Life Update

Long time, no update.  No update.  No pictures.  No nothing.  It's because we've been up to everything, that there is nothing here!  What, you may ask, is everything?  Well, let me fill you in.  We have now entered into the busiest time of the year.  This last six weeks of the school year is THE busiest, most action packed six weeks of the whole school year.  There are more tests, field trips, performances, fun days and activities scheduled than at any other time in the life of a school aged child.  Sigh.  This momma is tired and we still have a long way to go to crash and relax time.  Where to start?  How about with ME for once?  What's up with me lately?  Well...I wear glasses now.  For starters.  I totally gave up on the contacts.  I got quite good at them, once I found a  brand that would actually come back out of my eyeball once it was placed there.  But as good as I am at taking them in and out, I just can't stand them.  I can only wear them a short few hours before I just can't take it anymore.  They itch and bother and bug me to no end.  I find myself constantly swiping at my eyes and blinking like a weirdo and feeling like I just need to close my eyes for a bit because they feel so tired and irritated with the contacts in.  After many, many, MANY attempts I finally just said screw it.  Bring on the specs.  I just don't care.  I went to a crazy website that one of Chris's coworkers told him about and ordered a pair of glasses, with my prescription, online.  They were CHEAP.  And I waited with baited breath until they arrived.  I was nervous.  I paid a whopping $40 for these specs and I was preparing for the worst case of ugly ever recorded in the great state of Texas.  Actually, when I ordered the glasses, I was still PLANNING to conquer the whole contacts thing and figured that since I would probably only need the glasses right as I went to bed at night, what difference would it make if they were totally ugly.  Noone would need see them, right?  And I wanted all of my insurance money to go toward my contacts so I didn't want to spend it on glasses at the optomestrist.  Yes, cheap was the answer.  Ugly was acceptable.  I took the risk and ordered them up.  They arrived about 3 weeks later and were surprisingly lovely!  Like TOTALLY surprisingly lovely.  Like I can SO wear them in public.  Like several people have seen them and really liked them kind of lovely.  Best $40 I have spent in a long time.  The glasses were such a success that I decided to splurge and go crazy and order myself some sunglasses.  I ordered the closest thing I could find to today's sunglasses style and closest to what I already had sitting in my sunglasses case....and again...AMAZING.  The pricetag on my prescription sun specs?  A whole $11!  Woo HOo!!!!!  Man, was I excited.  I've since ordered a backup pair of sunglasses exactly identical to what I already bought and also another pair of glasses with a little different frame.  I love that they are so darned inexpensive.  And I love that my eyeballs do not itch like crazy when I wear them.  I came.  I tried the contacts.  I said "No thank you".  And that is the end of that story.  On another front...still about me (maybe this post will be ALL about me?) I shook up my workout this week.  I recently ordered the Zumba Exhilaration DVD set.  I thought it would be fun to get in touch with my Latin roots.  Of course...I've since remembered that I don't actually HAVE any latin roots.  This poses more of a problem than I anticipated.  Latin roots would be MOST helpful during this workout.  My hips just don't MOVE the way those girl's on there do.  They don't swivel and sway like that!  And I'm pretty sure they never will!  There's lots of tango and cha cha and salsa dancing involved.  To this point in my life, the only salsa I've participated in has involved tortilla chips and margaritas!  I'm pretty sure those skinny girls on the video rarely, or never indulge in salsa with tortilla chips.  Dang it!  By the third day of doing the new Zumba workout, I could barely move.  My entire core hurt SO badly.  My hips, my abs, my lower back. Aye carumba!  But it is fun, fun, fun and I am SO glad to have it.  Pain and all. Several folks have volunteered to come and dance the Zumba workout with me when I do it.  I can tell you right now...that is NEVER gonna happen!  There are many wonderful things that friends should share in life.  But THIS is not one of them.  Oh no!  I'm going to have to do my gyrating and shaking of the booty all alone.  I don't know that I could show my face in public if others were to witness the Tonya Roberts Zumba interpretation.  I'm doing the same dance as the video...and yet...sadly...I am no where even close all at the same time.   In addition to my Zumba, I shook my workout up even further.  Yesterday morning I was reading an article that said that I should do my resistance and weights training FIRST, and THEN do my cardio second.  This is completely opposite of what I do now.  I generally go and do about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio...either running or using the elliptical or arc trainer, THEN I head over to the weights and make my rounds there.  I decided to give the opposite a try because it SUPPOSEDLY is much more effective for burning fat, per the article.  I did a reasonable weights workout...a couple of biceps exercises, a couple of triceps exercises, a couple of leg exercises, some chest, shoulders and back.  Took me right at 30 minutes.  Nothing new.  Nothing fancy.  Just simple squats and lunges stuff with light weights...two sets of 12 for each exercise.  THEN I moved on to the cardio.  I decided to run a 5K.  That's 3.2 miles.  A very easy distance for me.  So I jumped on the treadmill, cranked up my music, and I was off!  The first 5 minutes were TOUGH!  But after that it was all SO, so easy!  I ran and was just grooving along.  Then I was recalling a conversation with my friend Wendy and she mentioned something about how long it took her to run her 5K distance.  So then THAT got me to wondering how fast I could run MY 5K distance.  Of course...this thought train did not start until I was already 2 miles in...doing a nice relaxing pace.  But I decided to bump up my speed and just see what I could do with it in that last 1.2 remaining miles.  I clocked my time for the 5K at 28:37.  Not bad, considering I only hurried for a third of it.  I was proud of myself, cooled down and jumped off the treadmill and hit the showers.  I then went to meet a friend for lunch.  At which point I realized that I was starting to be in pain.  And by that, I mean I wanted to burst into tears at the thought of bending my knees and engaging my quads to sit.  But sit I did.  I mean, how weird would it have been for me to stand towering over my friend while having lunch, right?.  She would have broken her sweet neck looking up at me all that time.  And so...sit I did...and enjoyed my lunch.  A lovely ceasar salad with an ibuprofen chaser.  The ibuprofen helped.  A bit.  And today has been a new day.  A new day where I am even MORE sore than yesterday.  Where I want to cry at the mere thought of climbing steps or stairs of any kind.  Where I want to have an epidural just so I won't feel my lower extremities anymore for a while.  To say that my quads hurt would have to be THE understatement of the century.  Uggggh!  Moving has not done much to ease the soreness.  Ibuprofen has not done much to ease the soreness.  The glass of wine I just had has not done much to ease the soreness.  I am seriously in pain.  As a matter of fact, I am seriously contemplating just sleeping here at my desk tonight in the study because then I won't have to get up and WALK.  Have I mentioned that I am in pain?  Whimper.  Moan.  Sniff.  Yes.  I know I did it to myself.  Don't I always?  You'd think I would learn.  You'd think I'd be damned skinny by now too...but you see how that has turned out!  Alas...tomorrow is a new day.  When I roll out of bed I am praying to be pain free!  And I mean that I will probably just literally roll right on over and out of the bed so as not to have to bend my sore legs and engage my quads.  Then I can just crawl on into the kitchen where hopefully one of my children will take pity on me and fix me some coffee.  They can just sit it down on the floor in front of me there.  Sigh.  Yes.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Pray for me!  And that's about it for now.  I'm going to wrap up THIS post having filled you in on me and only me this time.  And now...this is me.  Signing off.  But NOT getting up from the desk.  Because that would involve those pesky legs of mine and the muscles contained therein.  Nighty night!  Sleep tight!

