Things I Like (at least right now)

Consider this a service, as I point you to things I like and that you or someone in your life might like too. It is like a gift-guide, only not because some stuff is local or not available for purchase, and because it has no coherence whatsoever. You are welcome.

1. Cafe Du Luxe, which is a local coffee shop that is very close to my house. They have a drive-thru, like Starbucks, which immediately makes it nice. But, even better, is you get more coffee for less money. I can get a medium latte for the price of a small one at Starbucks. Not that I need a medium, but it is still a good deal.

2. Here are two things courtesy of Big Mama's Fashion Friday post. First is an apron that makes me positively swoon. I would like to think I would all of a sudden become a fabulous cook wearing this apron, but I realize it is just something meant to keep my clothes clean, after all. Second is this Etsy shop with bulletin boards like this one. That fabric would fit right in with the quilt that my girls will eventually have, courtesy of our kind aunt that quilts.

3. I love the Vintage Pearl. I have a necklace from her shop that I won in a giveaway and when I wear it I can't help but feel cute and spring-y. I would really love to have this bracelet, with Husband and my names on it with our wedding date. Hint, hint, Husband.

4. I'm still coveting a fabulous new handbag. Sometimes I think I want something like this, from Etsy. But then I see something like this, at Target, and can't make up my mind. Or maybe I won't show you what I mean because I can't find it on the website. Anyway, I like the uniqueness of Etsy, but I am sometimes swayed by the immediacy of retail shopping.

5. Do you have a friend that just had a baby or is about to have a baby? Go to The Nook and get some cute, personalized onesies. I have been ordering gifts for friends from this shop a lot lately. I love her work.

6. Okay, that is a lot of coveting. What else do I like? I still love the library! Our library is so great. I like searching the online catalog and making hold requests. I like the emails when an item is waiting for me. I definitely like the emails that remind me when my stuff is due. And I will love it when the branch across the street from our neighborhood reopens after renovations. I'm kind of tired of driving across town.

7. I also like that tomorrow we are tailgating. It is the last home game for the season. We are not taking the kids and that makes me happy. We haven't been able to tailgate as much as usual this year due to soccer and whatnot, so tomorrow is our last chance to really do it right. My parents are joining us, as well as Husband's parents and his brother and his wife. It will be lots of fun, even if we don't win. We are playing Army, and there are several things planned to honor the servicemen/women of our country, especially those at Ft. Hood. I'm pretty sure I'll be bawling like a baby.

8. What do I like the most right now? It is Friday!

Happy weekend!

So Sweet

I miss these days. Buddy is at school every weekday now, and I think Monster misses him, even if he doesn't say so. I miss the days of two little guys hanging out. Now they wrestle and fight and of course still play together, but they are getting bigger and well, it is just different.

But Butterfly has a playmate on the way (no, we don't know the gender) and maybe I'll get a similar picture in the future.

Makes my heart melt.

Cracking Down

My apologies in advance should you find yourself at the end of this post wondering what exactly you just read. I have a point, but I know it will be long-winded and rambly getting there.

It is time to establish some order in this family. Things have gone way off track, at least in our estimation. We have behavior issues, housekeeping issues, just issues in general, it seems. I don't want to make it sound like things are falling apart at the seams, because they are not, but it feels as if we are nearing that point. Like we are shuffling along, getting the bare minimum done, and nothing else, and that just won't cut it for very long.

First, Butterfly is giving us fits. Now, I have a healthy amount of perspective, and realize that a lot of her behaviors are very normal for toddlers. We understand that perhaps our first four kids were unusually easy-going and well-behaved from an early age. I really believe that is true, to some degree. We certainly don't take full credit for our kids. But, we do think we played a part and Husband and I both recognize that we have let things slide. We have just not been as attentive and as consistent in how we handle Butterfly. "No" was a regular part of our vocabulary with all of our children from the beginning. We didn't hesitate to tell them they couldn't have something they wanted if it wasn't appropriate (soda, candy, whatever). Somehow that firmness has softened with Butterfly. Don't get me wrong--we're not letting her guzzle soda and eat her fill of junk, but we also indulge her more than we ever thought about with the other kids. That is just one example of what I see as our parental laziness.

