Where does the time go?

I can't believe that a week from today my little monkey will be graduating Preschool. I am so proud of the sweet little girl she has grown into. It totally depresses me that she will be my 2nd baby to graduate, it seems so soon.

First day of Preschool
First field trip to the pumpkin patch
Valentine's Party
Field trip to Big South Fork Scenic Railway & Blue Heron Mining Camp

Parent's Curse

I've been told by my parent's, like everyone has, "I hope one day you have a child just like you." Yes, we were all cursed by our parent's. The one liner that all parent's use and one day they hope it will come true. The older my children get, I am starting to think 'my curse' was lost in translation or slightly altered.

When I was a kid I remember being in my bedroom hours on end playing with my Barbie's, baby dolls, Playing school etc. I was entertained by my imagination and I played with every single toy I had. Many times my mom would have to come to my room to tell me it was time for supper, bedtime or bath time. On days with nice weather, I was outside. I do also remember being a little mouthy, slamming doors on occasion and maybe even stomping off when I didn't get my way. That is normal to an extent.

My kids are nothing like I was at their age, and yes, I confirmed this with my mother just to prove I wasn't delusional. My children never, and I mean never touch their toys. My girls have baby dolls with changes of clothes, strollers, carriers, bottles, high chairs, Barbie's with mansion, cars and all accessories. Kitchen set with all dishes and food ever manufactured, as well as any other trendy toy made. My son has race tracks, cars cars and more cars, tractors, power tools complete with work bench, toy guns, stick horses.... You get the idea.

What I do not understand is why my kids insist on following me around the house, under my feet complaining because they have nothing to do?!? Maybe it's just this generation of children, but my kids are very ungrateful and unappreciative of all they have. I try to tell them stories about kids being less fortunate, threaten to donate all their stuff to charities, nothing I do or say will get them to try to open up to their imaginations. It is literally driving me crazy. Yesterday, I was in my room folding clothes on the bed and all 3 of my kids were standing across from me watching. When I told them to go find something to do they replied " We don't have anything to do". UGH..

For these reasons; I am convinced my 'curse' was altered to further torture me. I don't want my kid's hiding away in their rooms all the time like I did as a child but every now and then would be a nice and welcome change. I also think the eye rolls, stomping off, screaming, spitting, temper tantrums, slamming doors, throwing things, holding of breath and any other dramatic outburst my kids partake in were exaggerated in my curse.

One day... I hope my children have kid's that are JUST LIKE THEM :)

City Wide Disaster

This weekend was the annual city wide yard sale in our neighboring county that we attend every year. I usually have really good luck and come home with a car load of bargains for very little money. I get excited about the first Saturday in May every year because of this event. After today, I may have a different feeling about attending next year.

First off, the town that the event is held in is undergoing road construction. So on a normal day the traffic is crazy. Throw 150 rednecks along the sides of the road with their wagons of junk, and everyone and their grandma trying to maneuver their vehicles in and out of the chaos, you are bound to have some entertainment or at least some aggravation. We stop at yard sale after yard sale and find nothing. If they did have good things, things I was looking for, it wasn't the right size, price or gender. All baby items were for girls, go figure. Then I spot a yard sale that might be promising so in bumper to bumper traffic my husband tries to pull in only to run off in a huge hole that bottoms out our car. Luckily only one front wheel ran off in it, so we got enough traction to back out of it. How embarrassing. Of course this sets my husband's already impatient mood over the edge. Thankfully, no damage was done. But I didn't get to go to the one sale I could have had luck at.

While back on the road from the huge crater incident we witness a brawl. Apparently a woman had pulled out in front of a man in his flashy Mustang. He showed his hind end big time. Squalling tires and smoke rolling, he pulled into the parking lot behind her literally hanging out his window and calling her everything but a white woman. I felt sorry for the poor lady but she didn't take his crap. In just a few seconds there was a big crowd and she was in his face pointing her finger at him. We couldn't hear exactly what was being said but we did get a good laugh at the ridiculous comotion as we drove on.

We then go to Dairy Queen for some breakfast. Another disappointment. I ordered a bacon & cheese biscuit and my husband ordered biscuits and gravy with a side of sausage. Simple enough. All the cars ahead of us in the drive thru were asked to pull over the the side and wait for their order, we were then asked to do the same. After waiting for 25 minutes I went inside to see what the hold up was. Our food hadn't even been made. There was about 20 angry people standing by the registers complaining because they hadn't got their food either and the parking lot was full of waiting cars. I demanded my money back because I simply didn't want to wait until supper time for my breakfast. We settled for McDonalds.