We Are Officially Texans Now...

Well, it took nearly two years, but it finally happened!  And very successfully I might add!   I FINALLY got my children photographed amongst the legendary Bluebonnets of springtime in Texas!  I'm quite happy with the results and this masterpiece will be going up larger than life over our fireplace in the family room...just as soon as there is a good sale!

Here's another of my three monkeys.  All smiling...a miracle for sure!

And here's Max...at nearly 15 he sure isn't a baby anymore!

And Benjamin...sweet as ever...

And last but not least...our princess, Clara.  The prettiest flower in the whole field!

So there ya have it.  We have now done the official Texas thing...took long enough...but was SO worth the wait and effort!

Life With Cooper

Cooper is now 16 weeks old!  We have shared exactly 7 of those!  And what a wild ride these past seven weeks have been!  Holy Moly!  NEVER a dull moment since that little ball of fluff and trouble came along!  There are some things that are different in our house nowadays, thanks to Cooper.  For example, the corner by my front door now looks bare like this...

And my dining room table now looks stupid like this...

The green plant does NOT belong there.  If I leave that plant that BELONGS in that corner by the door where it should be, then Cooper digs all of the mossy grassy stuff in the bottom of it out and spreads it all over my entry way!  He never grows tired of that game.  I however AM TIRED of constantly sweeping up that mess!  So the plant is up out of reach...for now.

My lamps now look like this...

with the cords all twisted up around the bases so that there is no excess cord hanging in the reach of puppies that just love the idea of laying down and nibbling them.  I am not fond of this look...but I am less fond of the idea of electrocuted fur balls.  Sigh.

If you head into any of the bathrooms, you are likely to find a scenario like this...

If Cooper gets ahold of the contents of the wastebasket, it looks like Edward Scissorhands paid a visit and there is paper in ten thousand tiny pieces all over the bathroom.   He is fond of this game as well.  Me...not so much.

Oh, and my favorite part,  all of the toilet paper holders in the house look like this...

