Don't Worry, Be Happy

Well, it's finally here.  Less than 24 hours from now and I will walk my son into his PeeSchool building on our church's campus.  He's now convinced that instead of PeeSchool, it's Bible School.  He's rather confused about preschool, Sunday school, and Vacation Bible School...and he has a right to be as they are all in the same place.  Some say that's boring but I call it security and a near perfect guarantee that Benjamin won't be one of the ones having an emotional breakdown come 8am tomorrow morning.

I'm not worried about how he'll do, I'm happy he's able to go.
I'm not scared that he won't fit in, he has my personality and he'll make friends.
I'm not sad that this day has finally come, I'm eager to pick him up and hear how his day went.
I'm not going to have an emotional breakdown, he and I will both enjoy some ice cream afterwards.
I'm not going to forget my camera, I'll remember to charge it tonight.

Here's to the first day of preschool at Georgetown Baptist Preschool!
Oh, and to the Schindler's, I'm stealing your tradition of breakfast on the first day :-)

Repurposing

I like to say that I repurpose or reuse items instead of saying that I'm Going Green!  Unfortunately there are some extremestis out there that go so green and then make the rest of the population feel like worthless, heartless, mean human beings.  I guess I'm somewhere in the middle on the whole thing.  I usse pesticides when needed, I don't buy organic exclusively (note on that later on) and the list continues. 

However, in the last few years, mainly since I started staying home to raise Benjamin, I've realized how much waste I have....both good and bad.  So slowly over the last 3 years I've been trying to tweak alot of what I do, how I do it, and mainly how I keep it.  Here's a very small list of some of the things I've changed or repurposed!

• I don't have a plethra of storage area so hanging Benjamin's clothes are best for us right now since they are relatively small.  I take old large polo shirts and cover about 5-8 items in the hangers to keep the dust and random crayon marks off of them.  If I need more, I go to a thrift store and pick up a few.  This is perfect for storing coats and out of season items. 
• I rotate Benjamin's toys.  I have a large tub and I rotate his toys from time to time to keep them clean, new, and exciting.
• I use paper plates.  After staying home I realized how much time and energy I used in washing dishes....paper plates for the simple stuff.
• When I made my vegetable garden this year, I planted small.  4 onion plants, 3 tomato plants, 1 cucumber plant.  And it's been the right amount for us and nothing is going to waste. 
• Also in the garden, I haven't need to use any pesticides this year but I have used soapy water...that has never happened!

• To prevent weeds in my garden, I didn't kill the grass prior, I just layed about 4-5 layers of newsppaer under about 2-3" of soil mixed with sand.  I have pulled one weed out of the garden.  ONE!
• Instead of buying a trellis for my plants, I used the old wire shelving that we removed from Benjamin's room earlier this summer.  Anchored them to the fence and they haven't come down.
• My entire garden was constructed out of materials lying around the house.  It may not look purty but it sure is functional!
• Instead of buying clothes for dusting, mopping up those 'accidents' and other little jobs, I cut up old t-shirts of ours and even keep some of the toddler shirts whole and use them as a mit to dust the blinds.  Haven't bought rags since Benjamin was born.
• Benjamin's old crayons.....take the stubs and melt them in a oven appropriate container or even a 'bowl' made of tin foil to make one large crayon.  I remember this from preschool and enjoyed doing it. 
• I use liquid fabric softner in my washer but I only use it every other week.  I normally wash the same clothes week after week so I only add the fabric softner ever other time and never for towels. 
• Since I use liquid fabric softner, I can cut all of my dryer sheets in half and they work just as well.  By my estimate, I go through a regular sized box of dryer sheets about every 4-6 months.  Sometimes longer.
• I don't buy face scrub, I use cornmeal and if you have some lavendar you can use that too!

It's not a life changing list but I do find that it has made good changes for us.  And for my note about organic food.  Benjamin can't eat organic eggs because he breaks out in welts and his face swells.  That's a new one on my but trust me, it's happened enough to make me never buy organic eggs.

Such a Slacker

It's been a whole year since I've posted.  I'm not sure if it's because I've been slackingly lazy or if it's just because I have no time....maybe what little time I do have, I want to take a bubble bath or watch tv, not type about my day.  Regardless, it doesn't matter.  Too often moms 'beat' themselves up about what they don't get accomplished instead of what they DID accomplish.

