When the wind blows . . .

There is a bit of wisdom I once heard that more often than not proves to be true on days like this. It goes, "When the wind blows,the kids are naughty." Holy cow! Is that true today! Thank heavens for Scooby Doo for a little peace or this morning would have been filled with constant screaming and crying--and I only have two kids at home!

Our former priest, Fr. Randy, says when it is windy, it is the Holy Spirit blowing through. I always find comfort in that image and try to remember that on our many extremely breezy SD days.

Maybe I need to combine the two. Maybe if I put my kids outside for awhile, the Holy Spirit will take their naughty behavior away. Next time I see Fr. Randy, I am going to ask his opinion on the subject.

Still here!

I thought I'd better update to let everyone know I'm still here! Today I really am feeling better--finally. I knew I was feeling better when I started organizing and vacuuming the entry this morning--after making pancakes and eggs for everyone for breakfast.
The boys both had high fevers yesterday, but are better today. That is good news, since we are hoping to go to the CIRCUS tomorrow!

Sick Day

This is my second sick day in a row. For some reason, my sinus troubles have settled into my throat and knocked me on my butt for the past couple days. I am so thankful to David & my inlaws for entertaining Nathan yesterday. Of course, Teresa had to one-up me and get 2 molars at one time. It's been quite pleasant around here as you can probably imagine!
I am a horrible sick person. I have no idea why my mom still kept me around the first time after I was sick and old enough to talk. I remember whenever I was sick lying on the couch and repeating over and over, "I don't feel very good." She would answer, "I know." It is a mystery, but I only remember one or two days of her being sick. No doubt there were more, but being the awesome mom she was and is, I couldn't tell.
Of course, I am not able to lie on the couch and whine anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't want to! I think my kids kind of like when mom is down. They get to watch more movies and I can't run as fast to catch them when I need to.
For me, that is the worst. I can't be the mom I need to be when I am sick. I know there are many moms who are dealing with much bigger health crises than I ever have. I am thankful this virus will hopefully run its course in a few days. But, until then, I just have to say, "I don't feel very good."

"Reality" TV

I jumped on the reality show bandwagon with the start of "Survivor." A zillion seasons later, David and I are still watching it.
Since then there have been too many reality shows to count. There are some I never could understand (remember "The Mole"?), some I ignore for the most part ("Big Brother" and . . . gasp . . . "The Bachelor"), and some I watch on certain nights and not on others (the singing night of "American Idol" is worth my time, but I can only stand the last 2 minutes of the elimination show.)
When I started walking in recent months, I found "The Biggest Loser" to be an inspiration to me--especially the weigh in's. Thankful that I didn't have to weigh in on national TV in a sports bra and spandex, I became more than willing to walk a little faster or a little longer to keep that from happening!
Opponents of "reality" shows will tell you that they are not real. My answer is, of course they're not! If I wanted real life, I obviously wouldn't be watching them.

MS Walk Update

Much has been happening with the Many Steps to Fight MS team. Our team continues to grow, which is very exciting! Our youngest walker--or, stroller--is 5 months old! YOU are invited to join us, too!
In case you do not read the Northwest Blade or Faulkton Record (info will be running in Faulkton this week), I wanted to make sure my blog readers knew the latest news, too.
In addition to walking, our team is asking our supporters to help us honor and remember those with MS in another way. We are selling cardstock footprints for $5 each In Honor of or In Memory of the person of the donor's choice. These footprints will be displayed at the start of the walk.
You may order a footprint by contacting me (davidandlauramelius@yahoo.com), visiting the Aberdeen Family Physicians reception area, or going directly to the link below. If the link doesn't work, www.mymswalk.org will take you to the general MS Walk page. If you order online, please include your recipient's and your name, too, if you wish, in the box.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/NTHWalkEvents?team_id=158490&pg=team&fr_id=10300

Something new this year is Team Village, which I imagine will be similar to the team areas at other events. Each team may decorate their tent in anyway they wish. I hope we are able to cover our tent and the ground surrounding it with these footprints.
The response has already been very heartwarming and encouraging. I realize we all choose different causes to support, so I understand if you cannot donate at this time. In that case, please pray for a successful MS Walk for all of the teams on May 9!
Thank you very much for helping us come MANY STEPS closer to a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

