Movin' on up.

I've moved! Go here!

I'm confused. Very confused. But, my fabulous friend Kellie is helping make everything OK in my world. Be patient with me, please. Join me, won't you?

Reli On Temple Touch Thermometer (review and giveaway)

{Disclaimer - I was selected by MomSelect to review this product and was given an extra thermometer to give away.}

Germs started taking over our house this week, so I figured I'd found the perfect opportunity to try the Reli On Temple Touch Thermometer! Henry (17 months) came down with a fever recently and his energy was zapped. He spent lots of time resting on my lap and this thermometer was perfect for taking his temperature then. It's lightweight, but sturdy and it took his temperature quickly - we had a reading in less than 10 seconds! The digital display is clear and easy to read, too.

I would highly recommend this thermometer for older children more than the younger ones. Stillness is necessary to get an accurate reading and as moms know, it's much easier to get older children to sit still. Henry was quite ill, so getting him to sit still was relatively easy. Now that he's feeling better, I'm sure it would be much, much harder to get a good read.

Overall, it's a great product!

Now, here's your chance to win one! Leave a comment, tell me about your family! I will choose a winner Saturday morning, September 26th. Good luck!!

Helpless

I spent the majority of this week feeling helpless. My baby boy was sick and I couldn't take his pain away. What started out as a low grade fever turned into a knock down, drag out 104.9 fever that rendered my boy horribly lethargic, miserable and in the ER. While we were still at home, I tried Motrin and Tylenol and the fever would come down to 102 and it wouldn't budge from there. Within an hour or so, it was right back up again. We spent several hours in the ER with a resident who was a bit of an alarmist (She walks into the room, takes one look at my boy and rushes out yelling, "I think we need to admit this kid". I immediately start to panic and cry. She comes back in and says, "I didn't mean to worry you." Really!?!?!) Urine tests, chest x-rays and blood work all came back negative. They diagnosed him with a possible ear infection, gave him a whopper of an antibiotic shot and a script for more antibiotics and sent us on our way. Two days later, he wasn't much better, so we went to his pediatrician. He was diagnosed with a throat infection there (docs in the ER said his throat was fine. ugh.). His pediatrician said that he'd start to feel better by Friday night or Saturday morning and that was true - by Saturday morning, he was feeling a little spunky and by this morning, he woke up cool as a cucumber and feelin' fine. I've never been happier to see that boy show me his devilish, little smile. With Henry around, life is always interesting. Hopefully it will be a little less interesting for a while.

This makes me happy

It's the little, simple things, ya know? Roasted broccoli brings a smile to my face every time I eat it.

Yes, I'm a dork.

20 minutes

of tears (from me, not the kids). My boy is now officially a kindergartner. My biggest boy is now a 2nd grader.





That shirt screamed Jake's name from the shelf at The Children's Place on Sunday. I absolutely HAD to buy it - it's his personality - fun and funky. As we were picking out clothes for the 1st day of school, it was between this shirt and a Spongebob one. I was so happy to see him pick this one. It just makes me smile. He makes me smile. It's been too quiet around here today - my newest sidekick has been wandering around, looking for his brothers. I've been able to get some things done, without breaking up fights.

Will was so sweet and helpful to Jake this morning - it's always nice to see that side of their relationship. I will say that I see it much more than I thought I would. I always imagined boys just wanting to beat each other up, tattle on each other and just bug each other. While that does happen (often), the sweeter, kinder side of them shines through a lot. It makes me feel like we're
doing something right.

Breathe in....breathe out....

That's what I'm trying to do. The first day of school is Tuesday. I've met both boys' teachers and I believe they're going to LOVE school this year. That makes me happy.

I'm not sure I can describe the feelings I have about sending Jake to school. I'm just not ready. He is SO ready. I can't keep him here forever (but, I'd like to).

I'm desperately trying to push these feelings away. I want to show him that I'm excited for him to go, excited for him to learn new things and make new friends. I'm certain my eyes will fill with tears on Tuesday morning, while we wait for the bus. I've never been so happy to have transition lenses in my life - I WILL NOT show him my sadness. Instead, I'll hug him tightly, smile and wish him a fabulous day. Once that bus drives away, I can't promise the tears won't fall. In fact, I'm certain they will.

My crew is heading to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow. The boys and I are going to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday morning while my husband and my in-laws go to the Navy/Ohio State football game. I didn't want to sit around here by myself for the weekend, so we invited ourselves :) I'm geeked, the boys are even more geeked and I need a day or two in some new surroundings.

Pictures will follow in a few days.

Happy Labor Day!

Life

It and some of its struggles have gotten in the way. I apologize. I need to take a few days to rest my mind.

