Statistics

All too often, we let statistics get the best of us and dictate our lives.  Children of teens moms will do this, children from divorced homes will do that.....for the most part, we try to fight the battle against becoming part of the norm.  Is it possible to beat the odds?  Or is society right?  What happens when you have multiple statistics to fight?  Is it possible to beat them all?  Will a child end up in poverty just because of their parents age?  Is age really a factor?  Once you cheat, will you always be a cheater?  Is it possible for a person to become unfaithful to their loved one, and then just not do it anymore?  Is it worth living everyday always wondering why and if?  Can a young couple from two broken homes live a long happy life together?  Or is it fate that their home will become broken as well?  I live everyday with a house full of statistic fighters (yes, that is what I shall call us!).  No matter how hard we fight, will we always be a statistic?  If I am confusing you, don't worry....I tend to confuse myself sometimes when I get random thoughts in my head!

No More?

The hubby and I have been in a weird place the past few weeks.  He's been working his butt off and by the time he finally gets home from work he is too tired for anything, but he still has to find the energy to do his school work (he's working on his MBA).  Then we have the kids (aka the Crazies).  My daughter is 8 (going on 16), and boy does she have an attitude on her.  I haven't quite figured out how to get through to her yet.  Then my son....my sweet little terror of a 2 year old.  He can be the sweetest little man in the world when it's just me and him, but when Sissy walks through the door, it's game on!  He wants to play with her, and she wants to be alone.  So now we get to the point where they are both fighting over toys, annoying each other, and living up to their nickname (the Crazies!).  One night as I was cooking dinner and attempting to calm down the crazies, my hubby, who was working on his homework, comes walking into the kitchen and says, "we're done".  (WHAT?  WE"RE DONE?????)  Not that our relationship is done (phew!), but that we are done having kids.  He said he doesn't know if he can handle anymore.  My heart sank just as it would if he would have meant that him and I were over.  What do you mean we're done?  No discussions over this?  When we got married, I had my ideal life in mind.  We already had a daughter together, but eventually, I wanted to buy a home, get a dog, and have two more children.  Three, three has always been my number.  He says we've got a boy and a girl, and we should feel blessed with what we've got.  I'm not saying I want another baby right now, but in the future.  I'm still young, and 5 years down the road, I was really hoping to add another little Crazy to our bunch.

Dot Com Mom!

Just got my oldest off to school, so now it's time to clean and play with my two year old.  I recently signed up for a free trial of abcmouse.com (which my 2 year old calls Dot Com!).  We have been working on it for two weeks.  And while he still hasn't figured out how to use the mouse, it has helped him learn a lot.  He knows his colors, how to count to 3 forwards and backwards, he knows his animals, and has added countless words to his vocabulary.  My son is smart, but not nearly as smart as my daughter was at his age.  So I'm hoping that Dot Com will help us prepare him for preschool so he doesn't struggle.  Do you work with your young children?  What are your favorite activities to do with them?  Well, guess it's time to start that cleaning I was talking about earlier! 

 

Grocery Shopping with the Crazies!

I went grocery shopping yesterday, and this wasn't any normal shopping trip.  This was my first coupon induced shopping trip since sometime last summer.  I had my list and my coupons, but I also had the Crazies (aka, my children).  One on one my kids tend to be angels, but together, they create some mega force kid duo whose goal is to get mom's full blown attention.  My first transaction was the most important.  I would receive $10 if I did it right (that is without my coupons added).  I tried to count over and over to make sure I had the correct items.  Then the mega force duo started in erupt.  As you can imagine, I miscounted and forgot about 8 items on my list in all.  Lucky for me the customer service let me grab the items I missed and gave me a $10 off coupon for my NEXT trip.  Not a complete fail, but I learned my lesson......grocery shopping must always be done alone!

My Special Valentine

My husband is not exactly what I would call romantic.  A lot of times when something needs to be planned, I do it (letting him take some of the credit sometimes).  The last few years, I have surprised my hubby with no kids and a dinner with all of his favorite foods.  This year, my Valentine's surprise has already begun!  For the fact that I know my hubby is probably reading this....I'm going to wait until after V-Day to tell you what is is.  But for the big day itself.....I'm stumped.  Money is tight right now (paying off loans....thank goodness!), so I'm in sort of a V-Day block.  No ideas really.  This got me wondering, should I just not plan anything and see if the hubby plans something?  Although, it would be a downer if we ended up not doing anything.  I see all of these wives saying V-Day doesn't matter, and you should love your husband and celebrate your love all year, but what is wrong with one super special day?  Who really cares if it's one big cheesy day full of romantic cliches?  It's just nice to be reminded just how special you are to one person!  What are your Valentine's Day plans?

The Working Parent Vs. The Homemaker

Last night the hubby and I were watching Guys with Kids and it got me thinking....do working parents have a tendency to under estimate the hard work a stay at home parent puts in?  From my perspective, I think so.......sometimes at least.  My husband works all day, comes home, and all he wants is to relax and unwind.  But then here I am working all day (and yes, staying at home with a 2 year old, trying to clean, cook, take care of him, and do homework is a job!) and when he gets home....all I want to do is unwind.  Both of us can't do that....someone still has to finish up dinner, clean up the dishes, put away the leftovers, and take care of the crazies....I mean kids.  Who do you think is going to win the chance of relaxation?  Society has labeled the stay at home parent a few ways.....one being the lazy parent who doesn't want to work.  For any parent that has to (or chooses to) stay at home with young children.......you'll know there isn't time to be lazy.  If you had the pleasure of spending 30 minutes with me and my son.....you'd be askig if I even get a chance to use the bathroom during the day (yes....he's that active).  What about nap time?  If you are lucky to still have nap time (which my son has opted out of) then you'll be spending that time trying to make your house look halfway decent after a morning of playing!

I respect the working parent.  They push themselves putting the finacial stability of the entire family on their shoulders.  But when will the stay at home parent get the same respect?

We Survived....

I was 17 when I gave birth to my daughter. At 36 weeks my doctor noticed that my blood pressure was abnormally high. So they ran some tests. When I went in for my 37 week appointment, my BP had spiked even more. At that time they determined that I had preeclampsia. They induced me within a few hours. 5 years later my husband and I tried for baby #2. From the start they watched my BP. At 30 weeks we started to see a rise in my BP. My doctors visits got longer as they kept me for observation every week. At 36 weeks my BP had gotten dangerously high (for me and the baby). Out of fear that this could possibly result in preeclampsia again, they induced. My son's heart rate began to slowly decline during delivery because of my blood pressure (which had gotten worse during delivery). Since the birth of my children, I have experienced high blood pressure and depression, both of which my doctor said could have been affected by the preeclampsia. My daughter's doctor believes she may have adhd, which potentially (but not for certain) have been caused by the preeclampsia. Both of my kids are healthy and bright, but the effects that this disease has had on me and my daughter, and will continue to have on us, could be a struggle. At last year's Promise Walk for Preeclampsia, my daughter wrote on the sidewalk "mommy and me survived"........and that we did. We are survivors.

To find out more about preeclampsia, or to find a Promise Walk in your area, visit PromiseWalk.org or Preeclampsia.org.