Our 7 year old has begun to write music. There isn’t much theory behind her music yet. But you have to start somewhere. Maybe she will write some for Taylor Swift one day.
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Tag Archives: family
Little helpers
The girls were folding laundry. The eldest one decided to wear my shirt as a dress. Go Giants Go she cheered!!!
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A Child’s Logic
Abby: Mommy? Do grown ups get loose teeth?
Me: No.
Abby: So when kids lose all their teeth and get adult teeth, they have to get a job and earn money?
Me: ummm…
Abby: …instead of getting their money from losing teeth.
Me: hmmm… Maybe we need to rethink the whole tooth fairy concept.
Big Sister Abuse
They were using a broom as a horse. Then all of a sudden THACK!!! right in the eyeball. I wish I had some butterfly stripes, but a princess band aide will have to do.
Disneyland Drama and the Great Vax debate
Soooo… This article is not about vaccination. It is not about whether there are toxins or not or schedules or celebrity opinions.
What has come to be a debate in my own mind is public safety. I have heard people (in the wake of this measles outbreak) stating that vaccinations should be mandatory.
Are we really going to hold someone down and shoot something (remember, we aren’t taking about whether this thing is good or bad for you) into their body against their will or their consenting guardians will? Is the issue of public safety more important than the publics freedom to choose?
Truth: I don’t know. If you believe in herd immunity, vaccination is a big deal because the more we do it the safer we are. This would speak to the issue of forcing vaccinations as protecting those to young or immunocompromised to get vaccinated. However, is that removing a fundamental human right? The right to parent how we choose, the right to our own body being molested?
I don’t actually know the answer to this.
What say you, community?
What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Kids
If you expect that when you get married and have a baby, that baby will be first in both your lives…. get over it now. Babies and kids take up alot of time because they can’t feed themselves and they need to be changed and then they have to be dressed and even when they are partially self sufficient, we can’t boot them out the door at 6 and expect them to be successful. They have to be supported and taught.
However, this should not take priority over your husband/wife. This has been discussed over and over at length, even by me. I’m not divorced and I don’t have other children that are not Andy’s and he has no other’s that are not mine. It’s hard for me to comment on a situation with which I have no experience but I would venture to say that even when you’re children are not mutual, they should not take priority over your marriage.
One way you can show this to your spouse is by getting some childcare every now and then (weekly is ideal but not always practical), so you can both do something together without the kids. Another way is to not allow the kids to interrupt a conversation between mommy and daddy. Another good way to to set a very strict bedtime (in your room) time for the kids allowing mommy and daddy to have a few minutes alone at the end of everyday to communicate without being asked for snacks, water, help with this project, a story, and/or any other plethora of things they want from you.
What are your ideas? How do you make time for your spouse in a parenting world that makes the kids kings?
Baby Maestro…
Well, one can hope anyway…
What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Friends with Benefits
When I was in high school I had friends of all genders. However, when I got married, this had to change. I had some guy friends who were really good friends but when Andy and I got together, not for lack of trust, I intentionally was more careful with those friendships. Whether it’s my fascination with When Harry Met Sally or whatever, I understand that guys and girls can’t be “best friends” and nothing else. Andy had to be my best friend and all others had to be after that. He had to be my priority. I intentionally had to become friends with my guy friends girlfriends. I couldn’t invite just him out for coffee. The wife needed that invitation. The girlfriend had to feel like I was trying to be their friend or her friend but if I focused on him, I was a threat. I made a special effort to include Andy’s girl friends in activities that we did together so he wouldn’t lose the friendship. If I wanted to do an activity with a guy friend, I always made sure Andy could come.
Any time I felt like I wanted special attention from a male, I was even more careful.
It’s easy to say, “We’re just friends,” and use some sitcom as a model for how we have friends. But Chandler and Monica got married, and even though Ross and Rachel took a break, they ended up together. Phoebe and Joey always felt a little on the outside.
So let’s be honest, it’s not ok. It’s not ok for our spouse to be anything other than first priority. We can’t be sitting around in some other persons house, shooting the breeze when it could easily become a compromising situation. We can’t be making life plans over coffee with someone other than our spouse… alone. We have to want him first. We have to look at him first and all this has to be intentional. It’s not natural. It’s got to be a choice and soon it will be second nature but it’s not what comes easy.
What do you think? Am I to rigid about this idea? Does your spouse have friends of the opposite gender that you don’t mind? Do they spend alot of time together?
What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Grown Ups
So, we are all grown ups, presumably, when we get married and yet there are many times when I see a relationship circling the toilet bowl because one or the other or both are being treated like children.
Ladies – Men are grown ups. How many times have I heard, “He couldn’t survive if I was gone for a few days.” I beg to differ. He might be eating out of a can for a while but he will survive. He might not put the kid in anything but jammies for 3 days but they will both survive. Men can handle life and parenting and all of that without us. It doesn’t mean they want to. I just means they can. They can learn to cook. They are capable of cleaning the house. They can get a job on their own and they will figure out how to schedule their own dental appointments. They can handle it. And sometimes we REALLY need to let them… WITHOUT CRITICIZING! It’s important for us to let them do the dishes and then not fix it if it wasn’t done our way. It’s important for us to let them make a meal and then eat it and not say anything about how it could have been better.
Men – Women are grown ups. They can put together a dresser, change a tire and drive just as good if not better than you. Women are completely capable of holding down a job, mowing the lawn and taking out the trash. Ladies can do anything you can do… and it’s important for you to let us sometimes. This isn’t the death of chivalry. But just as you don’t like being criticized, neither do we. It’s not fun being a superwoman. It’s not fun doing it all. But it’s possible.
Once you realize that you are not needed like a parent is needed by a baby but wanted, your relationship will change for the better. I promise.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Texts
It’s important to communicate with your partner. Not only is it nice to speak kindly but it’s important to let them in on your life. You cannot be secretive or keep things to yourself or even just forget to check in. You MUST communicate smoothly with your partner. They need to know.
Andy and I text throughout the day. I tell him where I’m going and he tells me the same. I let him know if I’m leaving the house, where I’m headed and if I have an ETA. He lets me know if he’s going to get something to eat or if I need to leave the meal out that I made for the kids so he can have some later. He texts me if he finds that he is not needing to work on a night when I expect him to be working and he lets me know when he’s on his way home just in case I need him to stop at the store for something.
Little things need to be communicated, regardless of whether you think that’s important or not. It is courtesy. It is communication. REMEMBER! Speak. Tell. Don’t make your partner pull things out of you. Offer the information. Be aware of them and their needs.
Life and Photos by Andy 