What Do Stay-at-Home Moms DO?

I saw this on Facebook, and thought it summed things up pretty well.  It is slightly truncated.  See the full article here (might also help with larger print).

(They're playing cards, in case you can't see)

So to all my SAHM friends... Rock on.  Carry on.  

...Canasta, anyone?  :P

Binky's Last Stand?

Daniel will be three in a month, and he still sleeps with a binky.  I know, I know...  

Weaning David off the binky actually ended up being pretty easy.  He had 5 of them, and when he started chewing holes in them I'd throw them away, telling him each time that when he chewed through all of them we wouldn't buy any more.  The last binky got chewed and tossed.  When he asked for it that night, we said nope, you chewed through them all; they're all gone.  And that was that.  He pretty much shrugged, rolled over, and went to sleep, never to mention them again.  He may not have even been two yet, but I really don't recall.

Daniel has not been so easy.  When the binky chewing started, I tried the same tactic.  Except I didn't have five to go through.  Two, maybe three.  I made him use that final binky until it was utterly ragged, but I could tell he just wasn't ready to give it up, and decided standing on principle wasn't worth him choking on a piece of chewed off binky in his sleep.  So I broke down and bought another set.  Figures that the kind of binky he likes is only sold in pairs.  We told him earnestly that when those were done, that was it.  No more binky.  And we reminded him of it after the first one bit the dust, and as the cracks have been getting bigger in THE FINAL binky.

Well, he did it today.  As I was putting him down for his nap, he chewed a hole in that thing, then took it out of his mouth and stuck his finger in the hole to investigate, making it even larger.  "Mom, it's broken," he told me.  I asked, "Do you want me to throw it away?"  Grunt in the affirmative.  "Okay, but this is the last binky.  There are no more after this.  Are you sure you want me to throw it away?"  Again yes.  And he laid there in his bed, binky-less, looking somewhat forlorn while I shut the door and went to do the deed.

I suppose I should be doing a victory dance.  I might be, if we weren't about to go on a trip.  Because although Daniel only has that binky for naps and bedtime at home, it becomes an extension of his tongue on trips, practically coming out only for meals, and even then sometimes those get sacrificed to binky time.

Meanwhile Daniel called to me from his bed and asked me to sit in the rocking chair.  I suppose that's seeking compensatory comfort in the binky's absence.  I sweetly declined, gave him a hug and kiss, and encouraged him to go to sleep, not wanting to start an expectation of me hanging out in his room for the duration of his nap.  Several minutes later, I could hear him playing with cars, and several minutes after that he was banging to get out of his room.  Now he's wailing pathetically.

Generally speaking he still naps willingly, and for a couple hours to boot; I'm NOT ready to give that up.  So I guess we'll see if I stick to the "buy no more" resolution this time.  Something tells me I might find myself in the "desperate for a binky" aisle at Target in a few days.  *sigh*

Starlight Express

Because I just can't resist... here are a few pictures of our little basement production mentioned in the previous post.

Thanks for the memories, Keely!  :)

David's Travel Itinerary

"Mom, to get to Grandma Nash's house (in Washington), first we'll take a shortcut to Texas to rest, then walk to New Mexico, because it's close, to get a drink. Then after we get a drink we'll walk back to the car (in Texas??) and drive to DeeAnn's house (in Utah), and then we'll drive to Grandma Nash's house! And we can use my map puzzle for directions. Does that sound like a good plan?"

✈ ✈ ✈ ✈ ✈

Lack of blogging over the last 6 months = sorry. Don't even get me started on my scrapbook (can we say Jan 2008?). But, truth be told, there's not a whole lot to say, really. Here's a brief summary of what we've been up to. The lack of deviation is almost frightening:

Breakfast, preschool/gym/errands/laundry, lunch, nap, errands/playground/laundry, dinner, [evening obligation of the day], bed. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

We do have some changes on the horizon. David starts Kindergarten in August (hooray!) We also decided since he'll be in all-day Kindergarten, and since he has a long list of things he wants to do when he turns 6 (including tee-ball, tennis, soccer, and trying lots of new foods), to let Daniel have a go with The Little Gym in David's place. I am excited for Daniel to get a chance (he asks me every week if it's time to take him to Little Gym), but sad to withdraw David. But, we can only do so much, you know?

