Just another Tuesday... or Life as Mom

My house is a disaster. There are toys everywhere, dishes in the sink, paperwork all over the counter, 3 baskets of laundry to be folded/ironed and put away and I still need to unpack the kiddos from our amazing vacation in Texas.

But I’m not cleaning. I’m taking a break. It’s been one of those days.

Let me start from the beginning. Literally.

12am- 2:30am - I’m still up waiting for Michael to come home from his night flight. I’ve cooked a delicious Texas chili, picked up the house, and scrubbed down the stove top. I decided to go to bed at 2:30 when I remembered the baby would be up soon.

3:30am - Michael comes home. I’m woken up by the dog, who wanted to go out to greet Michael, and then I hear the baby crying (I would have slept through that… bad Mom), and Michael shushing him back to sleep. Feed baby. Hubby ate out - no need for me to have cooked.

6am – Woken by a phone call. Still asleep, I hit ignore.

6:30am – Jared’s up. Imagine that. Feed him and put him back down to sleep at 7am.

7:30am, 8am, 8:15am, 8:45am, 9am, and 9:30 – I get up to put Jared’s paci back in so he doesn’t wake Michael up.

9:30am – Both kids are up… and screaming. Feed Audrey. Feed Mommy. Jared sleeps in the swing.

11am – Audrey goes down for her morning nap after throwing a huge fit, that I, frankly, didn’t want to deal with.

11:15am – Michael and I get an hour to catch up on the day/week and figure out what needs to be done

12:30pm – Audrey’s up. Screaming. Again.

1pm – I grab a 5 min shower before getting ready for Jared’s 2 month appt.

2:10pm – Jared’s appt. Made it to the hospital after listening to Jared scream the whole way (20 min). Feed him a bottle with one hand as I push my SUV stroller with the other.

Are you getting the idea yet that this is a LONG day?

2:45pm – They finally call us back. The stupid young guy doing the preliminary stuff (weight, temp, etc.) never bothers to help just tries to get out of my way as I’m holding Jared in one arm, Audrey’s whining in the stroller and the stroller is careening out of control in the other. I fill out the stupidest paperwork (2 month olds can’t do more than smile, eat and poop. Why do I need to fill out a pamphlet for him?)

3:15pm – The Dr. finally sees us (an hour after our scheduled appt. I’m expected to be on time, why can’t you?) Both kids are by now in full, blowout meltdown by now. Jared’s vomited everywhere, Audrey keeps screaming for no reason, the dr. is training someone so he’s asking stupid questions and taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r. He finishes the exam and walks out. (I can’t even say he was thorough because he had to come back in because he forgot to listen to Jared’s heart and lungs!) I lean down to correct Audrey for screaming instead of being calm and asking for help and she slaps me. But I can’t discipline right now ‘cause we’re in a public place. Awesome.

3:50pm – Jared’s starving (he wasn’t, just crying like he was). Audrey’s starving (she refused to eat her lunch earlier). And I’m actually starving since I didn’t have lunch. 3 cranky people. Off to immunizations! 3 shots. Boom done. Jared’s still screaming. (It's like ripping off a bandaid... It's gotta be done.) We grab quick snacks at the gift shop and head to the truck.

4:15pm – Audrey and Jared continue to scream the whole way home. I stop to grab some fast food to eat at home.

4:30pm – Both kids still screaming bloody murder. Audrey goes down for a nap and I feed Jared. I just endured 3 hours of nonstop screaming.

At this point I’m so tired that I take the now wide awake Jared to bed so I can nap.

6:30pm – Haven’t slept. At all. Jared was wide awake and talking. Tv was on. Eventually he fell asleep on my chest but then I really couldn’t fall asleep for fear of rolling over on him.

7:30pm – Just remembered I’m starving. I never ate lunch. My food is now stale and bad on the counter after being forgotten.


It’s just been one of those days. We all have them every now and then.

So here I am. Sitting here, eating a bowl of cereal and ranting about my day. More like bitching.

So, I don’t know how much I’m actually going to get accomplished tonight. But that’s ok. Do you know why? Because my children survived me today and I them.

Just another Tuesday.

It's so good to know that His mercies are new each morning, or hour as the case may be.

A constant state of tiredness

Tired - weary, fatigued

I am weary. Emotionally worn out, and mentally strained.

