There is an article going around the Mommy Blog world, and women all over the place are cheering it on.  It’s the one where the mom complains about older moms who always come up to you and tell you how fast it all goes and to appreciate your children, because they loved raising kids.

I’m not linking the article.  I’m too lazy and grouchy to look for it (still nothing from the city on the sewage problem), and quite frankly, I don’t really agree with it.

Anyone with kids knows it’s true: Time goes by too fast when you have kids.

Baby Z?  She’s already 13 months.

Goose is in second grade.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was crying because Lance wanted to send him to school?  Squirt graduates next year!  And the Baby Hulk is supposed to start K next year.  That sweet little boy who was in the NICU for two weeks.  The little boy who I held all day long with wires all over his little body is reading, running with pure abandon and singing songs from the radio.

And No David, the 3 year old, well he wants what the big boys want so he already has Pokemon cards.  (No, I didn’t buy him those, his brothers shared.)  I don’t even get to enjoy cute 3 year old things with him because he’s decided he’s too big.

Baby Z is trying, okay barely, to stand on her own.

When did all this happen?

I was living every second of it.  And yet, it still passed right before my eyes.

How can any mother out there not admit that it goes by fast?

And please, I am no Pollyanna.  I talk more about my kids and their issues than most people.  On the phone and on my blog.  I am the first to admit how frustrating parenting can be.  How annoyed I can get by my kids’ antics.  

Maybe that’s the key.  The author talks about feeling the need to be in a constant state of parenting ecstasy.  I’ve never felt that pressure.  Maybe I’ve got better friends.  Friends who listen when my kids are being difficult, and I’m feeling down about the job I’m doing.  

Sure older moms tend to forget the hard part of raising kids.  Grandparents think everything your kids do is cute when secretly you want to spank them even though you don’t spank.  But what a cynical, crappy society we’d be if our memories weren’t skewed a bit. 

Maybe older moms say things like that because they know better.  They know we need to appreciate our children even in the rough times.  Like when they act like little shits at the swim club week after week after week.  Sure it would be nice to hear them say they’ve been through it before, but I’m sure if they did we’d find something wrong with that too.

My reality is that time flies by too freaking fast for me.  I am doing my best to appreciate every single second I have with my kids.  And not because one day I’ll be an old lady, but because for today, I am blessed to have five amazing children still living under my roof.  I want to appreciate the life that has been so generously given to me.

Wordless, I don’t think so.

Sunday night, Squirt told me water was leaking from the hall toilet.  Just water nothing gross.  (Finding the positive.)

A plumber came and said our sewer line was damaged and would need to be repaired.  When the guys started fixing it the following afternoon, they realized it was the city line that wasn’t working.

As they left, they told me not to use the toilet or shower because the waste would probably come back into the house.  The plumber then left as fast as he could.  Probably due to the psycho look on my face.

I have 5 kids, I can’t be without toilets.

I called the City.  Apparently waste in the yard isn’t an emergency.

Their crew doesn’t work past 8.  It might have made sense to work past 8 considering the fact that they knew rain was coming today.

Because of course, they couldn’t do a thing due to the heavy rain today.  They can come back tomorrow.  But only if I call again and get another order going.  Except don’t call too soon because if I do, the ticket would be associated with the first complaint.  The same complaint from yesterday.  The same exact complaint I have today.  The same problem that they know wasn’t fixed.  The complaint that I have sewer water in my yard and no effing toilets to use.  And I have 5 freaking kids.

And my husband is out of town.

For Today…January 22, 2012

Outside my window…it’s dark.  It’s hot.  It’s freaking January.  No, I don’t want to shovel snow, but is it too much to ask that we have winter weather?!

I’m wearing…Snoopy boxers and a white t-shirt.

I am praying for…Our friends at Pete’s Meats- there was a fire, and we’re going to miss them for a few months.  I’m so sad for this business, Michael is a great guy.  The soul of a friend’s uncle.  My friend as she packs away her father’s office.   Squirt as he attends his Confirmation retreat.

Finding the joy…My mom said the other day it’s been a hard year so far.  Pretty crappy if you ask me, but at the same time there is so much to be happy about and I know that.  My goal is to remember this.

Around the house…our basketball goal is FINALLY up.  The boys are so happy.  I’ve been, how shall we say it, bitching nonstop because it took forever to purchase and then it just sat here half finished.  I called Chris and he sent someone to finish it.  Turns out it wasn’t so easy to finish.  But it’s done, and the boys have been playing nonstop.

Part 2…the wires on the garage that Lola chewed through two weeks after the garage was finished have been repaired.

