Well, here it is already July (late on July 4th for that matter!) and I am just writing my first blog of my summer series. Some of you are rejoicing I am sure because you usually just delete these, but I have actually had 3 people ask me when I would be starting up my blog again...can you believe that!? So, as I watched my Royals get blown out on their one national television appearance and fireworks are exploding in the rain around our house, I figured now is a good time to start my summer of blogging. You see, my life will get crazy very soon as we are adding child #3 any moment now (anywhere from seconds to 16 days...but no later than July 20th) and that means kids will outnumber adults in our house. This means we will now play Zone defense and see if having 2 kids has taught us anything in how to raise a 3rd child. So, what have I learned so far? Here. We. Go.1. Sleep is for the kidless. I can't complain too much as Jack liked going to bed at 8 and getting up at 8. But then came Abby.....goes to bed at 8, talks until around 10:30, wakes up at 6:30 and tugs on our covers until we either put her in our bed to play with our ears for an hour or until we throw a poptart on the floor for her to eat the frosting off of. If I had really learned things from my kids, I would keep poptarts on the nightstand and have a picnic blanket for our bedroom rug. But I am still learning, just not sleeping.
2. Free activities are even better! This summer has me NOT coaching, NOT doing grad school anymore, and NOT moving. So what it does have me doing is watching for free activities. Some Fridays find me traveling around Indianola garage sales letting the kids pick one item $1 or less at each stop. Abby's Dora lawn chair/bag and Jack's Iron Man have been the best finds so far this year. Plus Abby picking 10 new babies for her bed has been fun. Libraries, backyard kiddie pool parties, and watching movies at school while I work are also fun options. While technically not free since we paid for the membership, the zoo and science center have been nice air-conditioned free entertainment as well. While you could argue gas, food, cheap crap at the garage sales are not free, they are much cheaper than daycare and day camps and hotel/vacation stays and I will take it!
3. Excitement from kids beats anything I know. I love starting my day saying: "Kids...guess what we are doing today?! Just hanging out and petting the cat!!!" Once they realize I am serious, they actually get excited and find it a fun activity! Outside of genuine excitement like that, Abby's face when she sees a mall playground, Jack when he sees a donut with sprinkles at night knowing he gets one in the morning, and both while making horrible cupcakes with Abby's new cupcake maker (reward as she has stayed dry at night for 9 straight nights!) despite their taste is worth every moment. They still drive me nuts and a 3rd will drive me even crazier, but knowing I can get them so excited they almost burst every day by something I find ordinary is worth it!
4. Independence rocks! Since today is still July 4th for a little while longer, I will end with independence. It took us awhile again to get pregnant with our 3rd, so by the time this baby decides to arrive, Abby will almost be 3 1/2 years old. Abby has always been very independent and that has rubbed off on Jack (as has preschool and the thought of starting kindergarten in a month) and that independence makes me comfortable having a 3rd at this time. They love to pick up their toys, Abby loves to clean her messes, and Jack is so OCD about rules that he makes sure everything runs smoothly and correctly at our house. He will likely get beat up multiple times in school because of his OCD and his tattling, but sadly I think he will stick to following the rules. I am hoping that Jack and Abby will soon mow our lawn, wash our dishes, remind our cat to pee in the litter and not wherever he feels like, and maybe, just maybe, fix all of our house problems (foreshadowing of future blog??). If they do that, maybe we will have that 4th child in the next year or two (did I just use foreshadowing again?!).
So, first blog of summer of 2010 out of the way. Feels good. Reagan could have had the baby as early as a week ago or as late of July 20th, but we both feel it will happen this Wednesday through Friday for reasons only we know. Heck, she could have had this baby while I wrote this blog for all I know. Maybe my next blog will be about the arrival of our 3rd child. Who knows?What I do know is that I am able to blog and say what I want, post it on the Internet for anyone in the world to read, and I will sleep tonight with booms in the sky above that I know are not mortar shells or gunfire because I live in a great country and a country that celebrates this every day of the year, but even more today. Happy 4th of July all!
Love&Prayers,
Ben
3 Things to leave you with:
1. To plug another blog of mine, here is a link to a blog that I hope will act as a one-stop shopping for teachers in our district to find and use technology, websites, or ideas in their classroom. If you teach or want to see some interesting educational websites, here you go: http://wildcatwebsites.blogspot.com/
2. If you like funny pictures (sometimes innappropriate or not safe for work), sad and strange facebook posts, or very demotivational posters (again, sometimes very innappropriate for work, but many times very funny), here are some other fun sites to try: www.failblog.org, www.failbook.org, and http://verydemotivational.com/ I use some of it to make my birthday/anniversary cards or look at the sites sometime just to finish my day with a laugh.
3. Oh, baby update: We have names picked out for both boys and girls as no one knows the sex of the baby....except me. Yeah, I know, sad that I know it again, but this time I allowed a chance for me not to know. But I happened to show up to the ultrasound just in time and the baby happened to cooperate. The rest of the world will just have to wait and see what happens this week. I am on record for predicting a 7 pound, 10 oz., 20 1/2 inch baby born on July 7th at 7:57 p.m. And it will be a.....
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