My body is fatigued. There's really a lot to blame for my fatigue; 2nd pregnancy, this deployment, "single" mom to a toddler, and being sick or dealing with sickness in our house for the majority of the last 4 months. You name it we've had it (or still have it).

I'm sitting here at my husband's old computer (mine crashed 2 weeks ago and I've been too sick or out of town to take it in for repairs) and now his has a virus that irks me. It's always popping up with notices and warnings. My husband's truck is sitting in our driveway dead dead dead. I have 3 burned out light bulbs in my kitchen that I can't replace because I get dizzy when I climb. My dog snapped at me last night because I came too close to him while he was in his cage. I'm not sleeping and I can't take anything to help me sleep because I need to be able to protect my castle. On top of all of this the blood test on Friday showed that I'm hypoglycemic... so I need to eat all the time. I know this is a new thing 'cause I can actually feel my blood sugars drop. One more thing on my to-do list.

And now Audrey has a pretty bad cold with a runny/stuffy nose (how it can be both is beyond me), a cough, and a fever that levels out at 101.3. So she's been extra cranky on top of teething as well. I hate it when she's sick. There's nothing I can do to help besides love on her. Tonight I gave her a bath and she had the chills in the warm bath! (We snuggled in Mommy's bed afterwards and that helped.)

It's a mess over here. And it never ends. I can't assume this is the last of my problems or that any of this will end when my husband gets home... whenever that is.

But throughout all of this chaos I have been reminded of one thing over and over again: God is strongest when I am weakest. Well. I'm weak. Very weak, right now. I also know that He has given me the strength to endure what He has me going through.

Doesn't make it any easier, but at least I know I'm not alone nor will I crumble. My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches and glory (Phil. 4:19).

So in that promise I will stand.

And I might cry too. That's okay. It's not a sign of weakness (like I've told myself all these years).

This is where I am. This is probably where I'll be for a while. And I'm okay with that. It's just a season, and one that will seem very short in retrospect.

Till next time, Ciao!

Getting away

I'm sitting here in my parent's den in VA. Yes, beautiful VA. Oh how I've missed you.

This deployment I've been sick 4 times... 4th time here in VA. Yup. Audrey and I are getting over a terrible bug... don't know if it's the flu... but it's bad. Poor Audrey is still fighting a terrible diaper rash with diarrhea and vomiting. And I'm working on getting my appetite back. Yuck. I hate sickness.

So for now we're spending our time recovering, being taken care of (thanks, Mom and Dad!), watching tv, and staying away from everybody to avoid spreading this stuff. Which means I've had to cancel some play dates and lunches that I was really looking forward to going to. :(

All of that being said I am having a great time relaxing. I really needed this time. I'm being taken care of. It's wonderful!

If you get to see us this trip, great! If not, I'm sorry but it's for your health that I'm staying away. I really want to see everyone, but you don't want this. It sucks.

Anyways, I hope to see everyone!

AMAZING!

Just found this website on how to fold flat fold diapers!

We just started using cds on Audrey again and I bought diaper covers as mentioned here. I didn't buy inserts/prefolds because Audrey's not very big, so I figured I could still get some use out of the old ones. Well... I can't.

So rather then purchasing new prefolds I found a website that recommended using all those swaddling blankets that everyone gets (and usually don't use for very long). AMAZING!! Why can't I come up with these things? ;)

Here we go! I'll let you know how well they work. It'll at least clear some shelf space.

Also about to venture into making diaper covers... Yes, diaper covers. From scrap fabric and a waterproof fabric for the inside. Yes, I know, I'm crazy and have way too much time on my hands. At least I'm using my time while I have it!

Giveaway!

Laken and Lila Giveaway!

Mommy and me set: Tunic for mommy and skirt for daughter!

"like" Laken and Lila on facebook HERE

Good luck!!

Katie

Awesome CD Store!

Just wanted to share with this cloth diaper (cd) store I found while looking at reviews of the Wonder Wrap (that just came in the mail!! I got Blackberry, Kiwi, and Vanilla!)

Kelly's Closet

Check it out! I paid $14.95 for the Wonder Wrap at DiaperJunction.com (they're having a pretty good deal of 30% off wonder wraps so I got them for $10.50). But I lost some of my savings because you don't get free shipping unless your order comes to $75 (which is easy to do, but I didn't, this time...). Kelly's Closet, on the other hand, gives you free shipping for orders over $49! That's incredible!