The Priceless Shirt

In late 2005, St. Thomas Church in Faulkton acted on an idea one of the ladies in our Bible study found in a magazine. It is essentially a free rummage sale. People bring in their excess stuff, take home what they need, and the rest is taken to local charities. Three years later Abundantly Blessed is still going strong. It is held one Saturday morning a month (most months) and every month the church basement is packed with tables of clothes of all sizes, toys, shoes, household items, and more. We are all amazed at how the stuff keeps coming in! Everyone is invited to come, browse, and see what they can use. (March 28 is the next one.) I myself have gotten some great stuff there.
The best thing, however, has to be this shirt. I picked up the 3T Old Navy football jersey at one of the first Abundantly Blessed days. Landen, who was 3 at the time, instantly fell in love with it. He first called it his "soccer shirt" and his "hitball shirt." (He had a hard time remembering what football was called right away.) He liked to wear it backwards so he could see the "big 18," too. He absolutely loved that shirt until he got too big for it.
Now it is Nathan's favorite shirt. He has decided that if it is turned backwards, he can see the 18 and it magically transforms from a football shirt to a basketball shirt. Nathan "call me Nater on the basketball court" Melius is a basketball playing boy. Last weekend he insisted on wearing the shirt to Aberdeen--backwards and all.
In fact, I am watching him outside playing basketball in his basketball shirt right now. Who could have guessed that one shirt--and a free one no less--could bring two little boys so much joy? I guess the old saying pertains to shirts, too--"the best things in life ARE free!"

Things I never expected in life . . .

Hearing David tell Nathan, "Don't lick the pickup."

Catching a chewed up dried apricot from Teresa's mouth with one hand while measuring molasses for my cookie dough with the other. (Don't worry if you have a molasses cookie at my house in the near future--they did not touch!)

Telling Teresa "thank you" for the booger she put in my hand. (I was not cooking or baking that time!)

Hearing Landen ask me, "When is Teresa going to talk like a human?"

The pure joy I get from hearing my kids say, "I'm sorry", "Please" or "Thank you" without being prompted.

Telling my boys their artwork is beautiful and really meaning it. (Maybe that is where the expression "something only a mother could love" comes from.) But really, from Landen's landscapes to Nathan's "eggs" I am always excited to see what they have transferred from their brains to their paper.


To be continued . . . .

Precious Moments

from "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins

Five years later there's a plumber working on the water heater
Dog's barking, phone's ringing
One kid's crying, one kid's screaming

She keeps apologizing
He says They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but ...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These Are Some Good Times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

Lately I've returned to country tunes while I'm driving (if we are not listening to KidStuff on Sirius Radio). I always like when this song comes on. It reminds me that as crazy as the toddler stage can make me, it will not last forever. Someday I will have three teenagers at one time--GRREEAT! But, when that someday comes I know I will look at these times as simple in comparison. I will wish I can still pick them up and put them in their rooms--if nothing else to protect them from the world.

There is a saying, "The days are long, but the years are short." I don't know how that is possible, but it is a definite mystery of life. Another mystery is that we tend to forget some or most of the pain or frustration of the difficult times. Otherwise, do you really think moms would have more than one child each?

Let's try to appreciate the present as difficult as it may be. Someday we will remember the precious times of this stage and wonder why we were in such a hurry to leave.

