Eclectic mix of things going on this week. First we'll start off with the adventures of Nakey Boy.
We have reached that wonderful age where Riley is learning to dress and undress himself. The past few weeks have been comprised of a delightful mix of clothing and PJ's. We have about 4 or 5 changes a day and sometimes we end up with shirts inside out and on his legs instead of arms. He throughly enjoys taking his clothes off, turning them inside out and then showing us his accomplishment. He is also doing much better at potty training and will now go sometimes without us reminding him. All of these things are stages we have went through before with Sydney and Ryan no big. My friend Tehea and I even laugh about the craziness of Ryan running around the house for months on end with nothing but a pull up! Riley has taken it to a whole new level! Of course he has he always does!
Ryan had a friend over one night. Well of course Riley took off his clothes and ran around. Two 9-10 yr old boys thought it was hilarious and flipped out running from him and laughing and calling him "nakey boy". Riley has decided that this is a great laugh and that all of our company wants to see "nakey boy". Needless to say I have had moments of utter mortification such as when our Pastor, his wife, and their 2 yr old daughter came over for dinner. I felt like the announcer from the song the streak yelling "Don't look Ethel". Hopefully poor Alivia isn't scarred for life from the escapades at our house!
On to the tea maker. I have to start by saying my husband LOVES his sweet tea. When I say sweet tea I mean deep south, southern parts of Georgia sweet. He adds sugar to McDonalds sweet tea if that tells you anything. So we have a tea maker. Now with both of us trying to be healthier, we do not keep soda's in the house or sweet tea in the fridge. We try not to even buy soda's unless we are having a get together and only make tea when people are coming over. Most of the time we grab water or milk. On this night we had company coming over so we broke out the tea maker. In the mean time I'm trying to make dinner, no big, I do it all the time and Riley knows the rules about staying past the fridge when I'm using the stove. I don't want anyone getting burned, cut, etc... Well this night he was really over the top hyper. I asked Greg 3 or 4 times to watch him because something was going to happen and either Dinner was getting burned or something would get broken or destroyed. I just had that "spidey sense". It was a weird night too because Greg's OCD was in overdrive and when he gets like that he can't focus on more than one task and all his attention goes to that (gee I wonder where Riley gets it LOL) So I had called him to help me probably 4 or 5 times and finally I had to go to the bathroom so bad I couldn't wait any longer! I yelled downstairs for hubby to help and I ran to bathroom. Greg runs up to see what I need and I say "I need to to watch Riley". He goes downstairs and I hear a crash and Greg yelling at the top of his lungs "NOOOO" . The entire tea jug's contents were all over my newly mopped floors and the tea maker jug was busted into bits. I would like to say I was a paragon of wifely/motherly virtue and did not taunt my husband a bit with the "I told you so.." but I couldn't help it I HAD to do just a bit of it while laughing (hey, I don't drink sweet tea ). Anyway we got it all cleaned up and now we need to buy a new tea maker..... It could be worse :)
Lastly, Star Wars.... Nothing big or dramatic here just watched Star wars for the first time with Riley and yes we started with the very first one. With Anakin as a little boy. So funny to watch them in that order, which none of the rest of the Epley's have. Riley sees Darth Vader in A New Hope and calls him Ani...kinda sad and disturbing. (Yes we are ALL Sci Fi nerds in this house and proud of it). So right now we are on a Star Wars kick at our house. Riley calls it Alien Wars (don't ask me, I have no clue). So anyone if you see us out and about and Riley tries the Jedi mind trick on you, you'll understand why. Is it Friday yet????? :)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Shameless Plug
I'm not one to shamelessly plug products. However, there are a few out there that I really have to say I will shout from the rooftops how good they are. For example, When Sydney was 18 months old and spilled tea down the front of her beautiful white church dress and I could not get the stain out Oxyclean saved the day. I don't think anyone can fully appreciate how dire the situation was. Sydney was little I was pregnant with Ryan, Greg and I both worked and I had spent all our "extra" money on this dress for Syd. Now at that time "extra money" might have been $30.00 but at that point in our lives $30.00 might have been the difference in eating real food that week or ramen noodles (I digress). The point is she wore the dress once and it was ruined. I won't even go into the grief I caught for buying said dress and to have it ruined after wearing it to church once was unacceptable. I even tried to "tea stain" it so it could be an antique white but I couldn't get color consistency. I tried everything and oxyclean really came through for me. I had everyone buying oxyclean that week. I would have to say that is the most amazing product I've ever used... UNTIL NOW!!
