I caaaaaan't!!!!

This is my least favorite thing to hear, but unfortunately, I hear it often. Whether it's on the potty, putting on shoes or buckling a seat belt, I caaaaaaaan't seems to be the only thing to say. Katherine turns three next month, and I swear from the time she could talk, I caaaaaan't has been her favorite thing to say. Notice it's not just, I can't, it's I caaaaaaan't!! But then, if offered help, it's "No!!! I do it!!!". Followed by more I caaaaaan'ts and crying. I keep hoping she'll grow out of it, but I'm starting to worry. What if she goes to college, and every time she has to go to the bathroom her roommate hears her yelling, at the top of her lungs, I caaaaaan't! Her poor roommate. Or, picture this, she gets into a car with a boyfriend and starts yelling I caaaaan't while trying to do up her seat belt! The poor girl is never going to get married!

Ok, so I know that's a little extreme, but there are days when I swear the only words out of the girl's mouth consist of I caaaaaan't and No! I know deep in my heart that she won't go to kindergarten in diapers and she will eventually learn to quit the I caaaaan't mantra. But in the meantime, I have visions of a grown woman crying every time she puts her shoes on!

The Post-Christmas disaster

That's what my house is. It's in the after-Christmas, garbage everywhere, dirty state. Decorations need to come down, laundry needs to be caught up on (we already know that's my favorite thing to do(Please read my Achilles heel)), and floors need to be cleaned after all the traffic of Christmas merriment. The gifts are scattered throughout the house if various states of use. The table is two feet deep in toys, oranges and construction paper. All the garbage that didn't fit in the garbage can is carefully stacked on the counter and by the door and patiently waiting for an empty bin to fill up. The Christmas tree looks bare without presents underneath and the cats think the decorations are their new chew toys. My bedroom is filled with hangers, tags, tape and leftover wrapping paper. The evidence of a night filled with wrapping presents.

I think I spend as much time gearing down from Christmas as I do gearing up. My efforts to do this in a timely manner are greatly hampered by my five children who spend much of their time undoing all of my progress. After I get the disaster under control, I will undecorate. That won't happen until after the New Year. Then my house will feel naked. It's been decorated since Halloween and I don't really decorate for any other holiday. (Although Target is already ready for Valentine's day!)

I love the Post-Christmas disaster for the same reasons that I hate it. It means Christmas is over. For me the longest part of winter starts now. There's no major holiday to gear up for. (No, Valentine's day doesn't count!) And spring is a long ways off. But I'll begin to dig out of the mess and hope for an early spring!

Does Santa exist?

That's the big question this year. All three of my oldest kids have asked this year if Santa is real. As a parent, you don't want them to quit believing, but it puts you in a bit of a moral dilemma. Do you lie to them to keep the fun of Santa going for as long as possible, or do you tell them the truth and perhaps take some of the magic away from Christmas?

We have chosen to ask them what they think. To which all but my oldest responded yes! In fact, my five year old informed me that he was going to get his own Nintendo DS because he asked Santa for it! Ah, such faith! I wish, sometimes, that I still believed! But Christmas maintains it's magic because the children make it that way. I hate the hustle and bustle of the season, but it's all worth it to see their great joy and delight on Christmas morning. Although, this year we are missing the days when we could do all of our Christmas shopping at the dollar store!!

And so, for at least one more year, Santa still exists at our house. We will still leave him cookies and milk and make sure the reindeer have food. I'm hoping he will exist for a few more years and that my older kids don't ruin it for the younger ones! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Murphy's law

Murphy works very hard at my house. He likes to make sure that I don't get too comfortable and that life doesn't go as planned. I think that Murphy does this up to keep me on my toes. Just this morning, Murphy decided to implement his most favorite of laws. Don't let mom get too much sleep or she might function too efficiently. Saturday is the day many people sleep in, and I miss the days when I could be included in the throng. Sleeping in for me is anything after 7:30. So of course, at the lovely hour of 6:20, O was bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Cooing and smiling and being oh so cute. I, of course, stayed up later than usual last night. Murphy, being his usual self, thought that since I had to be up, everyone else should sleep in. Oh Murphy, what a good friend you are! So, O went back to sleep at 7:30, too late for me to get any good sleeping in done. And of course by 8 a.m. the other children were beginning to wake. So Murphy got his wish. This mother did not get too much sleep, and definitely won't function too efficiently today! Thank you Murphy for being such a good friend!