Balancing

"So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act." -Dr. Seuss

I'm not a huge Dr. Seuss fan, but the book "Oh! The Places You'll Go!" is one of my favorites. There are so many lines in that book that I confront in my life, but none more than the one above.
It seems all I do is balance--kids and husband, rest and work, kid#1 and kid#2 and kid#3, part time job and securing a babysitter, hobbies and exercise, the kids' activity and TV time. And--when I finally feel like each side is equal (with maybe something balancing on my head as well), one of them falls and I start all over again.
There are so few days I actually feel balanced, but I felt that way this morning. Landen was at school, Nathan was at John Deere Days with David, and Teresa was running errands with me. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a handle on things and didn't feel especially rushed or stressed.
This feeling was threatened, however, when I got home and called David to check on them. He gave me the impression that Nathan was not being as cooperative on their outing as he had hoped. Immediately I felt the guilt wash over my balanced self--like I was the one acting out during the combine movie and not eating my lunch!
It took me a little while to talk myself out of the impending guilt, but in the end I did not let the mom guilt ruin my day.
After all, David was the one who decided to take Nathan along. I am not 100% responsible for our toddler's sometimes erratic behavior (thank goodness). And--if David wasn't blaming me, why should I be blaming myself for not having crabby Nathan at home for me to enjoy?
So, I won that battle, but I'm sure there will be another one threatening me again soon!
One of my friends said she does the same thing with the mom guilt all the time. Have moms really been living with this guilt since time began?
We really need to stop the guilt and embrace the balance, ladies. If I can do it at least once, you can, too.
Is there a Mom Guilt Support Group? If I wouldn't feel so guilty about leaving my kids for the meetings, I would start one.

A Unique Day

David's parents surprised us this morning by offering to take the boys for the day. I don't know who was more excited--the boys or me. After yet another blizzard day all together in the house, we were all needing to see some new faces and places. They all had a wonderful time together while David, Teresa, and I enjoyed the quiet.
I got a mile in on the treadmill this morning, my kitchen floor scrubbed, and a couple scrapbook pages done. But that wasn't the best part. David and I got to see Teresa do things in a whole different environment. She brought us "food" from her kitchen and showed us her baby doll. As David said, she usually can't get from the dining room to the kitchen without the "defensive line" stopping her! When we went into the living room after dinner, she flipped open her animal magazine and lay down on her tummy to read it. We spent a lot of time just snuggling this afternoon. It was heavenly!

I must include a funny, slightly disfunctional, but very true quote I heard yesterday on a rerun of "Yes Dear",
"There are some times in the day that that little one scares the hell out of me!"
It made me giggle.

OK--blogging time is over. The boys are back and they each have a spatula in the living room. This can't end well.

Floaty Corn

Creamed corn has recently become very popular in our home.
Last time my parents were here, Landen said he wanted the "kind of corn that floats around." I never knew he had his dad's love of creamed corn. We have had it once since then and tonight when I was looking for ideas for supper, Landen once again requested "floaty corn." So, floaty corn it is.

Time Change

There is a joke in our family (maybe a truth--I've never tested it) that you should not call my Grandma Kallas for at least a week after we turn our clocks ahead. It seems losing that hour of sleep makes her a little crabby and she is always the first to admit it. Accurate or not, it is always good for a laugh this time of year anyway.
I am a bit crabby myself today. Maybe crabby isn't as accurate as apprehensive. Like my grandma, I do not like the time change either. It isn't so much the lack of sleep. After all, that is one of the perks of my job--I can take a nap if I need to. It is the longer days I really don't like.
Longer days mean longer work days for David--and in turn for me. Gone are the days when he is in at 6:30pm and is in the house for the night. Nope--if the sun is still up, farm work must be done. That, in turn, makes me feel like I should also be working until dark in the house or mowing the lawn even though David assures me often that I do not. The kids still go to bed reasonably well, but it is more difficult to get them to understand that 8pm is still 8pm even if it is light outside. When it comes down to it, as wonderful as summer can be, most of the time it is just darn right exhausting for this farm wife. I feel like our family has just taken a wonderful "long winter's nap" and I really don't want to wake up and start running quite yet.
I know it will be OK. Give me a week or so and I'll adjust. By then it should be safe to call Grandma, too.

Let's Get Walking!

