Sunday, December 19, 2010
New Blog
After thinking about it for a while I've decided to start over with a new blog. I've had fun here but I think it could be better organized and put together. So my new project right now is setting up my new one. I'm hoping to have it up and running Jan 1, 2011. When it is running I will post the link here.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
I'm taking a break (it's 12:30AM) while I wait for the dishwasher to finish it's cycle and another load of clothes to dry and getting in a little blog time. I just finished off two cups of coffee so I should be good to go for awhile.
Michael had a rough night again last night and was awake from 10:30 to 1:30. So far tonight he seems to sleeping much better. He's tossed and turned some but never woken all the way, so that's good. I still haven't figured out what causes the restlessness at night. It seems random and he never really gives me answer when I ask him what's wrong when he wakes up crying. Most of the time he says nothing hurts and when he does say something hurts it's hardly ever the same thing twice.
Today was the busiest day with children so far this week. At the busiest we had ten daycare children ranging in age from 9 months old to 11 years old. But things went smoothly for the most part.
One of our 4 year olds did have a bout of tummy trouble that caused him to throw up three times. After he rested a little while he seemed to be feeling much better and was really annoyed with me because I wouldn't let him get up and play in the play room. Instead I had him stay quietly on the couch in the living room and watch tv. I thought it would be a treat for him because the younger kids rarely get to watch tv, but I guess not.
One of our two year olds recieved his formal diagnosis of autism today. He was evaluated at the Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center. We all expected this diagnosis and now hopefully more services will be put into place for him. He's been recieving therapy twice and month but needs more. He's a sweetheart but recently more challenging behaviours have been presenting themselves and he and his family need all the support they can get.
It's been really cold and windy here the last few days with temperatures in the teens and the wind chill even worse. Now we're expecting 3 -5 inches of snow tomorrow and I have to admit I will be glad to see it. Brown cold winters depress me. If it's going to be cold I want to see some snow. I've been watching the radar on WeatherBug and the snow is moving up into this area from the SouthWest. It should start snowing here sometime during the early morning hours.
And now it's time for me to go check on the dishwasher and see if I can unload it and start another load of dishes. I got behind today and the dishes piled up.
~ Love, Live, Laugh and Learn~
~ Rose~
Michael had a rough night again last night and was awake from 10:30 to 1:30. So far tonight he seems to sleeping much better. He's tossed and turned some but never woken all the way, so that's good. I still haven't figured out what causes the restlessness at night. It seems random and he never really gives me answer when I ask him what's wrong when he wakes up crying. Most of the time he says nothing hurts and when he does say something hurts it's hardly ever the same thing twice.
Today was the busiest day with children so far this week. At the busiest we had ten daycare children ranging in age from 9 months old to 11 years old. But things went smoothly for the most part.
One of our 4 year olds did have a bout of tummy trouble that caused him to throw up three times. After he rested a little while he seemed to be feeling much better and was really annoyed with me because I wouldn't let him get up and play in the play room. Instead I had him stay quietly on the couch in the living room and watch tv. I thought it would be a treat for him because the younger kids rarely get to watch tv, but I guess not.
One of our two year olds recieved his formal diagnosis of autism today. He was evaluated at the Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center. We all expected this diagnosis and now hopefully more services will be put into place for him. He's been recieving therapy twice and month but needs more. He's a sweetheart but recently more challenging behaviours have been presenting themselves and he and his family need all the support they can get.
It's been really cold and windy here the last few days with temperatures in the teens and the wind chill even worse. Now we're expecting 3 -5 inches of snow tomorrow and I have to admit I will be glad to see it. Brown cold winters depress me. If it's going to be cold I want to see some snow. I've been watching the radar on WeatherBug and the snow is moving up into this area from the SouthWest. It should start snowing here sometime during the early morning hours.
And now it's time for me to go check on the dishwasher and see if I can unload it and start another load of dishes. I got behind today and the dishes piled up.
