dr. laura's lift

i love being a mother, and i feel so blessed to be able to care for my children full-time while my husband works so hard to provide for us as the sole breadwinner. i am living a dream life...i completely understand that!

not that it's without sacrifice. because we do. trust me!

but there are times that i get a little resentful and start to feel like my life could be better. that i could be doing more for me. i allow little thoughts to creep in that make me feel as though i drew the short end of the stick. i don't "get" to go to the gym like most of my mom friends. i don't "get" to join all the civic and service organizations that i want to get involved in because they meet during the day and don't provide childcare. i don't "get" to pop in for a mani and pedi whenever i want to...

"me time" in my reality takes careful planning, and in most cases doesn't happen until well into the evening after J gets home.

last week i'd begun to feel like this again. and then one morning, i happened to check my email before the children woke up and found the following YouTube spot from Dr. Laura (whom i LOVE!!!).

hel-lo? did she post this video just for me?! because it sure felt like it. and it sure gave me a much-needed lift (and kick in the pants!).

it made me realize that the reason i slip into these periods of envy and insufficiency is because the WORLD tells me that my life isn't enough. the world seeks to make me feel inferior because i actually like hanging out with my children and incorporating them in all of my daily activities. i relish my time with them. these few years that i have with them in such concentrated doses is so fleeting, and i want to soak up every moment. sans the messages "the world" seeks to impress upon me.

i'll have plenty of time for workouts, volunteer work and salon trips while my children are in school. i don't have plenty of concentrated time with my children before they go out into "the world". so i'll continue to do what i do with them and love it.

if you, my full-time homemaker friend, need a lift too, please feel free to check out Dr. Laura's message out here:


http://www.youtube.com/user/drlaura?blend=3&ob=4&rclk=cti#p/u/1/QJVW0Vlnbss

february...it's complicated

so it's no secret i love this month. i love love. i love the colors pink and red. i love baked goods and chocolate.

know what i'm not so crazy about? pronouncing it.

there's not a month on the calendar that makes me cringe like this one does. it's a phonetic challenge of epic proportions! and it seems like everyone has their own way of saying it. or butchering it, whatever your opinion may be...

i, for one, have always been in the "feb-roo-air-ee" camp. and let me tell you, it's a lonely camp. i've been pronouncing it like that for as long as i can remember, and for as long as i can remember, i've gotten frequent funny looks.

i realize most people are in the "feb-you-air-ee" camp, and i've always thought (smugly) that it was one of those deals where the majority of people are in the wrong and it had just become an accepted pronunciation over time even though it was incorrect. (the english language has a funny way of evolving like that, and that drives me crazy!)

then there's the other camp--the "feb-ruh-air-ee" camp. or the "febbuh-wary" camp. i'm pretty sure these groups just aren't sure which way to say it, so they mumble through it so they won't have to commit one way or the other!

i got curious tonight and decided i'd find answers once and for all. i'd already decided that i've been in the right all this time and webster would finally prove it.

and--shocker of all shockers--i was wrong!

well, not incorrect. the way i've always said february is a correct form. but so is the ever-popular "feb-you-air-ee". who knew?!

i'm already looking forward to march. nothing complicated there!!

a delightful mess

ahhhh...low-key day. no office time for daddy today. he was all ours! our lovely, considerate children allowed us to sleep in till almost 9. one of those now-rare, precious mornings where J and i wake up at the same time and one of us doesn't have to dash to get ready to leave. we spent a long time just talking. no topic in particular. a little bit of sharing about our observations on the children, a little bit of planning for next week. just getting on the same page. these are my favorite mornings!

leisurely breakfast. that i didn't have to cook. (can i get an amen?!) J made his famous oatmeal. he and the girls call it "goatmeal" just to be funny! i'm not a huge fan of oatmeal, but J and the girls love it, and they especially love it when he makes it. he cooks his with just water and sweetens it with white sugar, adding milk after he cooks it. i cook mine with milk and sweeten it with brown sugar and raisins. i like mine better, but he and the children like his. :0) the girls like cinnamon on top of theirs, so they've added their own spin. i love that!

lots of laughter. lots of laying around. the girls watched their new leap frog "school" movie about three times. lots of toys all over the floor. i didn't even make them put one thing away before dragging out something else. that would've surely ruined the mood of the day!

during one of their viewings of the video, i was sitting next to M on the couch. she looked at me at one point and said, "i just love your sweetness!" and i overheard her tell J later, "you look certainly handsome, daddy!"

