SuperMom or SuperMess?

Some girls I work with have often referred to me as Supermom and I just laugh it off. Though I know they say it with total kindness, I often think how they couldn't be more wrong.

If they were to be a fly on the wall in my home on any given day, they might see carmelized cereal-milk stuck to my hardwoods in the kitchen. I've yet to mop my floors and we've been here 3 months. Gross. They might find every bathroom trashcan overflowing with dirty diapers and TP tubes because I wait to empty them until that very next Q-tip causes a landslide. And home organization? Clearly a concept of the past. I have this amazing master closet that I had envisioned to easily house all of my scrapbooking toys in a neat & orderly fashion. However, one might not make their way back out of the closet due to the never-ending piles of laundry.

I constantly forget about show-and-tell, lunch money, birthday parties and book fairs. I can't seem to keep their names straight when I'm (gasp!) yelling at my boys. Sometimes my mind wanders when I pack d1's lunch and he ends up with two desserts and no fruit. I showed up late to Meet-The-Teacher AND Open House (two separate occasions). d3 tinkled on his way in the tub - I didn't change the water.

Uh huh. I'm a self-proclaimed mess.

Here's the crazy part -- we're about to multiply the maddness. D1 starts his season soon and I revert back to my 'coach's wife' role, d1 & d2 start their own b-ball leagues and I'm heading up some outreach projects at TFBC. Some of these projects have the potential to really make a difference for those who both give and receive. I don't really know where the extra energy is going to come from but I have complete FAITH that God will provide. He will provide me with patience, enthusiasm, spirit,....everything I need to pull it all off.

Maybe SuperMom has her house in immaculate condition, laundry neatly folded and a healthy balanced meal on the table every night. I certainly don't. But that's okay. There are more important things in life. There are lost people who need us to reach out, people who yearn for hope, for a reason to live. I desperately want my children to understand how extremely blessed they are and show them how to spread God's love to the world. If that means I neglect house work (even more) or cook a couple extra frozen meals, so be it. The boys probably prefer Stouffer's over my homemade anyway.

When God's love prevails, I'll accept SuperMess over SuperMom.....

Labor Day Get Away to the Mountains

Last weekend we headed north a couple of hours to Blowing Rock, NC -- particularly to Tweetsie Railroad. I would like to mention that this wasn't much of a planned trip. Instead, it was another one of those 'hey, let's go away this weekend' emails from D1 that sparked this little mini vacay. The point being that I am actually getting better at this sponataneity thing. I've done this twice in the same year and it's pretty fun. We debated a few locations including Atlanta & Charleston but my awesome friend recommended this place to us and the train theme pretty much sold us so off we went.

And it was gorgeous! We had a perfect day, almost on the chilly side being up in the mountains, but it really was a good choice. If we had any major catastrophes, they must not have been that bad because a week later and I can't recall. Oh wait -- we did lose d3's 'blankie' but that was temporary. D1 had to push d3 in the stroller up the 'nature trail' (aka mountain climbing with the Graco) and somewhere along the way, d3 tossed it out into the wild. It made for a tough few hours because it happened right around his nap time and I was hoping that blanket would soothe him enough to pass out for a while in the stroller but he would have none of that without the taggie blanket. On our way out of the park, we checked in the lost & found and someone had dropped it by. I wasn't real surprised - it's definitely not a blanket that one would marvel over but my baby boy sure adores it.

And so what if I gave it right back to him from the lost & found bucket. I'm pretty sure that whatever he ingested on his fingers was worse than anything on that blanket. It had been a long day and I was ready for the whining and fussing to end so I gave it to him to suck on. I make no apologies....


A few pics at Tweetsie ~


Exploring the county jail (notice the article in d3's hand - this is a before) -





Brothers riding together - and once again, d2 has another mark on his face, this time right in the middle of the forehead. Seriously, this kid.....





Against my direction to stay off the broken slide, D1 decided that it was 'fine' to play on. And we wonder why our children don't have great listening skills....





On ole Tweetsie herself -





Choo-Choo!




Side note here - notice d3's fingers? Our little nasty habit he's had since birth? G-O-N-E! Hopefully I didn't just jinx the whole thing but we ordered some stuff from Amazon that had a bazillion reviews of 4 and 5 stars, claiming to have stopped 30-year nail biting, thumb sucking, etc. We are now two full days in and we haven't seen him suck the fingers once, not even at bed time which is when I typically have to remove them from his mouth once he's asleep. Praise GOD - we might just be over this hump!

