Book Reviews: February 2012

My goal of reading 2 books a month has gone by the wayside.  But I have read 2 books in 2 months - hey, its something.

As usual I am joining 5 Minutes for Books' Whats on your Nightstand for February.

I read the Duggar's second book: A Love that Multiplies. I found this book better organized than their last book.  It went more in depth about their life after their show not just parenting tips and history of their family.  I really enjoyed this being a mom, and a fan.  If you aren't a fan or if you aren't looking for information from experienced parents you probably aren't gonna like this book.

I also read Scorpians for Breakfast by Jan Brewer.  Jan Brewer is the Governor of Arizona, my Governor.  There was a bill passed here in Arizona that was the subject of much debate and lawsuits.  In her book Brewer goes over how the bill came to be, why she signed it and the repercussions the passage of the bill has had.  There is only so much a 30 second news segment can cover on a topic, so this goes much more in depth.  My one complaint with the book was the lack of bibliography.  She talks about how many hours was spent researching the information for the book but none of her references are sited.  But overall it was a good book and I already have a list of people waiting to borrow it.

Currently I am reading Onward  by Howard Shultz.  Its very good so far and I constantly find myself wanting coffee.  Or maybe I always want coffee and this book just made me realize how much.

So you want to be a Mom of Many...

Do you have what it takes to be a Mom of Many?  Aside from the whole "God knows whats best in your life.  He opens the womb.  Blah blah blah." Do you think you have what it takes?  If you can answer yes to these questions than you have what it takes.  Pat yourself on the back.  If you say to yourself, "Forget this!"  then you are probably normal.

Can you stay calm while watching your toddler scream as he falls head over heals down the stairs? 

Can you keep a steady hand to remove a tiny screw from your two year olds nose?

Can you keep your lunch down while cleaning up vomit after your son ate sardines?

Can you keep your cool after your daughter covered all her toys, and herself, and her bedding in petroleum jelly? 

Can you deal with the embarrassment of your son picking up a pieces of something off the ground and eating it, in front of like 20 strangers?

Can you hold back the laughter while watching your child do something naughty but then flashes you that cute as a button smile?

Can you keep yourself from crying when your 4 year old changed your 2 year olds poopy diaper? (it really happened, and he did a great job.  Clean hiney, everything in the trash and nothing on his hands.  Hes a freakin prodigy I tell ya)

Do you have the energy to clean up after your son played slip and slide with Syrup?

And the most important question, do you have the energy to do all these things over and over and over again.  To be a mom to a 2 year old year after year while being a mom to a teenager year after year WHILE being a mom to tween and a baby and everything in between?  Its worth it I tell you.  Worth it.

Hope

Last year I told the dh that for the first time in years I had hope.  Hope for the future, hope that the new year would actually be better than the previous.  You might think I would have been wrong.  Given all that has happened in the last 2 months.  But I was right.  I do have hope.  I have hope for the future, that this year will be better than previous.

Wiki defines hope as: the emotional state, the opposite of which is despair, which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.

I have hope that my son will walk again.  Because if I didn't have hope that means I expect him to never walk again.  While he might not, I refuse to give up.  He deserves more than just for me to say its too hard, too painful, too heart wrenching.

I have hope he will go into remission because the alternative is well...just too awful to imagine.  I refuse to see my son's cancer take him.  I know its possible, we are battling a deadly disease.  That left to its own would mean sure death.  But I have hope, I have to have hope.  For him I have to have hope, for his brothers and sisters.

I have hope, not despair, for the future. That there will be positive outcomes in all the events and circumstances in my life.

Don't do drugs.

Hopefully we all know the reasons why you shouldn't do drugs:  Fries your brain, makes you evil, can kill you - all that jazz.  Well, I have found an even better deterrent, especially useful for teenage girls.  I have already tried it out on a couple and found it works nicely.

Simply explain to them how smuggling drugs in humans is done.  And how you retrieve those drugs.  End with "Don't do drugs because they might have come out of someones butt."  Either the conversation will scar them for life or they will be on the floor laughing.  Either way, mission accomplished.

Surprisingly, this conversation started out very innocently. You just never know where a topic is going.

Pinterest saves the day

As I have seen things on Pinterest I have been implementing them in my home.  Its made my life so much easier.  Like for example the pillow case with sheets inside them thing.  We don't have linen closets in this house so that totally saves my sanity with the kids closets.  And now I tried the shoe rack snack holder.  When your dh says he likes how you organized the pantry, you know you did good.  The rack cost me $5 at Walmart.  Well worth it for the sanity.

Tattling and Fighting

In our house the problem isn't so much with the kids tattling on each other as it is with fighting with one another.  Which then leads to tattling.  The whole thing could be avoided with conflict resolution before the fighting began but apparently the y chromosome does not allow for peaceful negotiations.  I know this for a fact, because my girls do not throw things at each other or punch each other.  So its gotta be the y chromosome that creates this problem.

Thankfully one of my friends pointed me to another blog and her lovely post about tattling.  Its an awesome idea...and I have already printed up my very own tattle chart.  I'll let you know how it goes.

My 7 year old is exempt though.  Since he can't walk which would make using the tattle jar a bit difficult, but also because the steroids make him moody (not that he doesn't have every right to be moody anyway).  You should have heard him the other night when the internet was lagging while he was trying to watch Netflix.  I thought someone was hurting him as much as he was whining.

Kid Photogs

You can take classes, use the best equipment, but in the end what you really need is talent.  And Talent does not wait till you are mature or experienced.  As evidenced by  the pictures submitted to the National Geographic Kids International Photo Contest. 

If you want to incorporate photography into your homeschool or just want to let your kids express themselves you don't need to buy them an expensive camera.  Virtually all mp3 players and phones come with them these days.  If you are studying art suggesting subject matter might get them started, or themes.  Have them play with the settings, try it in sepia.  Have them look at things in a different way, from up high or upside down.  Its really marveling to see things from a child's point of view.

Here are some my kids have taken, to give your kids an idea.

When you just HAVE to laugh

I don't know what it is with kids and eggs. Not real eggs of course, because that would make sense.  And if you have kids you will know there is just none of that going on.  First my 6 year old wanted to eat popcorn kernels and called them eggs, then he thought that they were growing eggs in a field when it was really cantaloupe. Now my 2 year old is in on it.  He brought me a handful of raisins yesterday and said, "Mmmmm nommy eggs."  And greedily shoved the whole thing in his mouth.  Was glad it wasn't actually eggs as that would have been way messier.

We have pink eye going around and I asked my 2 year old about his eyes, "Are your eyes goopy?"  Either I have an accent or he has no idea what goopy means since he very indigently replied, "NO! My eyes aren't poopy!" Looking at my kids with pink eye though, he might be right.  Ew.  Its gross.  So gross.

Kids play food and Kitchens

I was having a pity party the other night and spent an  hour looking at Pintrest (which by the way if you are on there look me up) and got some of the best ideas for play kitchens and play food.  I might spend the summer making cloth and wood food to replace all of our plastic stuff (which just gets smooshed).

Upcycle, recycle, repurpose, whatever you want to call it, you too can make your own play kitchen and save a ton of money doing it.  Not kidding, I have seen the prices of these things in stores.  I think I might do this for my 2 year old for his 3rd birthday.  

And the play food that goes with it?  About a roast chicken? Sandwich with chips? Cherry Pie - this is too cute. Think of a food and someone has probably made it and done a post about it somewhere.   I am very excited to find more gift ideas.  I was running low!