2018 so far

2018 started off slow. But only for the first day. How misleading.

We spent New Year’s day at home, lounging, playing with new Christmas games and toys and watching movies. It was quite uneventful. Our house was nice and toasty while it was so so cold outside. Very nice.

Fast forward to the next day and as I was stepping out of my car at work, I performed what can only be called the ‘slip on the banana peel’ fall, except it was on slick packed snow. Yep, flat on my arse. Only I didn’t hit my padded rear. I hit my coccyx, otherwise known as the tailbone. Ever done that before?! I DO NOT recommend it. That was over a week ago and I still cannot bend, sit, get up from sitting, roll over in bed, lay on my back, kneel, lunge or squat without significant pain. Riding in the car is torturous. As is sitting on the couch. There’s no treatment other than pain killers and sitting on a donut pillow, so I didn’t get it checked out, but it’s either a severe bone bruise or a stress fracture. It’s just now getting to the point where pain is not constant. I spend the majority of my days standing or walking around. Good times, good times.

Beast baby and her mac’n’cheese

The kids are finally back into their normal school routine after 2 days of 2 hr delays the first week in January due to cold, so this week was really when they returned to school. That means Miss Ruth and I are back to our regularly scheduled program as well during the 2 mornings we have together (minus exercise; see above incident). I truly love that time with her. That 3 hours of one-on-one time is always enjoyable, and we get a lot done! Ruth’s favorite thing is either rearranging the pantry, sorting laundry or turning on the Instant Pot. Which brings me to…..

My favorite Christmas gift! I GOT AN INSTANT POT!!!! J gifted this to me even though we had agreed not to get each other gifts. *ahem* You know how that goes. But anyways, I love the thing, as you can see from my expression on Christmas Eve. If you are not familiar with it, you should be. This thing cuts cooking time in half and cooks food (especially meat) perfectly, as well as having a slow cooker function. So far I haven’t found anything I don’t like about it. I’ve made tons of eggs, steel cut oatmeal, pork steaks 2 different ways, chicken parmesan, chicken breasts for other meals, mashed potatoes, etc etc. The kids are always impressed 😉 Life changing!

Isn’t she cute?!

Amelia has been receiving speech therapy at school and today we got her report card for progress for 1st semester. She has improved from 20% to over 80% accuracy for ‘f’ and ‘s’ sounds! Huge gains! YES! She still has some troubles with ‘t’ and ‘d’ sounds as well as putting sounds together, but she’s improving! We have no one to thank but her awesome speech therapist, whom Amelia adores. Great way to start the 2nd half of the school year!

I’m currently 1.5 books into my goal of 30 books in 2018. Currently reading ‘Sisters First’ by the Bush twins, Jenna Bush and Barbara Bush. It’s great so far! Thanks to Aunt Mel, mine is even an autographed copy which makes reading it even more cool! #booknerds

Speaking of books, Mel and I saw the book-made-movie ‘Wonder’ over the weekend. The book was great, and the movie did not disappoint. But far more emotional than I had anticipated. Who knew Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson made such a dynamic duo? What also did not disappoint was the sushi we enjoyed afterwards at a local place. WHY IS SUSHI SO GOOD?! It’s like some kind of art form too, so pretty. I would feel guilty eating it if it wasn’t SO GOOD. Sister dates are good for the soul 🙂

I am currently back on the carseat-shopping-train in search of a new car seat for Ruth. I feel like I just got off this train, but it has picked me up again. #bigfamilyprobs I realized last night she has hit the height limit for her current infant carrier seat. Wwaaaaaa! It had a good run of 15 months with her, so I guess it could be worse. Car seats are so expensive! Amelia may also want to bust out of the 5 point into a highback soon, so I may be on the train a little while longer….. *tear*

Hope everyone is enjoying 2018 so far! Be careful on the ice!!!!

Find the time

Almost every single night, one or all of my kids beg for one of us to lay with them after we put them to bed. I’ve made a rule with them that I’ll do it about once a week. Otherwise it becomes a circus and no one sleeps. Then mama’s not happy. And everyone knows how that goes.

Tonight Lucy was slow at getting her things done before bed. Amelia was in overtired-preschooler-mode. Ruth was practically falling asleep on the floor and needed to go to sleep ASAP. I was doing kids’ bedtimes alone as J was at a school board meeting. I knew there was laundry to do and things to prep for the coming day. I was tired. And I really needed some ice on my severely bruised tailbone from last week (don’t ask).

But when your 8 1/2 year old asks you so sweetly if you’ll come and lay with him “if you have time, Mom”, you find the time.

So I crawl into bed with G in his quiet room. He’s laying with the red, white and blue blanket he requested that I made him for Christmas. He cherishes that blanket. He hasn’t slept in his room since before Christmas since it becomes the guest room when people stay over. He starts in right away with his mind running at full speed.

He talks about his time playing on the snowpile after school with some town boys. How he doesn’t always like their games, but some are ok. He really likes snowball fights. He goes on about how the one boy he doesn’t care for, but tolerates. He prefers a few others who weren’t there tonight, the boys he has formed the ‘Wolfpack’ with. He talks about wrestling and how he does not like to miss practice because the he feels behind in practice. He makes sure we’ll get him there in plenty of time tomorrow night. He reinterates that his spelling test is in 4 days and he already is confident how to spell p-a-i-n-f-u-l, one of his words this week. He asks me about tornadoes and what happens to the water lines in a house if it is ripped apart by a tornado. He wonders if we will ever have a tornado in our town. He asks about how people are kind of like monkeys because both are hairy. He asks if he can do a polar plunge and when and where he can go ice fishing this winter again.

I love how his mind works. I love that as soon as I climb in his bed he’s like an open book, when that is not always the case otherwise. 8 year olds can be moody. I love that he still likes to sit with me and always hugs me goodbye (even at school!) or goodnight. It always amazes me at how quickly he’s changing.  And it’s always made clear to me that what kids need is time.

Sometimes you just have to find the time. And when an 8 1/2 year old boy is wanting your time, you find some, no matter what.