Friday, October 24, 2008

It's life...with my kids

So I've been sort of absent from my blogs lately and much of that has to do with my busy life with kids, school work, house work, my job at the gym, etc. etc. etc. blah! blah! blah!  Simply said, I let life take over and failed to keep to my routines and rules for maintaining a healthy daily schedule.  I suddenly found myself tackling everything on the to-do list...time for a honey-do list.  What was I thinking?!?

My almost two year old has recently realized that he can be independent - gosh it's like they know when they're supposed to start that terrible two thing.  I have never really believed in terrible two's with my other kids, but this time I'm thinking it's a real thing.  Anyway, he's so darn cute it really doesn't matter much to me.  He's a happy camper 90% of the time.  The other 10% we sit and enjoy each other's company and all is well in the end.

My six year old is into reading, a lot!! That's a good thing right!? It is, don't get me wrong.  However, sometimes, I don't want to read anything nor do I want to be read to.  This is when I pull patience fromt he depth of my soul and just listen to her read.  I usually fall asleep and then she wakes me by saying, "oh no, now I'm going to have to read it again!" GREAT!! "You know what, your daddy hasn't had a chance to hear this story, let me go get him, HONEY!!!"

My 14 year old wants to be a photagrapher but she doesn't want to have to study very hard to get good grades.  There are more important things to consider, such as, clothing, hair, shoes, her social network...Yeah!  She's your average teen.  Example: three weeks ago she was failing Spanish.  That was an embarrassing call from her Spanish teacher who offered to tutor her after school.  Embarrassing because I had to inform her that I, her mother, am spanish and speak, read, and write fluently.  Her response, "OH."  I took away the iPod, forced her to study, talk to me in spanish and work on extra credit to bring up her grade, which she did as of yesterday.

My 17 year old is realizing that more sometimes means less in the end.  He is a musician, wants to become a music educator and a concert choir condutor.  He has the potential, the voice, the talent and the motivation--no doubt, he makes me tired with all he does.  However, doing so much was costing him well needed practice time, which I gently mentioned and he said "I can handle it mom."  Well his voice teacher made the same comment about doing too much --" focus on being prepared and practicing your music, that's all you need to do right now."  He agreed.  Hmmmm, funny how when I said it the effect was completely different.  Oh well, what do I know, I'm just a parent.

Today I will get my schedule organized and my to-do list in order.  Everyone will get a to-do list this week.  Then maybe, just maybe, I'll regain MY time to do what I want on or off line.  My toddler will continue to steal my heart for that 10% of the time he feels he needs mommy comfort, my six year old and I will be reading much, much earlier in the day and leaving the night-time reading to daddy, my 14 and 17 year old will continue to learn from their mistake and hopefully reach their full potential.   I am proud of my kids--they occupy my space, my time, my life, and they make us oh so happy!!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Whose up at 4 am?

This semester I "chose" to take three classes, all online and two of them electives.  Easy stuff right? Wrong!  It's only easy if the times you choose to study are there for you, uninterrupted.  But I have only two semesters to get my degree and I'm going do this even if it means readjusting my sleep schedule. SLEEP? Ha!

Every morning I get up before the kids so I have time to make some coffee and study.  I am my best early and must take advantage of what little brain energy I can get.  When I get up the plan is to log on to my classrooms to post assignments, read, respond, work on essays, catch up on reading assignments, etc.  However, it seems my time gets crunched or something happens or a kid wakes up earlier then they should and then there goes the day.  So last week I decided to go to sleep a little earlier, get up earlier and get some real work done.  Here's how it went:

*got up at 4 am- yes, I said Four AM!
*started the coffee pot
*turned on the laptop
*set myself up at the kitchen table
*grabed my hot coffee which I turned into a Cafe con Leche (Latte)
*sat down, logged in and by 4:30 am I was rearring to go

Within 10 minutes of focus and concentration I was dealing with this



He never wakes up this early....NEVER!



....or this cranky...Maybe it's a growth spurt

Apparently, nothing a little food can't fix.  So I gave him Sweet Darling Clementines....


and that made him smile (my heart melts for that smile)


throw a banana in the mix and you get...



.... happy little man ready to take on the day, even if he started his day cranky, apparently hungry and  very, very early.

I didn't get much work done but I did get lots of love, wet kisses, quality time with baby.  He's such a sweetie! 

A little patience and a lot of love went into this morning, it all works out in the end.