Notes from the Trenches

I have done very little this week. I haven't driven anywhere. I did leave the house a couple times, once for Choral Union rehearsal the other night (my friend was driving), once for my final ab/core class (walking distance), and another time to take somewhat sick kids to a little family arts night (rode the bus).  I've been in the house all week, wiping lots of noses (well, the same 2 noses, just an awful lot of wiping) and snuggling my babies the last couple of days.

So now we are on Thursday, which is basically over. And I feel really behind on lots of things, even though there isn't anything that really needed doing this week. Jacob voted no on going to playschool today. No one got dressed.  No one showered (ahem). Meals required little or no thought whatsoever. I picked up the toys a couple times only because I was tired of stepping on cars. Rebecca went down early for her nap. Jacob did not take a nap. Jacob tried to go potty 3 times in the bathroom, aside from all the other times he was successful on his own. This means I spent a lot of time reading and making up stories while sitting on the side of the tub. I talked to him about getting prune juice to help him out a little. He said he wants apple instead.  I told him I'd prefer apple juice as well. We watched Bob the Builder together on the couch. He checked on Rebecca several times. She slept almost 4 hours.  Both kids ate a grand total of about 3 bites at dinner.  Jeff had to proctor an exam tonight so we ate early with him and then I put the kids in bed at 6:40.

My house is very still and quiet right now. There are plenty of toys still on the floor. I haven't wiped the table off yet from dinnertime and I certainly haven't touched any dishes today. I have laundry from either Monday or Tuesday that I still haven't folded and put away yet. I suppose I could sit at my computer and dwell on all of this "nothing" that I did today.  But I figured it would be more productive and self-caring to sit here and try to find the little positives from my day and week.  So here it goes:

- Somewhere in all the chaos today I finished reading The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West and I really liked it. The movie is very different than the book; I like them both. Gary Cooper is in the film, of course it's good!
- I sat on the couch a lot with the kids today and had a heating pad on for a chunk of my day. My back feels great!
- We started reading a new book tonight that I got for a quarter the other day. Pippi Longstocking. It was fun to hear the kids try to say her name.  "Oh, her name sounds like Woodstock," Jacob said. As in Snoopy's bird friend.
- Jacob, distraught, reminded me to read scriptures while I was reading PL. (normally we read books after scriptures at bedtime so I think he thought I'd forgotten)
- Jacob pointed at pictures in the Children's Songbook and asked me to sing and/or play them for him. This is a relatively new game we play. I started singing "I believe in being honest, I believe in being true..." and he said, "Oh!!  That's just another Article of Faith!"  Close!
- Jacob likes to sing the first three Articles of Faith at random times.
- I swept the floor. In part of the house, at least.
- Playing sit up games with both the kids. At the same time. I give Jeff credit for inventing such a game.

- Jacob and Rebecca talking about the place Aunt Erin had her job interview this morning: Don's Johns.   

"Mom,  can I just hold Rebecca?" He has asked this several times this week. It is so funny to see it. (Especially in this picture since he has no pants on.)

There are other things I could mention, but the reality of it is that even when days and hours seem really, really long and tiring, I come up for air and it's nearly the end of the week. Nearly the end of the month. My baby is almost 2. My other baby is almost 3 1/2. It all goes by so fast and I hope my kids know that when they felt pretty yucky on a gray day or 3 in Michigan's generally gray winter, that I did my best to be happy and love them a little more.

While I was helping Jacob get suited up to play outside one day, I caught Rebecca plopped down on the couch trying to put her snow suit on by herself.  

So here's to doing our best, moms!  Keep up the good work and thanks to many of you out there who are such great examples to me.

Updated w/ winner: Weekend giveaway: Win cereal and Movie Cash!

Congrats to Hannah (& Steve) at Life Happens for winning this giveaway! I hope you can put the tickets to good use! Thanks for all the entries, everyone. I wish I had free tickets for you all!!

I have been saving this giveaway up for a while!  I knew it would be a more appreciated prize in the dead of winter, and given all this snow and ice people are getting this week, this seems like a great time to share the wealth. How about a night (or two) at the movies?

In November I was sent some specially-marked boxes of General Mills cereal with Movie Cash (basically a gift card for movie tickets), along with 4 additional Movie Cash certificates, courtesy of General Mills and MyBlogSpark. I'm sad to report we haven't used our gift certificates yet, but I imagine we will soon, and we certainly enjoyed our cereal pretty quickly!  My son was amazed that Trix cereal was a lot like Kix, just more colorful.

Thanks to the aforementioned sponsors, one of you can win the same prize. That means you'll get 5 Movie Cash certificates (two boxes of cereal nets one certificate that you can claim online, plus the 4 certificates that come in the prize pack), and each one is good for up to a $12 adult admission at participating theaters. Just leave a comment here on this post along with your email address so I can contact you if you win!  Giveaway ends Tuesday and I'll post a winner on Wednesday!

Using all we have been given

I'm sorry to be posting so sporadically over the past couple of months. I have been a little bit more thoughtful lately (at least in my mind) and instead of writing it all out or typing it all up I have just been spending time in my mind and being mindful. It's been a good thing.  But I learned a little lesson this morning I thought I would share.

Rebecca has a cute little pink Osh Kosh B'Gosh (I just love saying that) winter coat we got from a friend before she was even born. She's been wearing it all winter, or at least when we head out into the bitter cold.  Today I was zipping up her coat before we headed out to pick up brother from his playschool group and as I zipped the coat up all the way I noticed there was a nifty extra piece of fabric at the top of the zipper to fold over once the coat is zipped.  I thought that was so ingenious. I used to hate when the zipper hurt(s) my chin so I was glad I could keep Rebecca's chin pain-free. Remember how she has been wearing this coat for months?  And I just noticed this today?  Not so ingenious.

We went and picked up our favorite brother and as we were hanging our coats back up after we made it back home I had a thought that maybe Rebecca could have had a more pleasant winter thus far had I put the zipper cover to good use a little sooner.  Now for the life lesson...And maybe if I can use all the tools I've been given, my life would be a lot more pleasant as well.  I began to ask myself questions and the thoughts just kept coming:

I love reading my scriptures but often feel I need to approach it better when I read each day - truly seeking to know how I can spend that time drawing nearer to the Spirit and to the Lord.  Do I pray as fervently as I could?  Do I wait for revelation to come or am I too impatient to stay on my knees? Do I sometimes forget to pray in the hard moments in my day when I could use some divine assistance?  Do I forget to be thankful?  Do I get overly concerned about how my kids may or may not behave during church and miss out on something wonderful that I could have been learning through the Spirit?

I have a feeling this little piece of fabric on Rebecca's coat will come in handy - not just to keep her chin from getting rubbed but I think it will remind me of this simple, yet powerful, teaching I needed to learn today.