What Is Required to Succeed at Parenthood?

I know there are many answers to this question. The possibilities are endless. There are many events in life, where at the end of it, you have that I can do anything feeling, especially in being a parent!

Last night I was woken up by faint cries and moans. They were coming from Kate's room. I walked in there and she said, "Mom, my belly hurts." We have been suffering from a mild case of the flu due to my lack of preparedness and I forgot to have all kids get their flu shots.

"Here we go, " I thought. I ran and got her a "puke bucket," a.k.a any Tupperware bowl. I gave it to her and let her know it was there. I settled back into bed and fell asleep.

A half hour later I heard her little body wrenching and heaving. Poor thing! This continued for about three hours. She kept rotating between the toilet and her bucket. The last time she groaned, "Mom, I don't like this." I felt bad for her. She has never been sick like that. Throwing up and diarrhea were all new to her.

Why do I share this? Because at her last trip to the bathroom I demonstrated some very awesome skills. She was sitting on the toilet doing her "doodie" and she said, "Mom, I need to throw up." I saw her mouth open and she started the little body jerking. I QUICKLY, and I'm talking lightening speed, turned her around and we made it into the toilet rather all over the bathroom floor!

After she was cleaned and put back to bed, I had time to think.

"I am a true mother," I chuckled to myself. "I'm pretty amazing."

That is sweet success!

Coined Phrases

Rebecca Anne always makes us laugh! Out of all of our children she is the craziest! I dedicate this post to her because I want to be able to remember the funny things that seem to pop out of her mouth that make me chuckle.

1. "I promise never to do it ever again!"

2. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mom."

3. "We girls have to stick together!"

4. "You are so beautiful."

5. "Don't smell me!"

6. "Don't look out my window. Look out your own window!"

7. "Take it easy, Ace. Take it easy." (She says this as she approaches him, like he's a wild animal. He's just a tad nervous around her)

8. "Pinkie promise?"

9. "Oh, nothing."

10. "B-E-C-C-A"

12 Years Old!

Dust and I are celebrating out 12th wedding anniversary! Time flies by so fast but when I asked, "Has it felt like an eternity?"

He jokingly said, "Yes."

We went for a stroll down memory lane. For dinner we went to Jalisco, it's a Mexican restaurant. It is the first place we ate together, over 13 yrs ago! We both agreed it is not as good as it used to be, but it was fun to think back of our dating years, well I guess 9 mo.

We went downtown and went to The Off Broadway Theatre. We frequented that place a lot! we loved Quick Wits (now Laughing Stock). It is an improv production. It still amazes me that they are able to think of things right off the top of their heads. I thought they did really well, Dust was a little bummed because his favorite actor was not there. It was still fun!

We rode the Trax and boy was that an adventure. There was a homeless lady on there and she was just full of information! In case you didn't know tall people learn to grab there cups without spilling before us short people, due to their long fingers and all! So if you don't want to spill your drink, you need to grow! It was fun to learn that she has tips for writing a resume. Unfortunately we got off before we were able to read her English paper. I'm sure it would have been fascinating! Poor guy next to us. It was a good laugh.

We talked a lot and reminisced the good old days before kids and all. We talked about that maybe we don't have the perfect marriage, but if we keep working at it we will get to where we want to be.

It would have been fun to hit all the places we dated, or where he proposed, but Paul's Par Three no longer exists. The two of us had fun when we dated. We are getting old, so we don't remember everything, but we're pretty sure we enjoyed being together!!

Happy 12th, Dust. I love you!

November 16, 1996

Look how young we are!

The 'REAL' Merritts

So, I promised you a glance of the REAL family pictures. I know that in photos we usually choose the one where everybody is at their best. We rarely want to expose ourselves of anything less than perfect.

Well, I'm a fan of reality. I'm not embarrassed to let you know of our little fumbles in life. Nobody likes the "perfect" people anyway. They always seem to depress us who do not fare so well.