You know you're a mother when....

You can iron one handed. I have a feeling that over my time as a blogger, I will add to the list of things that remind you of motherhood. This is just the first on my list.

I spent the afternoon ironing table clothes.....one armed. O is five months old and refused to be happy anywhere but my arms. So I bounced baby on my hip, and carefully ironed and ironed and ironed. You'd think I'd be able to lift 100 pounds with that one arm by now. Nope, I'm still a wuss.

Multi-tasking is just part of motherhood. We manage to do things we never thought we could. And juggle things in a way we never knew possible. Part of me wonders how long it would have taken to iron, minus baby, but the other part doesn't want to know because it just might be depressing!!

Cheese....

What is it about cheesy kid jokes that still make us laugh? Andrew brought a few home from his school Christmas party today.

Q:If Athletes get athlete's foot, what do astronauts get?
A:Missile Toe.

Q:Why were there only seven reindeer at the party?
A:Because Comet stayed home to clean the sink.

Q:What letters aren't in the alphabet?
A:The letters in Santa's mailbox.

Q:Which elf was a famous rock star?
A:Elf S. Presley.

Don't be embarrassed if you giggled. I did too! (Maybe I shouldn't admit that I have the sense of humor of an eight year old!)

Crumby children!!

I am perpetually amazed by my children's ability to get so much food on the floor. I wonder if they ever actually get any food into their bodies. With the amount of crumbs I sweep up on a daily basis, I doubt that they ever stick their heads over the table to eat.

I've tried watching them closely, constantly reminding them to eat over the table. We'll have a relatively neat meal. Then I'll go to sweep. And I swear to you, their entire meal went out their feet because it's all on the floor. I just don't know how they do it. I am perpetually sweeping the floor, and it's never clean. I can sweep the whole thing, pull out chairs, move everything off and have a beautiful floor for 1.2 seconds. Because the moment they step foot on it, they are leaving crumbs in their wake. I think they create crumbs without even eating.

I have consigned myself to a life of crumbs. I'm sure by the time they grow up and leave home, if I kept all their crumbs, I could fill the whole house and then some. So I'll just have to call them my crumby children.

My Achilles heel

Laundry is the Achilles heel of my household organization and cleanliness. Every week, I start on Monday with a new resolve to get it all washed, folded and put away before Wednesday. (I have lofty goals, I know.) And every week, it's Friday and I still have a pile of laundry on the couch. Granted I usually do at least one load a day, with the majority on Monday and Tuesday. But still, I should be able to get it put away by Wednesday shouldn't I? I even have a laundry schedule for myself. Not that it helps, but at least I can say that I have a plan.

What I really need is a laundry maid! My husband informed me that I already have one. Actually I have three. But they are three whiny laundry maids, and sometimes it's not worth the effort of having them fold and put away their own laundry. I have to pick my battles sometimes! Katherine, my two year old, is the most exuberant of my laundry maids, though technically I don't count her yet. She's not terribly reliable in the putting away category, and we are still working on the concept of folding it first.

Today, I am on top of the laundry, but I'm sure by Friday I'll still have a load that needs to be folded and put away. So it goes!

An introduction of sorts

I am a stay at home mother to five children ranging in ages from 8 to 5 months. I suppose this blog will be an attempt to share mothering moments in all it's glory and let others know they are not alone in the insanity of childrearing. I also hope to let family members that want to share in my insanity in on my little secrets. Odds are in my favor that I will be lucky to post once a week, but I will try my best to add my two cents worth to the blogging community.

And Grandpa, I can officially say this blog is all your fault. And so if I am successful, or more than likely not successful, I will blame that on you as well. But I must say that you have inspired me to share my own verbiage, and perhaps inspire me to continue on the many writing projects I have abandoned.

And so ends my first post. The baby is sucking on my neck while my two year old pulls on her leg and asks over and over again if she can hold the baby. (Thus the likely lack of success in blogging!)