Peek-A-Boo

Does this picture not completely foreshadow the next 15 years in this family? Poor little d3. And why was a picture being taken when the Stooges were standing inside my new chair? That darn SpongeBob - such a bad influence through the clothing. (Let the record show, we are not SBSP watchers. He's just rude and inappropriate. The shirt was a hand-me-down and we like FREE. Now it's cool if you are fans but we need no help in the bodily functions department. Thanks NickJr.)

Welcome to Our Home

Short, sweet and to the point (which is a little difficult for this chatterbox) - before and after pics of our new Eastside home. Let me preface the pictures by saying the 'before' shots were before we even moved in. Just in case you wondered about the lovely color schemes and awesome window treatments of the previous owner. If you look close at some of the before pics, you just might see those infamous maroon or royal blue blinds. I'm really glad we were able to overlook such eye sores because now we LOVE LOVE LOVE our inside as much as the outside.


Living Room Before ~









Living Room After ~







Master Bedroom Before ~






Master Bedroom After ~






d1 Bedroom Before ~






d1 Bedroom After ~






d2 Bedroom Before ~






d2 Bedroom After ~
(still looking for the right window valance - and I really tried to push for a theme other than sports but I didn't win that battle. My mistake for asking his opinion.)







Kitchen After ~
(no before shots, can't find them, but we really didn't do much to this except for some wall art and decor. Oh, and we have a different table than what is in these pictures but I'm pretty sure the kitchen hasn't been clean enough to snap a picture in, oh, a good month or so. I would like you to believe I live in pure and total cleanliness.)









As I've said before, I can take very little credit for the work done on this house. Well, at least for the manual work. I did pick out the colors and any new decor. Listen, that's no easy task. Oh, and I did physically put the scripture up in the kitchen. But D1 is the MAN - he worked really hard and, though we still have a few projects left, we are at least at a point where we feel at home and can take our time on the remaining. Like the unorganized clutter of a mess we call the playroom.

Also want to add that, yes, I know we have three children and they all have their own rooms but there is no before-and-after for d3 because he was the only one who wouldn't throw down if he didn't have his walls painted so we're rolling with it until that point. Which gives me plenty of time to convince him that he needs dinosaurs or doggies as his theme, NOT basketballs, footballs, or motorcycles. What are my chances he might become fond of the color pink and ask us to paint flowers on the walls? No one would ever have to know - it could be a little secret between Mommy and Baby Boy.......

Weight Loss Update

Though I have no pictures to show (and mainly because I don't see a difference physically), I wanted to update on my journey.


It has been 3 weeks since I declared my mission and I'm happy to announce that I am down 7 pounds. Almost halfway to my goal of losing 15 and I have 5 weeks to go before I wear 'the' dress. Looking at that number, I am happy but it has been a lot harder this time to really stay motivated. It just seems that all I think about is FOOD. All day. And my thoughts aren't on the peach I'm about to eat for snack or the baked potato I'm going to eat for dinner. Instead, I'm constantly thinking about chips & ice cream. And mac-n-cheese. I just wish mac-n-cheese could be healthy for me....and I don't mean whole wheat pasta, fat free cheese and fat free milk because then I wouldn't want it. I want the real noodles, sharp cheddar, VELVEETA, eggs, BUTTER....and then eat the whole pan. Right now, I could probably eat one noodle and gain 1/2 a pound. Boo! I also get frustrated when I know I haven't eaten my total points for the day and the scale hasn't moved. Guess I should mention that I'm a slave to the scale. Literally. I weigh myself when I get up, when I get home and before bed. Obsessive much?


I've been trying to find some new snacks that won't crush my budget but that might switch things up a bit for me so that I don't feel like I'm eating the same thing every day. However, easier said than done. I read in another blog that a girl on WW was eating a smoothie every day for breakfast so I decided to check out the ingredients and I didn't even know what half of them were. Maybe I would if I were an all-organic guru but come on. Help a sister out and give me something simple like bananas, strawberries, ice and yogurt. Don't ruin it with some funky additives that I'm guessing are some sort of fiber (which I know the end result of that - thanks!) to lower the points value. Can't I just mix in some Benefiber and call it good?

Does anyone have any good smoothie (or snack) ideas they would like to share that are low in calories & fat but high in fiber? That's how the points are calculated. Right now, these are my ongoing snacks:

*peach (1)
*kettle corn (1)
*watermelon (1)
*apple (1) - to me, not great because a 1-point apple has to be small and I need something BIG
*Chex turtle bar (1) - surprising, I know, but delish (and pricey)
*chocolate bite-size Shredded Mini-Wheats (1.5) - one of my new favs - you get 26 mini-wheats for this value and they are really yummy
*Skinny Cow truffle bar (2)


Please share some personal tips with me (Lauren!). I'll admit that a few times I have considered stopping and being content with where I am and how I look but then I think of how disappointed I will be in myself if I quit and quitting is not an option. Not my thing. I may not lose the total 15lbs but I will get close and that is all I can do. Maybe I need to work on loving my Mommy body, too, but how exactly does one wake up and move forward with that? I would love to know.....

