Just some more excuses

It's pretty sad that I have pictures of the first day of school on the same card with pictures from the last weeks of the last school year.  I finally got motivated enough (because Jake will start 'preschool' tomorrow and I have no more room on my memory card), to download this summer's pics onto my computer, the first step to getting them on the blog.

Unfortunately, the camera battery died before I could finish, so I've only downloaded pics for May and June.  And my computer and my external hard drive (where I store all the pictures), are having some communication problems.  But, I wanted those of you who still are holding out hope for this blog to know that I am trying.  Hopefully my hardware will reconcile (camera battery is charging tonight), and I'll be able to post something worthwhile soon.

ps- RE: the parenting aricle I posted a link to a few weeks ago-  I don't actually think any moms (or dads) should be truly mean.  My kids don't call me "Mean" when I actually am being mean (it's been known to happen, I'm not perfect).  My kids only call me 'Mean' when I stand firm on rules and expectations, instead of giving in to their whining and/or negotiation tactics (which also has been know to happen on occasion, again, I'm not perfect).  The article basically says it is healthy for our kids to experience challenges, disappointments, sadness and other 'negative' feelings, so that they can handle those experiences as adults.  We do them a disservice when we try to protect them too much.

Just in case...

...you are wondering why there is still nothing worthwhile (ie. pictures from the last several months) on this blog, I refer you here, it's a pretty accurate description of my current condition.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Be a Mean Mom!

...OK, maybe not all the time. ;)  But, for any of you who may feel guilt when your kids call you "the meanest mom ever", or "evil" (I've been called both, and a whole lot more), read this article.  Being 'mean' sometimes is probably good for your kids.  Recently, I realized I often feel a sense of satisfaction when my kids call me 'mean' (and felt a little guilt about that instead of guilt about being mean).  It's nice to have some validation.

How To Land Your Kid in Therapy

Arriving January 2012

One little reason I haven't kept up on the blog lately...



....Although honestly, I've been mostly over the 'morning sickness' for a little while now, and still haven't kept up on the blog. As of right now, the kids are united in hoping it's a girl. We'll see how long that lasts.

Notice my new quote!

I know you guys are all super excited about the new addition to my quote list.  I like it. Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the book or the author, I simply snatched this quote from the blog of someone who did read it. The last sentence says people either have what they wanted or a list of why not.  I think this may need to be changed to "what they needed"; or maybe to "what they wanted even if they didn't realize that's what they wanted" or something... I think that the majority of the time we DO end up with what we want, or at least what our actions show we want, maybe not what we said we wanted, sometimes what we want changes over time.  And sometimes we don't realize that what we have is truly what we want. 

It also reminded me of something one of my neighbor/friends at Hickam said.  It was something along the lines of, "The older I get, the less I care what other people think."  At the time it struck me as a little odd (I don't remember the context of the conversation, but this woman is about 8-10 years older than me), but I have to admit, I've found that to be true.  Now, I'm not saying I am completely above everyone else's opinion's of me all of the time.  But, I do feel a lot more confident (in general), in the choices I make concerning how I spend my time and how we try to raise our kids, and things like that.  I still have moments of self-doubt and insecurity, but when it comes down to it, what other people think plays little or no role in the decisions I make.  It's really very liberating.  I think the connection I see to my new quote is that sometimes we have a hard time 'owning' our uniqueness, and spend too much energy comparing ourselves to others.  That's where some of the issues the quote talks about come in.  Sometimes we have excuses because we never really wanted that result anyway, we just thought we should want it.   It reminded me that instead of coming up with excuse why I am not or have not, I should examine my motives a little.  And if it's not something I truly want, then I should own that uniqueness instead of making excuses for it.

This may not make a lot of since (I'll blame pregnant-brain), and I apologize if you didn't want to hear a kind of random soapbox episode from me today.  But maybe if I let this quote fester for a while, I will find the motivation to do REAL updates to my blog.  Or, maybe I'll realize that I never want to blog again.  (But, I'm hoping for the first.)

Here are some potential future catch-up posts:
* Our trip to the East Coast (NOT Europe)
* The Dixon Family Reunion
* A picture of #4 waving 'hello'
* Projects started and/or completed (more the former than the latter)

And I'm sure there are more, since I don't even remember the last time I updated our blog.  So, here's to hoping I get some pictures on here again soon.

For Mothers' Day