Wednesday, February 23, 2011

What I should have written...

I think everybody knows that being a parent is not an easy job. There are days we just want to whine and complain. Sunday was that day for me. I was not feeling well and was in a bad mood.

While it is true that I struggle on Sundays, it is not my kids' fault. I don't know why I blame them sometimes. I guess it is because they are my life! Easy to blame.

The real fact about parenthood that I battle with is that my desires are often placed on the back burner. On Sundays it is so "in my face".

An apathetic person might say, " You should have thought about that BEFORE you had children."

To which I would reply, "There are just somethings you don't realize about having kids until you have them."

In no way do I want this to be implied that I am sorry for having kids. No way. No how. I love my kids and would do anything for them, anything to protect them. It's just that there are those days that I wish everything would go MY way.

Maybe in the future....

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday at the Merritts

For me Sundays are the hardest day of the week. It is so strange.

My kids will get up at 6:30 every other day of the week, but on Sunday they want to sleep in. And it is torturous trying to get them up! Once they are going the morning runs smoothly, after I have had to raise my voice about three times.

Thankfully this year we have the 11:00 am block. We were late the first couple weeks, but we are doing much better now.

The hardest part comes after church.

My home is an absolute wreck after everyone rushing to get ready. We clean it up a bit then it's time for lunch. We clean up a mess, just to make one-one of the most annoying things!

I will then cuddle up on the couch to read the ads. Relaxing for me, but the kids seem to not know what to do with all this spare time. I try to direct them in an appropriate activity, but it usually leads to some type of fighting or teasing. This is the Sabbath Day, why all the contention?

Soon it is time for "the nap". We used to have a mandatory family nap, but the kids are starting to get too big to force to sleep, so I let them choose something quiet.

I wake up and we have to pick up again.

I start dinner. We eat.

Sunday night TV is one of our favorite nights. There is AFV, Extreme Make-over, and now The Amazing Race is starting. I know a lot of people steer away from the TV on Sunday, but not us.

Around 8:00 pm, I start the whole bedtime routine: bath, scriptures, and prayer.

I don't know if it is because we are so off routine from normal day or if it is out of boredom, but my kids act up the most, don't listen, tease, and fight much more than any other day. (As I am writing this, I have my 13 year-old son sitting in my bedroom closet!!)

It's real bothersome! This is supposed to be a day of rest, but I feel like I work harder as a mom on this day than any other day of the week.

PS somewhere in all of this there is ALWAYS Little House on the Prairie!!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day FUN


Dustin and I got these today! Nothing better than homemade valentines!



The weather has been great the last couple days! We decided to take advantage. We headed over to one of the neighborhood parks to play our happy, little, cabin-fevered brains out! And we had FUN!!!


We squeezed through holes,


went down slides,



climbed on anything possible,



and rode the zip-line.


And there was football,


lots and lots of football.

We had a race and ate a snack.




Today I was a fun mom.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Where's the Fun?

A few days ago I was in the bathroom doing Kate's hair. Ya know, some of our best conversations have been in the bathroom with a flat iron in hand. What is it about the bathroom? Maybe the one-on-one attention? I don't know. Anyway, Kate was wondering who was funny in our house. The conversation went something like this:

Kate: Mom, who's the funniest person in our family?
Me: Dad.
Kate: Oh. Who's the second funniest person?
Me: I am.
Kate: (said with all seriousness a six year-old could muster) Mom, how are you funny?

Now on the outside I was laughing...hysterically. But on the inside, that's another story. How could this cute little thing not know how funny I am? I would consider myself a fun person with a pretty good personality. Does she not ever notice?..

or could it, maybe, be that I don't show it much? I started thinking about the morning.

Mom yelling about someone leaving the milk out.
Mom yelling about the mess left on the counter.
Mom yelling about the chores that were not done, so why on earth is anyone playing on the PS3?!!

Mom yelling, yelling, yelling....

Huh? I guess I'm not very fun anymore. I'm quite different than the mom I planned on being. Too much yelling. Not enough fun. Time to change it. But how? Can't be running around making fun while everything goes undone and kids don't learn to be responsible. Any ideas? Please share and help put the fun back into this household.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Family Home Videos & Photos

My kids can sit and watch our family videos FOR-EV-ER (said just like the kid on Sandlot)!!

I didn't get it. Until today. They were watching a video from 2004. It had snipits of our life from b-days, Easter, bike riding, and so on.

The one that most intrigued me was of little Kate joining our family. Her birth is the only one we have recorded. Why? I don't know. That's a pretty big thing!

