Patrick 1: Mom 0

Score a point for Patrick as he is the first to truly beat me down... in the test of will power.

I should have realized yesterday was not going to be my day when Isabella decided to color her bed with... pooh... yes pooh. It was all over the crib, sheets, pillow case and of course on her. So I rushed both her and Patrick in the tub. Scrub the crib down with bleach and washed all the bedding (before nearly hurling)!!!

Van had to work late to prepare for court... So I was on my own for Patrick's first T-Ball practice with all three kids. Knowing Patrick's track record on cooperating, I was prepared for a melt down. But this was the melt down to end all melt down. First he started crying immediately, I began my usual round of questions ranging from being scared, hurting, potty break.. After letting Patrick relieve himself behind the telephone pole (there were no bathrooms around, I was not going to torture myself longer than need be). Still he was crying, and some how bit himself on the lip and bled all over his shirt... With every bat there were tears, with every step there was screaming, with every hit there were more tears. It took every ounce of me not to break down.

After many bad glares from the other parents I could have easily ended everyone's misery and taken him home. But I was determined not to give up, because if I did he would start down this path of giving up. I really didn't care what other parents think and told my son he had won the crying battle.... for a moment he stopped crying and just looked at me with shock and continued playing with tears. After practice was over, in the car he turns to me with the cutest look and said he wanted to come back again... I nearly hit a tree!!! Oh in between the chaos of all the crying and screaming... Isabella was running up and down the field.

At the end of the day all you could do is laugh and thank god your kids’ still want do sometime they thought was horrible and ended up liking it because you didn't give up on them.....

My Big Milestone

As my birthday was approaching, (which I was not looking forward to), mostly because I will be 35 half way to 40 then eventually 50, then 60… so on and so on.

Anyway, I didn’t feel 35 let alone 25 but I don’t want to become one of those “Cougars” looking 50 dressing like they’re 20. You’ve seen them at malls with their daughters, wondering if the mother robbed the daughters’ drawers. Secretly I was hoping Van would kind of let it slip, but he had to go out of town and came back with a wonderful birthday gift. While he was gone it gave me sometime to actually think about the year that had came and gone. The biggest change was after four years my father in law finally moved out. So, it’s been like starting all over again with Van and it’s just been great! We still have our moments here and there but nothing close to what they were like before. With the major stress being gone I’ve lost 10 lbs and have a few more to go. We love Dallas and have met some wonderful new friends. Actually we are in Plano, a suburb north of Dallas where it’s clean, lots of lakes, parks and family entertainment. I’ve gotten more involved in some mothers group and Kohl’s school.

Over all, the year has been more then wonderful so why am I still feeling this knot in my stomach about turning a year older? Secretly I think it’s because my kids are getting older and while I joke about it, our kids will eventually move out and the hardest question is what will I do with myself? The first vision I have is me doing a big cabbage patch dance as balloons are falling down. Once the balloon deflates and my rhythm has gone south, I would have to answer the question but my biggest fear would be did I do enough for my kids so they could make the right choices in life? And what will their relationship be like with me?

So I have come to realize its okay for those two questions not to be answered immediately but be mindful of those two questions when I decipline my kids. But most importantly to listen to my husband about not sweating over the little things and simply enjoy the kids while they are young.

Happy Easter!!

Easter came by so fast and the kids grew even faster. This year we went to my mother in laws and the kids got to play with their cousins. As always my mother in law exceeded my expectations, it was like Christmas all over again. I always look forward to seeing her and the 7 hour drive is worth it but don't ask me that when I'm in the car with all the kids.



There were more frosting on Patrick than on the cupcake!

Van thinks Isabella has been gift wraped from the size of the bow.. ha ha

All the cousins, the latest addition is Russell.

All ready for church. Kohl finally lost his front tooth, we were hoping it would hold out until Easter photo's were done. So, in some of the pictures you could see it was barely hanging on. His whole entire modivation for pulling it out was money from the tooth fairy. I don't think I'll ever have the heart to tell them the truth about Santa and the tooth fairy. But hay, tooth fairy and Santa comes in handy when you want them to behave.