~ Love, Live, Laugh and Learn~
~ Rose~
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Boxes
Today I started re-reading a book called Get Out Out of Your Own Way by Robert K. Cooper. The subtitle is The 5 Keys to Surpassing Everyone's Expectations. I enjoyed this book the first time I read it and am enjoying it again.
One line caught my attention while I was reading today and here it is - "To get out of the box, you have to see the box."
It's so easy sometimes to feel like circumstance have boxed me in and that there is nothing I can do beyond the four walls of this box. And I can't even see out of it because the lid is closed up tight and duct taped shut.
But as I was reading I began wondering what this box is really made of. Is it really as limiting as I let myself believe sometimes. Do I really have to sit here in this box and let the world go on without me because . . . because why?
The longer I looked the more I realized that my box is made of things that I am allowing to hold me in, but that really only have the strength that I allow them to have.
Here are some of the things that I have allowed to make up the walls of my box.
1. Other People's Actions
Why is it alwasy so easy to blame my problems on the actions of the other people in my life? It's common, we all do it, but it is so pointless and self limiting. And while I am lamenting that someone else is causing me so much trouble, the other person is going on with their life, often blissfully unaware of my perception of their actions.
How much more productive it would be to take an honest look at what is going on and make a plan of action. There are several things that could be done. Approach the person, explain the problem, and ask for input from the other person's perspective. It may be that with the information given them the actions would change. Or maybe I would change my view of things when I heard the other side of the story. Maybe a win-win solution could be reached. Or, possibly I need to simply look at the situation from all angles and find a way around it, through it or even a way to use it for good. But never do I need to sit and allow another person's actions to box me in.
2. Time
Sometimes it seems time is determined to box me in. I just can't make the days any longer, or put any more minutes into the hours. But usually, if I am beginning to feel boxed in by time I need to take a long hard look at how I am spending time. And spending is the right terminology because I can't really save time, or borrow time, what I have is what I am going to get, and whether I use it properly or not, it will move on and be gone.
So taking examining how I am spending the minutes of my hours is usually the first place I need to start. A minute slips by so quietly and smoothly it is easy to lose the value that can be gained from it. Living on purpose, and making conscious decisions about how I am spending my time is the key to escaping from the time box.
3. Money
All too often I let myself blame my sitting in the box on money, or the lack thereof. But if I allow myself to embrace that mindset, I will always be limiting myself. More money could always be used, but if I'm honest with myself there are nearly always things that can be done now, whether I have the money I think I need or not, that will move me further away from my box. I can study, read, take advantage of what is available to me within my current budget and as I take these steps, following the bit of path I can see now, the rest of the way always opens before me, whether through monetary means or other. But I have to take the first step.
These are just a few of the ways that I often allow myself to become boxed in and ways I am learning, sometimes over and over, to escape from the box and dance the dance of life. I would love to read the thoughts of others on boxes and finding freedom from them.
One line caught my attention while I was reading today and here it is - "To get out of the box, you have to see the box."
It's so easy sometimes to feel like circumstance have boxed me in and that there is nothing I can do beyond the four walls of this box. And I can't even see out of it because the lid is closed up tight and duct taped shut.
But as I was reading I began wondering what this box is really made of. Is it really as limiting as I let myself believe sometimes. Do I really have to sit here in this box and let the world go on without me because . . . because why?
The longer I looked the more I realized that my box is made of things that I am allowing to hold me in, but that really only have the strength that I allow them to have.
Here are some of the things that I have allowed to make up the walls of my box.
1. Other People's Actions
Why is it alwasy so easy to blame my problems on the actions of the other people in my life? It's common, we all do it, but it is so pointless and self limiting. And while I am lamenting that someone else is causing me so much trouble, the other person is going on with their life, often blissfully unaware of my perception of their actions.
