For this week’s  Fro me to you I just wanted to take this opportunity to recap some pictures from the past few months.    We are NOT the people you love to hate because of our perfection.  We are just hanging in there every day trying not to run from the house screaming.  Most of the time we just have to laugh and go with the flow.  So here you go…a little taste of the madness:

Remember our stupid kitten? He is still driving us crazy daily. He is still free to a good home

A collaborative effort. The dog and the cat were in on this one. Gah!

Remind me again why we have animals.

Oh that's right. I am insane.

Some days I can't catch a break

This keeps me up at night

My laundry room at it's worst. I should be more embarrassed.

I am not lazy I swear.

10 granola bar wrappers from under the couch cushion. Where else would they be?

One reason it's all worth it

and another good reason

For more Fro’ me to you fun go here

10 reasons I need a little boy:

1.  Addison wanted to know how to spell Hottie the other day

2. She actually said to me after school last week “Are you with me mom?….I said Austin put his arm around me in the hallway!”  Um yeah she is 7!   2nd grade is a little early for boys to be macking right?…whatever happened to the I hate girls/boys phase?

3.  Did I mention that Addison wanted to know how to spell Hottie the other day?

4.  I have seen every.single.episode of Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly place, and if I have to listen to the High School Musical soundtrack one more time I am going to gouge my eyes out!

5.  When the phone rings it is usually one of the little girls from her class wanting to trade Webkinz passwords or talk about the 2nd grade “hotties”

(P.S.  I have a story to tell about one of those phone calls)

6.  Addison asked me why her friend Caitlin wears a bra and I saw her eying the tiny little bras at Target the other day.  Um let me just say hell to the no!  She still wears days of the week and Curious George panties..I am thinking a bra is like light years  into our future….right?

7.  She is going to be asking me for a thong soon.

8.  I have to figure out a way to keep my girls away from ALL the penises.

9.  How does my child even know what the word Hottie means?  I guess the Disney channel just isn’t what it used to be.

10.  7 year old girls seem to  have PMS when they haven’t even hit puberty yet

We have only one bathroom.  It sucks.  But we live in an older home that was built in 1962. It has a certain charm, but the one bathroom part just isn’t part of the charming character.

Tonight I was peeing while my 7 year old daughter Addison was brushing her teeth.

Addie:  “Mommy why are you wearing a diaper in your panties?”

Me:  ” heehee it’s not a diaper”

Addie:  ” well it looks like a diaper what the heck is it?”

Addie again: “mommy…why is there pink on your paper towel?”

Me:  “You mean toilet paper?”

Addison : “well yeah”

Me (completely caught off guard): “well it is something that happens to grown up girls.  It’s called a period”

Addie:”….”

Me ( in my head) :  ” she thinks I am talking about a dot…she thinks I am referring to punctuation. Oh jeez”

Oh and I was right

Addie: “a period?…like at the end of a sentence?”

Me: ” it’s actually called a menstrual cycle.  It’s something God gave women so we can have babies”

Addie: “YOU”RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY?   I don’t think I can handle it!”

Seriously that’s what she said….

Me:” no I am not having another baby….not for a couple of years”

Apparently when we had Alivia, Addison’s whole world turned upside down.  And now she thinks I have punctuation in my panties.  I am probably gonna hear from the school counselor on that one.

The dishwasher needs emptied

The dishwasher needs emptied

The dishwasher needs emptied

Go! Drive you idiot!

The cat shat on the floor

The “spill-proof” sippy cup spilled

Overtaken by Addison’s school papers and the mail

You’re hungry again?

The sun is too bright

The dishwasher needs emptied

The air is too cold

There aren’t enough minutes…in general

My right shoe is perpetually too tight

Static in my hair

The dishwasher needs emptied

You’re hungry again?

Dropped my keys like 5 times in one hour

Purse got stuck under the passenger seat….twice

The baby woke up from her nap too early and I didn’t get a shower

My hands are too dry

The dishwasher needs emptied

My lips are too chapped

Got a cardboard cut

You’re  hungry again?

Everyone is too happy.

The dishwasher needs emptied

6 loads of laundry

What do you mean you’re hungry again?

*Beth from Ruby and Roja made me a couple of really pretty buttons!  If you have a blog and you would like to participate in Make a List Monday I am working on getting a Mr.Linky so you can link up.  I will try and get on that and I will let ya’ll know so you can grab a button and start Make a list Monday-ing.

