I never have a moment to myself anymore…I am SOOOOOO ready for Bo to start school! So I apologize for not getting pics of the kids up more often but here are a few!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Organized!!
The Lawson family is gettin’ organized!!! Man you throw an extra kid into the mix and you better be organized. I seriously don’t know how my friend Janice does it with 4 kids, just the thought makes me start to have an anxiety attack!!! Now I realize that part of this is just my personality. Some people don’t have the “need” to be organized like I do, I just can’t function any other way! The funny thing if you knew Jarrod well, which some of you do…the man requires NO organization whatsoever, it makes me insane!! If he could he would literally just live out of the dryer, turning it on each morning to dewrinkle his clothes, get dressed and repeat the next day. He actually used to live this way before me! Now, we definitely have those mornings that mommy forgot to get the clothes out and we are scrambling to get somewhere, but it’s not a daily routine!
So with a baby who is not quite on a schedule yet you never know what she’s going to need and when. I found myself constantly telling Bo I’d get him a snack when I was done with _____ insert about a million possible responses! Bo is also one who before we leave to get in the car he’s asking for a snack to take, so I’d have to put everything down get out a snack, put it in a bag, gather everything back up and go. I know not a big deal, but when you’ve got your hands full with baby, carseat, diaper bag, etc…it’s a task. Sure you can buy everything in those cute little small packages, but it’s so much more expensive so I took matters into my own hands! We also needed some help with craft items.
So here is what I did…
Craft basket with things that require supervision…glue, ink, scissors, etc…He has his crayons for whenever he wants to color, but these things he needs mommy for. It’s actually one of those utensil carriers that you’d use for a party or picnic to put your forks, spoons, napkins, etc…I really wanted a metal one but this will work for now. It’s full of fun things included wiggly eyes, a craft basket isn’t complete until it has wiggly eyes!!
I used some empty mason jars I had left over from a baby shower to hold things like scissors and all the loose puff balls, etc…that he loves to glue on to things!
Craft time while mommy makes dinner!
Pantry snack basket…I took all the big boxes we had with snacks like goldfish and graham crackers and put them in small ziploc bags…it’s already portioned out and you can grab and go. It also takes up much less room than all the boxes! Below I did the same thing with the fridge. I am much more likely to give Bo fruit (and eat it myself) if it’s already washed, cut up, and put into containers. So once again I took fruit…washed and cut it up and also put it in small ziploc bags. I did the same with cube cheese. The apples are pre-packaged from the grocery store, yes you pay more for it, but Bo would never eat an entire apple and I don’t like apples so they just go to waste in our house. I also have the small containers of oranges these are great for school and also yogurt. Both of these baskets are in his reach. He loves being able to get his snack on his own and mommy loves not having to say “no, let me do this first”. He does know he is supposed to ask before he gets anything, which for the most part he does well with. I don’t want him just snacking all day long!
Next up…we have started a chore chart! Granted they are very simple and things he’s pretty much doing anyway, but I am wanting to start introducing responsibility and being held accountable. So I have put a chore chart up on the refrigerator. It is broken into morning chores, afternoon chores and “to earn” chores. Right now he is getting marbles to put into his marble jar after he does each chore just to get him into the habit and because that’s about all he’s going to understand at 3. As he gets older the first two rows of chores are chores that he will have to do to live here, it’s just expected. The bottom row will be “extra” chores that he can do to earn money. The first two rows of chores will have to be done before he can choose from the bottom! When we start this we will then start with the “spend, save, give” method with whatever money he earns. Right now the boy is happy with marbles so we’ll just stick with this for a while. He also gets marbles for good behavior…helping mom and dad, being nice to baby Charlotte, doing something before it’s asked, etc… at the same time if he gets in trouble, goes to time out, etc… he gets marbles taken away. Then once his jar is full he gets to choose a treat. He can go get ice cream, a toy from the dollar store, etc… I had everything laminated and have velcro tabs in each space and on the picture cards. He loves coming down and taking the pictures off after he’s done his chore. Right now we just take it off and put it in a bag next to it until I come up with a better method. Then I just put everything back up at night.
He made his bed!! Yes it’s messy, but it’s not about it being perfect it’s about letting HIM do it and learning!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Mississippi—to give you a good laugh!
