Possible Book Titles

I've been contemplating writing a series of children's books based on my children for quite some time now. I've done a lot of brain storming but I seem to have severe writers block in this area. My kids like books that rhyme or repeat phrases. Like, "...but bear went right on snoring." in Wake Up Bear, or, "THERE'S A SHARK IN THE PARK", in Shark in the Park. So, I started thinking about things I hear myself repeating on a regular basis. Here is a list of possible book titles I have come up with.


Don’t Hit
Don’t Tease, or Leave Your Sister Alone
Don’t Sit on the Baby
You're Driving Me Crazy!
Don’t Poop on the Floor
Screaming Miss Lulu
Don’t touch!
Crawl Jimmy, crawl
Don’t Eat That

Or, here are some titles based on things I hear from my children or see my children do on a regular basis.

I’m sorry
"Raaar"
Dance, Dance, Dance
Personal space
"NO!"
Mama, Can I Have A Puppy?

I think I may be on to something. What do you think?

Run chubby, run!

And you thought I was joking about that new treadmill. Well, I wasn't. This isn't actually the treadmill we got...at least I don't think. To be honest, I neither know nor care. It's a treadmill, I can turn it on and it works. That's all I care about. I was just going to get a used one off craigslist for a couple hundred bucks, but Mike is a little more picky than me. He did some research and evidently no one on craigslist had one he liked. He ended up finding one at Sam's Club for a pretty stinking good deal. He kept asking me, "what do you think of this one or that one?" I don't know why he bothered asking me. I thought, "does it have a power button? Does it have a motor? Okay then."

I have been wanting one forever. Why, because I can put it in a room, put up a safety gate so the kids can't get in and run to my hearts content without kids underfoot. Seriously, have you EVER tried to work out with toddlers around. I have several good workout videos, Wii fit, and Wii active. All great tools. Unfortunately, my TV is in the living room and there is no way to keep kids out. They seem to think it's hilarious when mom works out. They see me start to jump and dance around the room like a crazy lady and think it's hilarious. Next thing you know they are trying to join in, which is cute and all, but then I start tripping over them and they think it's hilarious to try and run between my legs. It turns into a game for them that ends with me getting a sprained ankle...or landing on my face. So, I give up and consign myself to being a fatty forever...which leads to me consoling myself with a carton of ice cream. Good times.

Sure I could run outside...in the heat, with 2 kids in a jogging stroller and one...well...I don't know what I'd do with the other one. For a while I was running outside after Mike got home. It worked out pretty well, until my paranoia started kicking in. We all know my feelings about wooded areas and there are LOTS of wooded areas around here. I start thinking, "how many dead bodies are hidden in there. Someone could be watching and waiting for the slow fatty to bounce by, knowing I'd never be able to outrun them, drag me into the trees and well...who knows." So then I started making Mike follow me in the van. I just felt stupid doing that. And did I mention the heat? And the HUMIDITY?? Have you ever tried running when it's hot and humid? You can't even poor water on your head to cool off. It does nothing. So, again, I would just give up and eat more ice cream. (Go ahead, call me a wimp. I'm okay with it.)

The treadmill in the separate room is the perfect solution. I can work out in one room, watch the kids playing in the other room, have a fan blowing directly on me, watch a movie (because the computer is in that room) or read a book...it's perfect.

Mike finished putting it together last night and I made him try it out to make sure it wasn't going to eat me or anything. This morning I got to try it out for myself. It. was. awesome! I got a 30 minute workout and only had to stop a few times to put kids in time out for fighting. Happy, happy, HAPPY DAY!!! Now back to my 5k training. It's been 3 months since I gave up training for it. I was almost to 3 miles. Today I barely made it 1.5. So I have some catching back up to do. So excited.

Now you will all excuse me while I go eat some ice cream...you know, to celebrate. :)

Newest Jacobisms

Today after Jake got out of the tub he was crawling around in his nothings pretending to be a puppy (despite my telling him multiple times to go get dressed).

Jacob: (On all fours looking towards his nether lands) "Look mom, I gots a tail!"

Yaaa...we had a little anatomy talk.



A short time later we were talking about what each of the kids were going to be for Halloween.

Me: "Jakers is gonna be a lion, Lulu is going to be a tiger and Jimmy is going to be a Monkey."

Jacob: "And you are going to be a HIPPO! Look Lulu, momma is a hippo!"