It must be all that walking to nowhere I've been doing. Today I decided to walk somewhere--toward a cure for MS. If you know my family, you know my mom has lived with MS since 1996 and is a huge inspiration to all around her. My mom is more important to me than I could ever put into words. If I could cure MS, I would have a long time ago. But there is something I can do--something we can all do. We can walk, roll, or stroll toward a cure!
My sister Amanda and I have formed Many Steps to Fight MS and we are looking for more walkers to join our team. My goal is to have the BIGGEST team there! (The biggest team signed up right now has 55 members.)
The Aberdeen MS Walk starts at 10am (Registration at 9am) on Saturday, May 9. From what I saw on the website, the walk is approximately 3 miles.
We welcome all team members and, of course, all donations.
You may go to www.mymswalk.org (click on Aberdeen) for more information or to donate. You can even be a VIRTUAL member and join us in spirit.
Please join us on May 9!

Planning my Garden

I am taking the plunge and ordering my garden supplies tonight. Between the warm sunny day and the Gurney's Catalog that is still calling my name, I cannot resist the temptation anymore.
I am playing it pretty safe. No cheddar hybrid cauliflower or purple carrots. I'm going to plant my standards--no tomatoes, many green beans, and some other odds & ends. People are always surprised to hear I don't plant tomatoes. Since I am the only one who eats tomatoes in our family, it is much more practical for me to buy the few I need or enjoy others' bountiful crops if they choose to share them with me. I do have to say tomato plants are fun, though. We garden-sat for our neighbors late last summer and received all the tomatoes, peppers, and green beans we could gather as our payment. The boys thought it was really neat to see how many more red or yellow tomatoes they could find each day. Of course, they didn't want to actually eat them!
I also refuse to plant or pay any money whatsoever for a zucchini. It is not because I dislike zucchini. (I don't know how anyone could dislike zucchini since it doesn't taste like anything!) My reason stems from my childhood. My dad was a pretty good gardener, but he always made sure that he planted 5 or so zucchini plants. I don't remember a year that all 5 or more didn't produce zucchinis like baby bunnies. We had zucchini like Bubba Gump had shrimp. You know what they say about locking your car door in small towns so you don't get a zucchini? Well, if I get a hankering for zucchini in the summertime, I just leave my car unlocked wherever I go. One way or another at least one zucchini always finds its way into my kitchen.
The only exception to my standard garden is a potted blueberry bush. It caught my eye last year and again this year. I like blueberries, but they are so expensive. Gurney's says this particular variety is easy to grow and I am going to buy some blueberry food to try to keep it happy. Potted plants generally like me, so hopefully we will hit it off.
As I said in my previous gardening post, the odds are stacked against me. I have my grandparents' farming/gardening genes when it comes to planting and harvesting, but it usually gets pretty weedy in between. I have a plan, however, to try to prevent another weed infestation like last year . . . ok, like every previous year.
A few years back, I listened to a talk on square-foot gardening. The idea is to separate your garden into square feet and plant each vegetable, flower, etc. in a seperate square. Since the plants provide more ground cover than they do in a row, it really helps to prevent weeds. I am also going to invest in a weed barrier or a bottle of Preen to keep the weeds at bay in between the squares.
I've explained my idea to my husband and surprisingly he thinks this will work well. He usually isn't so optimistic about my gardening aspirations. Hopefully that is a good omen.

Walking to Nowhere

I finally bought a treadmill this past January and I love it. I do NOT like to walk outside in the cold, so it was a perfect solution until we are able to get outside. I have a feeling I will use it in the summertime, too, since I do NOT like to be hot, either.
I feel great when I get a mile or so in a day and most days I can do that. The problem comes in when I take a weekend off. Even though I know it makes me feel better, it is really difficult to get the motivation to start walking again. I took most of last week off when I was dealing with my kids' random fevers. It was a lame excuse, I know, but it worked for me.
However, this week I am back walking again. I feel better as long as I put in the work. Funny how that works! I am determined not to let my treadmill become a very expensive clothes hanger!