** If you don’t have a blog and you have no idea who Mr.Linky is or what the heck I am talking about….no worries.  I am just trying to let other bloggers participate in my Make a list Monday thing.

***If I start a Mr. Linky that means I have to actually be consistent with making a list every Monday.  I am slightly worried about that.

Did you know our world is changing?

Yes.  I know it’s always changing.  But are you aware that our culture as we know it is teetering on the tip of a pinhead?

We have all been just living our lives and building our careers and having families and buying stuff we don’t need and eating too much and watching too much TV and while all of these things have been going on we have lost sight of the fundamental values that are the most important in this life.  We are distracted.  We are distracting ourselves.  We don’t want to see it.  I have been guilty myself.  And it’s NOT ok.

There is a battle being fought.  A spiritual battle.  A culture war.  The battlefield is everywhere.  It’s not only thousands of miles away in some middle eastern country, it is right here.  In our homes, at our offices and in our churches.

I am raising children in this changing world so I feel like it is my responsibility to be as aware as I possibly can.  So I have been paying attention.  I have been praying for our nation and for our leaders and for our world.  Ultimately I know that the battle has already been won, so I try not to be anxious about what is meant to happen.  I don’t believe that means that I should stop fighting for what I believe.  I am sure there are those who think our country is changing for the better.

I would say that signs point to the opposite.  See above.

What do I think we need more of?  Jesus.

I know that millions of people don’t believe that He is real.  I understand that faith is a hard concept to learn.  I get it that it’s easier to just believe that this world is going to keep on spinning on and on and on forever.  We have all been given a choice.  Free will.  But we have also been given an empty space in our hearts that can only be filled by one thing.  We all try to fill it up with different things.

In the past I have used alcohol and drugs and even denial to try to fill it up.  It always left me feeling even more empty than before.   Until I chose Him.  And in that moment I found it.  Redemption.  The hole was filled up and overflowing.  Pouring out.

This past year has been the worst year of my life.  I can’t even talk about all of the things that have happened.  Hope has come to me though suffering.  I know how it feels to be held up in the midst of a broken heart.  I have chosen to rejoice instead of recoil.

I am strong.  Not because of me but because I am in good hands.    Every time something bad has happened I have run to Jesus.  And when prayers were answered and I felt His peace wash over me I have praised God for that.  I am not special or different.  I am just one human and just one of millions who have endured unbearable things in life.  I just know Who to turn to and Who to hold on to with every event in my life whether it be happy or too painful to face alone.

I really believe that our world is at a turning point.  I won’t speculate that the end of life as we know it is upon us, because  that would be dramatic and foolish.  But I do know if we could just get back to the basics and focus more on faith and family we would all be much happier. And our world would be a better place too.  And whether we choose to believe or not….Jesus Christ exists and our world will be judged.  And here in my little corner of the world I stand in awe…unafraid and unashamed.

I am a new babywearer.  Seven years ago when my oldest was born I had a little Snugli, but I didn’t use it past about 3 months.  When Alivia was born last October I bought a beautiful Hotsling on Ebay.  Here is what it looks like.

Oddly enough I can’t find a picture of myself wearing it.  You get the idea though right?

Alivia is 13 months old and almost 20 lbs and I am still able to use this sling in the hip carry for short periods of time.  I absolutely LOVE it.  I consider it a must have for any baby’s mama!

When Alivia was younger I felt like it was the one item that I couldn’t live without.  I used it around the house and in lieu of a stroller when we were out and about. It came with an instructional DVD and it took some practice, but it quickly became the most natural thing in the world.

I only wish I would have had one when Addison was a baby.  Even though she didn’t get to hang out in a sling I thought she should have one of her own.  I bought a child sized one for her to carry her dolls in.  She would rather carry around our cat SkippyJon Jones.

As Alivia has grown bigger I have used the pouch sling less often.  I knew I wanted something new that would allow me to  wear her on my back.  I talked to Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing on a Blog Talk radio show one night.  She mentioned a Mei Tei and I was really intrigued.  She also directed me to The Babywearer.com.  I went to check it out and I looked for babywearers in my area.  That is where I met my awesome new friend Vanessa.  She and I talked back and forth and we decided to have a play date.  She brought over all of her baby carriers and when she left she let me borrow one of her Mei Tei’s. It’s a BabyHawk and it is exactly what I was looking for.   I loved it so much that I decided to buy it from her!  Here is a picture of me wearing Livie in it.  No that’s not a double chin…it’s just bad lighting.