Empty!!!!  Sigh.  This actually make me all kinds of crazy.  Empty toilet paper rolls are a pet peeve of mine.  However...Cooper has a special affinity for toilet paper.  If we leave a roll up where he can find it, and he DOES check daily...hourly...constantly...THIS is what we find...

I know.  Nice, right?!  Aren't you jealous?  I'll bet you wish you could have shredded toilet paper too!  Sorry...it's all mine folks!

But Cooper isn't ALL about destruction and mess.  No!  He's a lover of fun and mischief and exploring too!  This week he discovered the sprinkler system for the first time.  He was absolutely fascinated and enthralled by the jets of water shooting up out of the ground.  You can see the tail end of his exploring here...

And after he's all done exploring the sprinklers, he looks like this...

Oh Cooper!  Whatever are we going to do with you silly doggie?!

After a morning of exploring sprinklers out in the backyard, the adventure continues...inside.  Curious George, in all of his exploring, found himself HERE the other day...

Down in my VERY deep garden tub!  Needless to say, he could not get out.  Which, for a few minutes was quite nice!  It gave me a chance to clean up all of his messes he had created thus far in the morning without allowing him to make MORE while I was doing so.  But with a face like this...I had to rescue him quick and just love on him!  How could you even begin to resist a sweet face like this???!!!

He was so grateful for the rescue that he decided to be HELPFUL for once!  So off to the laundry room we went.

Where he helped me put all the towels into the dryer.  Thank you Cooper!

And then...he assumed his position as King of the Hill...

Or, King of the Fireplace Hearth at least...and enjoyed the view from up there!

And THAT is our current life with Cooper!

"Train Up A Child..."