Anyways, just wanted to share that with you!

I'll have my own review of the Wonder Wraps in coming in the next few weeks.

Communication

Disregard this post if you don't give a rat's patooty about childhood development or the Paulus home. Sorry to bore you. :)

Communication - a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior.

I share the definition because my daughter, Audrey, communicated with me for the first time. For the past 7 months I've been guessing what she needed. Bottle? Diaper change? Burp? Nap? You know. The mommy game.

But today Audrey communicated. By rapping her fist on her high chair she was trying to communicate that she wanted her favorite toy (a wooden spoon). Yes, I had to do some guessing. But after I figured out that she was showing me what she does with her spoon and how she got a huge smile on her face when I rewarded her with it I realized she had just asked for her spoon!

Yup. I'm a proud Mama. Sorry you had to read my bragging... Can't help it. I sure do love that kid!

Being a Frugal Woman

The Lord's been putting on my heart to be more efficient in my house and to keep myself from the temptation to be lazy. I find that the easiest thing for me to do is sit at the computer, doing research, stalking facebook, and reading blogs. [Yes, I know that's what I'm doing right now... but I'm being useful by sharing my experience (; ]

That being said, I wanted to share what the Lord's been revealing through Proverbs 31

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides for her family and portions for her servant girls. vs 15

I hate waking up early. I'd rather scrub the floor with a toothbrush. But I've found that early in the morning is the best time for me to get things done and I'm much more productive if I have a head start. And when I wake up early I have more time in the day to do the things I really want to do but get pushed back due to lack of planning. Things like devotions, playing with Audrey more, cooking larger dinners, and just being cheerful!

She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night.

This applies to my small business of burp clothes and nursing covers. More and more I see how beneficial it is for me to really map out my projects. I came across a snag in my last project when I didn't calculate Michael's homecoming impacting my time. I ended up getting the project done much later than I promised. I have also found that when I plan I feel stronger and more encouraged and confident in my work. It's a win win situation, if I just take some time to plan ahead!

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

The more efficient I am the more this comes true. I know the Lord is taking care of my little family, and that He's giving me the strength to thrive and serve them. I need not worry about tomorrow or next week. He's in control. Just keep on keeping on. :)

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

I'm still learning how to do this. Michael and I are working on making a budget (yippee!) and I'm working on becoming more organized and thrifty. I find that when things are organized it's easier to "watch over the affairs of my house". As for idleness... I really struggle with this. It's so easy to get sucked into facebook, blogs, or sitting with Audrey on the couch in front of the boob tube. So I'm learning to multi-task: get a load in the washer while I unload the dishwasher for example. It's a process.

Thanks for catching up on my little life! Sorry if I ramble...

Piggy prizes

So the story goes, forgive me if I don't get it all right, that when my husband and brother in law (twins) were infants Mom and Dad P would award "piggy prize"s for the messiest diaper of the day. Understanding, of course that diapers in the early 80s were nothing compared to the "leak-proof" diapers of 2010. Or so one would think.

Audrey proved that to be false today as she has many days (more than I wish to recount). Yup. She got the piggy prize. She pooped all the way up her back to her shoulder blades. One of those diapers that you run the bath water and consider the best way to approach taking off the offended clothing. Scissors? Roll it? Over her head? Slide down her legs? You know it's going to be bad, regardless of how you take it off.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we tried prunes recently... yeah. It RAN through her system.

And the best thing about babies (at least Audrey) she couldn't give a rat's patooty about the mess her patooty's in. Sitting there happy as a clam. With her pants full of ... you know.

It's good to be a mom. It's good to be a mom. It's good to be Audrey's mom. Right. Keeping things in perspective. :)

Haha! On to the next adventure!

Mommy things

This week I'm learning how to cook baby food... in my ebay-won Beaba BabyCook!

It retails for $149 (ouch!) but I was able to get one second hand for $100. Already I've pureed carrots for Audrey's lunch and I'm about to cook 2 plums and steam them.

If you're looking for a good sight on making your own baby food check out this site.

I know there's a big debate about whether it's cost efficient to purchase and "extra kitchen item" to make baby food when you can easily steam food on your stove top. While it's obviously cheaper to make your own baby food it's not easy to decide how.

So, this week I'm going to be making baby food both ways: with the Beaba BabyCook and on the stove.

I would love to receive any tips and personal experience. Feel free to leave a comment!