At this point we were both ready to just come home. The day had been a big enough disaster, it was gloomy and looked like it could rain at any time. On our way home we stopped at one last yard sale and finally had some luck. I got a John Deere bookshelf for the boy's bedroom for only $1 as well as 2 candle sconces for $2 and my daughter 2 pairs of Children's Place shorts for $4.

Better Luck next year I suppose.

By my calculations...

Now that the time is closing in I realize how totally insane I can be in the decisions that I make. Here are some calculations into my insanity:

[42 days] Until baby #4's due date.

[36 days] My daughter has an appointment 2 counties away from here.

[29 days] My daughter has another appointment 2 counties away from here.

[28 days] until Summer classes begin. (yes, I am aware that is just [14 days] before my due date. I have already prepared to have a laptop at the hospital with me to do my school work)

[27 days] until my daughter's 5th birthday.

[24 days] until my daughter's birthday party.

[23 days] of school left for my 1st grader.

[16 days] of school left for my Preschooler, Preschool Graduation and an afternoon appointment.

[15 days] until my appointment with my advisor to register for my classes.

I have appointments in [5 days] and again in [8 days].

Preschool field trip is in [2 days], city wide yard sale I attend every year is in [3 days] and Mother's Day is in [4 days].

Ballgames are also every Thursday for the next [3 weeks].

Nervous breakdown could be [x days] for I will never know when it happen therefor can not plan for it.

One thing I do not regret.

I have wanted to write on this subject ever since I started my blog. I guess the reason I haven't done so until now is because it's such a soapbox issue for me that it could result into a never ending blog post, and very sore fingers. So, I will try to stick to the basics and not get too carried away.

I have regrets, who doesn't? There are plenty of things I would go back and do differently if I could, but life doesn't come with a rewind button. The older I've gotten it's made me realize that things happen the way they should. Your past gets you to the place your meant to be in the future, brings people in and out of your life to help you grow and molds you into the person you were intended to become. Among all of my regrets becoming a young mother isn't one of them.

I didn't plan to become pregnant in high school, get married just weeks after getting my driver's license and becoming a mother 6 days before my 17th birthday. But, that's what happened so I dealt with it and made the best of it. Although I know I disappointed my parents, as I did myself, how I chose to handle it all made them proud. I finished high school a year early by home schooling myself. I did not have a teacher or anyone helping me. I am not a genius and don't claim to be overly smart but I stayed focused and worked hard to accomplish it. All the while living the life as a newlywed, caring for a newborn, working a full time job and paying bills. It wasn't easy but looking back I am thankful for the struggle and all that it taught me. I learned that no matter how hard things become as long as my head is kept on straight I could manage and overcome it.

The reason I am so offended to hear someone tell me "I look too young to have children" is because I honestly do not see what age has to do with it. I was meant to be a mother, regardless of "when" it happened. I am in no way encouraging anyone to start a family as a teen, I'm just saying it was because I became a teen mother that I learned so many important lessons early in life, kept myself out of trouble and became who I am today.

I am now expecting my 4th child. I am still married to the same man I married when I was 16 and love him even more than I did the day I said "I Do." I am exactly where I am meant to be in my life. The number of children I have isn't a mistake, I am their mother because I was meant to be.

As far as individuals thinking I am years younger than I am, well, I guess I should take that as a compliment. I probably will appreciate it the older I am when I want to look younger. I just don't like certain things coming with age limits. When age has nothing to do with it. Your maturity level, strong will and acts of responsibility is what determines 'how old you are' not how many years you have been on this earth.

I do regret eating every single Snicker bar and Hershey's kiss from the Easter eggs but I don't regret my children or the ages I was when I became their mother. I am blessed to be where I am in life.

My almost perfect day

Things around here have been hectic lately, well, extra hectic I should say. Having 3 kids it's bound to be hectic on a normal day but lately it's been in overdrive. The everyday kids getting in trouble at school, temper tantrums, embarrassing ball field meltdowns, the never ending sickness, just to name a few. But, it seems *knock on wood* that things are starting to fall back into the 'what's normal for our family' routine. Everyday life is chaos in general and that's okay, I seem to manage well or I like to think I do, at least. Without my loving, supportive and strong willed husband I couldn't manage. He keeps me held together and picks up my pieces when I do fall apart.

My mom promised to keep the kids for me this past weekend as our anniversary gift from her. What a perfect gift. Alone time. Peace & quiet. A much needed break. Thanks MOM!!! Our Saturday we worked outside mowing the yard & cleaning up a bit before more rain headed into the forecast. My husband let me mow the yard which is something I don't get the privilege of doing often. Call me crazy but I enjoy mowing. He will let me every now and then while he supervises, it's a man thing I guess. But, this time, he done the trimming & weed eating and let me mow all by myself. Then actually told me I did a good job afterwards. I even mowed over a snake, freaked out (I loath snakes) so, my sweet husband smashed its head for me, thanks babe. My girls went to some yard sales with my mother in law so it was just Caleb at home with us during the morning. He played and behaved well. Even took the girl's princess cruiser off roading in the edge of the woods that boarders our yard. I often wonder what goes through his head for him to come up with all the things he does. He keeps us laughing.

