I have a slight confession ... I didn't scrap this week - GASP! lol
I was too lazy last week to take pics of some pages I did when I visited my lil sis to scrap last Friday so I do have those to share :)
My TA-DA's:
These are 6 pages I did for my Couple Album. They are pictures from our trip to Napa in April and I had high hopes of getting all of my pics from that trip scrapped ... but I only got 3 spreads ... I have 3 more to go ... yes I DO take that many pictures ;-)
They came out pretty cute. I especially like the last spread came out pretty cute. I didn't get anything done this week but my TO-DO for next week is to get something done!
For more chicks bein scrappy check out Sunday Scrappin!
So ... Day 6.
*Ya know, I never thought I would be one of those moms who had nothing better to talk about than potty training ... but in the last week it seems I have become one.*
We've gone 3 days without a peepee accident. I know, BIG YAY and all, but that's only because I remind her every 30-45 minutes to go potty. She hasn't yet told ME that she needed to go.
And maybe that's only because I haven't given her the chance?
At the same time as our celebration at no wet foot prints down the hall, I must also say that we have any where from 3-6 poopy/*sharty panties every. day. *shart = fart + sh*t* in case you weren't aware ;-)
And when I say we ... I mean ... SHE ... to be clear lol.
I'm just at a loss. Part of me keeps thinking there's something wrong. With her, with her system, with her making the connections. I just keep thinking she should be GETTING it by now when she just doesn't SEEM to be.
And maybe that's because it's only been 6 days?
I just don't know anymore. I just know that it's starting to consume my every waking MOMENT and THAT bothers me.
People also bother me. And so do bees. But let's get back to people.
I understand that when I whine and complain about my trouble with all of this CRAP (lol) that {somewhat} well meaning people feel the need to give me all the unwanted advice I can handle. And I'm *NOT* talking about *YOU* lovely ladies :)
Mostly I'm talking about these mommy group people. They all have 2-3 year olds right now which means that those who have successfully potty trained their first child think that they now hold the key to good parenting. That because they were able to potty train THEIR child at 2 in 2 weeks that they know EXACTLY what YOU are doing wrong. And they have NO PROBLEM telling you what that is.
It takes EVERYTHING in me not to say "I HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE YOU FREAKING PEOPLE I @#$%ING KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!!!! IT'S NOT MY FAULT THIS CHILD IS ... DIFFERENT"
*Again, I'm NOT talking about you lovely ladies because I know you all mean well and aren't just tooting your own horn just to hear yourself toot.*
Anyway. So I guess I just need to get all that off my chest. It's been a long. LONG. 6 days.
This has been an eventful week. So eventful infact that it calls for a list!
Monday:
- Flower Child started her first Girl Scout Day Camp and was away from me and on her own (relatively speaking of course) for the first time other than school, from 9am-4pm.
- Had the OH-SO-IMPORTANT Brownie vest that I stayed up late working on (ironing on all the stuff I should have done WEEKS ago), thrown at me as she ran off to learn all things Brownie
- I was able to spend MANY hours with just Tween & Lil Miss and have very adult and EXTREMELY enjoyable conversations at Starbucks without much drama.
- We decided that when Lil Miss said she "never wanted to go to school or leave the house because she wanted to wear diapers FOREVER" ... it was time. And we took the diapers away from her and started SERIOUSLY potty training her.
Tuesday:
- I was able to get 2 girls to camp two cities away, go shopping, make it through Costco with 3 kids and NO potty accidents, get through the library with 3 kids and NO accidents ... all before noon.
- I survived SEVERAL poopy accidents ... and so did Lil Miss ... THAT is the miracle.
Wednesday:
- Dropped 2 little campers off and noticed that Flower Child didn't even look back as I left, just ran off to her new best friends. She was so excited and into the activities that she barely even noticed I was there ... *tear*
- Then I was able to have another lovely leisurely breakfast at Starbucks, just Tween & I. In which we discussed the economy, when is a good age to get married, and our favorite colors :)
- Planned Lil Miss's birthday party with BEYOND limited funds, but I think I found a way to make it work :)
- Had a great Girl Scouts Meeting - have I mentioned that I'm the Co-Troop Leader?!
- The girls earned their next patch that I need to iron on and I think I'm as excited about as they are :)
- Had a mini melt down at Lil Miss's 70hundredth accident that made me doubt my parenting, most of the choices I've EVER made, and sent me knee deep in a glass of Zin.
- Realized I'm ALSO knee deep in PMS...
- Realized that PMS week was a BAAAD time to force the potty training issue.
Thursday:
- Today started out with 3 accidents and a GREAT BIG SIGH ...
- However after I ran the girls to camp, I was able to run to Target, just Tween & I!, and we found some awesome stuff for Lil Miss's birthday.
- We had so much fun together looking at dresses for her and finding just the right toys that she is going to FREAK over when she opens them!
- Tween asked if we could "go hang out at Starbucks together again today" which MADE MY DAY :)
- It really does my heart good that at her age she WANTS to hang out with me.
- I'm about ready to hit the dollar store & Kmart for the rest of the decor for Lil Miss's party - AAAAALL ALOOOOONE lol
- Then tonight is the Farmer's Market where we've found some INSANE deals and we've been eating SUPER healthy which has been great for my health issues of late
- and THAT is a-hole-nother post...
Brandon has been home all week. That's been REALLY good for this whole potty training business but really BAD as far as money is concerned :-/ It's really bad. But on the bright side, at least he's been here to help me with the potty training and to give me some time out alone with the girls.