The Great Escape

First, a little background information . . .
Even though my children have always been good sleepers, we had a problem with Landen staying in his room for timeouts or bedtime when he was about 2. We finally turned the doorknob around, so we could lock it from the outside. (Don't judge me--it was grandma's idea.) Anyway, it worked great, the boys have since moved out, Teresa has moved in, and we've never bothered to turn the lock back around to the inside. Our doors get locked all the time around the house and the boys know we need a straight "key" to pop the lock when that happens.
That brings me up to this morning. I had just finished dressing Teresa and Nathan was down to his Pull-Up ready to get his underwear and clothes on. Well, his little 3 year old brain thought it would be hilarious to lock the door and come into Teresa's room. I immediately knew we were locked in. He just said, "Get the key." It turned out there was a key on Teresa's dresser, but it was one for the downstairs doorknobs and wasn't long enough to pop the lock. I tried a safety pin with no luck either. The kids, if anything, thought it was great to be locked in a room with mom, so it was nice that they weren't scared at all. Neither was I, but I wasn't so sure that was how I wanted to spend a good part of my day either.
It was about 7:45am. There was an outside chance that David's dad would stop by on his way home from coffee, but that would take at least a half hour if he did stop at all. David was going to be outside for much longer than that--maybe even until close to lunch time.
What to do? What to do? Ahh . . . the window! Of course, it wasn't as simple as just opening the window. The latch is broken on that window, but we usually use a butter knife to get it to come up whenever we open it. Not surprisingly, we don't store butter knives in Teresa's room either! I went through her dresser basket. The baby nail scissors might work--nope too wide on the end. How about the baby nail file? Nope not quite. How about I go back and forth with each of them and keep trying? Finally I got the latch to move up so I could open the window.
Even though the room is just a few steps above ground level, it is still a good size jump to the ground. I put Teresa in her crib and told Nathan to close the window once I was out. There was no way he could climb out, so I wasn't worried about him following me. I just didn't want his near-naked body standing by the open window with the cold breeze blowing in.
I stepped into my slippers--thank heavens I was at least wearing something on my feet--and slid out. I hit the ground, rolled a bit, reminded Nathan to quickly close the window, ran around the house to free my children from our jail.
The entire escape didn't take very long--maybe 15 minutes. If my escape plan hadn't worked, we would have been waiting until 10am until David came in for a cup of hot chocolate.
This just goes to show that being a mom is never a boring occupation!

Good Sleepers

Someone asked David and I awhile back, "With your kids ages 5, 3, and 1, when do you sleep?" We answered, "For almost 12 hours every night if we want to." The man couldn't believe it.
Even though my kids can spend some days running through the house like rabid squirrels, fighting like starving tigers, and destroying everything in their path like wild monkeys, they are ALWAYS in bed by 8pm. This is David and my salvation as parents.
Teresa likes to sleep the most. At 16 months, she still takes a morning and afternoon nap and is ready to go to sleep by 7pm. They all get up somewhere around 6:30am the next morning.
Some of their great sleeping ability is God given, but it took some work on our part early on, too. Before we had Landen, I read the book "On Becoming Babywise," which was recommended by David's cousin who had 2 young children at the time. The idea is simple--keep your baby on a schedule as much as possible. Many family and friends have read this book and it has worked for everyone that I know of. David's cousin now has 5 children, and as far as I know, they are all still good sleepers. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Jan!)
Another hint we followed was to not rock our babies to sleep. None of our children have had a problem with this and it works great at home. At nap & bedtime, we put them in their beds and they go to sleep. The only time it is inconvenient is when we are away and there isn't a place for them to lie down.
The book also recommends letting them comfort themselves to some extent. They will wake up as they go through the different sleep cycles. At first they will cry, but if they are old enough and don't need to eat, it suggested to wait awhile and let them go back to sleep. This was the hardest for me at first, but it didn't take long and they were sleeping through the night. I believe the boys were between 12-13 weeks. Teresa was starting to sleep all night around that time, but then got really sick with RSV/Pneumonia. So, she got a free pass for about another month until I decided she really could do it. Still now she will start crying at about 10pm every night. I have picked her up some nights, but she doesn't want that either. So, we just know it is 10pm when she starts crying. It never lasts long before she settles down for the rest of the night.
If you are having trouble with your kids not sleeping, I really recommend this book. As my mom always says, "They're so much cuter in the morning when they sleep all night!"
If the screaming starts shortly after that, at least I know that bedtime is only 13 hours away.