Any of you who have been reading my blog might remember the "Riley writes on dining room chair" incident. After contacting the manufacturer of the chairs and finding that they no longer make them, and then contacting my interior designer to check into re upholstering, and then talking to husband about just getting entirely new chairs... We decided to try one last thing. Kids 'N' Pets instant All- Purpose Stain and Odor Remover. You can purchase this at Walmart for $5.00 a bottle. It is endorsed by Animal Planet and says it's non-toxie, biodegradable and cruelty -free. It says Guaranteed to eliminate Urine, Blood, food spills, beverage spills, coffee, grease, red wine, pet accidents, skunk, grass, horse body oils ??????, smoke, gasoline, iodine, INK (yay) and more...... Praise!!! it got every bit of the ink out. If you have Kids, Pets, husbands, parents, siblings I suggest you buy THIS. Ok commercial over.
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| Chair Before |
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| Chair After |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat
I'm sure everyone has felt the "Thrill" and "Agony" at some point during their lives. I'm no so sure everyone can say they have felt this within the same 24 hour span.
I have to preface this to say I have NO CLUE how single parents do this! My husband's busiest time at work is the entire month of February. I know this, I try to remember this, I try to be understanding, but halfway through the month after feeling like a single parent while my house is falling around my ears I finally lose it. The dining room chair incident had me in tears for a bit but I held it together. A few horrid three year old melt downs yesterday had me at my wits end.
We had a ton of things to do yesterday and Hubby was gone most of the day and when he was here he was working in his office. Ryan had an upwards game at the church and it was such a blessing to watch him play . (Thank you dear daughter Syd for babysitting).
We also had a family movie PJ night at church last night. It was great fun except Riley decided it was more exciting to throw popcorn, sit on top of his friends, and scream out all the words to the movie while others are trying to watch. I finally start taking him out to do time out in a quiet part of the church. I proceed to listen to him scream on and off the next half hour. The child isn't dumb, he learned at an early age his voice is his greatest weapon. I will put that child in a screaming match with any shrill little girl and guarantee he'll top them by a few decibels. He truly has the loudest scream I have ever heard in my life! The rest of the night went downhill from there.
I know I could have loaded him up and taken him home or like Greg said "just not have gone knowing it was a bad day". I look at these situations a learning opportunities. Would it have been easier to stay home? (We own the movie, he knows all the words for goodness sake and we also have popcorn) Yes it would have, but how am I teaching/training him if I never put him in public settings. It's the same with restaurants, we take him and if he acts bad then we go sit in the car until the rest of the family is done with their meal. Believe me I have eaten many meals boxed up. I want to teach him to sit in a restaurant but I also need train my family to have a servants heart... In other words once anyone in our family starts taking the joy of the experience away from others seated around us... Well that person wins a trip to the car. I refuse to have our entire family leave because the child is then learning that if they are in a situation they aren't happy about a meltdown will give them their way.... they get to leave. Believe me sitting in the car with mommy when she hasn't finished her meal is not a pleasant experience.
Needless to say we made it through the entire movie, we were all grouchy but we made it through. Maybe/hopefully next time will be better but I refuse to stay home like a recluse :-)
Today Riley woke in a great mood, as did Bella and Ryan..... after feeling so defeated last night I thought maybe God was giving me a break LOL. Then out of nowhere comes preteen angst and over emotion (and no it wasn't me). There was crying and hugging and poor Daddy was totally out of the loop. He really doesn't know what to do with two emotional females in the house :-) We left in time to get Starbucks and bonded over our Chai latte's.
Daddy had practice today after church so we are on our own again. I decided to splurge some money and weight watchers points and get 5 Guys burgers to go. (They were sooooo good it's the closest thing we have to IN N OUT burger here in Kentucky and will have to do when you just can't get to Cali!) After unloading all the kids and getting the burgers out I look over and see Riley eating a burger and fries and he stops and says his prayers, then he smiles and tells me it's good, after eating he gives me a kiss and says he wants to go night night. He also tells me about Jesus in his heart and that he loves me. You know that gives me hope that he does listen and that I'm training his heart the proper way. For today that's good enough :)
I have to preface this to say I have NO CLUE how single parents do this! My husband's busiest time at work is the entire month of February. I know this, I try to remember this, I try to be understanding, but halfway through the month after feeling like a single parent while my house is falling around my ears I finally lose it. The dining room chair incident had me in tears for a bit but I held it together. A few horrid three year old melt downs yesterday had me at my wits end.
