Crosswalk.com - The Devotional

Crosswalk.com - The Devotional

You Know You are a busy Mama when...

WIPING, Man I am good at WIPING. All under 4 minutes...........After wiping applesauce off your 2 year old's face, hands, belly, toes, you put that messy wipe (yes, we keep wipes in every room of the house, including the kitchen table) on the table (sure to reuse in a minute), then you lift your 5 month old out of the highchair only to have him spit up on the floor (your new floor you are trying to "keep clean"- HA!)so you reuse that applesaucy wipe (it is clean enough for spit up), then you sit down while holding the spitter, to FINALLY take a bite of something that you might call sandwhich, and your oldest opens the bathroom door, and says, "Mom, I need wiped". Sure is a lot of wiping when there are 3 little people around here.

TAKE 5- "How did "I do" become "Don't touch me"?

For all you "new" moms (or mom with younger children)..........This article in Momsense magazine is worth sharing. I have tweaked it a bit, simply because I am not that fast at typing! Believe me, I will be the first to admit I need to decide daily to not give in to feeling like my kids will always be in diapers, I will always have someone crawling on me, and I will never have a clean house, friends over for games, or a moment for just "me".

A mom stands at the sink, rinsing off the dishes after a day of willful toddlers or a night of unscheduled waking- discipline, diapers and non-stop being needed. Her beloved comes around for a little nuzzle. And she wants to scream.

A friend recently told me she wished there was a love-and-libido bucket she could scoop from because with 2 kids under 4, she said, "I've got nothing left to give when my husband comes home."

If you know that feeling, try these ideas:

1. Take 5. Take 5 minutes to share something funny, momentous, frustrating, with your husband, even if it seems unimportant. At least you are connecting.
2. Freshen up. Splash your face, brush your teeth, change your shirt that the baby has spit up on 23 times today.
3. Think before you speak. Before you say, "the kids are yours now; I've had it today." Don't. At least make the FIRST thing you say something positive, then ask for his help. Don't demand it.

It is your daily decision to leave the leftovers for eating, and give your husband the fullest portion of yourself that you can (even if that means taking a cat nap on TOP of the laundry pile, or dancing throught the legos in the living room!)

1 Sign you are "about to have a baby"

Between kissing scrapes, feeding bellies and chores around the house, I don't have TIME to BLOG!!!!!!!!! With now three little people at home, I am outnumbered for sure. My house is a mess but I'll have time to catch up on that later. My kids are little right now and life is the busiest that it has ever been, and I LOVE it. Dance in the leggos, girls!

11 “mid-way” signs you are with child

11 “mid-way” signs you are with child:

1. Watching Iron Chef America and every other Food Network show will most likely lead to frying something after 9pm.

2. Ranch corn nuts! They’re salty, crunchy, and before you know it the bag is empty.

3. Your mind starts to categorize things that don’t even need categorizing.

4. The garage that you once, not long ago, just grossed you out has become a challenge to conquer.

5. Multiple not-sad parts of the movie Franklin bring you to tears.

6. You don’t mind taking your husband’s dirty, mud-covered clothes to the Laundromat. It is worth it when you drive home with warm, Gain-smelling Hanes T-shirts and it gives the kids something different to do.

7. You sit down on the couch next to your husband and he playfully asks why your top button of your jeans are unbuttoned?

8. You forget you are pregnant. You are driving. You look down at why the seatbelt feels tight. You say to yourself, “Oh, crap. I’m pregnant.”

9. Suddenly, you have never been so itchy. Skin is stretching. You don’t like that thought.

10. If you are paying attention, you notice movement in your abdomen about every three hours, or while you are eating!

11. This blank is for things that are going on that I would rather not share with the world. You know. _______________________________

Boys

I found a quote when I was expecting my second boy and it read: "With boys, you always know where you stand.......................Right in the path of a hurricane."

It is oh so true at my house and I imagine at every other house full of boys. They fight, "duke it out", say what they mean and mean what they say. They are mad, then are shortly over it. One minute they are throwing punches and the next they are chum-chumming over a hamburger.

With God sending another boy our way I can say that I don't think there is anything rougher, dirtier, or stinkier than a boy, but it is just the way it is supposed to be. So bring on the stinky outside smell, the growing boy appetites, the endless rough-housing, and the age-old question "Where in this house is there a FLASHLIGHT? Seriously". Mama's got a lot of loving to do.

Soggy Broccoli

I had a Dr.'s appointment yesterday. Before I went home I stopped at the hospital cafeteria, browsed through the options. Overcooked manicotti, soupy, soggy broccoli and cauliflower, cheesy potato casserole, philly cheestesteak, various sandwiches, pies, and of course the soup and salad bar. Holy moly. I have a confession. I LOVE cafeteria food. While I was browsing I ran into a few hospital employees that I know, and one asked, "What are you doing here?" (and she meant the cafeteria and not the hospital bc she's knows why I was at the hospital). I told her I come every time I have an appointment, whether it is breakfast or lunch, mealtime or not, I almost always stop for tea or something. Anyway, it WAS lunchtime and I got myself a ladelful of the broccoli and cauliflower and an even sloppier scoop of the potato casserole. Mmmmmm. The potato casserole was so creamy and cheesy and salty and the onions in it were huge and crunchy. Sure, at the appointment just a few moments earlier, I learned of a 5 pound weight gain, but that didn't stop me. We liked it. I remember one time when my husband and I were dating he said, "I LOVE cafeteria food", then I knew;)

I even stay one extra night in the hospital after I have a baby to have the extra help of the nurses, rest my body, and call in my big breakfast of choice for one more day!!!!!!!!