Sunday, November 9, 2008
Preface to Single Parenthood is for the Birds!
Just forgot to mention that Casey is away on a rotation in Lancaster PA and that is why I am temporarily a single Mom.
Single parenthood is for the birds!
Being a single parent (temporarily) has left me frazzled on today! SO let me first start off by saying up until today the boys have been great. Yes yesterday I must have jinxed myself by telling people that the boys and the weather have been splendid! Well they have both taken a turn for the worst. Last night Jackson and I had a "special treat." We stayed up to watch Aristocats and eat popcorn. He went to bed literally 15 minutes later than normal and apparently it sent him into a very whiny mood today. From the moment he woke up at somewhere around 5:45 am he was in need of Mommy. We had a fight about breakfast.
Me: Jackson what do you want for breakfast?
J: Oatmeal with strawberries. I want to help you make it.
Me: Sounds great! Are you sure you want strawberries, Mom is going to have raisins."
J: Yes I want strawberries.
Me: Okay.
J: I want a banana too.
Me: If I open the banana will you eat the whole thing?
J: Yes....
We sit down to breakfast, I give Jackson his oatmeal with strawberries and serve myself with raisins.
J: I want raisins.
Me: You said you wanted strawberries.
And then the power struggle begins and so it goes for the rest of the day!
Breakfast became a huge power struggle in which I had to put Grady down for a nap and get ready for church, and try to get J to finish eating without getting off his chair or playing with toys for the entire meal. I think the battle took about 45 minutes for us to complete the meal.
As you can imagine I was a bit worried as to how church and the primary program would go. I hadn't yet arranged for someone to sit with the boys and was hoping to get there early to do this. It didn't happen. Luckily, some awesome friends offered as I walked into the chapel. Church itself in relation to the boys went pretty well. There were a few hang-ups though. The program was great! Primary was CRAZY! The kiddos were all wound up from their completion of the program. They were then re-energized from some great wiggle and get wild music. They listened fairly well to the missionary skit and then were out of control again for the movie and treats. Screaming at the lights going out, running around the room, standing on chairs to name a few events. Grady somehow managed to fall asleep. I took J to the potty and then took him back to the nursery for snack. Of course he wanted me to stay but I couldn't as I had to get back to the primary jungle jim. The nursery ran out of cups with lids so J had to have one without. This created yet another problem. Funny side note though. When I told him there were simply no cups with lids left he said he was going to ask someone else. He did and the reply he got was that there were no cups with functioning lids left. (His teacher showed him a cup that had a lid without a spout). Jackson came back with, "I want one that functions!" We all do don't we. Anyway church ends we get loaded up and return home. I unload the car leaving Grady in for the moment while he continues to nap. J decides he wants to eat sushi with me before he naps so as I am getting the food I hear the garage door slam.
Me: Jackson open the door! I need it open so I can get Grady.
J: no reply
Me: Jackson, I said I need you to open the door.
J: door opens, crazy giggling and laughing.
I assess the situation and Jackson is in Grady's face laughing. He woke him up! I was a bit upset to say the least...
lunchtime, phone rings, (Casey's tone). Yea, I get to talk to Casey. Wrong it is my VT partner. "Where are you I was just at your house and you didn't answer. Yada yada yada. I forgot about visiting teaching! Yikes I just was about to put J down. Scratch that! We load up the car. J falls asleep just as we are arriving at our destination. I carry him in and he ends up getting a cat nap when what he needed was a 2-3 hour nap. ( I needed it too). Oh well. So we get home Grady is fussing because he is hungry, and Jackson won't leave us alone so that he will eat. (Grady is at the stage where any noise, light or other various distraction takes him off task of eating). So I finally give up and tell the boys they can both stay in their room. I just need a minute to myself. After a few minutes of tears from everyone I go back in settle everyone down and call Sabine. She comes to my rescue and I leave to workoff some stress at the Y. I didn't know what else to do. I came back a new woman and though the whining and what not continued I could handle it. Thank goodness I only have 5 more days of single parenthood. And to all you doing on your own...BLESS YOU! I have gained such a great respect and appreciation for my own mom through this experience. I honestly don't know how she did it!
Me: Jackson what do you want for breakfast?
J: Oatmeal with strawberries. I want to help you make it.
Me: Sounds great! Are you sure you want strawberries, Mom is going to have raisins."
J: Yes I want strawberries.
Me: Okay.
J: I want a banana too.
Me: If I open the banana will you eat the whole thing?
J: Yes....
We sit down to breakfast, I give Jackson his oatmeal with strawberries and serve myself with raisins.
J: I want raisins.
Me: You said you wanted strawberries.
And then the power struggle begins and so it goes for the rest of the day!
Breakfast became a huge power struggle in which I had to put Grady down for a nap and get ready for church, and try to get J to finish eating without getting off his chair or playing with toys for the entire meal. I think the battle took about 45 minutes for us to complete the meal.