my girl. oh, how i love her. she has no idea how God uses her to encourage me!

last night, i didn't even take a shower before i went to bed. that's huge for me! i'm a staunch before-bed showerer, but there is the rare night like last night when i know i'll be changing the sheets the next day anyway, and i hadn't done anything sweaty that day, so i'll bag the shower altogether. so i had to start from scratch getting ready this morning. we'd decided to go run a few errands. dropping something by aunt glory's house, a stop at the post office, a costco run.

while i was getting ready, the girls wandered in and out to visit. when i'm fixing my hair in the morning, it's always wet and moussed, and i put a basic hair salon hair clip in it to keep it out of my face while i put on my make-up. rosie came in one time and said, "you not weh-wing dat to cos-co?!" translation: "um, mom, you're not wearing THAT to costco, are you?!"

i laughed out loud. oh, my...she's already embarassed by me at two years old!

so we ran our errands.

at costco. for some reason, i have a thing for taking pictures of my children in shopping carts. i think it's the lighting. and their sunglasses. and the fact that they're confined and can't run away!





sure, they can look away from the camera, but still...

we decided on a quick lunch at whataburger. which M calls "WAAAAATERRRRRBURGERRRRR!"

she's not enthusuastic or anything.

i'm just pumped that my children love whataburger as much as me!

M hijacked my camera.

she stole a shot of J, too. she requested that he make a funny face.

while we were out today, our evening plans took a little detour. J ended up making plans with his brother to go watch some UFC fight, and i already had a little party to go to. so we made plans for the children to go stay at J's mom's house. "Stu" too! my boy has never slept anywhere else but here since he came home eight months ago.

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gulp!

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i intercepted the camera, and it's a miracle i was able to eat my own lunch! i was giving Stu his bottle with one hand and taking pictures with another. taking a bite here and there in between snappable moments.

**

i couldn't help myself, y'all! i know it was just whatabuger. nothing fancy. but the lighting! oh, the lighting! the sunlight was so perfect in the window behind the girls, and they were being so silly and uncharacteristically oblivious to the camera in front of them.

**

we told them about the plan for them for the evening, and M exclaimed, "it's going to be so FUN! and AWESOME!"

and i kept snapping away.

when you know your children are spending the night somewhere else, do you get sad, too? oh my goodness, i do.

so time together like this...a simple lunch at WB...becomes so much more meaningful.

i just sat on the other side of the booth and stared at my girls.

and their handsome daddy!

**

our life is full of challenges, but i wouldn't trade it for anything. we have each other, and that transcends any troubles we could ever face!

from my side of the booth, i took special care to soak in the moment.

i'm sure there is a background song for our time at lunch, but i can't come up with one. something sweet and sappy for sure.

**

(here's some trivia about me: most of the time, i have a "soundtrack" of different songs playing in my head that changes based on my circumstances. as if my life were a movie.)

to me, there's enjoying your children, and then there's delighting in your children. i (almost) always enjoy them. but it's not every second of the day that they completely captivate me and i'm present and focused enough in the moment to delight in them...

today at lunch, i delighted in them.

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(and the way the girls delight in each other! i love their sweet sisterhood and friendship.)

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the Bible speaks of the way God delights in us, and i never knew what that meant.

until He put me in charge of these children.

if you ever feel unimportant, insignificant or unloved, go look up the word "delight" in the Bible. (you can do that very thing at www.biblegateway.com)

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you'll learn very quickly that Someone thinks you're pretty wonderful. and He's the One who thought you up in the first place.

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and He delights in you.

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lest you think i left him out, here was my sweet date who was seated beside me. and i delighted in him equally.

and oh my word, it's pretty gross, but i had to get a shot of how crusty his poor ol' boogery nose was.

fun with the macro setting! thanks for humoring me, guys. :0) keeping it real.

**

i wasn't the only one delighted by my children today. on our way out of the restaurant, the girls got several smiles as they danced, pranced and waved their way out!

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we went home and packed bags. and as sentimental as i was getting knowing they were about to leave me for the night, M got clingy herself and spent a lot of time in my lap snuggling. but shortly before they left she snapped out of it and got excited again.

**

they pulled out of the driveway, smiling and waving and blowing kisses at me all the way.

