a fun little blog thing that I found to be interesting:

Thursday, December 29, 2005

a fun little blog thing that I found to be interesting: Current mood: sleepy Your Birthdate: June 22 You tend to be understated and under appreciated. You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way. People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little. Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know. Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid Your power color: Silver Your power symbol: Square Your power month: April What Does Your Birth Date Mean? Wow. Pretty interesting! Not your average "Cancer" sun-sign write-up, and I think it's more on the mark. (Thanks to Lux- I found it through her myspace page). Sorry I'm not writing more tonight- I'm beat!

On parents and discipline. . .

Monday, December 26, 2005

On parents and discipline. . . Current mood: contemplative Well I hope everyone had a lovely Solstice/Yule/Christmas/[insert preferred holiday here]! (lol) We had a very nice holiday. Littleman opened lots of gifts (meaning his own, and everyone else's as well) and is just starting to understand the whole Santa thing. I think. Unrelated, but I've been wondering to myself: As a parent, when does one stop trying to discipline one's children? When they come of age? (18 I guess?) When they move out? When they have kids of their own? When you as a parent decide they are "mature"? Never? Or does the answer to the question depend on the nature of the wrongdoing? And if you want to discipline an adult child, how would you go about it? Is it worth wasting an ounce of energy on? (ie; do adult children ever respond positively to punitive parental actions?) Hmm. Just something I have been pondering. Aha- well on that note, I will sign off for now because my little men just got home from hiking today. :) Perhaps I'll write again later!

random thoughts

Sunday, December 18, 2005

random thoughts Current mood: silly Hunted and found three letterboxes today! It was fun. Simon got to go "HIKING. SUNDAY." and I got to add some stamps to my collection. I have some ideas for more planted boxes, I just have to carve stamps and get the books and boxes ready. In all my free time. But it's a good hobby, and I really enjoy it, and it gets us outdoors in cool places getting some exercise. So I should find the time to do it more. (for curious noxers [non-boxers]: www.letterboxing.org ) "Ornaments stay ON the tree" is now such an oft-repeated phrase in my house, it's right up there with "Be careful", "Be nice to the kitty", "No", "Get Down", "We don't throw our food", "That's eww-y" and "Don't stick things into the holes in the computer!" We went walking in our neighborhood last night looking at Christmas lights. It was nice! There are only a few houses that have gone all out, but many with at least a little holiday lighting to brighten things up. It was so pleasant to stroll around as a family, all bundled up and admire the lights. Such moments are rare enough for us, which makes us appreciate them all the more I think. Simon especially liked a huge, lit inflatable snow-globe that was snowing inside, a house with little lit Christmas soldiers lined up, a house with santa in his sleigh landing on a runway on the roof, and the inflatable bear that would slowly pop out of a present, then slowly sink back into it. We watched "Kingdom of Heaven" the other night. It's a Ridley Scott film, starring Orlando Bloom, set in the time of the Crusades. The filming was beautiful, the acting was good and it was based on real-life people and events. Unfortunately the editing was disjointed and I think the writing was a bit poor. Those weak points were rather fatal, I'm afraid. Oh, well. OK, enough random thoughts- my eyes are drooping. Time to get ready for bed. (Early for me!)

Emotional Alchemy: turning stress to sweetness

Friday, December 09, 2005

Emotional Alchemy: turning stress to sweetness Current mood: grateful I just want to say that sometimes, the most dreaded situations turn into the best memories. For instance there was tonight, when I'm getting littleman ready for bed. Usually it happens to work out that Griff is sleeping during the time that I am giving Simon a bath, getting him ready for bed and rocking him in the rocking chair before I lay him down. (The whole process takes 1/2 to 1 hour or so). But tonight for some unknown reason Griff was very much NOT asleep. He fussed off and on while I gave Simon a quick bath, but after that it was all-out scream-fest. I tried to make him comfortable and happy on the bed with Simon and I while I put on Simon's diaper and pajamas, but no dice- he wanted to be held just so, and walked around. Simon started acting up, too- he was tired and usually this is HIS time, so he was probably a little resentful too, plus he seems to feel a bit anxious when his baby brother is crying. This sort of situation is very stressful- there is only so much of me to go around!! My brief description most certainly does not paint a true picture of the chaos involved. I rushed through getting Simon dressed for bed, but I didn't want to completely cheat Simon of his bedtime routine. So, I hauled both crying boys onto my lap in the rocking chair to see if I could calm them down. Simon at least stopped crying, but Griff was very upset. I tried different things without success, and then decided to sing some Christmas carols for them. We rocked gently and I sang softly, and gradually Griff calmed down. (What really finally did it was "Deck The Halls" and "Oh Christmas Tree"- Griff likes those). Both boys relaxed against me as I held them tight, rocked and sang. Griff's breathing calmed down, Simon's head was drooping and gradually Griff closed his eyes. By the time Griff was asleep, I'd decided that this was one of the all-time sweetest moments I've ever experienced. Funny how such a stressful situation can turn into such a joy. My sweet, sweet angels. ~sigh~ OK, now I have to do more laundry and wash the dishes!!

sleep or blog? SLEEP!!

Friday, December 09, 2005

sleep or blog? SLEEP!! Current mood: drained So many nights I sit down just before bed to relax and type some thoughts into a blog entry. . . but I'm so exhausted, and really what I want and need is to go to bed. Unfortunately tonight is another one of those nights. Good night!

Just a quick check-in

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Just a quick check-in Current mood: busy Whew! Geez, have I been busy- I'm finally getting a couple minutes to sit down and type a bit. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving- it's one of my favorite holidays, because for the most part it is still meaningful and has not been buried in distractions and commercialization over the years. Sure, the grocery stores rake it in but mainly it is a time to visit with family and be grateful for the blessings we have. This year we travelled to Charleston to be with Billy's family, who all travelled to Charleston to be with Billy's sister and brother-in-law who live there. We had a lovely time, enjoying the city and each other. Billy and Simon rode a bike all over that city, and I managed to leave personal belongings in several restaurants over the course of a couple days. Luckily, I managed to retrieve everything before we left. It's those lost brain cells- I think pregnancy sucks them out of you. Or have I already said that?? It's a shame I have been too busy to blog, because I've had several thoughts that I would like to expand on in writing. And right now, my brain is swimming with all the chores that need doing (etc) and I can't seem to remember or focus on any of them. Ah, well- at least I got to sit down and put my feet up for a minute. I'll see if I can blog tonight.