And They're Off......

d1 and d2 started back to school yesterday. I'll be honest and say that it was definitely time. They were getting bored....D1 was spending too much money on daily Lowe's trips....it was just time. However, I do want to just say what an AMAZING husband I have. Thankfully, we closed on our new house in June, which left essentially the entire summer to make the desired changes to the house and he was all over it. He is probably an exception to the rule because this man LOVES projects and looked forward to them every day. Well, except for painting - I don't think LOVE is the word I would use to describe his feelings for painting. In fact, the word isn't appropriate for my post BUT he did it anyway and did an awesome job. You are awesome, honey! And my goal is to eventually post some before-and-after pics but I figured my kids came first so that's where this post comes in.


d2 blessing the breakfast (do you love my Christmas cups in August?)






d1 eating his First Day breakfast. Bless his heart - he's not much of a morning person....he does come by it naturally....from me.






And in case you are wondering, we do own a few pairs of jammies but these boys prefer to sleep in their SpideyWhiteys so I don't fight them on that. I've learned to choose my battles and since no one (usually) sees them in their skiivys, I don't care.



On our way to school ~






Might as well have an accurate portrayal of these crazies, right?





We drove to school and all of us (me and all 3 little d's) walked d1 to his classroom. He was so brave and excited and just really made this momma proud.



d1 unloading his backpack with Mrs. H ~





d1 at his desk






We left him to unpack his things. I even got a kiss from him....pretty sure that will end in the next year or two so I will take all I can get for as long as I can get it. After we left, we continued on to take d2 and d3 to school (although it seems a little less of a 'ta-da' moment since they are in the same building as my office thus no pictures). They did start new classes - d2 moved to K-4, d3 to Toddlers area - and both did great!


Overall, the first day of school went entirely different from last year. If you remember, the first day of kindergarten for d1 was an absolute nightmare. Or let me rephrase that. The journey to get to school on the first day of kindergarten was a nightmare. Thank goodness no major catastrophes this year.


Oh, and before I forget. My favorite part of the day. I packed d1's lunch the night before and wrote a little note for him and put in his lunch box (you know, now that the boy can fully read!).





When D1 picked d1 up from school, he said that d1 immediately started telling him how much he loved his lunch box note. Before telling of all other events of the day, he was gushing about the little note I wrote him and told D1 that it almost made him cry because it just made him so happy. My son said this. Not that I think he is without emotion but let's be real here - he's a 6-year-old boy. A very rough and tumblin' boy. I would expect those comments from a girl....oh wait, how would I know? So, I ASSUME a girl might say such things but my son said this. I was floored, touched and in awe, all at the same time. I am continuously blessed by these children!


Looking forward to a great year!

Better Late Than Never

Before our road trip last month, I took d3 for his 15 month well-child check. Any concerns on my part, the nurse asks? Um yeah, just one big one - the child is not walking. At that point, he would take a few steps but nothing resembling an actual stride. The older two didn't walk until 12 and 13 months but 15 months??? You would also think I wouldn't be so uptight by my third child but I was starting to worry that maybe something was physically wrong but Dr. Y confirmed what we thought all along - he was just lazy. Perhaps that term is a little harsh but apparently it's very common that younger siblings walk later. Makes sense. Why would he want to walk on his own when he has his brothers at his side to get him what he wants? And I'll admit that when that didn't work, he would whine for what he wanted and I would typically pick him up quickly to avoid hearing the noise. I actually think it's quite genius. He knows what he wants and he's found the quickest way to get it. Nevermind the manipulation. So, much to my surprise, on our first day in MO, he decided it was a good time to start standing on his own and proceeded to walk everywhere. And that was that. Literally an overnight thing. Tonight we caught a little on video which includes him shooting a basketball. Shocking, I know. Like he really had a choice. His cheesy little smile after he makes the basket is my favorite part. He definitely loves an audience!


PSA - This audio is a little loud, thanks to the 'supporting cast.' This is actually a more mellow evening in our home. Oh and pardon my cleavage. Fine, maybe cleavage is a bit wishful. You have to have bubbies to have cleavage and those seem to always be the first to go in weight loss for me. So excuse the mosquito bites I now have instead of voluptious bubbies.