It seems we have fallen into a habit of doing whatever we can to keep her from throwing a fit. Perhaps this is because tantrums are so unfamiliar to us. I can count on one hand the number of full-on fits we had from the first four kids combined! No one likes to listen to a screaming kid, and especially in public. But that is no excuse. Her long-term behavior is way more important than our temporary discomfort, even in public. I'm not saying we'll not do what we can to keep her quiet and content in certain situations, but I am saying that we can start to turn things around at home, at the very least. Parenting a challenging child is taking its toll on us, and we know that the only way to get it better is to be firm, consistent, and committed to making positive changes.

Butterfly is not the only child giving us challenges. The big kids do it in more subtle ways sometimes. We are experiencing a fair amount of backtalk and sneakiness from some kids. We know it is influenced by peers and we are addressing that as kindly as possible. But again, a large part of the blame falls on us. Good habits have fallen by the wayside. The fact that the three older kids especially can get themselves ready for bed means we are neglecting family prayer. We're not spending enough time talking about what is good and right and pleasing to God and too much time pursuing our own selfish interests. So we need to make changes there too.

Finally, and this may seem unrelated, but I think it is actually a bigger part of the problem than I would like to admit, we need to change the way we eat. I'm not naive--I'm not going to say we are throwing out all our convenience food and never eat takeout again and so on. There are five kids in this house and two parents and busy lives and there has to be some room for flexibility. But I can't help but think that some of the issues in the house revolve around food. We used to be pretty restrictive on what kind of food the kids ate especially. Plain Cheerios only, fruit or yogurt for snacks, milk and water to drink only. A lot of the time we still stick to this, especially what they drink. But too much sugared cereal has found its way to our home. Too many snacks are crackers or chips. I especially think this is affecting Butterfly. She wants to eat constantly, and it is so tempting to give her the easy snack, the food from a package that requires no preparation. I know if the big kids were home every day they would be asking for more food quite soon after breakfast. Butterfly had three breakfasts this morning! Granted, her portions are small, but it is a sign that she is not getting what she needs. I just think that convenience and selfishness have taken priority over what is best for everyone.

So, what does all this mean? I can't make all of these changes at once. I've tried that and failed. I'm going to start small. I'm going to work on getting protein included in breakfast first, and making the commitment to go back to our healthier snacking ways. I'm going to focus on my own prayer life before I get too busy with the kids. I would love some suggestions on more filling, good-for-us breakfasts (ideally easy to prepare, but I'm working on embracing more work for better food) and snacks. My kids to enjoy apples, yogurt, some of them like oranges but beyond that I am hopeless. Does any of this even make sense?

Quick Takes

Hello Friday!

1. We are having our first meeting tonight for the Splendor of Love couples study. We were supposed to start last month, but the flu attacked half of our group. So we start tonight. Yea! I'm taking Dulce de Leche brownies. I have never made them before. I have this bad habit of making things for the first time when I am taking the dish somewhere. I guess I like making my friends be my guinea pigs.

2. Tomorrow we are camping! We only have time for one night right now, which is frustrating because of all the work to set up the camp site, but we'll take what we can get. I will only camp at state parks, I need facilities (if you know what I mean). The kids are super excited. Butterfly was not completely mobile last year, so this year will be a new challenge for us. Hopefully she sleeps well, last year Husband slept in the car with her because she cried a lot before falling asleep.

3. We are looking at the Flip Mini or Ultra for a family camera. Our old-school, non-digital camera has not worked for a while. We hope that with a smaller, easy-to-use camera we might actually record more of our lives. Does anyone have one? What do you think?

4. I'm watching Oprah right now (not a habit, I promise). She's talking to Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight books. I'll go ahead and say I am looking forward to seeing the movie. I laughed at the first one, it was so poorly made, and I anticipate some more laughing at this one, but I like the story for the escapism it provides. It has been a long time since I read the books, so the story will seem fresher I hope. Speaking of movies, this is the time of year when all the good ones start coming out. Husband and I love seeing movies, but we only make it to about two a year. I look forward to the days when we can leave Princess in charge for a couple of hours on a regular basis and I can see movies again.

5. We went to the zoo this week. I love living in Texas. It is early November. We have had glorious days of sunshine and mild temperatures. Perfect zoo weather. Monster was most interested in seeing giraffes. So we did.



Isn't the baby cute?




6. We have joined the pigtail bandwagon!



7. Finally, I realized I have posted no pictures of all the kids from Halloween.



Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Ballerina Kitten (last minute decision that just cat costume not appropriate) and Angelina Ballerina (ditto on mouse costume) wish you a happy weekend.

Visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes.

Husband's New Job

Husband starts a new job next week. This will be something like the seventh job since we got married. All those changes have been by choice except when he was laid off last year. He is one of those people who seems to know everyone and keeps his options open. All of the jobs have been in the mortgage business. This is not necessarily his dream career. It is more a situation of what was available upon graduation from college, and has continued to provide opportunities.

Husband was not looking for a new job this time around. In fact, we really felt like we had been so blessed with the job he has had. He has been selling mortgages for a private mortgage bank. He started out part-time, while working another (short-lived, non-mortgage) job. When he realized that the other job was not going to work, we made the risky decision to take the mortgage job full-time. I say risky because the set-up was one he had tried a couple of years ago. One where he has been responsible for finding all of his business. He has had to seek out borrowers on his own, build relationships with realtors, work his database of past clients, and so on. There has been no guarantee of income at any given time. Last time we tried this scenario, we had more than one month with no income, and we are still paying for that. We were more prepared this time around. And, God has blessed us with such prosperity! Whatever it is about this time, even in a weak market, we have thrived.

So why would he take a new job? Like I said, he was not looking. But a former co-worker tracked him down and had a meeting with him about a position he was looking to fill. Husband met with him just to get the information, but we both figured it would not be an attractive offer. We have really loved the flexibility his current job provides. Still, he wanted to find out what was being offered. After his first meeting, he was curious, but I was hesitant. I felt like God was really providing for us in his current job and maybe we shouldn't turn away from that. But Husband kept talking to his friend, and the more they talked and the more we talked, the more we felt led to say yes to the job. One of the biggest selling points is the health insurance. We are currently on private insurance, which is certainly better than nothing, but we were looking at 10K out-of-pocket to have this baby! So this job has better insurance than we've had in a couple of years, and the premium is unbelievably affordable. Husband will still be local, and will have some flexibility, but nothing like he has now. We have to give some things up to get some things, and that is okay.

As we have prepared for this change (oh, he will be a mortgage representative for a major bank with four local branches) I have felt some conflicting feelings. Of course I am overjoyed and praising God for continuing to provide for us in ways we were not expecting. But, I have several friends that are in tighter financial straits and desperately seeking better job opportunities and finding nothing but closed doors. They are good, faithful people whose needs are great. So why are we finding things falling so neatly into place, at a time when we weren't even looking, and others are struggling so? It is easy to praise God when things are going well. It is not easy to see people you care about struggle. All I can do is trust this His providence for each of us looks different and that He does have a plan, however difficult it may be to see it. Still, this is one of those times when our happiness is tinged with a bit of hurt for those not so fortunate, right now.

So there is the story on the new job. We are blessed, always, and will continue to praise Him for where he leads us.

A List, Because I Can

Hello!

1. Two kids are sickly. Monster and Butterfly have coughs and congestion and possibly mild fevers (thermometer broken). Monster's cough has been bad enough to wake him up at night. Albuterol is our friend. Butterfly is not so puny, but if I'm taking one kid I might as well take the other, right? Hopefully they will tell us that it is just a cold and to keep up the breathing treatments and wait it out.

2. Okay, this week look to the sidebar for a new guide to the people on the blog. I'm going to leave behind the nicknames and just use initials. With #6 on the way I don't have the desire to keep up with nicknames any longer. I'll keep the guide visible so that everyone can get used to the changes.

3. Husband starts a new job next week (longer post on that to come). Because of this, he has been working from home a lot the last couple of weeks, which is why I have been somewhat scarce. He uses his laptop at our desk, which seems silly, but sometimes he has to because he needs to be wired into the internet connection, the wireless doesn't always work. Anyway, today he is golfing and it almost feels like a normal day.

4. I am in love with my yoga pants and wearing them way too much. I am excited for my Bella Band to come in the mail so that I can wear my jeans and stuff comfortably again. Also, a wonderful friend is going to loan me her maternity clothes. Yea!

5. I actually have ideas for a couple of posts this week! You might get real content, instead of lame lists and such. I know you can't wait.

Winner!

So, I'm a day late in announcing a winner. Husband working from home is throwing my blogging schedule for a loop (ha! like I have a schedule!). Anyway, the winner is Jacquelin! Visit her and say congratulations (and see her beautiful girls). Jacquelin--send me an email (see profile) with your address and you'll get your games in the mail soon. Yea!