7 Quick Takes About Hunts, Medals, and Kiddy Aliases

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Amy

1. I love taking photos. I think it’s delightful how some photos just really speak to you. What do you think this photo is saying?

I’ll tell you. It says, “The husband gave up buying anything for himself for Lent. Lent is over and it’s almost time to start fishing!”

At least two of those boxes have fishing rods in them, one for my husband and some for the girls. I don’t know what’s in the rest yet, but I do know that my kids are begging to go fishing.

2. This morning Sis wanted me to read her a book. I needed to get going on breakfast before the early-morning-hunger meltdown started. I had a momentary dilemma, because I never like to refuse reading a book if I can help it. Then I remembered. I now have an oldest child who can read!

This opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

3. Easter morning.

Even though I was super tired after the big events of Saturday and the late-ending Easter Vigil Mass, I still had to stuff and hide Easter eggs and baskets when I got home. I enlisted the help of my husband and in-laws for filling and hiding the eggs, and I strung yarn around the house and tied it to the doorknobs to lead the girls to their baskets. I always put their baskets in different rooms and have them search separately to make it fair for Sis (I “hide” her eggs mostly in plain sight). Once they get older I’ll just hide them all together and let them duke it out, but for now they really like the strings leading them to different rooms.

^^ She was saying, “I can’t find anymore!”

My kids love hunting for stuff. We did three hunts just last week, with the search for 30 pieces of “silver” on Wednesday, the resurrection egg hunt on Thursday, and Easter eggs on Sunday. They were all over it. Maybe I’ll do lots of scavenger hunts this summer.

4. Last night there was nearly a mommy melt-down to rival Hurricane Charley. Sis was playing with my jewelry on my side table after baths while I was putting her laundry away. She pulled apart the chain of the necklace Super Friend gave me for my baptism/first communion/confirmation gift (I was able to fix it). I could not find the wonderful Saint Rita medal from the necklace anywhere. I was so upset. As in almost-in-tears-and-on-the-verge-of-raging upset. After we searched and searched, and I asked Sis myriad times, “Where is Mommy’s necklace?” to which she either replied with “I nunno!” or by running to my side table and picking up the chain, sans Saint Rita medal, I decided I just needed to put her to bed. My husband suggested that I check in her clothes first. She sometimes likes to put things in her onesie. I checked, and whadaya know? The medal was in the crotch of her onesie, just where my husband suggested it would be.

We have a running joke/competition in our house because my husband likes to pretend that he is good at finding things. As every woman reading this will understand, I laugh hysterically whenever he makes this claim. Once in a while he does find something, and he likes to say, “What’s my name?” To which he desires the response, “The Finder” (get your mind out of the gutter!) Of course, I have never called him by that ridiculous name, though he claims the title for himself frequently.

Just yesterday, after a few instances of needing my help to find very obvious items (not that this was unusual), he said, “Wow, I must be losing my touch!” (snicker, snicker, “mm-hmm”). THEN, The Saint Rita Episode. Know what I called him after he found that medal? Yup. “Okay, okay. You’re The Finder.” Painful. But worth it.

5. After finding the medal, my husband suggested that I buy a jewelry box so my stuff isn’t just all lying on my bedside table. I figured this was a good idea, but instead of buying one I went to my closet and got down the one that my Mom gave me that had belonged to my Grandma.

I opened it up and started cleaning it out. I love looking through my Grandma’s jewelry. I used to play with a lot of it as a little girl, and there were plenty of pieces in the box I remembered seeing her wear. Even though I’ve been through this box many times since my Mom gave it to me, there was one piece in it that I’d never noticed before. My Grandma was not Catholic. So imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered a Miraculous Medal among her jewelry.

It needs to be cleaned up a bit, and I’ll have to get a chain to put it on, but I will absolutely be wearing this some day soon!

6.Tonight before bed Lass said to me, “Mom, even though the color of your hair is ugly, I still like it.” It’s great being a Mom. They love you even when you’re ugly.

(My girls, especially Lass, are really into “group hugs” right now)

7. I am considering doing something different with the way I refer to the girls on the blog. I started using “Miss” for my oldest when I started this blog without putting much thought into it. The other two nicknames just followed from that.

I use the nicknames because I used to work in a prison, several prisons actually and some jails, with some scary folks who are out walking around the world now. I don’t really know what I think would happen if people knew my kids’ real names, but. . . I tend to be a little over the top about things like this.

I’ve never really loved using the nicknames. They don’t flow well in writing, or in reading for that matter. I’ve had a few people express to me that they sometimes have a hard time keeping the girls straight with their “aliases.” Even people who know them in person!

The thing is I don’t know how I would change it. Unless I started using their real names, which I don’t think I want to do, switching their online names to something else would likely just be more confusing. Perhaps I’m stuck with forever referring to them as Miss, Lass, and Sis. Maybe I could switch to #1, #2, #3? No. Poor Lass would not be happy with that someday. I’ll keep thinking on it.

Find more Quick Takes HERE.

P.S. You didn’t imagine it. I did post on Wednesday, and that post has disappeared for a few days. I mistakenly put up the book review of Something Other Than God too soon. Sorry about that. It’s be back up next week when the book releases on Tuesday.