So, for the last year, what did I accomplish?  Hmmm, that might take a minute but I have to say it's not just me that accomplished it, it was my whole family and of course the Big Guy upstairs (Hi God!).  Looking back over the last year, I see that I was accepted to a local college into their Teacher Education Program and survived my first year in a college with nothing but girls.  Did I mention that a majority of them were 10 years younger?  That's a whole new post all in it's own!  We took Benjamin for his first zoo trip to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden....it's where I grew up and I wouldn't have taken him anywhere else.  He also went to the circus for the first time, hit a huge growth spurt....I'm talking about 3.5 inches in less than 6 months.....

Oh!  Probably the biggest accomplishment was that Benjamin has 'graduated' from speech therapy.  Our speech pathologist gave our son a roar to speak with.  If you have ever dealt with a speech delay/impairment, then you know how frustrating one. single. question. can be.  We couldn't even communication basic needs for him and I got so frustrated, not with him, with me because I'm Super Mom and I understand everything.  Benjamin is now at the cusp of succeeding without any other intervention or severely regressing but I am confident that August 11th brings us a whole new light on the 'situation' at hand.

So what's August 11th?  PRESCHOOL!!!  Benjamin doesn't really have a concept of what it does but he knows that peeschool (as he calls it) is on the same property as Sunny School (Sunday School) and Bible School (VBS).   We are sending him to our church's preschool where I am so blessed to be sending him.  I'm on the board for the preschool and this past year we hired an amazing director.  Sitting in the interview my heart just screamed HIRE HER.  I knew that her vision for what preschool should be was the exact thing that Benjamin needed.  Even our pediatrician said to get him into preschool...asap. 

Benjamin has become the typical boy.  Now in some ways I hate saying that because there is a very negative sterotype about boys out there.  They are all gross, messy, wild, loud, bouncing off the walls, exceptionally rough, stinky, and the list goes on.  And yes, my son is all of those things but let me also add that he is so compassionate, loves to be affirmed, aware of others feelings, sees life through positive eyes, makes friends wherever he goes, he's not intimidated by others, especially older boys, he finds life, loves his PopPop and his Sadie Bugs (our dog), and he touches my heart like no one else ever will. 

I will always remember the day at the local water park where in one part of it, is the spray yard where the water comes shooting out of the ground and out of pipes. Benjamin learned to love this thing this year and it's also where the older boys hang out.  One time, some older boys were standing over one of the stronger sprays coming out of the ground and they were taking their turn standing over the pipe and making the water come out of their shorts in every possible direction.  Benjamin just walked right on over and much to my surprise, the older boys helped him stand on top of it and showed him what to do.  That right there is the essence of boys.  They don't care about age, how you talk, or what you wear.  They just want to have fun.  Those boys could have shoved him away or have been rude but they weren't, they took him like a younger brother and showed him what boys do.  That has made my summer!

Anniversaries and Potties

Rob was on vacation all last week and we accomplished two things.  They may be only two but it was accomplished very well.  First, we repainted the entire kitchen for only $5...talk about a deal!  Second, we celebrated our 5th anniversary and went all out.  We got a babysitter...thankya Kandice!......and then went to The Holy Hill Inn in Midway, Kentucky.  I don't think we have ever spent that much money on just a dinner but oh how it was sooooo worth it!  Chef Ouita prepares food that's locally grown and her menu reflects what's in season at the time and what's ripe in the garden.  Out back. Literally. 

It's this beautiful old home with a neat history and the food is delicious.  Visit their site at http://www.hollyhillinn.com/ to see some pictures and to read their menu. 

Depending on the moment, we are either doing well with the potty training or it's on the fast track to a migrane and loads of laundry.  The last two days have been successful so maybe we're on the upswing...I don't know.  He could care less about M&M's as a reward, he'd rather have a hug or look out the window. 

Our MOPS year is getting ready to go into full swing and I'm excited this year because our team is full of fresh ideas and ready to make it great this year.  Did I mention that school starts that same week?  It's going to be crazy. 

I tried to tell him that those shoes don't go with that diaper.

Pee-pee in the Potty!

Somehow, in the last few weeks, we have started potty training Benjamin.  I didn't plan this, wish for this, or expect it at his adventurous 22 months but here we are.  It all started with him telling me when he had/or would pooped and about that same time, I found the potty that I wanted at a resale store for dirt cheap.

