Stuff I should have known...

1. If writing something within reach of a above average height 2 year old and your phone rings...take the pen with you...failure to do so results in devastation to your walls, clothes and floor.

2.  When a 2 year old says they are done eating...they mean it.

3.  Take full advantage of a toddler's desire to help with housework...laundry can't get put away fast enough.

4. It is inevitable that if a baby is going to explode their diaper, it will happen while they are sitting on your lap while you are wearing your good jeans.

5.  There is no such thing as too much caffeine.

6.  You can never read a book too many times.

7.  Watch what you say around toddlers, or you will have a girl whose new favourite word is crap!

8.  They are your child and you love them, even at 2 am

Exhausted

Last night was a bad night...we don't have too many of them these days, but last night was bad!  Surprisingly though it was not the baby that made it a bad night...although it was not idea because she spent the whole night in MY bed with us, but at least she slept through and did not shove us too much.  The bad night came in the form of the toddler...she was up until 10:30pm (when her normal bedtime is between 6:30-7pm), she was just running around her room.  But finally at 10:30, just as we were headed up to find our own rest she crashed for what I hoped would be an extra long time (she usually sleeps from 7pm-8am).  However, last night, she was awake again at 1:30 saying "I done, downstairs", I managed to get her back to bed only to have her wake up the day at 4:30.  Thankfully my husband went downstairs with her and I was almost able to go back to sleep.  Needless to say, today is an XL timmies kind of day!

Abbie's Favourite Songs

There comes a point in life when fun no longer means clubbing, drinking or being out 'till 4am, or thinking about yourself first! Fun means Disney movies, family dinners, bedtime stories, long cuddles, a messy house, being asleep by 10pm and hearing little voices say "I love you." Becoming a parent doesn't change you, it makes you realize that the little people that YOU created deserve the very best of your time!

My husband had a great post today that brought tears to my eyes!

Frustration

My oldest daughter just turned 2 years old.  So lucky us, we are thrown into the "terrible twos" stage.  The stage where all of your words seem to be ignored and the frustration sets in because most of the time, you have no idea what they really want.  For example, today, while trying to get Abbie to eat her lunch, she kept telling me "I done mama, I done" so believing her, I would go to take her tray away because I know the food will just be thrown if I take too long, and as I take the tray she starts eating again.  We go through this 3 times before I finally got it, then of course she throws herself on the floor in an epic tantrum!   I now have her in her room for "nap" in which really it means that she is in there destroying the place.  But I would not trade it for the world!

The intelligence of a 2 year old

So this morning, I was trying desperately to get a few more minutes of sleep (which never really works...but I can dream) all the while listening to the conversation Graham was carrying on with Abigail in the next room.  She was reciting her ABCs for him and we were surprised to know that she can now recognize "X" (which she always called "K") and she will now refer to "Q" as "O", in which she used to just say "I don't know!"  We have also learned that we really need to watch what we say...unfortunately for us, last night while getting her ready for bed, I accidently taught Abbie her first curse word.  I was holding her sister and Abigail jumped off the change table at me saying "jump!", luckily I caught her, but in the process yelled "Oh Crap", which is not as bad a word as I could have said, but still.  Immediately after I yelled it, Abigail proceeded to yell "Oh crap!" over and over....not the ideal ending to my evening...but it did not end there...I am about to talk about potty training, so if you don't want to know about my daughters bowl movements, please stop reading now.  Last night, long after Abigail went to bed, I was watching television downstairs ( I was watching One Tree Hill, if you are interested) and Graham was at Bible study, but I started to hear Abigail crying upstairs.  I ran up and Abbie started yelling "Poo! Poo!"  in which I checked her diaper and called her a liar and started to leave the room...she yelled out "Poo, Poo, now, potty"  so I ran her to the bathroom and sure enough she pooped on the potty...in fact I cannot remember when I last changed a poopy diaper of hers....Graham can't either.
This morning, her vocabulary shocked me again, when she brought over some of her play food and told me that they were "strawberry, donut, coke, and mato"!  Go Abbie Go!

A Stay At Home Mom

Do I work? Yes! I work 24 hours a day. Why? Because I'm a MOMMY. I am a cook, a cleaner, a parent, a teacher, a referee, a nanny, a nurse, a handyman, a maid, a security officer and a comforter. I don't get holidays, sick pay, or a day OFF. I work through the day and the night. I am on call at all hours....... Now tell me my job isn't a real one!
If you are considering returning to work...here are some qualifications that should be on your resume:

Daycare Staff - Having 2 kids of my own I feel I need no "on the job" training for this one. If I can handle my crazy kids and sometime babysit other kids then bring it on!! I may need a refresher course in CPR to be certified, but I am sure I already know first hand all the tricks any kid can come up with. I also developed a good set of patience, something I did not have 9 years ago!!!

Housekeeper - 7 days a week cleaning up after myself, my husband, 2 kids, and a pet has taught me how to get the job done right, quick, and with no hesitation. From floors to walls to toilets and beyond. I have seen it all!!

Laundry - Four loads of wash every few days from start to finish. Hunting for the dirty cloths, sorting them out, putting in the washer, some in the dryer, some on the cloths line, folding, putting away. I consider myself to be an expert!!! No missing socks, and no shrunken shirts!

Chef- I can classify for both Head Chef and Short Order Cook because that is generally my everyday life. 3 of us eat the same meal everyday, while just my baby needs something else. Everyone eats, everyone is happy.