As you can imagine I was a bit worried as to how church and the primary program would go. I hadn't yet arranged for someone to sit with the boys and was hoping to get there early to do this. It didn't happen. Luckily, some awesome friends offered as I walked into the chapel. Church itself in relation to the boys went pretty well. There were a few hang-ups though. The program was great! Primary was CRAZY! The kiddos were all wound up from their completion of the program. They were then re-energized from some great wiggle and get wild music. They listened fairly well to the missionary skit and then were out of control again for the movie and treats. Screaming at the lights going out, running around the room, standing on chairs to name a few events. Grady somehow managed to fall asleep. I took J to the potty and then took him back to the nursery for snack. Of course he wanted me to stay but I couldn't as I had to get back to the primary jungle jim. The nursery ran out of cups with lids so J had to have one without. This created yet another problem. Funny side note though. When I told him there were simply no cups with lids left he said he was going to ask someone else. He did and the reply he got was that there were no cups with functioning lids left. (His teacher showed him a cup that had a lid without a spout). Jackson came back with, "I want one that functions!" We all do don't we. Anyway church ends we get loaded up and return home. I unload the car leaving Grady in for the moment while he continues to nap. J decides he wants to eat sushi with me before he naps so as I am getting the food I hear the garage door slam.
Me: Jackson open the door! I need it open so I can get Grady.
J: no reply
Me: Jackson, I said I need you to open the door.
J: door opens, crazy giggling and laughing.
I assess the situation and Jackson is in Grady's face laughing. He woke him up! I was a bit upset to say the least...
lunchtime, phone rings, (Casey's tone). Yea, I get to talk to Casey. Wrong it is my VT partner. "Where are you I was just at your house and you didn't answer. Yada yada yada. I forgot about visiting teaching! Yikes I just was about to put J down. Scratch that! We load up the car. J falls asleep just as we are arriving at our destination. I carry him in and he ends up getting a cat nap when what he needed was a 2-3 hour nap. ( I needed it too). Oh well. So we get home Grady is fussing because he is hungry, and Jackson won't leave us alone so that he will eat. (Grady is at the stage where any noise, light or other various distraction takes him off task of eating). So I finally give up and tell the boys they can both stay in their room. I just need a minute to myself. After a few minutes of tears from everyone I go back in settle everyone down and call Sabine. She comes to my rescue and I leave to workoff some stress at the Y. I didn't know what else to do. I came back a new woman and though the whining and what not continued I could handle it. Thank goodness I only have 5 more days of single parenthood. And to all you doing on your own...BLESS YOU! I have gained such a great respect and appreciation for my own mom through this experience. I honestly don't know how she did it!
Pictures to go with October Highlights
For some reason the pictures I posted last blog weren't showing up so I am re-posting some of them. I know they aren't all the same as before but hopefully this works out better!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
October Highlights
Soooo here is a little blurb about October to bring everyone up to date. October was soooo much fun with so many fun things to do and see. Oh how I love the fall. Apple cider, pumpkin pie, incredible leaves, crisp cold air and Halloween are just a few things that I love. These first few pics were taken at Port Farms one of the best places to visit during the fall season. With hayrides, slides, pumpkin slingshot, corn and hay mazes as well as a corn box. We went once with playgroup and then again as family. The boys had a blast both times! From there Jess came to Erie only to drive back to New York with us. (see earlier blog about this). And two weeks later the boys and I drove down to Lancaster PA to visit Casey where he is currently on rotation. Only one week to go! Hip Hip Hooray! What a ball we had there. We arrived Friday, went to dinner and to the Reading train station. Saturday we drove to Gettysberg where we got poured on. So much so we were only able to get one picture to prove we were there. OH WELL, we had a great time anyway. Sunday on our way home we took a pit stop at the Hershey Chocolate Factory where incidentally we ran in to our next door neighbors, Niki and Aaron who were kind enough to help me with the boys on our way home. (They saw me on one of my pit stops on the side of the road with the hazards on and stopped to help with the boys!) They are soooo awesome:) After another lonely week Casey made his way home for Halloween. What a great holiday the boys had with Trunk or Treat on Wednesday, Zoo Boo on Thursday, and Halloween Soup Night on Friday. Aren't they the cutest little monkey's? Saturday Casey spent the day with the boys while I was at the Super Saturday enrichment activity and Sunday after church Casey was off again to Lancaster to finish out two more weeks of his rotation. This week has been fabulous both weather and kids! Keep the sun and warm 60 degree weather coming!What a great welcome to November! Looking forward to Thanksgiving as I have so much to be grateful for! Family first and foremost.
Happy Turkey Days to all!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
You're Hired!
Here is a short video of Jackson at "working" in the factory at Chocolate World in Hershey PA. We went to visit Casey in Lancaster where he is doing his rotation this month. Before we left we stopped off at Chocolate World where we learned how chocolate is made and joined in a bit of the fun, We had a ball in the short time that we were there. 
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