which went as expected, tough to get ready but feeling good because we went. :) Then the nightmare started. Toby screamed the whole way home and Summer wouldn't take her nap. When everyone FINALLY got a nap and woke up, we went to the zoo. The first stop was the penguins. They were so neat! They are kept indoors and as we were about to leave I decided I would put sunscreen on the kids. When we made our way to the exit door, we were greeted by God's humor. It was pouring!! I felt so silly. Here I am putting sunscreen on my kids when its pouring outside. Well, we left, and as soon as we did, it cleared up. I kept telling myself maybe there was a reason we weren't supposed to go. I expected to hear in the newspaper this morning how a lion got out of his cage at the zoo and thankfully noone was hurt because of the rain. Funny huh. I guess we make what we can out of our circumstances.
Ok, Locks. Here's some history:
The oldest known lock was found by archeologists in the Khorsabad palace ruins near Nineveh. The lock was estimated to be 4,000 years old. It was a forerunner to a pin tumbler type of lock, and a common Egyptian lock for the time. This lock worked using a large wooden bolt to secure a door, which had a slot with several holes in its upper surface. The holes were filled with wooden pegs that prevented the bolt from being opened.
So you ask why my fascination with locks? I hope this man was rewarded greatly. I LOVE locks!! Think about all the times we use them. The bathroom, house, car, safe deposit box, bedroom!! I am so thankful that I have locks to keep my kids away sometimes and right by me at other times. Next time you turn that key, say a thank you to all those locksmiths!!

Heart update..

Well, it doesn't look like I have the heart of the Grinch! YEAH!! I half expected to see a ball of fire on the ultrasound because of all the heartburn I have. But, the doc said everything looks great. The only thing he saw was that I have a redundancy in one of my chords or something. He said it is fine and shouldn't be a problem. I am very greatful. It was awesome to see my OWN heart on there. I have seen plenty of baby's hearts but not my own.
Today we have just relaxed. The kids watched ALOT of tv today, bad mommy that I am. :) BUT, they needed a break from the weekend. Charlotte learned how to count by fives today. She was so suprised and shocked. She was having a hard time today. I told her baby steps. Like everything, it takes time. It's not "fun" until you learn it. She wants things to come easy to her. I know how that feels! I still struggle with those feelings. BUT she has prevailed and I am happy for her. The kids played outside alot today as well. They dug up rocks and stuff. Summer loves outside! She mostly likes coming in and out. She thinks she is one of the big kids now. Its so cute. When Jason got home we all walked down to the park. She got to ride on the seesaw. At first she was scared but she eventually came over to me and wanted me to put her up on it. She likes it alot now. The kids all played and we came back home. Quiet now... Everyone is in bed and I am thinking about getting a bath with the stuff Emily gave me for mothers day. Its supposed to be very relaxing.....Calgon(or whatever its called).....take me away!!! :)

Recooperating...

Well, its Monday again. Time to recooperate from a great weekend at the in-laws. Jason and I were able to get some time to sit and talk over the weekend and it was SOOOOOO nice! The ONLY downside to a luxury like that is coming back to reality! Sometimes I think its not good to have too much time off from the reality of every day life. It just takes so much effort to be comfortable with the stresses of normal living. By normal living I mean crying babies, fussy five year olds, and NEVER ENDING cleaning!! Don't get me wrong, I actually love cleaning but when its coupled with other distractions, it can get very stressful.
Well, I have decided what I am going to do about the kids school this year. We will be starting Aug. 1st with some supplementation throughout the next couple of months. I want to be able to get past the baby's birth before we dive into the new year. Besides, I want to get Kaitlyn up to speed with the reading that's ahead of her. She will be reading chapter books this year. So hard to believe! Charlotte is really looking forward to her reading books as well. Charlotte has a mind for math though. She loves to add in her head. She amazes me sometimes. Jason will ask her " If you have five tables and each table has 3 napkins on it, how many napkins do you have?" She will spit out the answer in no time. I think she makes a mental picture of the tables in her head. You can see her going from one to the next. She loves to do her math sheets. I can't wait for her to be able to write though. She has a great imagination.
Coming back from my MILS yesterday was tough! We miss it up there so bad. The car trip back home was a nightmare. Jason said he will not be going up there for fathers day. It's just to much. We were told that one of the big companies up there is hiring alot of tech people so he is thinking about applying. I don't know if he will though. I know he likes where he works now. I hate being this far away from family. But, if this is the place we need to be, then so be it. I told Jason that I support him in whatever decision he feels best. He knows how I feel and takes that into consideration but for the most part, I feel like it should be up to him. He's the one that has to go into that office everyday, work, and deal with whatever the people throw at him! We will see where God places us, it's always interesting!
Natalie seems to be doing well. We talked alot about the pregnancies and labor. Its getting so close now and I am getting a little nervous. 3 stair stepped is a little scary! I am now in my 31st week! I had Toby at 34 wks. That really puts things into perspective. God-willing, this one won't come early.
I have a doc. appointment today for my heart thing. They are planning on giving me a heart ultrasound. We will see how that goes. I have a feeling everything is going to be fine. I feel like a big hypochondriac!! I will update later.