I'm still around - you can find me on Twitter, if you need me. I'm Mommy23boys.

In the blink of an eye

We started here:



and 7 beautiful, fabulous years later, here we are:



To my sweet Will,

I hope 7 is a magical, fun filled year for you. Enjoy every day.

Love,

Mom

On a picket fence

I was blessed to be born with the ability to sleep anywhere, at any time. Literally. I never had to be lying down or even comfortable. I could sleep sitting up, if necessary. My mom used to say I could sleep on a picket fence.

This blessing had been one of my favorites. Sadly, it has left me.

Nothing is bothering me (well, other than having to get my house ready for the 25+ people coming to my son's birthday party next week, my husband's softball injury that *might* require surgery and having to ship this one off to Kindergarten in a few weeks.) I toss and I turn and I do it a little more. I listen to my husband snore (maybe THAT's it - who am I kidding, we've been together for 8 years. I've almost tuned it out completely.) and I listen to the fan make these very odd noises.

People, I need to sleep. I require more sleep than most human beings on the planet. I enjoy staring at the backs of my eyelids. I DO NOT enjoy drinking my weight in coffee, just to function throughout the day.

Maybe.....just maybe I'll relax a smidge after the birthday party is over. But, then, school starts....

Ain't she a beaut? - Wordless Wednesday!

Vacation, way back when....

Is summer really almost over? School starts in 36 days. It's not really felt like summer here - the weather has been quite wonky this year. The idea of cold weather moving in makes me want to cry.

I'm reliving our vacation (in my mind, at least), so I thought I'd share some of the fun with you!



This is one of my favorite days - we spent the whole day on the beach with my sister and her family. The adults sat and chatted while the boys played for hours in the sand and ocean. We left Tank at home with my mom - he's not quite ready yet! My husband is trying to help the boys find sand crabs.



The only thing that would have made this picture better is having my baby boy in it. Maybe next year :) We were waiting to be seated for dinner and I decided to snap this shot of my boys.








I rode these exact rides as a child! The boys love hitting the boardwalk when we're there because they know there are lots of rides and games to play. It's a pint sized heaven on earth :)




"The Lake" is one of my favorite places on earth. My husband's aunt and uncle have a house on Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. We go for the 4th of July and it's wonderful. I love watching my boys REALLY play - baseball and fishing and football and swinging, etc. etc. It's good, clean, healthy fun - no electronics involved. They slept harder than I've ever seen them sleep - the fresh air just does a body good :) Henry was the same way - his fun was a little bit more contained, but he still loved it.



See what I mean about "really playing"! Friends at the lake have this contraption set up with their riding lawn mower. The boys did this for hours during our time there. It does my heart good to know that they'll have these memories as they get older.

The Boots to my Dora.

The Bert to my Ernie. The Patrick to my Spongebob (this one would be his favorite).



My middle child. The child who plays that role VERY well. The child who has been by my side more days than not. The child who will plant himself outside of the bathroom, so he knows the second I walk out.

I'm sending him off to Kindergarten in 49 days. I'm heartbroken about that. He's my shopping partner, my helper, my snuggler during quiet time. He loves to hold my hand, just because. He's an excellent big brother and will entertain Henry when he gets fussy and I can't get to him in time.

What am I going to do without him? I suppose I'll continue to prepare him the best way I can and be proud of the fact that he's a good boy with a very tender heart, a feisty personality and desire to please and do well. I can think of nothing else I want in my children.

Winners!

We chose the winners the old fashioned way - I put all of your names in a bucket and my son picked out 2. He thought it was the COOLEST. THING. EVER.

Thank you to all who commented! It was nice to "meet" you all.

The winners are:


Jen Holt

Omaha Mama




Congratulations and you'll be hearing from me soon!

Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt (review and giveaway)

Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt, by Dr. Sheila Schuller Coleman

In this season of my life, mommy guilt is all around. There's guilt about not reading to my boys enough, not feeding them more veggies and not sitting on the floor enough to play with them. I deal with mommy guilt from the moment my eyes open in the morning until the moment they close at night. When I was approached to review this book, I knew immediately that God was at work!

I read this book over many evenings and EVERY evening, I was met with "a-ha" moments - reading personal stories from Dr. Coleman that often mirrored my life! Many of these personal stories left me shaking my head in agreement and left me feeling like I truly wasn't alone.

Dr. Coleman writes about, with perfect detail, the many different types of "mommy guilt" moms are faced with on a daily basis. The book is simply written and very easy to understand, with concepts easy to grasp. It's written in such a conversational tone that I often felt like I was having a chat over lunch with my mommy friends! At the end of each chapter, Dr. Coleman gives a bible verse that goes along with the chapter's content AND writes a beautiful prayer to compliment it.

