Weekly State of the Family Address

I've decided it would be fun to give just a quick update on everyone in our family once a week. It will be a fun way for me to look back and see what we have all done and record different things about the kids. I don't want to tie myself down to a specific day of the week to do it though, cuz I am not that reliable. So, I will just try and do it randomly once a week. This might be one reading you want to skip if you don't want to read useless information about my kids, although with my children it could prove to me amusing!
Funny quotes from Miss Firecracker as of late, "It not very good mommy." Talking about anything that she chooses not to eat no matter who it might offend. Recently, though it is just her medicine. "I all done crying" she says as she is still sobbing from the time out spot. . . she knows she can't get out until her fit is finished, but evidently she thinks that just saying she is done works. "You happy mommy?" her check of my mood. . . but really I think she is just checking to see how much she'll get away with for the day. Funniest thing about this quote is that it always comes while she is sitting on the potty. She always asks daddy too. She had another one that made me laugh out loud in the bathroom this morning while she was 'helping' me get ready, but for the life of me I can't remember it now. Hopefully it will come to me by the end of the day.
Noisy Man is gearing up for all this Easter stuff. They did an egg hunt at school today and the Easter Bunny came to visit. I really struggle with how to balance all this commercialized junk with the real stuff, especially now that he gets the outside influence at school. Before we have just been able to ignore most of it cuz he was too little to really miss it, but now that he is figuring it out I'll have to figure it out too. We have been reading the Easter story nightly and talking about how Jesus died for us on the cross, but it is just such a huge concept that he just isn't quite ready to really grasp it all yet. At least he knows what Easter really is. I just try and downplay the rest.
Miss Thumb Sucker is going through a phase (and, oh, do I pray it is short-lived) where she has decided that daddy is no good. She screams bloody murder (that is his account of her crying anyway) if daddy has her and mommy is not within sight. And even when she can see me, it only lasts so long. So, now it is virtually impossible for me to leave her with him without feeling completely guilty and just worrying the whole time about how she is doing for him. Yes, I know that she will survive an evening or two of "crying it out", but how many can daddy take?
Daddy is also having some major issues with neck pain, and although I sympathize with him and am certain it does hurt and have to be hard to deal with all the time, I struggle with showing it because I just get tired of hearing about it (I need more empathy, I know this is very mean of me, I'll pray about it). We have tried different avenues of treating it, chiropractic, physical therapy, x rays but no one seems to know what is going on. Muscle relaxers seem to help, but he is totally against just drugging up every day so decides just to complain. . cough, cough, I mean deal with it, so he only takes those when it is intolerable. Anyone have any suggestions?
And a mommy update, man, I am boring. Still running, still trying to catch up on the laundry. I did get the 2 baskets put away, but just in time to put another load in the washer. Can you say hamster in a wheel? I never get anywhere!! I guess my main news is that I had a couple moles removed last week cuz one was annoying and the other one looked a little funny. They sent them in to be checked and the annoying one came back fine, but the other one was not so clear. It isn't cancerous, but they did say if I would have left it, it could have turned bad (there was an official term but I didn't write it down so now I have no clue what it was). So, now I have to go in and have the spot "dug out" a little bit better to make sure they don't leave anything behind to turn ugly later. Not a big deal since we caught it this early and they will check me over for anything else they might find suspicious as well. But now I have to have stitches, never had them before. Pray for me, I am a wimp!
And there you have it, the state of our family. . . aren't we a hoot!

Trying Tuesdays

So its Tuesday again, usually my roughest day for some reason. We'll see how it goes today. So far so good, but then again it is only 840 am. I have been up for 4 hours already though, so it isn't like I just rolled out of bed.
It kinda has to beat how yesterday morning went. Took Noisy Man to his preschool bus at 715, then home to get the girls dressed (I just load them up in their jammies) and take my cousin (he stayed at our house for the weekend while his sister and parents were in MN for swimming regionals) to his school at 820. Then to the Dr. for Miss Firecracker's Dr. appt since she had woken up at 2 and 4 am the night before (add that to Miss Thumb Sucker getting up at 1145, 2 and 5 and I got NO sleep!). At 4 am she was blazing hot and not in the mood to sleep. Dr. appt showed she has yet another ear infection, even after tubes. I really hope another set isn't in her future. Still, this isn't even the best part of the day. . . On our trip to the bank on our way to pick Noisy Man up from school, Miss Firecracker's antibiotic decides to not agree with her stomach and she tosses it all back up along with her milk and few bites of donuts she ate that morning. Oh happy day! I feel bad for the bank lady who had to witness the whole thing as we were finishing up our deposit. Now onto a frantic call to grandpa (who was out of town) then daddy to go pick Noisy Man up so I could get the sick one home. Thankfully, all is cleaned and well and it seems that she just hadn't eaten enough that morning to keep the medicine down. Perhaps I should have tried a spoonful of sugar?
The rest of the day was a little brighter as Miss Firecracker took a bath and went straight to bed (on her own without being asked, that is how good she felt. Poor thing.). Noisy Man and Miss Thumb Sucker also took decent naps so I was able to get my kitchen back to an approachable state and even sneak in a 15 min snooze before anyone woke up. The 15 min snooze meant that I still have 2 baskets of folded laundry waiting to be put away. . . wonder when that will get done? Miss Thumb Sucker rolled over for the 2nd time and we got to enjoy some wonderful time out in the sun and even better Nebraska wind!
Here is to hoping today will be better and I will not be cranky with my children!

Are my knees supposed to sound like this?