I feel like wearing Alivia has really enriched our bond.  Obviously it allows me to get some things accomplished hands free when she wants me to hold her.  But it is also such an intimate feeling to look down and see her looking up at me or sleeping on my chest. I love to be close enough to smell her baby shampoo and take in her lovely baby smell.

Livie is only 13 months old  so my baby wearing experience is short.  But from the first day I put her in the sling I knew that it was something I would continue to do until she is too heavy for me to carry.  Alivia and I both truly enjoy the closeness that it provides.

Side note :  I am going to link to a post on a really funny blog called Best Parent Ever.  They are making fun of babywearers and even though I love the blog on this post they are waaay off base.  It’s all in good fun though I think.

For more babywearing stories and photos visit Steph over here.  Also be sure to check out Nonny and Boo’s beautiful slings and wraps.  I have been drooling over several myself.

10 granola bar wrappers

I was sitting on the couch talking with Adam.  He spotted something shiny under my butt.  Yeah.  I was suspicious of that excuse too.

But no he really did see something gleaming under the couch cushion.  We pulled it out only to discover that there were more shiny wrappers.  9 more to be exact.

Seriously.  What da heck?

Yesterday when I picked Addison up from school she jumped into the van as usual.  She threw her wet backpack ( a water bottle leaked all over the place) up in the front seat and when I asked her how her day was she said  “good”.  I asked her what she did, and she said “can you put my songs on?”.

She is all about the details.

I noticed that she also had a plastic container with what looked like an orange inside.

When we got home I had to nurse Alivia, so I let Addison have a break and a snack before homework.  For the record, homework time is not my favorite time of day.  While I have the UTMOST respect for the people who are….I am not a teacher or a homeschooler for a good reason.    My patience level is questionable and on a bad day I have made many a flustered phone call to my mother ( she has a teaching degree).

But yesterday we had no worksheets to complete and we had no math problems to work on.  Nope.  We had a tangerine in a box.  I LOVE it!

Addison loved it too.  She predicted that there would be 2 seeds.

There were 58.

She did a better job predicting how many sections the tangerine would have.  She predicted 12 sections….there were 13.

What a fun project.  And then she got to eat her own homework!  I think that was her favorite part.

Seven Things That Cross My Mind a Lot:

1.  Why do I bother cleaning the floors? What’s that?  You want me to elaborate? Ok.  My feet are constantly getting wet from Max dripping water on the floor.  It’s even worse when wet feet walk on tiny pieces of kitty litter on the floor.  Do you know what happens then?  The cat litter gets stuck to the bottom of my feet and then I pull each hair out of my hair one by one while Adam pours wine down my throat before I check myself into a MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY!

2.  I want a new house. One that is newer and not crooked.  One that doesn’t have stains on the ceiling of our living room from when it decided to rain in the house.  One that has an updated bathroom that actually looks clean AFTER I clean it.  One with a garage so I don’t have to fill my laundry room with stuff that should be in the garage.

3.  I need a glass of wine. I am actually doing pretty well with my 2 week break from alcohol. Although it was hard not to have a  beer or two with my hubby while we watched football this past weekend.  I also have missed having a glass or two of wine in the evenings.  It just makes the dinnertime hour a MUCH happier time.

4.  I need a glass of wine. Yeah.  I know I said that twice.

5.  I am tired of being chubby. I need new clothes.  But I don’t want to go buy anything else in a size 12.  I want to buy a new size.  A smaaaaller size.

6.  Why do we have pets? Ok.  I love animals.  But.  Why did humans domesticate wild animals so that they could live in our homes?  Yeah yeah companionship and they’re cute and all that, but they are messy….and dirty….and they smell….and crap in a box…and lick their butts…and track stuff in…and they want to eat….like every day.  Dude…they kind of suck sometimes.

7.  I am so blessed. I might complain about our pets and how I want a new house and how I am chubby and blah blah blah I need a glass of wine, but I really am aware of how blessed we are.  Crooked house with messy pets and all.