Proverbs 22:6 says to "Train up a child in the ways he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Once you become a parent, that verse tends to find it's way into your brain.  Often.  Probably because every single day of your life is spent training up that child, or children that you have been blessed with.  And I'm using "blessed" pretty loosely tonight because I'm not in the best place with this whole child training thing.  I feel like my child training is going about like my puppy potty training....pretty darned hit and miss regardless of your efforts.   Cooper puppy actually came INSIDE after laying in the sun for about 30 minutes this afternoon JUST TO POOP ON MY CARPET.  Again.  Couldn't possibly have just gotten up and walked a few yards further out into the grass.   No.  Had to come to the door.  Beg to be let in.  Only to duck behind my chair in the family room and drop a lovely poop.  The real kicker?  The back door was still WIDE OPEN!  It wasn't like he came in and got trapped and ignored and pooping on my floor was a last and desperate resort.  Nope.  Door was wide open.  NOTHING between him and the great outdoors, also known as HIS potty.  Better yet, the chair he pooped behind?  Less than 5 feet from that wide open back door.  Sigh.  Seems no matter what I do, that doggie has a mind of his own.  And I am, unfortunately, finding that to be very true of my oldest.  It's progress report time again.  I don't even know why I bother reading the stupid things, because they make me CRAZY.  Only 4 of his six academic grades were listed.  The four grades?  An A, B, D and an F.  Nice.  Max has already been grounded for the past three weeks due to his slack efforts with his schoolwork which resulted in 4 C's on his last report card.  No video games.  It's made him nearly crazy.  NOT however, crazy enough to study or get organized or do any homework or preparation for tests and upcoming projects.  His grades completely suck.  And as parents, we are completely exhausted and aggravated.  See....this is not how I thought it would be.  Why?  I'll tell you why. Because I HAD A PLAN.  That's right I did.    I was going to have this baby.  And he or she would be beautiful and so very bright and we'd lavish attention and affection and make sure they had all of the right opportunities and a stimulating environment and that baby would grow up to be so sweet and respectful, hard working and successful.  He or she would earn honors everywhere, be a natural athlete (despite the fact that neither I nor Chris has any real natural athletic ability) and just be a joy and delight to us and everyone that met our sweet baby.  That was the PLAN.  And before we knew it, we had this bouncing baby boy.  And he WAS beautiful.  And we couldn't get enough of playing with him and lavishing him with attention and educational and stimulating toys.  And very soon that baby was a toddler, talking so much and in such a way that we suspected he was, indeed, very, very bright.  (See, all according to plan!)   And at age three, he rode his big boy bike (with training wheels) and mastered those pedals so quickly, that we suspected his natural athleticism was bursting forth too.  (Just like in the plan.)  Oh, we were so proud of this little guy.  He was exactly what we had planned and we were sticking exactly to our plan.  We made sure to nurture that intelligence and decided to make sure he was continually challenged and able to grow and so we made the decision to homeschool him.  He had the best, hand picked curriculum.  None of that silly kindergarten coloring nonsense for our baby boy.  No...he was practically doing algebra and loving it.  He was delightfully ON PLAN.  And life was delightful with our gifted, bright, sweet, cooperative little angel.  And then the little angel hit the 7th grade.  And he was slightly less delightful.  Mostly not delightful at all, truth be told.  The teachers (because he had been in real school for 5 years at this point) were calling and sending notes about how our baby was not "working up to potential", about how he was "performing below standard", about how he was "not staying on task".   There were meetings and phone calls and interventions.  There was medication and long talks.  Grounding, punishing, rewarding.  You name it, we did it.  We tried not making a big deal out of it.  We tried making a HUGE deal out of it.  And in the end...what WE did didn't matter, because it never changed what HE did.  He couldn't be bothered to change.  And right about there is where you hear the needle skip across the record as it jumps course.  And you are left standing there thinking WHAT in the heck just happened.  HOW did this happen?  THIS is not in the PLAN!!!!!!  It's mind boggling really.  I mean, to have a child who is SO so smart.  Who has more intelligence in his little finger that you do in your whole brain!  And to watch him throw it all away.  To just outright REFUSE to use it.  To REFUSE to be successful.  It's enough to make a mother crazy.  We've had conversations about this kid's grades and efforts more times that I can count.  And more times than I can count I end up in tears or so frustrated that I wish I could just quit this mothering stuff.  Because sometimes I just feel SO VERY BAD at it.  And you realize that regardless of the plans his father and I have for him, regardless of the potential that is just ready to burst forth, regardless of how little effort it would take for him to totally ROCK life academically...regardless of all of that...the fact remains that God equipped this child with free will (dangit!).  And this child likes to use it.  A LOT.  And his will is not one bit lining up with what OUR will for his life would be.  Some days I just want to bang my head.  And then I'm brought up short.  And I wonder if God is blogging this same thing up there in Heaven, only about me?  Is he aggravated and frustrated with me and MY free will?  With all of us?  Is he half crazy with the task of trying to parent all of us?  With trying to lead us down the right paths, only to discover we've taken our own ways?  Again?  Is he sitting back, poised and ready to say "I told you so" the second I fall on my face?  Does God want to bang his head in the heavenlies because I make him crazy with my thoughts and actions sometimes?  With my refusal to be all that I could be, all that He MADE me to be because I'm so set on doing things MY way?  Sigh.  Unfortunately, I can imagine it all too well.  And then I'm awash in the reminder that even still, God does not give up on me.  He does not quit on me.  He still holds out hope and a belief that one way or another I will find my way to the paths He's shown me.   Train up a child...what that verse doesn't tell you is how exactly to do that.  It doesn't tell you the actions to take or the words to say.  It doesn't tell you to go easier here or to push harder there.  It would be nice if it came with a direction booklet.  And while I don't have the answers, I have come to discover a few things along this journey.   For one...It's a marathon...not a sprint.  Parenting is a really long journey.  Like, really, REALLY long. And the last 4 miles, I mean, years, before they leave home are the hardest!  They don't tell you that beforehand.  For obvious reasons.  I think those lizards that eat their young at birth are probably on to something there.  Just nip it in the bud!  Imagine the heartache and stress and sleepless nights they've saved themselves!  In the midst of all of this frustration and craziness and disappointment AGAIN, I heard a song on the radio that changes my perspective.  It's by JJ Heller and is called "What Love Really Means".  And the final chorus is as if they are the words of God and it goes "I will love you for you.  Not for what you have done or what you will be become.  I will love you for you...".  And that right there is the gist of it, huh?  That child IS a blessing and I AM blessed to have the priviledge of mothering him.  Even if that means he is not, GASP, sticking with my great and wonderful PLAN.  Even if he continues to make poor choices and screws up his grades and ends up working at McDonald's or driving a garbage truck for the rest of his life.  He is who he is, he is who God made him to be.  And maybe, just maybe, God's plan for his life is something so much more than my own?  Definitely something to think about as we finish up this school year.  I suppose God has a great work to do in both of us.  The control freak in me is really not totally comfortable with handing over the reins on this one.  Then again...it's a somewhat comforting thought to say "Okay God....he's ALL YOURS!!!!!!!"  Lord, Give me wisdom and strength as I raise up this young man.   Help me Lord to set his feet on right paths.  Not MY paths, but yours.  Help me to see the amazing creation and being that you have wrapped up in this boy.  Help me to appreciate and celebrate the uniqueness that is him and to embrace the things that set him apart.  And help me to TRUST.  To trust that YOUR plan is better than MY plan and to trust that you have this journey all mapped out.  YOU can see the big picture Lord and I can not see past the next bend in the road just ahead.  He truly IS all your's Lord.  Help me to remember that as we walk through these days.  Oh, and Lord, I think I'm gonna need quite a sense of humor in these days to come.  Just sayin'.  Amen.