Happy Mother's Day

So this year was my third official Mother's Day. It would have been my fourth had Little Miss Stubborn arrived by her due date, but instead I spent that Mother's Day (2008) in labor. From 3:00 am on. And on and on and into the next day.

It's funny - that's about the hour that this Mother's Day started for me, too - about 3:00 am with the same little one. She's been sick with a cough and for several nights we've ended up out on the couch in the living room so that she can sleep propped up.

Thankfully, she was very tired and went right back to sleep and slept till 7:00. Except for one little blip when she bolted upright and said
"MOMMY!" [I jumped up.]
"What honey?"
"If Riley wants blue then I want red."
I had no idea what she was talking about. I finally said "Ok honey" because she was sitting there waiting for a response (she always requires a response), at which point she settled back down and went right back to sleep.

And so went my Mother's Day - sleep all chopped up, conversations with people all chopped up, chores all chopped up. I'm trying to fold a load of laundry but I have to stop because Riley is frustrated because Annie dressed his teddy bear in unfamiliar doll clothes and he's yelling "NO, NO, NO!" at his bear. It's a crisis. Or I'm in the middle of a conversation with Benjy and I have to interject "Riley, don't eat things out of the garbage!" That kid! He won't eat more than 2 bites of the 5 course dinner I put in front of him but I'm always catching him taste-testing the trash.

So it wasn't a perfect day. The kids weren't on their best behavior all day. There was hair-pulling and fighting and toys thrown out of the bath tub.

But I guess it wouldn't have been a real Mother's Day with out all of that, because that's the thing about being a mom - the mystery of how I can love these little people so much when they make me so crazy! I never knew how much my parents loved me until I had kids. And I wonder will my kids ever know how much I love them? Hopefully, if God gives them the blessing of children.

New "traditions"

It has been difficult learning to celebrate Easter here in the U.S. All the traditions seem to be unconnected to the event and the "holiday" commercialized beyond recognition. It doesn't bother me at Christmas for some reason - all the emphasis on presents and decorations and candy. But it does at Easter! I'm not sure just how to celebrate Jesus' resurrection here in our family. I don't want the kids to miss out on fun traditions but I also don't want to spend more time on Easter baskets than on the Easter story. And I just don't know how to respond when asked what the Easter Bunny brought me! That scary thing at Karcher Mall?!? He better not even so much as look my direction!

My memories of Easter growing up are of sitting on a freezing limestone bench at a sunrise service at the Garden Tomb and... no actually that's it. That's really the only Easter memory I can recall. Not chocolate bunnies and egg hunts. Which are great and really fun, don't get me wrong. I'm no Easter Grinch, ok? I really wanted to dye eggs and do an Easter egg hunt with Annie this year, it would be so fun. But I'm just not there yet. (I did, however, snatch up a bunch of Easter candy and toys at 90% off last week at Walmart.)

And I did give the kids Easter presents at breakfast Sunday morning - books, candy necklaces and some other little gifts. Not exactly Easter baskets, but along the same lines and a very fun tradition that I plan to continue. Giving of gifts is always a worthwhile tradition in my opinion! And that's where the balance is for me in all the secular Easter hype - an Easter tradition is a good tradition when  it reflects the character and actions of God, the One who gave His son. We emphasize that at Christmas, but how much more should we meditate on it at Easter when the full weight of that gift is realized. God gave us JESUS!

AND HE IS RISEN!

And because of that, we can (and did!) enjoy all of this:

Not sure what to enjoy first

Riley doesn't have the same hang-ups - candy first!

Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Becks!

An egg hunt with no competition! Perfect!

Time with Grandma and Grandpa Codr



Obsessions

It's gotten a little krazy around here lately, if you know what I mean - krazy as in The Krazy Coupon Lady. I was introduced a few weeks ago to the fabulous world of extreme couponing, hence the month-long blog silence. It has taken over my life and become an obsession. A couple of nights ago I didn't sleep well and every time I woke up I was thinking about coupons - Albertson's doublers, to be exact. That's when I realized I was obsessed. (Benjy came to this conclusion much earlier and has been trying to give me warning signals - like wrapping my coupon binder in caution tape and hiding my car keys in my Books To Be Read stack - could NOT find them for days!! =)
But I've had a few couponing set-backs recently (the stores being all out of the good deals by MONDAY MORNING!!) and the shinyness has worn off. I've had to come up with some personal boundaries and rules:

1) I can only check the couponing websites on the weekends (Fri., Sat., and Sun.)

2) From now on, if I can't get to Albertson's on Sunday afternoon I won't go at all. (Maybe. This is more of an expectations boundary than a rule. If I can't get there on Sunday then I won't expect to get my good deals.)

3) No working on coupons when the kids are both awake.

But overall, it's been fun and I've been able to get some sweet deals - like 7 free toothbrushes and 10 bottles of Propel for a buck.

And - like mother, like daughter - Annie has her own obsessions these days: Melissa and Doug sticker books and making beds for all her little dolls and stuffed animals. She will play at this for hours! Every pillow and blanket in the house will be appropriated for her little "hotel" and once everybody is settled in for a long night's rest she will ferociously tell us all to be quiet! HER BABIES ARE SLEEPING!!! Too bad the fun is all in getting ready for bed and not in actually sleeping. She kind of skips that part.

All ready for a nice long (10 second) night!

Well, that's it for now. There are coupons to be cut!