Missing My Husband

It's only been 6 days since Mat left on his latest trip, but I already miss him.

I miss my companion, friend, and partner in crime(:

I miss having his hand to hold, and his warm body to cuddle up to.

I miss having an extra set of hands, and someone to take out the trash.

I miss having someone to cook for.

I miss having someone to laugh with.

I miss my loving and supportive husband.

I miss my sons dad, and he misses him too!

I'm so grateful he has a job he loves, that provides for us. But I still miss him.

So until he gets home I will continue to love and miss him, and look forward to his safe return.

Frustration, Worry, and Hope

Today we found out that Brenyn's mom is getting married next week.

Both Mat and I have so many thoughts, feelings, and emotions about this. Our main concern is of course Brenyn's welfare and how she feels about this. We haven't been able to talk to her about it yet, but have been told she is happy about it. But there is so much more to it than that.

What is it going to be like for Brenyn to have 3 dads? What will it be like to have a step-brother, and now another grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles etc. Will Brenyn have to move to another school again? The questions go on and on.

I hope that this will be a good thing for Brenyn. I hope that it will provide her a strong family life, some stability, and happiness. But that is a lot of change for an 11 year old to go through. She's already been through so much.

We will hope for the best. Hope that Brenyn will be happy with her new home life, and hope that she will feel like she can talk to us about what she is thinking and feeling. We love her so much!

Patience...it is a virtue

So as most know I babysit two little girls 2-3 times per week. Surprisingly this has been quite a challenge to me. I thought I was a patient person that loved kids, so this was supposed to be a breeze. Little did I know that I had a lot to learn!

Watching three kids for nine hours a day can be trying, especially if they are not your own. Unfortunately I haven't been as patient as I would have liked, but I have been really trying to work on that. And I think I've gotten better! I've decided to try to look at everything with more patience and humor, and less anger and frustration. It seems to be working.....Here is how today has gone, and mind you it's not even close to being over(:

The day started out like any other. Mat has been out of town since Sunday so I was getting myself ready for a full day with just me and the kids. The morning went smoothly without any hiccups. Miley (the 2 year old)started asking for lunch at about 9:00 am so I gave her an orange to hold her over. That lasted until about 10:30 and she said her tummy told her it was time for lunch. I laughed and told her that her tummy would have to wait a little bit longer. I was able to distract her enough to wait another half hour.

After lunch she wanted to color so I gave her some crayons and a coloring book. I fed her little sister (4 months) and then fed Luke. I then tried...and somewhat succeeded..to play with all three kids. We read some books then it was time for a nap. It's quite a feat to get them all down at the same time!

I had gotten Sloane (4 month old) to sleep and was taking Luke into our room when I noticed crayon marks all over my dining table and chair. Hmmmm... I guess she didn't like the coloring book. The old Erica probably would have gotten upset and angrily said "MILEY!" but I've changed....I looked at her and asked her why she colored all over the table...her response "I don't know." I told her she knew better than that, and that from now on she needs to draw only on paper. I asked her to sit in time out, and told her why she was sitting there. I then proceeded to take Luke in and lay him down for a nap.

He's just about asleep when I hear. "I have to go potty!" (She's partially potty trained, but needs assistance) I know if I leave Luke he'll start crying so I bring him in and set him down in front of the bathroom. Luckily he's perfectly happy. I help her with her pullups and set her on the toilet. Moments later she's done going number 2 and I help her down and she proceeds to wipe herself. I look down and their is Number 2 all over her hand! EEEKK! I wipe off her hand and turn her around and it's all over her bottom. Luckily I've developed a better sense of humor... so I laughed and told her to hold very still while I went to get some wet wipes. Needless to say we got her all cleaned up and 20 min. later all three kids were asleep!

At this point I feel like I've accomplished great things today! But we will see what the rest of the day brings.

Beginning my online journal

I thought it would be a great idea to have an online journal. I'm horrible at writing in journals, so I thought this would be a fun way to express my thoughts, feelings, and daily activities. We'll see how it goes....