*sigh* You know that treadmill I've been planning to buy for a while now? Ya, I'm buying it TOMORROW!! :)

That Uneasy Feeling

You know that feeling? It's kind of like that feeling you get when you feel like someone is watching you, only...different. haha. I was sleeping just fine tonight. In fact, when I woke up, Jacob was snuggled up next to me and I have no recollection of him waking up and climbing in bed with me. Which is weird. I normally wake up at the slightest movement from the kids, even when I'm in my own room. (I was sleeping on a mattress in the kids room.) It was Jimmy who woke me up. He was fussy, so I tried to nurse him, but he wouldn't eat. He just kept grunting and squirming. So I got up and changed his diaper. After that he just laid there awake cooing and blowing raspberries for about 20 minutes. By the time he finally went back to sleep, I was awake and my mind was wondering. This is when I started feeling uneasy about something, I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I started remembering things from when I'd felt like that before. One memory came to mind of one year, waaaaaay back when I was at girls camp. It was my last year. For the first 2 nights, there were 4 of us in our tent. By the last night we were down to 2. For one reason or another, the other two girls had gone home early. So it was just Noelle and I. That evening everyone was gathered around the campfire just talking. One by one, everyone slowly dispersed and went to bed. Noelle and I were the last two at the fire, so it was up to us to put it out, which we did. I remember we dumped quite a bit of water on it and I even ran my hand over the coals to make sure there was no heat coming from them. Then we went to bed. But neither of us could sleep. We both felt uneasy about something but we didn't know what. Neither of us said anything to the other. Instead we started goofing off and doing silly things like shadow puppets on the roof of the tent. This went one for probably an hour or so, then one of us spoke up. "I think we should go see if we can sleep in the tent with the leaders." And we did. We went to the tent where our 2 (or 3, I can't remember) camp leaders were sleeping and told them we were scared but didn't know why, so they let us sleep in the tent with them. We laid there awake for a while, and then just as we were about to drift off to sleep, we started hearing animals walk though our campsite. "It's just deer" they told us. "There is nothing to worry about." Then, suddenly, we saw a flash of light and when we peaked out the window of the tent we saw that the campfire had come back to life, like it had never been put out. By that point we were totally and completely freaked out. So were our leaders. They wouldn't tell us they were, but we could see it on their faces. The next morning they told us that it was possible that the remaining half burnt log in the fire pit could have still been hot in the middle and started back on fire. That log was cold I tell you! I felt it myself. I agree it's possible that the very center could have been hot, but really, what are the chances of it randomly starting on fire in the middle of the night. I still think it was divine intervention. I am fairly certain that whatever was out there walking around our campsite needed to be scared away. I think the Lord was watching out for us.

This is a memory that has stuck with me ever since. As I thought about it tonight, I decided to get up and check the doors, which I knew would all be locked, because I checked them twice before I went to bed. (Like I do every night because I'm paranoid.) Then a small thought crept into my brain. If the Lord saw fit to protect me then, why not now. There is no need to feel uneasy. There is a plan for all of us and we need not fear. I just need to have a little more faith because, after all, fear is just the absence of faith.

And on that note...I'm going back to bed.

Weeping, Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

These are the words that came to my mind yesterday after Jacob wet his pants and was not able to play with is new "potty toy" aka his new Lego set that he is only allowed to play with after he pees in the potty. Actually, this is how I would describe his whole potty training process. There is a lot of weeping and wailing on both our parts. I feel like pulling my hair out most days, because I just can't figure out what to do with the kid. We've been training him for about 8 months now. He was trained for about a week at the beginning, then he just decided that peeing in the potty wasn't for him and it has been like pulling teeth to get him to do it ever since then. I recently got sick of everything getting peed on, so I decided to start putting him in pull ups again, which made things worse, because then he figured it was okay to wet himself. We have now discovered a method that seems to be working (for now anyways) and it has relieved some of my stress, but up until this point I have gone through several emotional ups and downs. I've had all sorts of feelings of despair. It's amazing how potty training can do that, but it really can be traumatizing. I've felt like a bad mom. Sure, everyone has moments like that, I know, but I feel like this on a regular basis. For a while there I felt like I was totally failing as a parent. After all, everyone else I know has been able to successfully potty train their child before they start kindergarten. (Okay, he hasn't started kindergarten, but he's not far off.) I keep having thoughts like, maybe it wasn't fair of me to have kids. I'm obviously not that great at parenting. I'm sure they would have been better off with someone else who wouldn't totally screw them up. What am I doing wrong? Am I just stupid? I know these thoughts are just coming from the adversary who is trying to get me down, but it has kinda been working.