How much more productive it would be to take an honest look at what is going on and make a plan of action. There are several things that could be done. Approach the person, explain the problem, and ask for input from the other person's perspective. It may be that with the information given them the actions would change. Or maybe I would change my view of things when I heard the other side of the story. Maybe a win-win solution could be reached. Or, possibly I need to simply look at the situation from all angles and find a way around it, through it or even a way to use it for good. But never do I need to sit and allow another person's actions to box me in.
2. Time
Sometimes it seems time is determined to box me in. I just can't make the days any longer, or put any more minutes into the hours. But usually, if I am beginning to feel boxed in by time I need to take a long hard look at how I am spending time. And spending is the right terminology because I can't really save time, or borrow time, what I have is what I am going to get, and whether I use it properly or not, it will move on and be gone.
So taking examining how I am spending the minutes of my hours is usually the first place I need to start. A minute slips by so quietly and smoothly it is easy to lose the value that can be gained from it. Living on purpose, and making conscious decisions about how I am spending my time is the key to escaping from the time box.
3. Money
All too often I let myself blame my sitting in the box on money, or the lack thereof. But if I allow myself to embrace that mindset, I will always be limiting myself. More money could always be used, but if I'm honest with myself there are nearly always things that can be done now, whether I have the money I think I need or not, that will move me further away from my box. I can study, read, take advantage of what is available to me within my current budget and as I take these steps, following the bit of path I can see now, the rest of the way always opens before me, whether through monetary means or other. But I have to take the first step.
These are just a few of the ways that I often allow myself to become boxed in and ways I am learning, sometimes over and over, to escape from the box and dance the dance of life. I would love to read the thoughts of others on boxes and finding freedom from them.
Somehow I have to get back to blogging regularly. I miss it when I don't but always feel like I have to have something profound, or really interesting or unusual before it's worth blogging about. But I have decided to drop those expectations since I'm not really such a profound or interesting person, and just blog about day to day life. I want there to be a pattern of daily posting to create a record of daily life around here. While it may not be the most interesting it's really not all that boring either and I don't want to forget the blessings and challenges of daily life.
It's a bit of a bummer that I accidentally ran my phone memory card through the washer yesterday and now I can't take pictures to post as well, but in a few weeks I should be able to get another card and then I can post pictures again.
So here's to more frequent posting. Let the fun begin!
It's a bit of a bummer that I accidentally ran my phone memory card through the washer yesterday and now I can't take pictures to post as well, but in a few weeks I should be able to get another card and then I can post pictures again.
So here's to more frequent posting. Let the fun begin!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Containing Chaos
One thing I've really missed since we moved into our new house is the baby gate in the playroom doorway. The playroom in this house actually has four doorways - one to the bathroom, one to the nursery, one to the living room and one to the kitchen. The bathroom and nursery have been gated for awhile now but the living room and kitchen really needed gates to keep the babies and toddlers out of the kitchen and away from the steps going upstairs from the living room. Those two doors are odd sizes so we had to special order gates to fit them. They came in today so Doug put them up this evening.
These are going to make my life so much easier!
Birthday Presents
I thought I would share a few pictures of the birthday presents I opened last night.
Doug bought me a stand mixer that I know I'm going to enjoy using. I've wanted one for awhile now.
Austin knows I'm always losing my pens and wasting way too much time looking for one so he bought me two packs of them.
Amanda bought me this very comfy pair of slipper boots. . . . .
. . . . . and this very cute teddy bear.
I am very blessed to have received such nice gifts and even more blessed to have such a wonderful family.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tomorrow is my birthday. We don't usually make a big deal about the adults' birthdays but Amanda would not hear of that this time.
So this evening after dinner she started begging Doug to take her to Wal-Mart. And, as usually happens, she convinced him to go. Even though it's cold and windy and wet outside. (I think she has him wrapped around her little finger.)
So after the little ones go to sleep I'm going to get to open presents. A day early, but she just can't wait.
Thinking back on this past year I realized that last year on my birthday I had absolutely no idea that in a year we would have moved into our own home. I knew eventually we would take this step, but I thought it would be three or four years down the road.
It's funny how much things can change in a year.
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