I was teary-eyed. I heard her little cry and lost it. That sound is irreplaceable! I'm so glad we have it captured on video. The same goes for my kids' little toddler voices. Those are things you forget! It's nice to have that small moment of time captured so your are able to relive it.

I spent a little part of the night rummaging through photos too. I love to do this. This time I was looking for photos of my mom, me , and Kate.

I have always been told I look like my mom. I really never believed it. Not until we did the video for my father's funeral. Then I saw it. Anyway, I was looking for a picture of her so I could enter a little contest on the Generations Project website. (check it out. i love that show) I also wanted to enter Kate and I. I think we look alike. What do you think?



This was in May of '95. I had just received my Personal Progress medallion.

Here's Kate and I. We are both in kindergarten.




Here we are as babies:




Sometimes I wonder who I got these genes from. It would be fun to find old photos from people way before my time and see if I resemble some of them. And if I did, it would be nice to know their story.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Exhaustion

When I became a mother at 21, I was full of energy and ready for anything. I remember adjusting to life with a baby. I was happy and excited, but very scared and not quite sure if I was ready. I changed my attitude and everything became a new adventure.

Slowly (well, not really), we added to our family. Aaron came 20 months after Ryan. I had two boys! They were fun. So cute. They were little buddies. They loved each other like nothing I had ever seen before. I remember one time at church, Aaron wasn't quite big enough to reach the drinking fountain. I was huge and pregnant with Grace. I was really no help. Ryan took over. He got down on his hands and knees and motioned Aaron to get on his back. He would be his stepping stool. Aaron climbed on and steadied himself. Ryan waited patiently for his little brother, not bothered by Aaron playing in the water.

"You done?" Ryan asked in his little toddler voice. I remember it.

"Yup," J (Aaron) replied in his little voice- it's funny how I remember their voices. I can hear them in my head when I think about it.

J jumped down, they hugged and ran back to me. Ryan being J's stepping stool became a regular job until Aaron could reach himself. Ryan was always willing.








Grace joined our family 2 years and 16 days after Aaron. We were so happy for a girl. In fact Dustin informed me right after delivery, holding his baby for the first time, "Oh, Larae. We need another one." The nurse gave him an awful glare and scolded him for even mentioning such a thing to a woman who had just given birth. I didn't mind. I thought it was wonderful, even sweet. He loved his little girl that much. Dad's are different with their girls. I liked it.




We liked it so much we decided to give it another go ( I can't really say that, we never had a choice to when our children joined our family, they just came. What sane person would have 5 kids in 7 years?). Kate was born 2 years and 8 months later. I swore she was a boy! When it was time to have the ultrasound, I refused to find out the baby's sex. I wanted a surprise. Dustin begged me to find out, but I held my ground. That is, until he persuaded me 5 weeks before her birth! That's right, at 5 weeks I caved. He wanted to get rid of the things we didn't need (boy stuff). I didn't believe it when he told me. I knew this baby was a boy! I was wrong.





Seven months later, I would find out I was expecting, again. I was terrified. These kids would be 16 months apart. Holy cow, that was close. I was still trying to adjust to four kids. I suffered a little from postpartum, a pregnancy might just kick it into to hyper-drive.

A year and four months after Kate, Becca became part of our crazy bunch. And I was right, it didn't do much, but make the postpartum worse. I even recall blacking out at a four way stop. Don't know how long I was out for, but for a good minute+.





I will say I think I handled myself beautifully. I really can say that because not only was I tending to the needs of 5 children, 7 and under, I watched two kids on top of all of it. So I took care of 7 kids, all 7 years and under! Ryan was the oldest at 7. Then they all went 6, 5, 4, 3, 16 mo, and a newborn. WOW!

Life became a blur. I was stuck in one mode. I think, subconsciously, my motto became, "Just do it." Sorry Nike, but I think I blew your athletes away! I deserve that motto. I learned to just do and no whining was allowed, otherwise I would find myself miserable and depressed.

I'm starting to come out of that haze. 5 years later. And boy am I exhausted! Exhausted, but happy to be out of it. The kids are all very independent. They all do mostly for themselves. I still have 2 extra kids, but it is much easier now. I am finding I have a few opportunities to take time out for myself. Some of it happens during the day, most of it at night.

What do I do with it? Oh, a few things. I like Facebook, a lot! A little too much perhaps. I have this blog. I plan on learning how to sew (more about that later). But one of my favorite things is a nice, pleasant NAP! A little boring, but oh so needed. And oh so well deserved!