Personal Assistant- I figure with this one I may be able to handle one or two clients being that right now I am a personal assistant to 5 other people. I remember everyone's appointments, make sure nobody is late, and also make sure they have everything they need before leaving the house.

Business Manger - After successfully running a household I feel I am very capable of running a business. I know for myself, the true meaning a multi-tasking, and no textbook can teach you this skill, you either got it or you don't. If I can manage every aspect to my household I am sure I would make an excellent candidate to manage an office or different type of business. I know in my house if I am sick and down for the count this whole operation falls apart, but when I am well it is very quickly but back together!!

Court Room Employee- This one I say jokingly because I know I do not know all of the laws and rules of the court. But I added it on for the sense that everyday atleast once I feel like the judge, the prosecutor, or the defense attorney. The kids are always tattling on one another, stories are sometime fabricated, other people outside the home report bad behavior they may have caught my children doing, and it is my job to find the truth, find what may have started it, defend something that may have been taken wrong, and judging the punishment that is fit for the crime. l think I may even make a pretty good lie detector machine. lol

Personal Stylist - This was a not so easy job to learn. Styles change all the time, kids want to be unique, etc. But I have gotten alot better. I pick their cloths for the day, make sure everything matches, and make sure everything is clean.  Styling hair is even something I learned to an extent.  (Advice for others with daughters--if you decide you are going to cut your daughter's hair start practicing at a young age, when they are little they don't always notice mistakes, but when they are older they will)

Personal Shopper - I am a professional shopper. I make my list, cut my coupons, and head to the store. I will rarely forget something we need or something someone else may need. I know what they like as well as what they don't like. We rarely run out of important items, unless someone doesn't remove an empty box from the cabinet. I do not have X-ray vision so if the box is there I will assume there is something inside.

Here are some secrets about being a stay at home mom:

1. The title "stay at home" is a passive-aggressive term. There is nothing flattering, glamorous or remotely attractive about the word "stay." "Too Much Woman to Be Confined to a Cubicle Farm" works better.

2. Apparently, you are expected to be "at home" for some parts of the day; particularly those parts when children under the age of 12 are in your care.

3. Repairmen are not sexy in any way.

4. Nothing very exciting happens. But you need to talk, so the best entertainment is gossip and backstabbing. It is unavoidable and addictive.

5. People will say, "Well, its not like you're working or anything" just moments before they a) sign you up for lame volunteer duties at your child's school, b) dump their own brats on your doorstep, or c) redirect all their home deliveries to your front door (even the fertilizer order).

6. Cleaning the house is not a problem, keeping it clean is. If the house is as clean at the end of the day as it was when you started, you win.

7. You cannot be late for anything, or with anything. You have nothing else to do.

8. Your perceived intelligence drops by at least 50 IQ points. You may have run the computer science department at MIT before you decided to stay at home, but two weeks into the new job and your kids will be asking Dad for help on the family computer.

9. You have no excuse for not exercising.

10. You have no excuse for not eating a healthy lunch.

11. You can be truly bored at the same time you are acknowledging that you could be exercising, cleaning the house or watching someone else's kids.

12. The minute you resign form your old position, they promote it to a higher level, increase the salary and bestow a fabulous new title on that person who took over from you.

13. Your husband either a) shirks all domestic duty, which makes you mad, or b) doesn't shirk any, making you feel guilty. Yay! Something new to fight about!

14. Your children expect you to be at their beck and call. Even in the middle of an emergency manicure, one is expected to drop everything and rush to the school over a perceived "sore stomach."

15. You now have time to launder the sheets.

16. Even after 5 p.m., drinking with only children in the house is still considered to be "drinking alone." What, you had a hard day or something?

17. Your children are no better behaved simply because you're the primary caregiver now. In fact, most often, they're worse.

18. If you dress nicely, neighbours are suspicious. If you dress like a slob, you've let yourself go. If you dress too old, you're middle-aged before your time. If you dress too young, you're a slut.

19. Teachers expect you to be on top of the notes they send home.

Introduction

Hey all!

As most of you know, or maybe you don't...but I am a stay-at-home mom. I thought that it would be fun for me...and maybe you...for me to have a place to write down the things that my daughters teach me during our time together. Occasionally if I have the time and energy, I will write about things that I know about that may help other parents. But for my first post, I will tell you a little bit about me and my family.

My name is Jenelle. I have a husband, his name is Graham and he is a pastor. I have two daughters, Abigail is 2 and Karyss is 3 months. We all live in St Thomas, ON. We just moved here in the summer so that Graham could start his job as Community Outreach Pastor. I am an Early Childhood Educator by trade, so I am not a total quack when I hand out advice, but I am not a total expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt...if you are truly worried about your child, don't come to me.

Extendly, (i know, not a word), I have parents who shaped me to be the person I am today, almost everything I know, I learned from them. I have an older sister, who has a family of her own, so a lot of the advice I hand out, usually comes straight from her (Love you Jen) and I have a brother, who taught me all I know about geocaching (unrelated to my posts...but just a fun thing to know all about plus I adore him and did not want him to be left out.)

I think that is all I can tell you about us right now, the baby is waking from her morning nap and the toddler is looking for chocolate? And she is really tall...so she will probably find it. Which leads me to what she has taught me today. My older daughter has an amazing wingspan...so I must remember to keep everything at least 6 feet away from her!