Out of curiosity one day I decided to google "delayed potty training" just to see if anyone else out there had the same problem. Turns out, I'm not alone. lol. Turns out, he's just strong willed and doesn't like being told what to do. Imagine that. So, we've basically been in a power struggle/war this whole time and he was winning! So, we've had to change our tactics a little bit. We set some of his favorite toys aside and bought him a new special toy that he gets to play with ONLY for after he goes potty. He also has a sticker chart. Each time he pees in the potty he gets a sticker and he gets to pick a toy to play with for 30-60 minutes. After his time is up, the toy is put away until the next time he goes potty. And when he fills in his whole chart with stickers, he gets to go to the store to pick out a new potty toy. He almost has his chart filled out and he is pretty excited. He fell asleep tonight telling me all the new toys he wanted to get. (He was even nice enough to consider a new stroller for Jimmy.) But the key in this whole method is not telling him he has to go potty. In fact, I can't even remind him. I simply let the toys do the work. I leave them in a spot where he can always see them. When he asks to play with one, I simply ask him if he will go potty while I get it down for him. Sometimes, I see him stop what he is doing and say, "I'm gonna go potty so I can play with my toy." So, it seems to be going pretty good, although he does try to pull one over on me occasionally. Typically, before I give him his toy I go see if there is any pee in the potty. Then I have him flush and wash up. I noticed there have been a few times where I've heard the toilet flush seconds after he's gone in there and he comes running out saying how he can play with his toy now. Um...I don't think so dude. There is no way he had time to pull down his undies, climb up on the potty, pee, and pull his undies back up in a matter of 3 seconds. I often underestimate how smart he is.

One of the things that scares me the most is that, I am sure this is not just going to be a potty training issue. I am really going to have to work as he grows up, to find a way to avoid power struggles and not get walked all over in the process. I'm glad he has a strong personality, I think it will take him far, but I hope it takes him in the right direction. The fact that as a parent I can push him in the wrong direction is pretty scary. *sigh* What a kid. Pray for me. :)

Funny story. As I was looking for an image for this post, I came across this blog post that she wrote exactly a year ago today. haha. I could have written this post word for word.

Things like this make it difficult to curb my spending.

(How's that for a ridiculously long title. haha.) I am a HUGE fan of baby wraps, but I always thought it was ridiculous for people to charge $50 for a single piece of fabric that I could make myself for a fraction of the price. I made mine for about 50 cents with fabric I found at a garage sale. I've made others from fabric I found at walmart in the dollar a yard fabric section. I was determined never to spend such a ridiculous amount on something that is sooooo easy to make for so cheap. Then I saw these wraps, and for the first time ever, I felt like $45 was a fair price and could see myself paying that much for one. I LOVE the design! Seriously, I am in love with these wraps and I MUST HAVE ONE!!! The orange and green ones are my favorite!

(Oh, and my SIL Sarah took the pictures and my adorable nephew Liam was the baby model for many of them. So cute!)

Sunday Confessions/The Itsy Bitsy Spider

I am not a fan of spiders. (Who is, really, besides my 4 year old son?) Typically if they are outside I leave them alone, unless I know they are poisonous, then they must DIE! I feel that way about most bugs. Although, I don't take chances with ants anymore. I feel the need to exterminate any and all that I find in my back yard. We have ginormous wolf spiders here that ALWAYS make their way into my house. When I sprayed the garage, I killed about 15 JUST next to the door! Totally creepy.

Anyhoo...A while ago I noticed a weird looking bug on the side of my house, near my front door. I could see it from my kitchen window. I didn't think anything of it, there are all sorts of weird bugs out there. Then, the sun went down and it got dark out there. I turned on the porch light and looked out the window and I saw that that weird looking bug had transformed into a huge, ugly spider. As soon as I saw it I decided it needed to die before it could make its way into my house. I don't smash bugs unless I have no other choice. I cannot handle the crunch, squish sound it makes. I want to gag just thinking about it. So, I got out the big bottle of ortho and cracked the door just enough to stick the nozzle out, aimed and fired. I hit it, it started to fall and I slammed the door shut. I pulled aside the curtain of the side window and watched to make sure it died. I watched it struggle to stay on the side of the house. It struggled for a while and I finally had to stop watching because...I FELT GUILTY! I have never felt guilty about killing a bug before. But I felt guilty watching this particular spider die. I hated watching it suffer but couldn't bring myself to go finish it off and Mike wouldn't do it for me! Rude. I came back occasionally for the next 20 minutes or so to see if it had died yet and every time I looked out it was still trying its hardest to climb back up it's string of web to its original spot, but couldn't. I thought it was never gonna die. Finally, I had to go get the kids to bed and didn't get a chance to go back and look, but I found it dead on the ground the next day. I decided to get a better look at. After seeing it up close I saw that it was just a harmless Orb Weaving Spider (and a relatively small one compared to others I've seen around my house) that had just come to eat all the annoying bugs that breed in my over grown garden. It was helping me and I had tortured it! Get out the cuffs people, I'm an innocent spider killer! I couldn't feel worse if I'd killed a ladybug or a butterfly. Now, if I'd found it in my house, I wouldn't feel guilty at all. But it was just minding it's own business out there and probably would never have come into my house. Now the annoying moths, beetles and mosquitos (that grequently follow me into my house every time I use the front door) have free reign of my front porch. Way to go Michelle! Good job.

Wanna read another confession of a spider killer? Funny stuff. haha.