While I won't be sending these pictures out with the Christmas cards, they will sit on my dresser... FRAMED! It will be my little reminder to not take life so seriously. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff!

My joy today comes from knowing my family isn't perfect and we don't claim to be. We know that we were put in families to help each other to be better. Some days we're better at it than others, the important thing is we just keep trying!

Dustin having a battle with the root he tripped over. Needless to say the root won! Aaron is the only one worrying to smile for the camera. Grace is trying not to be distracted. Too funny!

The 'True' Merritt kids! We love our crazy kids!

Snow + Traffic, Snow + Dog = Depression!

I was woken early this morning by the sounds of little pitter patters on our window. I thought, "Oh it's raining. This is going to be a bad day. I can just feel it." And it wasn't just because I had aches and pains from the weather change,- gees I'm old- I wasn't looking forward to another day with the kids indoors.

I fell back asleep and woke up again because of the same noise. I was hoping that it would only last the early morning hours and move on, but it hadn't. Since I was awake, I decided to getup. I looked out the window and guess what I saw? SNOW!Yucky, blucky, mucky snow! I was instantly depressed.

"You better wake the kids early," I thought. I was going to be one of those prepared mothers.

This was my first time having the privilege of driving my kids to their far, far away school. I thought I should probably leave about 10 minutes early to allow time for the weather. The school was a normal 10-15 minute drive so that should be plenty of time.

The kids got up and ready without a hitch. They ate breakfast politely, brushed teeth quickly, and did everything they should have. We had prayer, gave hugs and kisses to Dustin, and were out the door by 7:40. Right on schedule! School starts at 8:20. We're going to make it.

Our neighborhood roads were a bit scary, but we made it to 6200 South, that's when my whole plan went out the window. "What!" That's all I could say without loosing my temper. The whole street was backed up. People were driving like they had never driven in the snow before. Did I mention this was my first snowy commute taking my children to their far, far away school?

We waited and waited in the horrible traffic. People were getting impatient. I was getting anxious. It was now 8:30 and we had quite a ways to go still. This stupid weather was ruining my good plan!

We finally made it to the school at 8:45. I had been on the road for over an hour! 1 hour to go about 7 miles!

I thought," Well at least I can't go anywhere, so my house will get cleaned."

I started in on the cleaning the moment we got home. The kids were playing nicely, everything was going smoothly. All I needed do was mop the floors. What a good plan. Then came those annoying, dreadful words you hate to hear, "Mom, can we play in the snow?" I sank further into my depression.

You always want to be the good mom, not the evil one,so you say,"Of course you can." I helped get the kids all ready, thinking it won't be too bad. I can still get the floors done. They will only make a little snowy mess. Did I mention this was my first experience having a dog go out in the snow? No, well, let's just say they make more of a mess than the kids.

Ace came running through the house covered in snow. It was all matted in his fur, so there was a lot more than there seemed. He was running like crazy to get it off. My floors were covered in little tiny, dog-sized snowballs. "There goes the floors, " I said.

I have given up today. It is only noon. I have 12 more hours to go. Can this day get any longer? I better watch what I say because apparently it can.

I need some chocolate! Why'd I throw out the Halloween candy to be good? What a day.

Family Prayer

We are counseled to pray each morning and night as a family. This is something I can say we are ALMOST perfect in. We are faithful in following this counsel. My joy today came from this daily event.

We start of by singing Let Us Gather in a Circle. This helps set the mood( whoever knew there was such a thing, but with children I feel it needs some help setting). We hold hands and Dustin calls on someone to pray. We USUALLY have the prayer, give kisses, I love yous, and then it is of to bed.

Tonight, it went something like this. We sang our song, held hands, and Becca started laughing. Her laughter was quite contagious. Soon all were laughing. Just as we composed ourselves, she would do it again, I would say it took a good five minutes to get around to praying.

Most parents might get frustrated, but we just chose to laugh right along with them. It made me happy that we were able to let go of the formality and just enjoy our kids.