Have a happy weekend!

A Day in the Life – My Monday

Posted on April 15, 2014April 15, 2014 by Amy

Seems like the “Day in the life” posts are all the rage these days. I’ve read lots of them (like Grace’s, Kendra’s, and Blythe’s), and I think they are strangely interesting. I thought there was a link up of “day in the life” posts somewhere that I was going to throw my hat into (does that even make sense?), but now I can’t find it, so whatever. I’m going solo. Here’s my day (Monday):

4:57 am – I hear a door closing. Wake enough to check the video monitor and confirm that all of my children are in their beds. Lass is sitting up playing (hence the door). Congratulate myself for still having a video monitor on my girls (even though two of them are probably too old for it), which allowed me to not get out of bed to investigate door sound.

5:03 am – Curse myself for having video monitors. Lass is playing too loudly for me to go back to sleep. Turn volume down.

5:30 am – My alarm goes off. I say my morning offering and get out of bed.

5:32 am – Come downstairs. Look outside to see a completely flooded front yard. With snow. Water and snow. Consider checking the basement to make sure it’s not wet. Decide I don’t want to know quite yet.

5:33 am – Sit in my comfy chair to say my prayers. I can hear Lass playing the whole time and am hoping she’ll stay in her room for a while.

5:55 am – Make coffee. Experiment with different flashes (pop-up flash, external flash at a few different angles) for this photo. Decide I like the dark, blurry, no flash pic the best. It fits the mood of the moment.

6:05 am – Can’t find my phone. Go up to my bedroom to look for it. Find phone along with my husband, who is awake and reading a book that he cannot seem to put down.

6:06 am – As I’m almost back down the stairs I hear Lass open her bedroom door. I hurry down the last step to get around the corner into the office and not be seen. She goes back in her room.

6:11 am – Start reading Bible (Luke 21) by Kindle-light

6:15 am – Lass comes downstairs and climbs in my lap for snuggles.

6:19 am – Lass goes into playroom and I resume my reading, this time with the regular light on.

6:25 am – Hear Sis wake up. She doesn’t sound unhappy. I keep reading.

6:30 am – My husband comes downstairs and continues reading his addictive book.

^^ Notice the raised eyebrow. He is wondering why I’m taking his picture.

6:34 am – My computer is freezing up. I try to close and reopen my browser. It doesn’t work. I try other stuff.

6:45 am – My computer is still not working right. I’m starting to freak, because my time is running out. I go make another cup of coffee.

6:51 am – Plan to restart computer because nothing else has worked. Then I don’t have to, because it suddenly starts working well again. Yay! Check email and Facebook.

7:00 am – Miss comes downstairs.

She goes straight to looking out the front window at our snowy lake.

7:08 am – I’m trying to read one last thing (Today’s post from Carrots for Michaelmas) before starting into the business of the day. Miss is pouting and complaining because I’ve told her we cannot go outside and play in our “puddle.” (update on Tuesday- I started this post on Monday and am finishing it on Tuesday, so the Carrots post is actually from yesterday)

7:15 am – Miss is still pouting about not being able to go out in the water. She says, “Fine. Then I’m not going to give you any hugs and loves and kisses this morning.” I finish the blog post I was reading (finally) and go upstairs to get Sis (who is still happily hanging out in her crib). She says, “I poop. I pook.” Happily, she had done neither.

7:21 am – Come downstairs with Sis to see that my husband has cut his hair and trimmed his beard. And Miss has stopped pouting.

^^ This time he asks me why I’m taking his picture. I give him a vague non-answer.

7:23 am – My husband leaves for work.

7:28 am – I finally muster the courage to check the basement and find it dry.

7:31 am – I make breakfast. Oatmeal.

7:41 am – I call the girls to wash their hands for breakfast. Lass gets upset. She says, “I am not going to eat breakfast!” I remind her of our rule, which is that she doesn’t have to eat but she has to wash her hands and come to the table. Then she has a fit about washing her hands. I remember that she woke up before 5 am. The other girls start to eat.

7:47 am – Lass finally starts eating. She says, “Mom, I’ll try some before I say ‘yuck.’ Mom, I like this oatmeal.”

7:52 am – The girls are done eating. I realize that I have stepped in oatmeal twice and it’s stuck to my socks.

7:53 am – As I take my socks off and determine that I must find the spot of oatmeal on the floor, Lass comes around the counter with her bowl balancing on her hand trying to bring it to the sink. It crashes to the floor and breaks. She melts down when I ask her to help clean it up. I try to show her how to do it. She says she can’t.

7:59 am – We finally finish cleaning up the oatmeal, though I never do find the spot(s) I stepped in.

8:00 am – The girls are playing and I can hear that Lass is just out of sorts. She’s having a rough morning.

8:01 am – I go and try to give her some snuggles (which is usually just the trick for her). I’m flat out rejected. I get big snuggles from Sis instead.

8:04 am – Go back to kitchen. Sweep up the pieces of the broken bowl.

8:06 am – Clean up kitchen some more. Start to type a text to Super Friend. Get distracted by Miss asking me where the purple “My Little Pony” is. I tell her I don’t know.

8:09 am – Miss is screaming at Sis. I decide to let them work it out. They do.

