Conversing with Daddy

10 Things to Improve

OK, I've been thinking lately about how I can "be better", particularly a better mom. So, here's a list of things that I have come up with to improve myself and my outlook

1. Spend more quality time with each kid

2. Read to them more often

3. Have more patience (this will be the hardest one, no doubt)

4. Get up earlier in the morning

5. Be a better "picker-upper" around the house. Clutter makes us all crazy.

6. Cook more for the kids

7. Fret less, do more

8. Eat chocolate when I feel like it, just not too much

9. Pray more and harder

10. Start going to church again

Another b-day pic

I love this picture. It's Cade's reaction to seeing the guitar we got him for his birthday.

Big Number 8!

That is one happy 8 year old dude!

July 21

Cade is 8 today. He actually looks bigger. I think he grew last night. He is such a funny kid - right on that line of being a big kid who is interested in Guitar Hero, fast cars, and watching movies with cuss words ( he is obsessed with getting me to let him watch PG movies) and being a little kid who still needs Mommy to kiss his ouchies and sleeps with his stuffed dog. I also thought this was somewhat ironic -he asked me last night , all big innocent blue eyes, "Mom, what is sex?" I paused for a moment and took the chicken way out and said, "That's a discussion for you and your daddy." Way to hand off the ball! Bryant was totally not ready to have the conversation and outside of "where did you hear that" he said that it was something that adults talk about and he and Cade would discuss it when he was older. WTG, Dad. So the question is - do you tell a young kid what it is or do you stall? Where is that line? I'm sure there are arguments for both sides. But anyway, happy birthday to my oldest boy - where has the time gone??

It's hard to be 4

It's hard to be 4. It's hard to be the parent of someone who is 4. Tristan is on that line of wanting to do all the big things that Cade does, but he still feels a pull towards the toddler geared things that interest Tanner, too. He gets told NO a lot. He gets reprimanded A LOT. His daddy working in Montana and only coming home once a month isn't helping matters. And Tristan - well, he is not one to show emotion. He is the most private little child I have ever seen, unlike Cade who wears his gentle heart on his sleeve. I worry about him - I think his feelings and emotions and thoughts are actually pretty complicated and he will struggle with that. It's my job to help him successfully navigate through all of these emotions and situations. Heady stuff.
That doesn't mean that he doesn't throw tantrums - he is a master screamer. He also has dead aim and isn't afraid to use it. If we can channel that intensity and aggression just right, he will be a truly successful, driven individual (possibly a major league pitcher based on the speed and accuracy with which Hotwheels cars have been hummed around here) who takes no crap. Dang it, there needs to be an instruction manual for this with a troubleshooting chapter or two. Or ten.

Excuse me while I vent...

OK, so. Summer colds suck. Hugely. Tristan, Tanner and I all have them. It's just ten kinds of wrong to get a cold in the summer and not the winter. So here we are - coughing, sneezing, sore throats, somewhat miserable. And there is no air conditioning upstairs. And it is HOT. HOT as in, can't breathe, humid, muggy, nasty hot. (I really don't like summers in Houston.) The a/c has been out since Saturday night and the whole freaking unit is going to have to be replaced, and if the a/c people don't get out here and get it done, I'm going to lose my freaking mind. Tristan and Tanner are sleeping with me and every cough, sneeze, and sniff wakes me up. This is not a funny post, or a good story. It is simply me griping because it should be illegal to have to go without a/c for more than an hour or so in the summertime. At least we have air downstairs.