Meanwhile we're looking forward to visiting family this summer (hence David's travel itinerary)!

And some long overdue photos:

One of Nathan's favorite Little Gym images (Jan 2010):

At the NC Zoo:

The ONLY Easter picture (sorry G'ma Merrill). This is at a friend's church's family fun day.

Primary Activity at the Raleigh Temple:

David's Preschool Graduation:

My brother Sean's Ph.D Graduation from Yale. Pictured: My sister Minda, Sean, our childhood neighbor and surrogate sister Keely. Incidentally, Minda forbade me to stand on the curb with everyone else, haha. Story: The summer before I started Kindergarten, Keely had visited her Dad in Ohio and seen Starlight Express. She brought home a tape of musical highlights and we, along with another neighborhood friend, put on our own production of Starlight Express in Keely's basement. It was quite a production for 5 independent elementary schoolers, and we were immensely proud of ourselves. She got this poster for Sean to remind him to stay humble with that fancy degree of his. :)

Daniel getting fancy with his tools:

Summer Fun:

David's Final Little Gym Show Week (Jun 2010):

(Desperate measures to keep a little boy sitting down!)

Supply & Demand

How many of you have looked at a charge for a service and thought, "That's stupid to pay someone to do that; I can do it myself for less (or free)!" On the flip side, how many of you have ever had a task that we just dreaded doing, and procrastinated, put off, rationalized against, and otherwise avoided it? Nathan often reminds me that the Laws of Supply and Demand dictate that at some point, a consumer will be willing to pay for services. Maybe those of us who have procrastinated and avoided our tasks finally decide to just pay someone else with more time or better skills to do them for us.

I am ashamed. I've been staring at my ironing for a month--one dress in particular--and creatively avoiding it, feeling blessed that we have enough clothes to go without a few particularly wrinkly pieces for weeks on end. In my defense, the dress was fully lined and had boning, and it was tricky fabric. I could have done it myself, but really didn't have the time or energy to focus on such a meticulous piece of work. I finally took it to the dry cleaners and had them do it for me. One hour and $3.78 later, my dress was freshly pressed and hanging in my closet. Much better than stressing over it for a month.

Here We Come a Wassail-ing

Growing up my siblings and I enjoyed watching Will Stanton's Claymation Christmas Special at home, and our early-morning Seminary class had a tradition of watching it on the last day of class before Christmas. So, in honor of those traditions, I want to share some of my favorite clips. :)











("Sounds like an old sheep-shearing song.")

Merry Christmas!

Cha-Ching

I keep waiting for it to feel like Christmas. Seems like all the things that made the season special for me growing up aren't going to happen anymore. I was downright depressed last year; I have to figure out a way to make my own cheer.

Meanwhile I discovered yesterday that my favorite twinkle-lit garland doesn't work, I can't get hot water in my washing machine--which Nathan is content to let be since we do pretty much all our laundry in cold water anyway, 'tho I think it'd be nice to at least have the option--and we still have a leak in our roof by the chimney. We had a guy come look at it while Hurricane Ida was blowing through, and he offered two options. We agreed to try the simpler fix first, but I saw yesterday in the torrential downpour that it didn't work, so on to Plan B: reroofing. Right after our new furnace and new hot water tank. Ho Ho Homeownership.

Last night Nathan asked me to scan all his mission pictures over Christmas break for a seminary lesson...

*sigh*

I was hoping to have a few more years to recuperate before starting that one. But, it will be nice to have it done. I finally finished my Blurb photo book of my childhood pictures, and I'm almost done organizing my sister's digital photos as part of her Christmas present. Isn't it amazing how quickly technology overwhelms us, no matter the form?

May your days be Merry and Bright...

New Addition

Meet the latest addition to our household as of Saturday. David named him "Beeper."

Sorry my point-n-shoot camera didn't like focusing on him, no matter how many times I tried. This was the best photo of the bunch.