**

i went to my little shindig, got to see some friends and family, had a lot of fun girl time. then i came home and had big plans. i wanted to clean, make the childrens' photo valentine cards, bake Tia Betsy's coffee cake J's been dying for, do laundry, do the dishes, watch SNL, clean closets, fold laundry and put it away, change sheets, pack Christmas ornaments and put out valentine's decorations, read, write some notes...i was highly motivated and was sure i was going to knock out a serious portion of my to-do list.

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but instead, here i sit. computer on my lap, toys strewn all over the floor from earlier today.

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i'm so glad i didn't have the girls clean up before they left. the toys are a nice reminder that tomorrow our house will be back to normal. full of children, full of laughter, full of activity and joy.

**

delightful!

waxing nostalgic

one year ago today...

M, 3 years
Rosie, 14 mos.

two years ago today...

Rosie, 2 mos.

M, age 2

three years ago today...

M, 15 mos.

four years ago today...

M, 3 mos.

sometimes you have to make your own sunshine

rainy and cold again yesterday. shocker. i'm beginning to think we've been unknowingly transported to seattle or something!

you know it's going to be a fun day when your children have doughnuts on the brain first thing in the morning. so you drive all across town to the closest drive-through doughnut store, because you slept in and didn't even brush your teeth, fix your hair or put on any make-up.

and did i mention it was raining?

even though their doughnuts are more expensive than your average doughnut store, you're excited because they have the cute seasonal ones:

and, of course, you pick up a treat for yourself on the way:

we almost always have homemade lemonade and homemade sweet tea in our fridge, so yesterday i decided it was the perfect day to make a fresh batch of liquid sunshine: lemonade!

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it's so crazy-easy, you'll never buy store-bought lemonade again! and i like it because i can control the sour-sweet balance.

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from the Realemon bottle:

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1 cup sugar

1 cup Realemon lemon juice (SUPER CHEAP for two huge bottles at Costco!)

6 1/2 cups water

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(this makes 2 qt, but i double the recipe to make 4 qt. because we drink a lot of it.)

sweet scenes like brother and sister sharing a snack:

loving that my usually reticent photo subject actually ASKED me to take her picture here!

snuggle time with my boy...

silly fun with Daddy when he made it home for bedtime. he's "borrowing" M's thumb like he often does! (and he's going to kill me for posting a pic of him in his pj pants! oh well. it's for the blog, honey!)

my boy pulled up to a stand! (and the night before he was wailing in bed, and i found him sitting up. poor kid's reached the stage where he sits himself up in bed but can't figure out how to lay back down!)

bedtime sillies...all three babies returning to the crib that was once theirs at some point! Stu looks worried.

an evening of work for me and J. he was working on TAKS testing stuff again; i was working on freelance. we went to bed early for once and got rest!! we're looking forward to a weekend full of rest, too, at J's request. nothing on the calendar.

**

so no matter what the weather map forecasts, there's a 100% chance of sunshine at the Dees house!

it's not you, it's me

y'all. i can't tell you how frazzled it makes me that i haven't posted a real post in TWO DAYS! i feel all kinds of behind. and the "behinder" i get, the more frazzled i get. the snowball effect.

tuesday night i was plain whooped and chose to bag the computer for the night. last night, i was fully in the mood to post, and my dear husband hijacked the laptop to work on his TAKS testing prep. the nerve! stealing MY laptop to do REAL work!! ;0)

huh? what's that you say? oh, why, yes, i DO have a desktop PC.

come again? well, yeah, it DOES work just fine. but why suffer the stuffy ol' desk when one could lounge on the couch with one's laptop instead?!

nonetheless, point taken.

add in the perfectionist factor, and i've just not been able to bring myself to post unless i make the effort to do it full-on. which in my case means boring you with every little minute detail of our days. (it's for my children, people! ha!) so since i can't do it "right" in my mind, i've just not been doing it at all.

and then yesterday i got some "real" work, too in the form of a few church PR freelance projects landing on my desk. (pro bono, but important just the same.)

all this to say, things may be a little quiet around here for a couple of days!

but i HAVE to share one absolute gem. it'll kill me if i forget this.

we were eating dinner last night (pancakes! woo-hoo!), and at one point J asked M to please pass the syrup.

she grabbed the bottle, held it up high in front of her, looked up at it and said:

"here, daddy! here is the syrup of dear trueness."

such a flair for the dramatic. i haven't a clue where she gets it. :0)

greater love has no man than he...

...who runs to the store before work to pick this up for his wife:

i love you, J! thanks for feeding--i mean, supporting my coffee dependency. and for loving me even when i'm a bonehead and forget to get it at the store. :0)