8:11 am – Sis calls to me, “Mama, I poopy.” I don’t think she actually is (she says this anytime she wets her diaper too), but I decide to go ahead and round everyone up to go upstairs and get dressed. I change Sis and put her clothes on.

8:18 am – Miss is still not dressed. She says, “I am not going to get dressed until you help me find that purple pony!” I remind her how things actually work in our family. She gets dressed.

8:20 am – I unpack the girls’ suitcase from our trip to my parents’ while Miss and Lass make their beds. Miss gets upset when I tell her hers needs a bit more work.

8:34 am – Brush the big girls’ hair. Lass screams bloody murder, as usual.

8:37 am – Make my bed.

8:40 am – Go downstairs. Ask the girls if they want to start school now or in five minutes. They reply, “Six minutes!” They always say that.

8:42 am – Miss is still complaining that she cannot find the purple pony. She asks me to help her. I go into the playroom and point out to her that she has not yet looked in the most obvious place, where the pony would be if it was put away properly. I leave her to look there and go finish cleaning the kitchen. I clean three toilets (we have well water and our toilets get gross when the water sits in them when we’ve been gone for a week).

8:52 am – Announce that six minutes is up (yes, I know that it was actually 12 minutes).

8:54 am – Start circle time in the school room. Pray morning offering. Discuss Palm Sunday a day late. Read some Easter stories. Do calendar activities.

9:15 am – Get big girls set up coloring their Lenten countdown calendars while I go change Sis (who actually is poopy now).

9:20 am – Move on to a palm leaf coloring page. Cut out and staple their Letter Y books from two weeks ago while they color and practice writing.

9:29 am – Finish up school. Miss asks to do more. I love this, but I tell her we can’t today because we have to go to the grocery store and the doctor’s office. As I’m about to have them start getting on their shoes and coats, I realize that I haven’t even brushed my hair, so I run up to get myself ready to go.

9:39 am – Accidentally put blush on my forehead. Feel relief that I don’t wear a bright shade of blush. Wipe it off and cover it up as best I can.

9:45 am – Finish getting myself ready. Grab socks for the girls and myself and hurry downstairs.

9:47 am – Look outside and wonder if I should put snow boots or rain boots on the girls. Decide I don’t care and let them choose. They all choose rain boots.

9:50 am – I tell Lass she is putting her boots on the wrong feet and she spits at me Raspberries, but not funny, playful raspberries. I’m cool with funny playful raspberries. But I don’t do rude raspberries. I lose my temper and snap at her. She has a total meltdown. She wipes a huge dripping snot on her sleeve. I don’t have time to get her a different shirt. She says she isn’t going with us. She unzips her coat and then can’t get it zipped again. I feel like crap. I realize we have two big errands to run before she will get a nap. I take deep breaths. I zip her coat for her.

9:59 am – We are finally in the car and leaving for the grocery store.

10:12 am – I realize I don’t have time to drop the girls off in our grocery store’s childcare area, so they shop with me. They all get into being helpful. Sis develops a love for a can of beans, such that she gets mildly upset, “My beans! My beans!” when we have to put them on the belt to check out.

10:44 am – We are back in the car after the fastest grocery shopping trip ever. I know I forgot most of what I need, but I’ll be back to the store later this week anyway, so I don’t worry about it. We drive less than a block to our doctor’s office. We’re early. The doctor is not.

11:15 am – We get called back to our appointment, which was scheduled at 11. My girls are getting tired and hungry (and so am I), and it seems like our appointment takes forever.

12:00 pm – Miss gets two shots. Sis gets one. Guess who made more of a fuss about it?

12:18 pm – Finally in the car and on the way home.

12:32 pm – Home. I realize that in the craziness of getting melting-down Lass into the car, I left our door open. I say a quick prayer that there were no critters in our garage that have now found a home in our house.

12:45 pm – Put away groceries while the girls eat their lunch of leftover Culver’s and applesauce.

12:58 pm – Spill #2 of the day. Miss cleans it up.

1:06 pm – Lunch is done. Clean up lunch.

1:08 pm – Round up the girls and head upstairs for naps.

1:15 pm – Read nap stories.

1:28 pm – Sis is down for her nap. Start special time with Lass. She chooses to play with our apostle/Jesus/Mary toys.

1:41 pm – Lass is in her room for her nap. Start special time with Miss. She wants me to choose her activity. I suggest she complete the frame she started before we went to my parents’ last week.

1:55 pm – Miss is in her room for her quiet time. I change into clothes for exercising, turn on the heater in our garage, and go through our week of mail while waiting for it to heat up.

2:07 pm – Finally finish sending the text to Super Friend that I started in the morning. Clean up boxes in workout area.

2:10 pm – Go out to exercise. Do a quick warm up and set up for my workout.

Then get started:

33 back squats
15 burpees
33 deadlifts
15 burpees
33 kettlebell swings
15 burpees

Realize when I start back squats that I have way too much weight on the bar to complete 33 of them. Stop after seven to decrease the load. Proceed through the rest of the workout. Think I might die of burpees.

2:39 pm – Done with my workout. It took me almost 15 minutes. Make another coffee.