We had a ton of things to do yesterday and Hubby was gone most of the day and when he was here he was working in his office. Ryan had an upwards game at the church and it was such a blessing to watch him play . (Thank you dear daughter Syd for babysitting).
We also had a family movie PJ night at church last night. It was great fun except Riley decided it was more exciting to throw popcorn, sit on top of his friends, and scream out all the words to the movie while others are trying to watch. I finally start taking him out to do time out in a quiet part of the church. I proceed to listen to him scream on and off the next half hour. The child isn't dumb, he learned at an early age his voice is his greatest weapon. I will put that child in a screaming match with any shrill little girl and guarantee he'll top them by a few decibels. He truly has the loudest scream I have ever heard in my life! The rest of the night went downhill from there.
I know I could have loaded him up and taken him home or like Greg said "just not have gone knowing it was a bad day". I look at these situations a learning opportunities. Would it have been easier to stay home? (We own the movie, he knows all the words for goodness sake and we also have popcorn) Yes it would have, but how am I teaching/training him if I never put him in public settings. It's the same with restaurants, we take him and if he acts bad then we go sit in the car until the rest of the family is done with their meal. Believe me I have eaten many meals boxed up. I want to teach him to sit in a restaurant but I also need train my family to have a servants heart... In other words once anyone in our family starts taking the joy of the experience away from others seated around us... Well that person wins a trip to the car. I refuse to have our entire family leave because the child is then learning that if they are in a situation they aren't happy about a meltdown will give them their way.... they get to leave. Believe me sitting in the car with mommy when she hasn't finished her meal is not a pleasant experience.
Needless to say we made it through the entire movie, we were all grouchy but we made it through. Maybe/hopefully next time will be better but I refuse to stay home like a recluse :-)
Today Riley woke in a great mood, as did Bella and Ryan..... after feeling so defeated last night I thought maybe God was giving me a break LOL. Then out of nowhere comes preteen angst and over emotion (and no it wasn't me). There was crying and hugging and poor Daddy was totally out of the loop. He really doesn't know what to do with two emotional females in the house :-) We left in time to get Starbucks and bonded over our Chai latte's.
Daddy had practice today after church so we are on our own again. I decided to splurge some money and weight watchers points and get 5 Guys burgers to go. (They were sooooo good it's the closest thing we have to IN N OUT burger here in Kentucky and will have to do when you just can't get to Cali!) After unloading all the kids and getting the burgers out I look over and see Riley eating a burger and fries and he stops and says his prayers, then he smiles and tells me it's good, after eating he gives me a kiss and says he wants to go night night. He also tells me about Jesus in his heart and that he loves me. You know that gives me hope that he does listen and that I'm training his heart the proper way. For today that's good enough :)
Friday, February 11, 2011
Mommy Needs A Sick Day
We've all had THAT feeling. Wake up with a stuffy head, itchy eyes, sore throat, headache, and stuffy nose. Yes I caught a cold from my baby, Bella.
Back in my working days I had a few options. A.) Get up and go to work and trudge through it. (Thankfully my job had some leeway and I could usually rearrange things to have a "lite" day) .... B.) call in on a sick day, let hubby take kids to school/daycare and hang out in bed watching chick flicks and daytime TV all day. (It was almost a treat except for the being sick part!)
Now however, I have no back up plan and no one who can fill in for me. I'm the mommy and rain or shine, good or bad, I'm the only mommy my kids have. Now I do have to say here before I sound too "poor pitiful me" that my remarkable husband did in fact offer to call in sick. He volunteered to stay home so he could take older kids to school and take care of the two preschoolers. I sent him on in to work because I'd rather have him at home when we all feel good and can have family time together.
I did what tons of sick parents do everyday, got up and got to it! I did decide to stay in PJ's all day which will come back to haunt me later. I took a hot shower, used my netti pot, took 2 tylenol, and started getting older kids out the door. Sydney had a school dance today so I even helped her get make up on and hair curled.
After Greg and Sydney left for work and school, I got little kids ready to take Ryan and Em to school. I let the big kids keep Riley occupied and waited a little later to leave than usual. I still had plenty of time to get them to school. I also decided since I just drop the kids off and no one would see me I'd just put a jacket over my PJ's and drop them off and head back home. NO PROBLEM. Except that there was a wreck of some sort and I couldn't get onto the main road heading to the school. I had to take the expressway and cut up the back way to the school. Problem with this is it takes about 3 times as long to go that way. I caught every red light. Now you'd think I was worried about them getting to school late right??? NO not really, my concern is that after the bell rings you have to walk the children into the school and sign them in the office just as everyone is being released from gym to go to their first class. I had visions of poor Ryan and Em being escorted in by a crazy woman with Christmas ornament PJ's, track shoes and a Harry Potter Hoodie. Talking about being scarred for life. Thankfully we made it to school on time with one whole minute to spare. Years of therapy for Ryan and Em avoided!