Well, I made it. I woke up to a text from my running partner that said she got called into work for a code (she is a NICU nurse) at 1245 am and would let me know her status asap. . . I got ready for the trek to Lincoln to run, and packed dry clothes to change into for after I was done. I got to the edge of town and heard from her that she was just getting off. . . no running partner for me. My very first real race, my very first 10 mile run and I had to do it solo, in the rain. Can I tell you I was overjoyed! I got about 2 more miles down the road and turned around. No, I didn't decide to back out, I realized I forgot my purse! Oops! :) So, now I was running behind and clueless. Got up to the race and no thanks to State Farm organizational skills I found where to go to get my # and packet. Then, thankfully found a friend who would help me with my chip (the device you attach to your shoe that takes your time from finish to start), cuz I was clueless as to what it was. Then, prepared to run. Thankfully the rain subsided and actually stopped for a few hours (Praise you God!!). I took all my stuff back to my car, pumped and attempted to find a bathroom that didn't have a 4 mile long line with no success. Guess I'd have to hold it for 10 miles. Then I heard the line up announcement from the starting line and fell into place with the other 900 runners, ran for 10 miles and crossed the finish line. I really felt pretty good. My left knee and hammy bothered me a little for the last 2 miles but once I was finished they felt fine. Then, I went straight to the bathroom. :) Only by God's grace did I not feel like I had to pee the entire race, but when I was done it all hit me! Then I drove home, drank some water and took a nap! After I woke up I had a pretty decent headache from being dehydrated (cuz I was too afraid to drink too much water while I ran so I didn't have to go at mile 5). But, man, my knees hurt and cracked and popped and yelled at me every time I bent down. I felt like an old woman. Thankfully, today they are feeling much better, but still sound pretty funny. Especially on the stairs. I feel like a box of Rice Krispies. :) But I survived. I ran 10 miles without walking and I did it in 1 hour and 51 minutes! Bring on the 1/2 marathon!!
Oh yeah, yesterday was a fun day of firsts. My first race and Miss Thumb Sucker rolled over for the first time too! Also the first day for me to have cupboards above my washer and dryer as my wonderful and handy hubby put some up for me!!

An Attempt

So, currently I am attempting many new things in my life. . . one being this blog. Not sure what prompted me to start this in the first place. Maybe it was reading all of my friends' blogs and thinking it would be fun, maybe it was reading all the Pioneer Woman's blogs and wishing just a little bit that I could be that cool and funny (yeah right :), but I am hoping that it will accomplish one new thing I am trying in my life as well: to talk about myself less and listen more. I thought maybe if I talked about myself on here, when in conversation with others I would do it less. I am hoping this is the case. You see, one of my Proverbs 31 Ministries email devotionals this week was one of the authors telling her story about how she became so dependent on gaining the approval of others that she lost sight of the only approval that matters - God's. I felt much in her same shoes, so I am going to give it a try myself. So, if you want to hear things about me, you can read them here. I am going to try and talk less and listen more, which will be a challenge cuz I am a talker! There, you have just been made responsible for keeping me accountable to this! ;)
Another new thing is long distance running. In High School all I ever ran were the 100 M dash, 100 M hurdles, 4x1 relay and long jump. . . nothing more than 100 meters! So, now I am training for the 1/2 marathon in Lincoln. That is 13.something miles!! I think I am nuts! Have you seen my legs? Short and stalky, definitely not distance runner legs. But, I'll give it a shot. My goal is to finish, not win! I did start doing quite a big of running after Jeff and I first got married, before kiddos arrived. I never ran more than 5 miles, but I enjoyed it. So, in attempt to get back into shape and lose this disgusting 'stuff' that seems to be hanging out around my midsection after baby #3 I decided to finally start training for the 1/2 Marathon that I had wanted to do for the last 4 years. Tomorrow, however, is my first attempt at "racing" where I will be running the 10 Mile at the State Farm run in Lincoln. It is supposed to RAIN all morning. . . yikes! This could be interesting. Please say a prayer for me. . . I will need it!
And not last and definitely not least (but the last thing I'll drone on about in this post) is the fact that I am attempting to yell at my children less. You see, I have been getting up at 445 am 3 days a week to go run for my training, which means I am tired. This is on top of the fact that my little thumb sucker still gets up usually at least 2 times in the night for a feeding before this time. This means I am even more tired. . . and when I am tired, I am crabby. I was telling a friend that I am glad my kids are too young to be able to have a good memory of this time in the future. Cuz if they did it would surely be the memory that they started with, "Remember that time that mom was training for the 1/2 marathon? Man, she was always so crabby." Thus, I am trying to control my crabbiness and temper that seems to flare when I am sleep deprived. Pray for me about this too! This week has gone well, with the exception of Tuesday. Tuesdays seem to be the worst for me for some reason.
OK that's enough for today. . . have a good one!

New At This

Well, I suppose I'll just get started. Perhaps by explaining how I picked my blog name? Not too much to it. . . right now in my life I am just where I want to be, and acutally just where I thought I would be. You see, I turn the big 3-0 this year and it really doesn't bother me (OK, so maybe I have given thought to investing in some kind of anti-wrinkle cream for under my eyes lately, so if you have any good suggestions send them my way, but other than that I am good :). I always said I went to college for a MRS degree with a minor in MOM and I totally succeeded. (In fact this very day is the 10 year anniversary of my husband's and my first date.) I got married just out of college to a cowboy (go figure) and we now have 3 wonderful children. I also always said I wanted to be done having kids by the time I was 30, another thing accomplished. I am very happy with my 3 wonderful children and want no more. (Remind me I said that in a year when my baby is no longer a baby and I get the 'itch' again!) So, there you have it, just where I want to be. Now, where I want to be in my next 30 years. . . haven't given that much thought! Where I want to be at this very second? In Bed! Since my youngest is not yet 5 months old, I am training for a 1/2 marathon and my almost 4 yr old is deciding to give up naps, sleep is a rare thing for this almost 30-yr-old mom and I think I will try to go get a few hours before the babe awakes!