Part 3…water is leaking from the hall toilet.  Find the joy, find the joy…

From the kitchen…I made these Chubby Hubby bars I pinned last Fall.  They sounded great, pretzels and Reeces in a cookie bar topped with caramel and chocolate.   They’re fine, but I won’t be fighting the kids for them.

Learning all the time…The report is finished.  Jackie Robinson is an amazing man, but I’m over him.  Hopefully, Goose makes his presentation tomorrow.  I spent most of yesterday typing his one-act play.  It was very painful.  BUT I didn’t lose it.  It was Lance’s birthday, and I didn’t want him stressed out on his special day.

I’m thankful for…dinner with friends, a wonderful husband, the Sacrament of Penance.

One of my favorite things…the laughter of my children and the smell of little boys that have been playing outside.

I am creating…okay, I’m not really creating anything yet, but I have high hopes that within less than a month I will have some printables hanging in my bathroom.  Less than a month, a decent goal.

A few plans for the week…Space movie, get together with Jenn, Chinese New Year at Goose’s school and learning.

A picture thought I am sharing…

The other evening I got a text from Chelsea.  She wanted me to check out something on Facebook.  The only problem was that I wasn’t friends with the person she wanted me to see. No problem, she would just send me the link.  That still didn’t work, guess a privacy thing.

The solution?  Her roommate sent me her username and password.  She assured me there was nothing fun to stalk.

Interesting how Chelsea didn’t even think of offering up her information.

She knows better.

Just a birthday wish to the love of my life~

It’s been a busy week and it seems like things are only going to get worse.  There is a lot of running around in our life.  Not much different from others, but in the midst of it all, I can be at ease because of your love.  You are truly the best gift ever.  You can reign me in and  make me think about my actions when I’d rather not.  The life we live is beyond my wildest dreams.

I love you more than anything on earth.  I promise some time for just me and you in Chicago, a movie date and a weekend as soon as possible.

Happy Birthday, Lance.  You are amazing and deserve the best.

What am I doing this weekend?  Overseeing my son work on a project he’s had two months to finish.  Not the junior, the second grader.  It’s not even a difficult project, but he has done nothing to get started on it except read the book.

It’s a biography of Jackie Robinson, and he has to give a report to the class about the book.  When you ask him about Jackie Robinson’s life, he can’t remember a thing.  Picking up significant details is becoming more and more difficult for this child.  And quite frankly, it’s getting on my nerves.  Last night he was in tears and declared school too hard because he had to write a few sentences using vocabulary words on any subject he wanted.  It took him three hours to finish.  Three hours and three sets of tears.

I understand writing not being someone’s strong point.  It’s not mine, I rarely capitalize when writing emails, my writing is basically a conversation, I never went over the page limit on research papers and so on.  I get not being creative.  That said, he can either start writing without tears or get ready for a summer camp on creative writing.  Enough is enough.  And he picked the wrong time to decide he wasn’t going to finish his MAJOR project.  Guess who isn’t watching football this Sunday?  Finished or not.

Next week is Baby Hulk’s last week of swim lessons.  I am so ready for this.  I’ve been going to this place every Wednesday for five years.  I need a break.  Our time slot happens to be the best time to go there for lack of crowds, so while I am tempted to start No David, I have decided a break is a must.  No David has some major attitude issues, (read: he’s a brat), and I think I would rather hold two small children in the pool the entire summer than pay for swim lessons where my kid screams nonstop.

Tomorrow is the big day: Goose’s first confession.  He asked me if he needed to confess the times when he hates me.  I told him to go for it and assured him that I confess the times I hate him.

Today was Squirt’s District Inspection for ROTC.  He passed with flying colors and is quite the leader.  I did hear him tell his squad to “shut your mouth” which sounded kind of like me.  I might need to start watching what I say.

Cute baby shots:

For Today…January 15, 2012

Outside my window…it’s dark.  Quiet.

I am listening to…the television in the background.

I am wearing…yoga pants and a green shirt.  I love this shirt, it makes me look skinny.

I am grateful for…family.  The laughter of boys that show such true happiness, the smile of a little girl, the passion of my husband about his football team.  And parents.

I am praying for…several people who are dealing with loss, my son as he prepares for his reconciliation, my husband as he begins draft season and for patience.

I am reading…nothing, I need suggestions.

From the kitchen…menu planned, trying to eat good until the weekend when we’ll have a couple of celebrations.

Towards rhythm…our days have a definite flow to them.  I am really trying to make our days easy going, especially for the Baby Hulk.  There is a big possibility that he will be starting K next fall.  If that’s the case, then I want this Spring to be fun for him.  If he does go to school, he is more than ready academic wise and will only need to learn how to behave in a classroom as well as deal with other kids.  Funny thing about our rhythm, it seems to include food every. single. time we walk through our door whether we’ve been gone for 45 minutes or three hours.