So we brought our little yellow Baby Bjorn potty home ( I love how it's all one piece) and he pretty much put it on his head and danced around.  He kinda reminded me of a Green Bay Packers fan with a cheese wedge on his head....quite similar.  Most nights prior to his bath, I would place him on it and go from there.  Then the other night, I got courageous. 

I noticed that immediately after a bath, Benjamin would run into the closet and pee in the corner.  I didn't exactly discourage this because at that point I knew that he had no clue about how that sensation meant pee.  I mean our carpet is fuschia pink.  It's getting ripped up anyway.  So fast forward a few days and I got my smarts on and placed the potty in the closet and voila!  Pee-pee in the potty!

He has to have the curtains drawn and he loves to dump the potty in the bathtub.  I give him an M&M every time succeeds, no scolding or frowns if he doesn't.  I mean M&M's cover everything for us as a family....Kyle Busch and the #18 M&M's Toyota Car, NASCAR.....  Today, Benjamin had 4 M&M's and he also discovered that his Hot Wheels fit in the potty as well.  Lovely!


I'm not sure where to go from here, but I'm just placing him on there when I realize that it's been 2 hours and he's dry.  He's actually a bit excited about it. 

This is the first stop in parenting where I'm really unsure of how to proceed.  Everything up to this point has been rather easy and I knew how to handle anything.  Potty training is totally new.  And I feel for moms at this point what with all kinds of non-traditional ways of raising their child, I'm thinking that there are going to be some seriously jacked up teenagers in about 15 years.  This one blows my mind: Elimination Communication.  I don't get it, I just don't get it.  Google it....it's interesting to say the least.

Off to bleach the potty....and a few Hot Wheels.

Donde esta?

Yep, it's been a while, a real long while.  I'm a horrible blogger but let me focus on what I am good at:

1. Keeping Benjmain from killing Sadie
2. Juggling MOPS, House Committee, back to college, being a mom and a wife. 
3. Laundry
4. Killing mice
5. Keeping Benjamin alive

Benjamin is ALL boy, no doubt about that but where some moms might be pulling their hair out, I'm taking it in stride. So far this summer he has managed to:

1. Open the doors and escape.
2. Flush the toilet
3. Push a chair to the dining room table and successfully walk on it.
4. Can operate his VCR without my help.
5. Lock me out of the house.

You read it right, he locked me out of the house today.  Luckily, Rob had just woke up so while he enjoyed a good laugh, he did let me back in.  I can truly say that I'm enjoying every minute of being his mom...he's an excellent son.

Myself, Rob, and Benjamin at the Scott County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner

News!  Rob and I are both going back to school!  He was accepted to Liberty University's Online College to complete a BA degree and I was accepted into Midway College's Teacher's Education Program.  I'll be studying Secondary Biology.  We are finally being able to reap the benefits of his VA/GI Bill and me receiving a nearly full ride to Midway.  God is a very gracious God.

Enough for now, I'm heading to bed and then it's off to Cracker Barrell in the morning for breakfast with some of GBC's finest. 

Sheesh, it's been a while.

So obviously this thing has not been a priority to me the past few months but I hope to change that. Life's been so busy and our computer went belly up for a while to do anything 'high tech' like a blog or facebook.

To sum up the last few months, Benjamin has turned one, spent the night in the hospital for croup, learned to walk and climb everything and I mean everything. Rob is moving up the chain at TMMK, I became the coordinator for our local MOPS group (check us out at http://www.gbcmops.webs.com/ and on Facebook), and now I have signed up for a local 10K in Lexington this coming July.

Things are in constant motion here at our home. If you can't find me and Benjamin, we are probably at the gym. I've dropped 2 sizes, lost a few pounds and have almost radically changed my life. I have three things/people to thank for that: One, Carol M. she's my trainer that pushes me to the edge and is my cheerleader. Two, Benjamin. I'm wanting him to grow up in a family that is healthy and active. Three, the TV show Hoarders. If you have never watched in on A&E, you need to watch it this Monday at 10pm. I've dramatically changed my habits and I hope to constantly making a positive stride.

Basically, my life is on detox right now and I'm being extra careful about what goes into it. I'll write more later, sleep is calling my name.