I don't know that anything will ever completely erase my mommy guilt, but this book went a long way in making me feel better about where I am right now.


*********Giveaway*********

There are 2 copies of Mommy Grace - Erasing Your Mommy Guilt up for grabs! Just leave me a comment to be entered. I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, July 15th. Please make sure I have a way to contact you :)

Hello.

I'm Tina, remember me? I've been all over the place these last few weeks and I believe I'll be staying put for a while now.

I like living here. I don't love it anymore. The vicious winters have taken their toll on my psyche. I suffer from SAD (acronym fits nicely). Here, winter lasts 6 months. That's 6 months of dark, dreary, cold and snowy days. I loathe snow. I'm petrified to drive in it, which means I'm stuck at home A LOT.

I also have no family here. That's probably a good thing most of the time. But, I have 2 nephews and a niece that I miss terribly. I hate seeing them only 1 or 2 times a year. My boys and my nephews get along famously and it's so much fun to watch them play together. My niece's 2nd birthday party is this weekend and we won't be there. That just makes me sad. I was able to spend lots of time with them when we were back a few weeks ago and it was lovely - really lovely. It's getting harder and harder for me to leave "home" and come back here. I'm trying really hard to "bloom where I'm planted", but I'm struggling (and I've already been here for 2 1/2 years).





My cousins are significantly older - I never truly "grew up" with them, even though I knew them. It warms my heart that my boys have cousins that are SUPER close in age to them (my oldest nephew and my oldest son are 10 months apart and my youngest and my niece are 9 months apart in age) and I could watch them play together all day.

I miss them so much. I miss the area where I lived - where I married, where my first baby was born. I miss the ocean. I REALLY miss the ocean. I was able to dig my toes in the sand and watch my boys play, just like I wanted. It was a little piece of heaven on earth for me. I watched my husband truly relax. I watched my boys and nephews play together and I was able to laugh with my sister - something I haven't done in ages.

It felt good - really good. I don't know when I'll do it again. I keep telling myself that I need to bloom where I'm planted. I wonder how many times I'll have to repeat that to myself.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

I'm here - haven't had internet access until today. I'm on vacation with my family - we spent all day on the beach yesterday. It's been fabulous so far - I really miss it here.

blah....blah....blah

Life has a tendency to get away from me. I feel like I'm in survival mode most days, having 3 boys here with me all day instead of just 2. It's amazing to me how much more food is eaten/laundry is used/messes are made when all 3 kidlets are here. Three children also require a BUTT TON more energy from me - I'm still adjusting to that.

Vacation is in 3 more sleeps - YAY! I'm not a fan of the 10 hour drive (one way), but it's nice bonding time with my husband and it's fun to play little games with the older boys while we're on the road. I'll get to spend some time at the beach, ON the beach, with family and friends. I'll get to watch my sweet nephew T play some baseball and I'll get to relax....I think we (especially my husband) need that part more than anything. We need the chance to get away from HERE. Away from the auto industry, more foreclosure signs than I care to ever see again, stress. As much as family drives me nuts sometimes, I'm thankful that we have a place to escape.

I'll be back soon with some baseball/tball tidbits AND a book review/giveaway.

Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend!

I'm tired.

Baseball and Tball are kicking my ass and I'm not even the one playing the games. I can only imagine how I'm going to feel when my boys are older and playing more than 1 sport.

It's hard for me to put into words how I'm feeling about the rest of what's going on in my life. I'm blessed - I have a good life and I don't take it for granted at all. We're all in desperate need of a vacation - time away from HERE, time to spend with each other and time to relax. There's so little relaxing around here - time is spent worrying about jobs and what's right for our family. I don't want to worry anymore. I want to dig my toes in the sand and watch my boys play on the beach. I'm tired of worrying.

Pardon my construction

With my incredibly limited skills, I'm trying to redo some things here. So, please excuse my mess.

Together.

We set out to make this weekend a complete family weekend - EVERYTHING we did, we did as a family. (I did bust out a bit by myself yesterday - with a family full of boys, taking them to a craft store sounds about as fun as a root canal.) It was really nice.

We loaded up our gear and went to the park on Saturday - we planted ourselves under a tree and just hung out. The weather was spectacular. The boys were very well behaved and fun was had by all. It was definitely needed. (My husband works for GM - life in our area isn't fun AT ALL. It's rather depressing, so a break from work AND beautiful weather was welcomed.)









It was one of those days that our souls craved. Time without phones and computers and technology. Time completely together as a family, laughing, joking and playing.

Here I sit, counting down to the next vacation. 29 days.