Around the house…I went through all of the kids drawers.  Getting ready to dive into the hall closet and empty two Rubbermaid crates full of pictures and frames.  Will keep the pictures, frames go.

Learning all the time…We’ve slowly eased back into a routine, and for science we’re about to start learning about the Moon.  Something simple and easy.  No David loves the moon so it should be a good week for him.  Of course, it would help if I actually checked out some books on the moon.

I want to learn…how to knit.  I think it’s pretty popular these days, and there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube, but I need someone in front of me helping.  Goal by next Christmas is some handmade gifts.  That people would actually want to use.  I also want the boys to learn some woodworking. Basically, I want us to use our hands and learn some skills that require thought and patience.

One of my favorite things…people and their love of sports.

A few plans for the week…finish Goose’s project/rather start his project, see Jenn, movie playdate, Reconciliation and a birthday.

AND…the Old 97’s!!!  CANNOT. WAIT.

A picture thought…

Goose is receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time this Saturday.  For those that don’t know Catholic speak, it’s confession.  Pray for him, will you?

He’s young enough that he isn’t really scared or freaked out by it.  Plus, he hasn’t really done anything too bad that would warrant uneasy feelings.  And I’m glad.  (About both.) There are kids who freak out about it, and that’s never good.  I should know, I was one of them.  In fact, despite the fact that you are supposed to receive this sacrament before receiving the Eucharist, I never did.  I managed to somehow slip through the cracks and nobody realized it until the next year.  Ha!  Even at age 7, I was pretty sneaky.

Confession is one of those things that is misunderstood by most people.  That includes most Catholics.  Nothing annoys me more than Catholics who brag about not going to Confession.  And I know that their relationship with God is their business, I just don’t understand why you would be Catholic if you don’t believe in the sacraments.  My issue isn’t with those that question the need for confession, it’s those that brag about not going.

My journey with confession got off to a very slow start.  After finally receiving the sacrament at age 8, I didn’t go again until I was 23.  I was traveling through Europe and thought of all places one should go to confession, it would be the Vatican.  Turns out I was wrong, it wasn’t a great experience.  After that I didn’t go again for another five years.  Since then I’ve gone on a very regular basis and am so grateful to finally get what this sacrament is all about.

So here I am bragging too, right?  Well, not really.  While not a big follower of rules under normal circumstances, there are some rules I consider sacred.  One is you don’t go to communion if you’re not in a state of grace.  While I didn’t “remember” that for many years, (read: while in college), I can promise that once I knew about that, I never went to receive communion again until I had gone to confession.  And quite frankly, at least I was going to mass during college.  At least, that is how I justified it.

Once I finally learned about confession and the healing grace you receive from the sacrament, I’ve been a pretty regular participant.  Here’s the thing though: not everyone who goes to confession comes out feeling different.  And those are the ones I admire the most.  They are still trying, they are going to confession even though they might not quite understand how awesome it really is.

So the lecture about confession is over.  I have one story to share though: two years ago the family went to one of those communal penance services during Advent.  Lance, Squirt and I each went to different priests.  I was probably confessing the longest.  Afterwards we all compared our penance.  I had to say two shorts prayers, Lance had to pray a decade of the Rosary and Squirt, well, he was scrambling for a Bible.  He had to look up two different scriptures and reflect on them.  Of course, after that Lance and I wondered what he had confessed!

Saturday our entire family will be there to support Goose, then Lance, Squirt and I will also celebrate the sacrament.

Goose is required to celebrate the sacrament three times before May when he receives his First Communion.  I challenge any Catholic to do the same before May.

Goose’s team lost tonight, the Saints, (actually his second favorite team) and he started crying.  Again.  And we’re smiling.  Again.

I was talking with a friend whose son loves football as well and started crying several weeks ago when the Texans we’re playing to make it into the playoffs.  I have to admit that both of us enjoyed comparing stories of that nature.

As a sports fan, I love that kind of enthusiasm.  As a mom it breaks my heart to watch my son cry, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I don’t get it when people scoff at someone’s love of football.  In fact, I kind of feel sorry for them.  (Kind of like how I feel sorry for people who have never had Whataburger.)

As I watched my son tonight, I realized it’s not the fact that he loves football so much that I like, it’s that he is that passionate about something.  I want kids who are passionate.  Of course, the fact that he is passionate about football is a bonus for me and  Lance since we both enjoy it as well.  It also provides a great threat in getting work done.  “If you don’t finish your homework, you can’t watch football this weekend.”  I used that one quite a bit this past Fall.  Let’s just pray he isn’t crying tomorrow afternoon.