2:48 pm – Sit down for some computer time. Check email and Facebook. Look for something I need on the Elizabeth Ministry website (Super Friend and I are restarting the chapter at our parish). Don’t find what I need.

3:04 pm – Lass wakes up crying. She comes out of her room calling for me. When I get to the stairs she says her toes hurt. I suspect she slept on her foot funny or something. I kiss her toes and give snuggles. She goes back to bed, which I can’t believe. She never does that. Then I remember, she woke up before five am.

3:23 pm – Finish computer wanderings. Call Elizabeth Ministry but they are closed for the day.

3:27 pm – Pray the rosary.

3:45 pm – Get Miss from her rest time so she can practice piano.

3:58 pm – Finish piano practice with Miss. Get Lass and Sis up from naps. I have to wake both of them. One of them is not ready to get up.

4:09 pm – After lots of trying and failing to get Lass up, I go downstairs with Miss and Sis and get them started with a snack. I go back up to get Lass and try to give her a snack too. She’s not interested.

4:18 pm – My husband is home early! Hooray!!

4:22 pm – Get punched in the face by Sis. Give her a short time out. I suspect she enjoys it, but I do it anyway.

4:26 pm – Get in the shower.

4:52 pm – As I’m blowing my hair dry I realize I need to get going on dinner before I finish getting ready. I go downstairs and start getting stuff together for dinner.

4:58 pm – I laugh to see my husband blowing up Sis’s new birthday Rody with his mouth.

5:17 pm – Dinner is in the oven (roasted broccoli and this chicken recipe) and I’m back upstairs to finish getting ready.

5:34 pm – Downstairs. Dinner is ready. Have big girls set the table and wash hands. Eat dinner.

6:02 pm – Dinner is over. My super hubby starts doing the dishes.

6:05 pm – Say goodbye to the girls and leave for my last RCIA class.

6:25 pm – Get to RCIA. Visit with everyone for a few. Class starts, and we’re just having rehearsal tonight. Go through the whole Easter Vigil Mass. Feel a little bit confident I know what to do when I’m getting baptized, confirmed, and then receiving first communion. Feel relieved we will have another rehearsal on Saturday. I’m nervous and excited and kind of sad because RCIA is over and it has been fun.

7:46 pm – Home from RCIA. My husband has cleaned the kitchen and got the girls to clean up their toys. Sis has already been bathed and put to bed. Miss and Lass are finishing up their baths. I remember that my husband is wonderful.

8:21 pm – Done putting the big girls to bed (brushing teeth, reading stories, saying prayers, singing songs).

8:27 pm – Start uploading and editing the photos for this post.

8:44 pm – Putz around on the internet for a bit, checking email, etc.

9:06 pm – Start writing this post.

9:40 pm – Take a break to talk with my husband for a bit.

10:11 pm – Continue working on this post.

10:47 pm – Realize I am not going to get the post done tonight. Go to bed.

Whew! That was long. I have no idea if it was interesting to read, but it was fun to write.

For Fun (and to save me from having nothing to write about…)

Posted on April 4, 2014April 5, 2014 by Amy

Usually on Fridays I link up with Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday. However, I don’t think I have seven things to write about today. In fact, I can barely think of one thing.

So, I was really happy to see a link up from Kendra at Catholic All Year today that I can totally do. Kendra was given a Liebster Award, which means she had to answer some questions and then tag some other bloggers to answer the questions she wanted to ask. I didn’t get tagged by her, but she kindly included an invite for any bloggers to answer and play along. So, I am off the hook for thinking of something to write today. Here goes:

1. Where do you live? And why do you live there?

Wisconsin. Because of my husband’s job. Also because we both love the Midwest.

2. What are you currently watching and/or reading?

I’m between books. I just finished Rome Sweet Home (again) and am unsure what I’m going to pick up next. It will either be

3. What kind of Catholic are you: cradle or convert (or considering)?

Convert. It will be official at the Easter Vigil (my conversion story part 1 and part 2).

4. Can you point to one moment or experience that made you a practicing Catholic (or want to be)?

As I mentioned in my second post about my conversion, there were lots of factors that led me to want to become Catholic, but probably the biggest was the experience or sitting in Mass and feeling a very strong urge to receive communion. That kind of started the whole Catholic ball rolling.

5. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I have no idea. Too many. I have only a few pairs that I wear regularly now. Lots of my shoes are left over from my days of bar hopping in graduate school and shortly thereafter.

^^ c. 2002 Check the cute shoes ^^

I’m sure I’ll probably never any of those shoes again, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them for some reason.

6. Are you a good dancer?

No. I was just discussing this with my husband. I used to be a good dancer (back in the aforementioned bar-hopping/pre-children days).

^^ 2008 Check the moves ^^

But somehow, I have totally lost my groove. Now I do the old lady side-step-shuffle-bounce dance.

I don’t know how this happened.

7. Who usually drives, you or your husband?

Always my husband. Except when I’m the pregnant, automatic-nine-month designated driver.

8. What is your favorite holiday and how do you celebrate it?

This is a toughy. I love Christmas. I have always loved Christmas. For tradition and meaning and sentimentality, Christmas is my favorite.