Teeth

I just had to write about something that has taken over our household! The effect that teeth has had on us this last week has been a very memorable experience! Summer has cut 5 teeth and Kaitlyn lost her second one! Summer has been extremely fussy as you can imagine. She doesn't handle pain very well at all. Charlotte has been very jealous over Kaitlyns loss. I keep telling her that her time will come but in the mind of a five year old that is not very consoling!

Limbo anyone?

Living in limbo is harder than I expected. We don't know where we will be in 3 months. Its difficult with all these kids, especially living in an apartment with only one car! I do rejoice however. We are in a great position to gain ground with finances and Jason's career. I keep reminding myself that no matter how "secure" we may feel or want to be, we are ultimately in the hands of God. He alone knows our future. I guess I am glad that its not totally up to me! It just gets tough always wondering and not being able to make plans. I pray that God will honor our decision to live below our means and to "tough" it out. I guess I just get tired of survival mode! I must say however that this is truelly NOT survival mode. We have been in MUCH worse situations!! My feelings somehow feel the same though. Funny how they can decieve us so much. Once we take a step back things don't look near as bad as we thought they were. Here is an article on survival mode......

Survival Mode

Most of us are familiar with the term survival mode. It’s that state we find ourselves in when intense situations arise in our lives. I know this state very well. In fact, it had become very comfortable for me. As a child my father was consistently in survival mode. He would say “If we can just get past this”. I didn’t say much back to him because he was my hero. Sometimes I wonder what his response would have been if I had said “Then what? How would things change?” I don’t think he would have had an answer because there was no other way to live that he knew of. He only knew how to live at this state, not “in the here and now”. I don’t remember ever really enjoying a moment. I was always thinking about the moments to come.
Survival mode serves a very important role in our ability to cope through tough situations so I am not saying it is a bad thing. However, if it becomes a way of living, you can never enjoy the moments you have right now. Even when you are not currently in a difficult situation you could find yourself thinking about how much better the future could be if you could just get past today. Today might not be that bad if you take a good look! Slow down, take a couple of deep breathes, and pay attention to what your five senses are saying. Your brain is not one of your senses! Shut it off. Sure our children need to see us successfully cope with life situations, but they also need to see us enjoy what’s going on around us right now!

Some updates

I forgot to add in some updates for the last month.
-I have been wearing a heart monitor but my palpatations have virtually dissapeared!! Can we say hypchondriac!! I was afraid of that.
-Toby is potty trained!!! Yippeeee
-We are contemplating getting a new vehicle soon
-Charlotte is doing awesome with her reading. She is on lesson 70 of "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." I am sooo proud.
-Kaitlyn has taken a step back in her reading and I think its because she is reading too much on her own. She doesn't make SURE the word says what she thinks and she moves on even if she doesn't know what it is. She is not doing as well with her sonlight books and I think this is the reason. I don't know what to do. I don't think she is ready for the level that I was going to put her in. I am going to talk to Jason about it. We will see.
- We got our new curriculum in!!! The kids are excited about starting the new year.
-Summer is doing great with her walking and she will wear shoes now!!! Yeah!! She is soooo cute in the mornings. I love to be her cuddle buddy.
-I fell and hurt my knees REALLY bad but I think they are on the mend. I am hoping it will not effect them in the long run.
There, I think thats it for now......

Continuing on....

Well, I promised myself I would contribute to my blog instead of writing in word so I am just going to start copying over some of the things that I have written over the last month. I don't have much but here goes:

Too Much!

Every mother questions whether she is doing an adequate job in raising her children. Some mothers think they have to be super mom. Other mothers remember to give their children a bathe only when they notice they haven't had to wash towels in a while. Whichever type of parent you are, I am sure you have those days when you feel completely overwhelmed. At the end of the day you look back and think "What did I do all day? I got nothing done!"
As a mother myself I struggle with these thoughts often. Sometimes I can't go to sleep because I am too busy fretting about a day that is already gone! I go over in my mind all that I should have gotten done to be a good mother and wife. If you have this problem I think I have something that might help.
We have all heard of "list" people. These are those annoying people who make lists for everything and have to check everything off in order to cope. I am NOT one of those people! However, I do propose that you at least try my experiment. The first thing in the morning take inventory of how you feel. Pay attention to your body and mind when you do this. Think about the most important things that need to get done for that day and write them down. Be realistic. After you have written down the most important things, start another section for extras. Extras are things that are there for you IF you get to them. If not, at least you got the necessary things done! You should feel great! Remember, give yourself flexibility when making and completing lists. Noboby wants to feel controlled by a piece of paper. The completion of your list creates self assurance that you got what you needed to get done. There is no reason to give away anymore of your precious sleep time worrying about what you could have accomplished.