Last week the kids and I, yes you read that correctly…Me, a 3.5 yr old, and a 10 week old headed to MS ALONE!!! Yep just the three of us in the car for 7 hours. To my friends and family…WHY did you let me do this? I would have hoped that someone would have taken me in for a mental evaluation at just the thought of it. Instead I’m sure many of you got a good laugh out of it! We left on Sunday, which I will say, went beautiful! Both kids did fabulous we made it in about 7 hours and that included 3 quick stops. I was so pleased and proud! The way back…an entirely different story…our 7 hour trip turned into a 9.5 hour trip thanks to many stops, tantrums, screaming baby, and a quick mental breakdown break by mom! Oh yes, Jarrod seriously thought he was going to have to drive to Tuscaloosa in order to see his son live to see the following day, help his wife. I will NEVER, repeat NEVER do that trip alone with these two kids until they are like 13, no make that 18! To our friends and family…if you want to see us you are more than welcome to hop in the car and make your way to 275 Trowbridge Lane, we’ll leave the light on for ya!
Just to give you an idea and keep in mind this is only ONE of the horrible stops made. Mommy had to potty, which I quickly learned is much harder getting two kids in and out of the car, oh and let me just say…when you have two kids who are both asleep at the same time and you’ve had too much water to drink it’s amazing how tempting the side of the road becomes!! Anyway…mommy had to potty so I decided to stop at a Starbucks in Tuscaloosa. Keep in mind we had already had one atrocious stop before this, why I thought this one would be better is beyond me. Bo, who had his share of tantrums all week, decided he wasn’t going to get out of the car so after I unbuckle him from his carseat he immediately jumps to the middle of the back seat where I can’t reach him. I finally was able to grab his ankle as he is trying to climb over the seat to the back of the car where all of our luggage is…drag him out kicking and screaming! Go to the other side to get Charlotte who was extremely fussy, but I was praying she would hold out long enough for me to go to the restroom and get back in the car…again, oh how naive I was! We walk in to what is the most packed Starbucks I have ever seen in my life…there was not one empty chair, there had to be 40 people in there. All I could think was dear God please let this go well. Well apparently God likes a good laugh every now and then…we go into the restroom where of course everything echos. Charlotte then decides it’s time to meltdown…I’m talking thermonuclear meltdown…the kind where her face is beet red, mouth wide open but nothing is coming out because it takes about 20 seconds to build up a scream loud enough to come out, that kind!! So I ask Bo to give her, her pacifier, which he decides she doesn’t want and then proceeds to throw it across the bathroom floor to me. I then go over to calm her down, turn around, and see Bo who has taken all of his clothes off, except his shirt, standing barefoot holding on to the potty. I begin to correct him and guess who else decides to have a thermonuclear meltdown…kicking screaming, you name it so I now have both kids screaming at the top of their lungs!! I finally get his clothes on him, didn’t even care that he had been rolling around on a public bathroom floor, had a VERY intense come to Jesus talk with him, and then walked out the door, where I kid you not ALL 40 people turn and just smile while I am jerking my 3 year old by the arm out of there.
I then get everyone in the car and decide I was the only one who had not had a meltdown so it was now my turn! I call Jarrod because if I didn’t talk to someone Bo was going to be on the side on the road with a “free to good home” sign around his neck. I needed my husband to calm me down ASAP!! I get him on the phone and I just loose it…meanwhile Jarrod had asked me to hold on…let me preface this with…he NEVER told me someone had come into his office!! Well I continue going off, screaming into the phone because I seriously thought there was no way I was going to put that car in drive. He then gets back on the phone, helps me calm down and after some deep breaths I decide there’s no way I’m spending the night alone with two kids in Tuscaloosa so we had to get on the road. Fast forward an hour later and Jarrod calls to check on me. So we’re talking about what happened and what does he do…falls out laughing!!! He then tells me that his co-worker had come into his office during my meltdown and just looked at the phone and looked at Jarrod and said “ummm, well, yea…so I uhh, I won’t be at the meeting this afternoon, well uhh okay… so guess I’ll talk to you later” while most people would have gotten mad Jarrod found this to be funny, thank you Lord!! Thankfully his co-worker is married with two kids so he completely understood when Jarrod explained!
The visit itself was great, I loved getting to see my friends and family, but I will never do that trip alone again!!!
snuggling with Pop!
Playing at the Children’s Museum…loved this place!
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