But, for pure fun, by far my favorite is Labor Day. We celebrate it with a huge weekend-long party at my husband’s parents’ farm in Missouri. His whole extended family comes. The weekend culminates with a shrimp boil and then crazy dance party in which everyone dresses in themed costumes and my husband and his brother and cousins and a few others are the band.

^^c. 2005 (?) It was a “Decades” theme. Guess which decade we picked.

I’ve been to a lot of parties in my time. This one consistently blows any other party out of the water. You can read all about it here (I apologize for the lack of photos in that post. When I switched hosting companies not all the photos got transferred. I’m working on it but it’s taking forever, and it’s too late for me to redo all the photos in that post tonight).

9. Which is correct, left or right?

Left. Without a doubt. Left. Husband, take note.

10. Do you have any scars?

A few. Nothing too major. Most notably I have a small scar under my right eye where my brother accidentally hit me with a baseball bat. I think I was four or five. And I have a scar from my c-section when Miss was born.

11. What’s the most famous thing you’ve ever done?

Nothing much. I’d like to say it’s the book I wrote shortly after completing my Ph.D., but since I think only about four people bought it, I’m going to have to say having one of my posts tweeted by Jennifer Fulwiler.

That’s it. If you want to answer these and link up, go HERE. And come back and let me know. Or just answer them in the comments (don’t be scared off by the Catholic questions if you’re not Catholic!). I’d love to read your answers.

Fishing in the Front Yard

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Amy

The snow is finally melting here.

We have several bodies of water in our front yard just perfect for fishing.

Is it wrong that I get a chuckle (and lots of photos) out of watching her struggle to get up with so much clothing on?

She did do it by herself. I’m building up her self-efficacy.

Happy Monday. Happy (almost) spring.

My Writing Space

Posted on March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 by Amy

You all know how much I love reading with my kids. I even made a list of my Top 101 Fictional Picture Books back in December (and we’ve added a few new ones to that list since then). So I was excited to find a fun new blog to read today called beauty of the picture book. Right up my alley, yes?

I need a new blog to read about like I need a hole in my head, but whatever. I love picture books. I love blogs. It was meant to be.

Anyway. Today Divina (the author of the picture book blog) is having a fun link up. Today I am having some serious difficulty coming up with something to write about. Again, it was meant to be.

The link up is for folks to write about and share photos of their writing spaces.

Fun idea! I love my writing space. It’s a total mess, but I do love it so. It’s also my reading space. My coffee space. My hang-out-and-chat-with-my-husband space. I head there immediately after getting my coffee at 5:30 am every morning. I head there immediately after working out (and getting another coffee) in the afternoon while the girls are sleeping. I head there immediately after putting the girls to bed as long as there aren’t chores to be done. Wanna see it?

Isn’t it perfect? It makes me smile. I sit there snuggled up in my blanket that my husband’s aunt made for me. Yes, it’s one of the two that I rotate to catch puke when my kids are sick. It’s the best blanket ever (and has been washed!!). I prop up my feet, put my computer on my lap, and sip my coffee while I read, chat with my husband, or write. First thing when my girls wake up in the morning, they come snuggle up in my lap there. It’s my happy place.

My ottoman contains most of my current reading materials: my Bible, my Lent journal, and my newest book (and my computer of course).

My “table” (actually my grandpa’s old Army footlocker) is the perfect spot for my coffee, some more books, my rosary, the video monitor, and my husband’s iPad, among (many, many) other things.

I usually try to keep it a bit more tidy than this, but I just got a new book for my husband (Rome Sweet Home), passed along to him the book I just finished (The “R” Father), got the parent handbooks for the girls’ YMCA wee camp this summer, and grabbed some new audio materials (Cat Chat and a new Scott Hahn CD) and a new movie (Bella) from my favorite Catholic store yesterday. It all got piled on there, and I resisted the urge to clean it up before taking this photo.

It’s messy, but it’s mine. The only thing I don’t love about it is that this room is right inside our front door and there is no way to close it off from the entryway of our home. So anyone who comes over to our house sees this first. Or our homeschool room to the other side of the entryway. It’s a toss up on any given day which space is messier:)

Check out the other writing spaces at the link up here.

Everything You Need to Know About Staying (Mostly) Sane When Your Kids Are Puking

Posted on March 4, 2014March 6, 2014 by Amy

Okay. I’m going to just come right out and tell you that I now consider myself to be an expert on dealing with puking children 5 and under. So far this winter, each of my girls has had a puking stomach virus of some kind twice. These episodes of puking haven’t been my first go ’round with the barf bucket and my kids, but they have certainly been the most intense, concentrated, kick in the butt ones.

Sooo, I’m going to use my misfortune for good, and share what I now know about how to manage puking kids. Naturally, we all know, wash hands, sanitize, blah, blah. That’s important, of course, but won’t help you maintain your sanity. The following tips will, at least mostly (and just for fun, see if you can count how many different words for “vomit” are used in this post).

Here we go:

1. Old gallon ice cream buckets make the best vomit receptacles. They are the perfect size for little ones to carry around. Not too big, but not so small that they are a hard target to hit. Plus, they fit easily in the sink for washing. And usually they even have a convenient handle.