After taking the kids to my mom I came home, showered, and got ready for a night out of the house with my husband. We didn't do anything too exciting, but just having some alone time together was enough for me. We went to eat Chinese, which as always was delicious. My favorite part of eating Chinese is getting a fortune cookie. I realize it's just a piece of paper inside of a crunchy shell that resembles a cow hove. But, the fortune I got this time was oddly appropriate for this given day. It read "This could be an almost perfect day. Enjoy it."

After eating we went to Wal-Mart for a few things and then to 2 different pharmacies looking for shower soothing tablets that apparently aren't marketed any longer. While at Walgreens a woman asked me when my baby was due, I responded "June". Then she walked over and sat down in the waiting area. My husband and I were still searching for the shower tablets when she asked me if I was having a boy or a girl, I told her a boy then she proceeded to tell me that I looked way too young to be having a baby, like I was only 16 years old. Then asked me if I was excited about becoming a mom. I just played along and said "yes, I am excited" and walked off. I may be the only person that feels this way but I find remarks such as that rude & inappropriate. I may blog about that some other time...?

Before returning home we got ice cream and rented a movie. We also joked about our 'date' consisting of eating and visiting pharmacies, and being home before 7:30 on a Saturday night. This could only mean we are getting old, right? The rest of the night was spent enjoying our strangely quiet home. I would say this was the closest thing to an almost perfect day I've had in a very long time. And enjoy it, I did.

So easy a caveman could do it.

I have never met a real life Caveman, just saw the one's on the nifty Geico commercials. But, from what they are capable of doing on those commercials it leads me to believe that picking up after themselves is something they could also master. I mean seriously, is it that hard to rinse off your dishes, put your dirty clothes INSIDE the clothes hamper, (this is assuming that they are packing their clothes to the laundry room) put shoes in the closet, and other general items in their place of belongment. (I think I just invented a word).

• Let's start with the dishes; I do not own a dishwasher and if I did I probably wouldn't use it because the model that would be in our price range wouldn't clean the dishes to my liking, I'm sure. I hate scrubbing stuck on food off of plates, collecting sippy cups that my children hoard in their rooms, or washing every cup we own in one sink load. Get a cup, drink from it, reuse it. Do not get another cup every single time your pour yourself a drink. There is no need in my dish drain having 521245798443 cups in it at one time. Geez.

• Laundry; this subject has been blogged about several times and I'm sure will be several more times in the future of my blog. Our laundry hamper has a lid. It's nothing fancy, just a round white plastic hamper that just happens to come with a lid. How hard is it to pick up the lid, put clothes inside and replace the lid on top? There can be nary a stitch of clothing inside the hamper and for some reason my husband and kids still pile their dirty clothes ON TOP of the hamper lid. Maybe I am just being over obsessive, but this drives me nuts.

Also, washrags. If I do not remove the wet washrag myself, they will pile up until every single one we own is lying the in tub. One day I decided to boycott the removal of dirty rags and let them all pile up while I used my loofah during showers. My husband wasn't happy when he had to shower with a dusting cloth. This got his attention for, oh a day, then he continued leaving his rags piled in the bottom of the tub like before. Oh. My. Goodness. What's a mom to do?

• Everything has a place and being the OCD control freak I am, I am not happy unless everything is in it's place. Now that we have an inside dog, a puppy at that, I am constantly telling my kids they can't leave their shoes at the door, or toys in the floor, etc. They never listen of course. The dog gets a hold of things and chews them up which generates a bigger mess for 'me' to clean. Not to mention added frustration of things being destroyed just because they weren't where they belong. A subject I preach about often. I don't blame the dog, he's just being his puppy self. It's your own fault if you leave your stuff laying in inappropriate places for the dog to nab. But of course, I am left with the aftermath of it. The dog also likes to steal laundry. He doesn't do anything with it besides hide it under the bed but he enjoys thieving laundry, I can't figure out why. Maybe it's way of torturing me like the kids do. Just gives me something else to do as if I don't have enough already. But I am not bitter, this is my job after all.

One day my kids will grow up and our house will be lonely & quiet. Although this will be years and years down the road if it ever occurs at all. Having four children it is inevitable that I will have a house full of grandkids. I try not to stress over the small things and let them be kids. But, there is ONE of me vs. 4 other beings living in this house and if it isn't too much to ask, they could figure out how to help out every now and then. I am not a supermom, I do not own a cape. I'm almost certain it isn't too complicated for even a caveman.