5 Little Words

Heather, upon my request, gave me five words to elaborate on.......here goes:

Maternal:

This word is hard for me because there are days when I wonder if I truly have what it takes to be maternal. I love my children and would do just about anything for them. However, when my youngest leaves a half eaten applesauce container in the cup holder of her car seat after I told her "no eating in the van".....ummmm maternal is not the word that comes to mind. Psycho Hose beast says it better. Maternal is not a good word to describe me in the morning when I'm having an argument with my 5 year old about what uniform she will wear to school that day. I can't figure this out. It's. a. uniform. for the love of remaining goodness in this world. I envision maternal as someone who understands that kids will be kids and they will grow out of this stage. I don't really have patience like that. I'm afraid to pray for it because I heard where that gets you. Okay, enough about that.

Vacation:

I love it. I love taking time with my family where we have no schedule of things to do or places to go. Just me, my man and my kids at the beach. I'm set.

Childhood:

I'm doing everything I can to make sure my children have one. There are so many children that don't get that chance.

Nightmare:

My worst nightmare is that one of my children will drown. I have nightmares about this frequently. They wake me up gasping for breath.

Laughter:

I laugh all the time. I love to make people laugh. Especially my mom. She gets tickled at the most random things. I hope she reads this.....Mom, remember the Dirty Dancing Foot Show on the way to Georgia?

Passionate Praise for Sunday

I just felt like sharing some of my current favorite praise songs. The songs totally speak for themselves. Just close your eyes and give Almighty God the praise due His NAME. Have a blessed Sunday.

A Visit With A Friend

Today I went to Jacksonville to visit Kori. We had a great time. Really good fellowship and some yummy food.

Aren't our matching glasses so cute???

I cannot even tell you how blessed I feel to have met some really amazing, Godly women from blogging. I am so looking forward to our trip in November for the Estrogen Extravaganza!!! It's gonna be crazy fun. I'm just thankful that I'm able to be a part of it.

Kori is hanging in there. She is hurting, obviously, but we were able to talk and laugh and eat (which I never seem to have a problem doing). Keep praying for her. The days ahead are going to be challenging. Richard only passed on the 26th of August and then to lose her father on September 18th??? The song "He Is With You" by Mandisa is beginning to have even deeper meaning now.

Kori, thank you for your friendship and thank you for being my sister in our Savior! I feel so blessed to know you....;) I love you.

Random Things Kids Say

Emily has a new little girl in her class who is Asian. She doesn't speak very much English and Emily says her eyes are freaky. I told her that God created her, too and that everyone is different.

Then, we started discussing where she was from. I said, "She could be from China or Japan or Malaysia or Vietnam...."

Michael then says, "Or Turkey."

Then Lauren says, "Or Kentucky."

I love those kinds of discussions on the ride to school. It makes my day go so much better than breaking up a fight about who gets to claim the yellow punch bug that just drove by......

I Want My Co-Pay Back!

Okay, so last week I had to take Michael to the doctor because he stepped on a toothpick and part of it broke off in his foot.

We tried everything at home and were unsuccessful in dislodging the part of this thing that remained in his foot. I knew there was something in there, but he would shreik and flinch everytime I would put any pressure on it. This is where the doctor visit comes in.

So, last Tuesday, I took Michael to his pediatrician. We waited, in the office, as far away from the Swine flu infested waiting room as we could. We sat there with our shirts over our faces to avoid contamination. Some of you may now be asking the question, "Why on earth would you wait with all those sick people?"

The answer is simple.

Michael has a toothpick stuck in his foot!!! I could not get it out. It wasn't an emergency room type need, but it needed to be removed.

Okay, so we waited over an hour to be seen by the doctor. The doctor takes one look at his foot and says, "There's nothing in there. It's just 'swollen' from the puncture."

I'm thinking...."Are you sure???" But nevertheless, he is the doctor and I am not, so he writes me a script for an antibiotic and sends us on our way. I, however, am not satisfied that it's just "swollen". So, we go home and continue to soak his foot and try to work the thing out. I'm convinced there is something in there.

Well, this last Monday night, after a week of my son walking on the ball of his foot, my husband decided to squeeze the area around the entry wound (is that a good medical term, Heather?). Oh my goodness.....when he did.....it was........Awesome! That thing just popped and all of a sudden a piece of wood came up to the surface. Eric took the tweezers and pulled out the partial toothpick. It was 3/8ths of an inch long! Can you imagine how painful that must have been for Michael to walk on? I am so mad at the stupid doctor. I realize he had other patients to see, but really? All I wanted him to do was numb the area and get that thing out. Was I asking too much?