2. Put a big blanket on the floor. Something that you can throw in the washing machine that is thick enough that the puke that lands on it won’t go through to your rug or carpet Quilts are good. Blankets that are knitted or crocheted are not. Have several of these to rotate. Don’t let sick babes on the furniture.

The last part of #2 might seem harsh, but it is surprisingly easy when you follow rule #3.

3. The TV is your friend. Put in movies. Put on the Disney Channel or Nick Jr. or PBS or whatever you allow your kids to watch. Try to let them see at least a few things that are new-ish to them so they aren’t tempted to wander away or climb on the furniture. This serves two purposes. First, it keeps them occupied when they feel junky and tired and don’t want to do anything else (like Lass did after being up all night). And second, it keeps them from playing with (and vomiting on and germing-up) their toys, and keeps their touching of each other and spreading of germs to a minimum (ideally, I realize this didn’t work so well for us). It helps keep them on the blanket and off the furniture. Containment is the key here.

Buuut, if they absolutely won’t stay off the furniture, then just put a big blanket over the couch, obviously.

4. Especially if you have little ones who aren’t able to grasp the concept of aiming for the bucket, try to pay attention to when they get sick and how long they are going between retches and what their “I’m about to barf” face looks like. Other than her first two hurls on Saturday (before I got the timing down), I caught all of Sis’s puke. She was on a pretty predictable spew-every-thirty-minutes schedule for a while. Once, I even managed to pull her upright, yank her blankie out of the way, and get the bucket under her mouth all in one motion of preserving vomit-free clothing and floor.

5. Speaking of clothing, don’t bother with having your kids get dressed (my older girls stayed in pajamas, but during the worst of the barf-fest, Sis just had on a diaper). I think this goes without saying, but if they’re sick they aren’t going anywhere, and thus don’t need to get dressed. You’ll be doing enough laundry. Save yourself from washing another outfit or several (I think my laundry pile this week is actually pretty small, since no one except my husband has left the house since Thursday and the puked-on stuff is already done).

6. Along those lines, if you have one (or more) sick kid, and it’s bedtime, and you aren’t sure if the sickies will continue into the night and/or spread to your other kids, and you’re supposed to give them a bath before bed because it’s bath night? Just don’t bother. Chances are they’ll get one at some point during the night anyway. I learned this one the hard way.

7. Especially with really little ones, if they’re still actively getting sick, don’t bother to put them to bed. When Sis got sick in the middle of the night (the first time she and Lass had the pukes) I just got her up and brought her down to watch a movie until I was pretty sure her stomach was settled down. The second time she got sick just before nap time, and I didn’t put her down for a nap at all that day. I knew she wouldn’t sleep anyway, and I’d quickly run out of sheets for her bed (I did usually let my older girls go to bed if they wanted, since they are better able to wake up and hit a bucket on their own).

8. If you don’t have someone nearby who can bring you puke-friendly food in the middle of the day, keep some clear pop and saltines stashed away somewhere. I learned this one the hard way too, because I don’t normally have either of these things in my house. Though my girls actually don’t like carbonated drinks, they were better able to keep down Sprite than water. And no matter how hard they beg, don’t give in to their requests for milk. And no matter how much better they’re feeling at dinner time when they haven’t thrown up in several hours, do not let them eat bacon and oranges. Even when they really want to. Trust me.

And there you have it. All of my hard-earned puke knowledge in one convenient post. Pin it for future use. You can thank me later. For your sake, hopefully much later.

How many different vomit words did you count? I got 8 🙂

Another One Bites the Dust

Posted on March 2, 2014March 2, 2014 by Amy

This has been the worst week I could have committed to posting every day. Just when I had the audacity to write yesterday “Here’s to hopefully moving beyond the stomach virus and on to bigger and much better things,” I ended up awake all night, sick myself. It was my husband’s weekend to work, so after he got the girls breakfast, he had to go.

We had an interesting “Mom’s sick day” around here. I set up camp on the floor and went crazy with Amazon instant video.

And I hit a new low with the girls’ lunches. Since I pretty much felt like I would pass out if I stood up, I chose to encourage self sufficiency for feeding times. I gave Miss instructions for moving their Learning Tower over to get plates. I told Lass where to grab boxes of prepackaged peanut butter and cheese crackers. She also grabbed the box of Saltines off the counter. They had water bottles my husband got them before he left. Voila! Lunch.

^^Saltines and cheese crackers. Highly nutritious fare here today.

^^ She was freaked out because Sophia the First was going into a troll cave.

Though the nutritional value of the food left much to be desired, they were thrilled with being given the responsibility to get lunch all by themselves. It occurred to me that I don’t encourage them to do this nearly enough. They help with chores and I let them help me cook. But prepping their own food for lunch and snacks isn’t something I usually have them do. In fact, I tend to put some things out of reach intentionally, to avoid having Sis snacking on Cheddar Bunnies all day.

Maybe I will rearrange some stuff to give them the opportunity to get food and dishes for themselves more easily. I was glad today that there were at least a few things within their reach.

I’m gradually coming back to the land of the living, after a two-hour nap and some soup for dinner. This may very well be the lamest post I’ve ever composed. Sorry. I intend to get back to posting about the usual random stuff after today. I hope you had a more fun and less vomit-filled weekend than I.