We then get home and this is where the fun begins. In the time it took for me to change Bella's diaper Riley found the pen that Ryan had used for signing Valentines this morning. My dining room chair cushion paid the price and I have a 3 yr old in a lot of trouble today. Mommy really needs a sick day! On the plus side my interior designer wanted to discuss adding chair covers ...we might be doing that now!
Back in my working days I had a few options. A.) Get up and go to work and trudge through it. (Thankfully my job had some leeway and I could usually rearrange things to have a "lite" day) .... B.) call in on a sick day, let hubby take kids to school/daycare and hang out in bed watching chick flicks and daytime TV all day. (It was almost a treat except for the being sick part!)
Now however, I have no back up plan and no one who can fill in for me. I'm the mommy and rain or shine, good or bad, I'm the only mommy my kids have. Now I do have to say here before I sound too "poor pitiful me" that my remarkable husband did in fact offer to call in sick. He volunteered to stay home so he could take older kids to school and take care of the two preschoolers. I sent him on in to work because I'd rather have him at home when we all feel good and can have family time together.
I did what tons of sick parents do everyday, got up and got to it! I did decide to stay in PJ's all day which will come back to haunt me later. I took a hot shower, used my netti pot, took 2 tylenol, and started getting older kids out the door. Sydney had a school dance today so I even helped her get make up on and hair curled.
After Greg and Sydney left for work and school, I got little kids ready to take Ryan and Em to school. I let the big kids keep Riley occupied and waited a little later to leave than usual. I still had plenty of time to get them to school. I also decided since I just drop the kids off and no one would see me I'd just put a jacket over my PJ's and drop them off and head back home. NO PROBLEM. Except that there was a wreck of some sort and I couldn't get onto the main road heading to the school. I had to take the expressway and cut up the back way to the school. Problem with this is it takes about 3 times as long to go that way. I caught every red light. Now you'd think I was worried about them getting to school late right??? NO not really, my concern is that after the bell rings you have to walk the children into the school and sign them in the office just as everyone is being released from gym to go to their first class. I had visions of poor Ryan and Em being escorted in by a crazy woman with Christmas ornament PJ's, track shoes and a Harry Potter Hoodie. Talking about being scarred for life. Thankfully we made it to school on time with one whole minute to spare. Years of therapy for Ryan and Em avoided!
We then get home and this is where the fun begins. In the time it took for me to change Bella's diaper Riley found the pen that Ryan had used for signing Valentines this morning. My dining room chair cushion paid the price and I have a 3 yr old in a lot of trouble today. Mommy really needs a sick day! On the plus side my interior designer wanted to discuss adding chair covers ...we might be doing that now!
Surviving Riley
I started this blog because people encouraged me to do it after hearing stories about Riley. I always joke that I'm going to one day write a book called "surviving Riley". Since I don't have time to keep a written journal of my day to day I decided to try my hand at blogging.
First of all let me start by saying I do not think of myself as the end all be all in parenting. There are days I feel like a complete failure in all areas and I look to the Bible to give me hope and encouragement. I have to say parenting a "high maintenance" 3 yr old has helped me become very acquainted with the book of Proverbs. I have four children and all of them have their own personalities, quirks, and special qualities. Riley, however, is my strong willed, crafty, and freakishly coordinated child. He really keeps all of us on our toes. He is also the first one I stayed home with, I stopped being a working mom when he was a little over a year old. I only have myself to blame :)
Sit back, enjoy life through my eyes and have a good chuckle on me :-)
First of all let me start by saying I do not think of myself as the end all be all in parenting. There are days I feel like a complete failure in all areas and I look to the Bible to give me hope and encouragement. I have to say parenting a "high maintenance" 3 yr old has helped me become very acquainted with the book of Proverbs. I have four children and all of them have their own personalities, quirks, and special qualities. Riley, however, is my strong willed, crafty, and freakishly coordinated child. He really keeps all of us on our toes. He is also the first one I stayed home with, I stopped being a working mom when he was a little over a year old. I only have myself to blame :)
Sit back, enjoy life through my eyes and have a good chuckle on me :-)
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