I want to take this photo into his doctor and ask for my money back.

What do you think? I'm curious. What would you have done?

September 13, 2005, 10:03 p.m.

Tonight, as this post publishes, my baby will be four years old. It's been one wild ride thus far. Emily has never ceased to make us laugh and keep us on our toes. For each of my children, I made up a lullaby that I would sing to them when they were little. They still ask me to sing them when they are sick or scared. It's something I treasure and gladly do.

Emily's Lullaby:

♫Emily, you're my sweetie,

Emily, you're so precious to me.

Emily, you're my sweetie.

God sent you to me, Emily.♫

Ready to have this baby....and have my tubes tied!

Chunky Monkey, 8 lbs. 2 oz.

Emmy at 18 months

3 years old

Can you tell she just woke up! She was so excited to turn 4!

We bought her a barbie with non-removeable clothes. These dolls were made for children like my Emily.

I cannot believe, as I'm sure other moms cannot with their own kids, that Emily is four years old already. She makes me laugh☺, she makes me cry (literally scream like a baby at times), she makes me tired, but God hand picked her for this family. She is ours and we love her to the moon and back....♥

There's a Reason for my Blog Title

My "Version" of Sanity is not really sanity at all. Sanity is a very fluid concept. From day to day, I wonder if today will be the day I actually go completely nuts.

Anybody?

Moms? Are you as tired and worn out as I am? I really just need some validation right now. It is really important for me to know that I'm not alone in this madness.

I have started experiencing emotions I never knew existed prior to having children. Ya'll know I have three. Someone once told me that when you're outnumbered, you're in trouble. That someone was correct.

I know I have shared Emily stories before. A lot of them came from my previous blog, Another Day in Paradise. I gave up blogging for a season to get my priorities back in order.

Anywho, Emily has been nicknamed Destructo (which we don't call her to her face for fear of her being labeled "destructive") because she likes to......well.....destroy things. She makes the bull in the china shop look like a bunny in a basket.

I adore her. Immensely. I'd die for her. But for the love of everything decent and sacred, how am I going to survive her? She is a calculated Tazmanian Devil. Every blessed day I am throwing away something she has broken. Every day I am trying to figure out which clothes are clean and which close are dirty because she empties her drawers and tries on one outfit after the other.

I could go on and on to try to prove my point, but frankly I'm tired and I don't feel like it. I know what I'm dealing with. I'm just weary and frustrated.

I've tried every form of discipline. Spanking, to bed without supper, time-out, yelling, talking sternly. She no longer even has toys in her room because she just destroys them. My husband is just as much at a loss. She's really only like this at home. She seems to be very well behaved at school. The structure will hopefully be good for her.

My mom and I were talking last night and she was telling me stories about her trials with my brother. She said she literally had to be on top of him all the time. Is that really what it comes down to? Cuz frankly, I'm just not up for that.

I just want some semblance of normalcy back. November is way too far away.......

I hope she grows out of this. I'd hate to make her throw away a really good handbag when she gets older....:)

Clever Girl

So, I'm laying down on the girls' bed while they brush their teeth and in walks Emmy, who is three.

Me: "Emily did you brush your teeth?"

Emily: "I'm not Emily, my name is Pastor Sherry."

Me: "Can I just call you Sister Sherry?"

Emily: "Sure. (takes a deep breath) Okay, so what do you want to from Sonny's?"

Me: "I'll take a sweet tea."

Emily: "Um, no, you can't have sweet tea. It's all got drunk by the other people."

Me: "Okay. I'll take some pepperoni."

Emily: "Um, no. Remember the last time you ate that you frew (threw) up?"

Me: (trying not to laugh) "Oh yeah....(not). Okay. Can I have some french fries?"

Emily: "Um, yeah, that will be $48 dollars."

Me: What the heck kind of high priced, hoity toity establishment are you running here? (That's what I wanted to say).....but instead, I said, "Lauren, pay the girl...." ;)

My kids just crack me up sometimes. They are so random and yet so imaginative. We should take notes.

Anybody?

Okay, I just got a hankering for some old stuff. A friend of mine asked my what my favorite 80's sitcom was. I would have to say it's between this one......

.....and this one....

Do you remember this episode?

Am I alone in this? What was yours????