Search and Ye Will Find…

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Amy

I’ve mentioned before how I like to read the blog 101 Books. I even did a guest post there a few months ago with my 101 Must Read Picture Books list. One of the things that the author of that site does is to look at the search terms that people use to find his blog, and then answer the questions in a post. He’s done this several times, and it’s always quite funny. Here’s the most recent one.

It cracks me up to read search terms that lead people to 101 Books. I also enjoy checking out the search terms that lead people to my blog. So, I thought I’d share a few of them with you today. In instances where the post that was found by the search term seems obvious, I’ll share the link for it too.

By far, the post with the most searches is the one about Miss’s Snow White themed birthday party last year, my favorite of which is “non cheesy disney princess party.”

Other commonly searched posts are 18 Things My Daughters with Know Before They Turn 18, Summer “Bucket List” – 50 Summer Activities for Kids, and A Horse-Themed Birthday Party with Sparkly Tail Tutorial. The search terms that lead folks to those posts aren’t exciting, but it’s interesting (to me at least) to see what kinds of searches lead people to my blog. There were 55 different search terms just for the Snow White party post!

Another one that gets searched a lot, and in fact seems to be one of the most clicked on posts of all lately (it’s usually the most-clicked each day behind my home page and the most recent post) is 9 Reasons I’m Not a Feminist (and Maybe You Aren’t Either). Some of the search terms that lead people to that one include “feminists annoy me,” “i am not a feminist,” “why is it that i agree with feminists yet they annoy me,” “feminism and raising children,” and “legal paper feminist view on stay at home mom.” Somehow I think the searchers using the last two terms may have been disappointed with what they found here. My favorite term for this though? “mommy i’m a feminist.” I just have to laugh, imagining someone typing this in as a search term. I wonder what that person was hoping to find?

Some search terms make me smile to think they led someone here:

“finding my faith“
“baby kicking in your tummy”
“simple motherhood”
“i really love the catholic church“
“a heartfelt message for a long lost friend“
“children sit together to read a book”
“friends helping each other”
“valued and loved”

Some terms made me chuckle to think that the searcher probably didn’t get what they wanted by clicking here:

“dance party music progression“
“motherhood in 1900”
“catholic what else is there”
“how to write a email regarding rescheduling a doctor’s appointment“
“presidents who were perfectionists“
“looking for someone to dress up like gerald and piggie“
“what is wrong with people who have bad experiences at catholic churches”
“how to make a morning meltdown sandwich“

Perhaps some folks were looking for homework help and not finding it here:

“I never say this is a sentence“
“sentences about try”
“write a paragraph about my favorite or least favorite day of the week“

The post with the funniest search terms I think, considering the post itself, is Two Stories About Opossums.

“opossum gun” (there were no guns in my story!)
“opossum dazed” (it was fine)
“acting opossum dead”(I know, but I was confused!)
“opossum stories for kids” (nope sorry, not this story)
“opossum vs. possum” (Oh! I know this one!)
“will a possum bite off its own leg if caught in a trap” (yes, it would seem so)
“saving dog savaged opossums” (oh dear, don’t ask me!)

And then some others that just made me laugh, or made me pause and think, “hmmm”

“mom blogs about vomit”
“awkward stuff to say“
“pink eyes does not mean laughing, pink eyes = crying” (or pink eye!!)
“enormous big pregnant belly“
“sweaty” (??)
“boobs, buttocks, burritos” (weird, but I am not at all surprised that this search led here)
“my super elephant friend”
“found out the babysitter has scabies“

And there you have it. I had fun looking back on some old posts to write this. And imagining what people might have been looking for when they typed some of those searches and found this blog.

7 Posts, 7 Days, Why Not Start It the Same?

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Amy

In July, I participated in a fun challenge/experiment of posting seven posts in seven days along with lots of other bloggers and Jen from Conversion Diary, who started the whole thing. Well, she’s doing it again. And since she first posted about it about a week ago, I’ve been trying to decide if I’m going to do it again too. And I guess the answer is yes! Why not?

The last time I did this, I started the week with a “blog roll” of sorts. Check out that post here for links to lots of other great blogs that I enjoy reading or visiting for resources (mostly for homeschooling). In that post, I mentioned that I have been meaning to put a blog roll in my side bar like I used to have when I used Blogger. I really have been meaning to! I have even tried to do it several times, but I can’t seem to figure out how in WordPress. Someday maybe I’ll figure it out (or some kind soul will just tell me how to do it). In the meantime, I figured it would be fun to kick off this round of 7 in 7 with another blog roll.

When I looked back at the other post, I was a bit surprised to realize that many of the blogs I was reading last summer are no longer as high on my list of must reads as they were then. I still read most of them from time to time, and Conversion Diary and Camp Patton are still on my list of blogs that I read faithfully. But I have found a bunch of new ones that I’m enjoying too. So, in addition to those linked in the old post, here are some more in case you’re looking for some new reading material (in no particular order).

The Rhodes Log – I just love this. It’s written by Kate who has two littles and is Funny with a capital F. Her comments about starting potty training cracked me up. And then there are posts that aren’t so knee-slapping funny, but just make me smile as a fellow mama of little ones, like this one.