So that's been *MY* week or almost week anyway. Hope you're all enjoying your summer!
One minute it's the last day of school (May 20th) and I'm freaking out about HOW on EARTH will I keep these people BUSY 24/7?! The next, it's already almost JULY!
I am still amazed at how fast this summer is flying by and how much I'm going to MISS these little people when they're gone! Well ... I'll miss them for a bit until I get used to having MOMtime ALONE 3 days a week.
But that's a-hole-nother post.
Today I'm marveling at how individual my kids are and how much I love spending time with each one of them, seperately, or in smaller quantities - lol.
Monday, Flower Child (7) started her first Day Camp with the Girl Scouts. I dropped her and her friend off at 8:30am and they RAN away to begin their day of learning as many gross-out songs as they could. And boy did they. I had Tween & Lil Miss with me, and now where in particular to go, so we stopped at the nearby Starbucks to hang out a bit.
I love that Tween is so old and that I could actually run to the bathroom and let them sit in the lobby because no one was just going to walk up and take them. I stood in line and ordered our drinks and pastries and Lil Miss is now old enough that she's not going to bolt for the door or dance on the table tops, and Tween is old enough to sit with her while I take care of other things. It's just made life so much more ... managable.
Now don't think that I use and abuse my older child, FAR FROM IT! I am all for helping out with younger siblings and the family unit as a whole, but I also want her to understand that Lil Miss is MY child and I don't expect her to help RAISE them.
So after I had all manner of Starbucksy goodness in hand, I joined them at the table. We sat and had a pretty good conversation, Tween & I, while Lil Miss monkied around and made googly eyes at all the passers by. It was actually a VERY nice time.
My oldest daughter is so mature and is such an amazing person already at her young age of almost 12. I enjoy our talks so much that it actually excites me for her to grow older. I have the occasional 'awwww my BABYs growin up!' moments, but for the most part, I am just looking so forward to the future she has before her.
My little Flower Child is a completely different child, from pregnancy to now. But the older she gets and the more time I have with her to listen to her ENDLESS stories, lol, the more I find ways to enjoy her differences.
Listening to her and her friend in the car on the way to camp today, and watching her walk off, it just struck me how mature she is getting too. Being the younger sister, I think most people including myself, see her as 'younger' no matter how mature she's getting.
Her friend and her sang songs all way to camp and they were so cute and such little sweethearts that I found myself singing right along with them! My heart just swelled thinking of how great these two little girls are and how much I love my little Flower Child.
Now Lil Miss, THAT is another story lol. We had a VERY, LONG, TOUGH weekend. My stepson is getting harder and harder to deal with and my Lil Miss is starting to show characteristics similar to his. She is becoming harder and harder to reason with, instead of easier. She's acting more wild and showing less restraint over her feelings, instead becoming more in control.
And I'm scared.
My stepson was diagnosed with ADD by a psycologist and while I don't neccessarily agree with over medicating him, I do feel that he NEEDS help. But because of California custody laws, we are not even allowed to take him to a psycologist without his mother's consent, and she hates psycologists. She refuses to let him see one, will not discuss medication options, and won't uphold dietary restrictions that are known to help. So we are stuck dealing with a child that is bordering on uncontrolable 50% of the time, and we can't do anything to help him.
That is starting to affect my youngest daughter who is starting to act just like him. On his weekends here, by Tuesday when he goes back to his mother, my husband and I are just in tears and frazzled by the two of them.
I'm trying so hard right now to find a way to deal with her and GET THROUGH to her. She is wonderful loving caring little girl and can be so sweet it makes your teeth hurt! When she wants to be ...
She can be so tender and cares so much about other people's feelings, but she just doesn't get it when you tell her not to do something. We're trying to potty train her right now and it is just hell. It's exponencially harder with her than it was with either of my other girls. I can't explain it, she just doesn't make the connection. She's like that with a lot of things, which worries me too.
But God willing, she'll be potty trained and starting part day preschool 3 days a week in August. I really hope that helps with things. I would really like to get her in 5 day preschool, even if only part day, because I have a bad feeling next year, Kindergarden is going to be a HARD transition.
Another productive week! w00t!
Well this week I started easing into some of the new summer routine we'll having going on here. My girls have been out of school for TWO FREAKIN WEEKS now and things are settling into a schedule of sorts. So I've had more time to do what I want without feeling like I'm neglecting them or household stuff or whatever. I've even gotten a workout in 3 days this week! WOW, come to think of it, this may have been my most productive week ... EVER! lol
So today my TA-DAs are some spreads for my "Me & My Friends" Album & my "Couplehood" Album. On TOP of these I also did 6 pages of my friends pictures too! I'm s l o w l y chipping away at THAT pile while I do my own stuff too :)
The above spread is from my trip to San Antonio in November 2007 - I haven't done the journalling yet but that part has been a little difficult. At least I have it all here on the old blog to refer back to when I get round to it ;-)
I'm really loving these papers more and more. They're all from this pack I got from Costco of all places. Double sided, pattern cardstock, 200 papers - $50 - gotta love Costco amIright?
These pages I used papers with Stars in the back cause I was in Texas ;-) BOY they are ALL ABOUT stars over there! lol
This spread is from my "Couplehood" Album - December 2004 - OLD school. This is of the trip he took me on for my birthday, the day after he proposed to me :) It's so fun going back in time and remembering it like it happened yesterday...
Fast forward almost 4 years LOL - these pages are July & August 2008 - just a few Date Nights we had :) I skip around ... A LOT ... lol. But that way I'm always doing something that inspires me. Something I FEEL like doing, I love it.
