My lessons of the week

My brain is not allowing me to coordinate a nice planned out post today, so here is a list of things I have learned this week (while I am on vacation being a SAHM and teaching VBS).

1. My life is dictated by Jake's nap time. We have to be home by 1 p.m. or else trouble starts brewing. Plus, I can sit down, watch TLC and blog. Or I can nap myself.

2. Getting up at 8 a.m., even when I don't have to, keeps me motivated and moving for the rest of the day.

3. After standing in line at Macys for 10 minutes with a cranky toddler who is ready for nap time can lead to discovering new games that make said toddler laugh (like reclining the seat of the stroller so he "falls").

4. Having two carseats in the back of my car makes me nervous (I am taking my nephew to VBS this week).

5. I absolutely love the feeling of having little stress since I'm not at work, where it appears the majority of my stress comes.

6. When my little man wakes up at 11:20 p.m. experiencing a night terror, which lasts for over 30 minutes of pure screaming, the only thing that will calm him down is to turn on "Family Guy." It works like a charm (we have used it more than once to calm him down during night terrors).

7. When the little man experiences a night terror and ends up sleeping in bed with me, the next morning feels like I never went to sleep...I'm exhausted!

8. And my favorite, VBS and PMS do not mix!

Works for Me Wednesday -- Trusting your instinct with medical issues

Today's Works for Me Wednesday Theme is Parenting Advice. I was not planning on posting as I have only been at this motherhood thing for barely 22 months, but as I was reading some of the other posts of great advice I thought of something, so here goes!

One thing that I have found helpful is to always trust my instinct, that motherly instinct is often right. This has been especially important for us when dealing with doctors.

Jacob's peditrician is fabulous and listens to all of my concerns with great care; however, when he wanted to wait and see how Jake's torticollis worked itself out or to wait and see how his head shaped, I felt that waiting was not the best answer.

So, being the cowardly self I am, I left the appointments waiting, thought to myself about what the doctor said, researched on the internet about specific things and then called when I had a concern that waiting was not the best answer. The doctor was always responsive to my concerns and referred us to the next step along the path of treatment.

I may or may not have been right. We could have waited to start physical therapy or waited and avoided unnecessary other appointments, but it comforted me to know that something was happening and at least we had other opinions and solutions.

This also proved true when Jake needed glasses. I recognized that he would not make eye contact when he was up close and low and behold he needed glasses.

So, don't be afraid to speak up. Trust your instincts. You are your childrens' number one advocate, they rely on you.

For more Parenting Advice visit Rocks in My Dryer.

A pain in my....back! :)

I am so incredibly glad that I took a vacation from work this week. If I had not, I would be a miserable person right now!

VBS is kicking my rear end!

I am teaching the 4 and 5 year old class. Alone!

What was I thinking? I don't have a clue!

I really did not think that I would have 10 or more kids every night.

Alone!

Or that my own child would have a break down every night (except the first night) and scream and throw a royal fit which I have to simply turn my back on and walk away from, hoping someone else can handle it because after all, I am teaching a class of 4 and 5 year olds...alone!

Due to the overwhelming (and fabulous) amount of kids we have had a VBS this year (which is great...don't get me wrong), there is not much space for the number of kids. I had 11 tonight and definitely did not have enough table space, or a place for me to sit down.

My own needs are put to the side as I gear my attention to the kids, but when I finally make it home each night, toddler in tow, I can barely lift my 35 plus pound child out of the car and into the house without the thought that my back may actually fall off (which would be horrible and interesting at the same time!).

I have been blessed by the attentiveness of my group of kiddos. I love hearing the kids whisper to their parents, "that's my teacher," and I love hearing a group of kids yell, "I LOVE YOU, JESUS!" just because I suggested it.

If only my legs, feet and back were blessed to be without pain!

A Ladies' Man, road trip, VBS...

This weekend has been a bit of a blur for me.

Yesterday we visited the Aquarium. Jake seemed to enjoy his time there. He was a fan of the sharks and the penguins. Or maybe that was me...Jake just watched all the animals intently.

After the Aquarium we visited some friends of ours and their newest addition, "baby aya" as Jake would call her. Let me tell ya, seeing a baby who is of "normal" size is amazing to me. "Baby Aya" is 2 1/2 months old and not even to the weight Jake was when he was born. I tell ya folks, I gave birth to a 3 month old!

Today we had our regular morning church activities. I stuck around after church for awhile getting my classroom set up for VBS this week.

Once I got home I put Jake down for a nap so we would have a happy kid at VBS instead of cranky pants. When I woke him up (which hurts my soul...I hate waking a sleeping kid...and Jake hates it too) to get dinner in his belly and to head to VBS, I recognized that Jake had a HUGE blue knot on his forehead.

This was not present before naptime, so I only assume that he injured himself during nap time. Bless his heart, this kiddo must have my clumsy gene. If he can injure himself in his sleep, he's definitely my child. Seesh!

While at VBS Jake joined his class and I taught my class for the 4-5 year olds. I was actually impressed with the level of attentiveness the kiddos gave me. I hope they stay that way throughout the week!

Apparently, Jake's knock on the head has turned him into quite the ladies' man. He was picking up women left and right tonight! As he was outside playing, a couple kids and their parents were outside the fence of the play area at church. Jake stood at the fence and said "Hi!" to the girls repeatedly.

Later, one of the little girls in his class decided Jake was her boyfriend (maybe she was jealous of his moves on the other women and decided to make her move). She would take his hand and lead him around everywhere. During music class, the two danced the twist. Folks, it was simply precious.

My bruiser is gonna be a heart breaker.

Sorry girls, he's already taken...he's stole my heart!

He's home!

My little man returned last night from his 3 days of fun with Gigi and Grandpa. Jake appeared to have lots of fun.

He got to visit my grandparents, but refused to go in the room with the clock...he is afraid of it. I'm glad his daddy's love of tacky things has not rubbed off, yet. Apparently he wasn't keen on anything at that time because he also had no interest in the tractor either. Here's proof.



Later that day, after a trip to McDonalds (where the A/C was out and all the highchairs were taken), the group had fun in my aunt's pool.



The next day Gigi and Grandpa ventured to the Zoo with the two boys! From what I hear, no one was interested in sitting in a stroller, but Jake was able to enjoy seeing the tigers and giraffes, which appeared to be his favorite.

I was glad to have my little man back at home. He was much more excited to see daddy. Or at least the pizza daddy brought home for supper. Either way, he's home, unpacked and life is back in order.

Kinda.

We are going to the Aquarium tomorrow and to visit some friends and their new bundle of joy. Then I am off work next week as we have VBS at church and I'm teaching a class (I decided working full time and then going straight to VBS to teach 5 year olds was going to be too much, so I decided to use some vacation time). So I guess it will still be another week before normalcy as we know it returns.

But we will have some fun until then!

WINNERS!

The winners for my Dog Days of Summer Giveaway are:

*Drum Roll*

#18 -- aahcoffee -- Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels

and #63 -- Titus2heart -- 3 Seconds by Les Parrott

Congrats!

Thanks to everyone for participating! It was great seeing 91 comments on my blog, even if I had to give something away to get that! :-)

Fun in the Park!

This past Saturday we took Jake to a park we "found" about a mile from our house. The playground was a little too advanced for Jake, but he had fun climbing what he could. He especially loved running through the huge field and looking for birds in the trees.