Moxie Wife – I just love reading Hallie’s posts. They are insightful and funny. I seem to see/read lots of tear-jerker stuff on her site.

Everything is Yours – Lovely blog with great insights about faith.

Is There a McDonald’s in Heaven? – This is a blog written by Nella, a mom to six kids. She found out she had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma while pregnant with her 6th child. She’s in remission and has a beautiful baby girl and still writing and I just enjoy reading her stuff. It’s inspiring.

Mama Knows, Honeychild – Okay this blog is just hilarious. I can’t really explain it. Heather writes funny stuff and includes funny drawings. Drawings. Yes. You just have to see for yourself. I just read the latest post and I am crying with laughter over it.

Catholic All Year – I just started reading this one regularly and I really like it.

Amongst Lovely Things – This blog is just beautiful. The photos are beautiful. The writing is beautiful. This mom has six children, three of them under two, and yet she still is able to write things like this and this and this. Amazing.

Finally, two sites I’ve added to those I frequent for homeschooling and family resources and ideas:

Catholic Icing and Shower of Roses

So. I just looked over those, and I’m pretty sure every one of them is written by a Catholic woman, almost all of whom are moms. Huh. I guess that reflects where my interest lies right now! I’d love to hear what you’re reading. Or what you’re writing!

Really Quick Takes – Seven of Them

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Amy

Linking up with Conversion Diary again. This is going to be extra short(ish), because I really need to be packing…

1. I just learned about the blog A Knotted Life yesterday. I love finding new blogs to read, and this one is very good. In addition to being a good read, Bonnie, who writes the blog, sponsors the Sheenazing Awards for (mostly Catholic) bloggers in several categories. Her post has a long list of new blogs to check out and I have been sucked into some sort of internet vortex looking through them.

2. I voted for some of my favorite blogs in several categories, including Conversion Diary, Camp Patton, Amongst Lovely Things, and Shower of Roses. But I also found (or re-found) several other blogs to read, like Clan Donaldson, Moxie Wife, Mama Knows, Honeychild, Like Mother, Like Daughter, and Catholic All Year. I know I will be checking out many more (I pinned the list so I can refer to it whenever I have a few minutes to look at a new one).

3. One of my favorite things about homeschooling is how close my kids are with each other. They miss each other when apart, since they are used to being together so much.

Our Golden Age (during which both of the older girls were able to be in the same gymnastics and swimming classes) is over. Miss has now moved up to the 5-year-old gymnastics class. I was able to find one time slot where both the 3-4-year-old and 5-year-old classes are held at the same time, so I don’t have to spend more time at the gymnastics center than what is absolutely necessary.

Since their classes are often going on very near each other, Miss constantly points out Lass to her teacher and classmates, “Look! That’s my sister over there!” This week when they were close to each other, Miss even ran over and gave her sister a quick hug. At the end of their classes they always hug each other and exclaim, “I missed you!” Then Baby Sis hugs both of them and says, “I luh loo!” I could just die from the cuteness.

4. Baby Sis is a climber. I know this. But I can still be surprised by some of the things she does. The other day she was in the kitchen with me. I walked away for a minute and then heard, “Mama! Down!” I rushed back into the kitchen to find her standing in the drawer next to our Learning Tower.

Heart attack. She’s not even two, and she’s trying to give me a heart attack.

5. Goldie Blox. My girls each got a set for Christmas. We love them.

I have to admit that I can’t stand Legos. But these are fun.

6. I made muffins this morning. It never fails that when I make muffins I always think I have too much batter to fill the muffin cups only “two-thirds full.” Every time, I fill the first row about the right amount. Then I get to the middle and start filling them too full because I just know I won’t be able to fit all the batter into 12 cups. Then I get to the last two cups, and I end up having to dip from the too-full ones to have enough.

They always come out well in the end, but I found myself wondering, after doing this again this morning, why don’t I ever remember that this always happens and just trust the amount? Maybe it’s because I only bake every six months or so.

7. Speaking of bone-headed moves on my part, a few weeks ago, I bought a new external flash for my camera. I was so excited to use it, I got it out of the box right away and hooked it up to my camera. It didn’t come with any instructions, but getting it hooked up was pretty straightforward. Except that I couldn’t get it to turn on. I looked for a charger and a plug and didn’t find one. I looked for something in the box to tell me how to get it going and there really wasn’t anything. Just a paper that said, “Press the On/Off switch…” Well I did that, repeatedly, and it didn’t work.

Finally, I got frustrated, deemed the thing defective, and put it back in the store bag with the receipt so I could return it at the first opportunity. I then had company one day and put the bag into a random cupboard to get it out of sight (you do this too, right?), which naturally led to it being out of mind. I forgot about it until yesterday and pulled it out, thinking I’d try to take it back today. I decided I would pull it out and try it one more time, just in case I missed something the last time.

As I was getting it out I happened to glance at that one piece of paper again. In addition to the brief comments about how to turn it on, it included a diagram with all of the parts labeled. One part, which I totally missed last time I tried it but was clearly labeled on the diagram was the “Battery compartment door.” *Sigh* Maybe I should start going to bed a little earlier.

For more quick takes, go here.

Happy weekend!

Motherhood and Miscellany

Miscellany