Thursday, December 03, 2009

Don't want to give the wrong picture

You know, I was thinking about the way I write on my blog last night while I wasn't sleeping (insomnia). I feel like I've been so "roses and sunshine" the last few months that people might think I'm portraying my life as ALL roses and sunshine. I've certainly shared my portion of struggles on this blog, but I think recently the good has so much outweighed the bad that at the end of the day the bad sort of melts away. Still, in the spirit of fairness, let me vent about the not so sunshiney things in my life! =-)


SCREAMING! Oh my word our house is so LOUD! Seriously, the volume level is driving us crazy. There is something about the combination of these four kids at these ages that causes them to combine for a humongous sound. There are nights when Eric and I cannot wait for bedtime so that we can hear ourselves think. There have been more than a few times when Eric has screamed "QUIET NOW!!!!!" Or I've screamed "SHUT IT UP!" Kind of stupid to scream when the problem is loudness! When one child is gone, it goes back to relative quiet. It's the weirdest thing.

POOP! I have a four year old who refuses to poop in the toilet. I don't know what Bright's hangup is about this, but there is some issue here. He's not afraid of the toilet. He goes in it sometimes. But it's random. And most of the time he ends up waiting until he's up in his room for a nap or nighttime, and then he poops. And he only poops 1 or 2 times a week (TMI) so they are HUMONGOUS. He's not constipated though. It's drives me crazy. But I've never heard of someone taking their kids to the doctor because he refuses to poop in the toilet and has huge poops.

MY DAUGHTER PARENTS HER YOUNGER SIBLINGS. Yes, I'm admitting it. I know this is like the carnal sin of having a "larger" family. But I've got a daughter who adores nurturing and care taking, and she has a mother who is sometimes incredibly busy with work or another child. Taevy changes diapers. She picks out the clothes for Kendi pretty much every day. She loves to make lunch for all of them every day, and I let her! She also wants to be a teacher and LOVES to make a "lesson plan" for the littles "school" each day. She learns to be a good teacher while she teachers them (no quotes because she REALLY teaches them), and she makes some pretty darn good lesson plans for preschool. Today I worked while Taevy read to the other three about the origins of the Christmas tree. Then she led the craft activity in which they took ice cream cones, frosted them, and then put candies on them to make little Christmas trees. I am *SO* blessed by Taevy. And she volunteers most of what she does for her siblings. But no joke--she makes my life a lot easier. That's the truth.
Kendi ate hers too fast. So you just get a frosting face!
KENDI IS SPOILED ROTTEN! You would think after three months the diva would be a little less diva-ish. And I suppose she is. But I'm telling you this child throws screaming throw down fits 50 times a day (no exaggeration there). She is so LOUD when she throws a fit. And she throws fits for reasons that are tiny. She throws a fit because it's cold outside. She throws a fit because nobody helps her put on her hat--and then because someone comes to help her put on her hat! It's funny when she's sleeping or when I'm writing about it, but in the moment I just want to give her a good swat and put her in time out! LOL! This TWO shall pass...
MY HOUSE IS DIRTY: No, like really dirty. When I start cleaning my kids ask who is coming over! You only see the tip of the ice burg in the background of the photos I put up. I haven't done laundry yet this week. And it stinks in there! We won't even talk about my aversion to cleaning bathrooms. Nuff said. Our backyard...well that's even worse than the bathrooms. We actually had neighborhood kids come over and leave because they said our backyard was the messiest backyard they have ever seen. It's true. I've given it over to kids and dogs. It's their domain! I rarely get my life organized enough to look back there and see that the dogs have chewed up half of the kids' toys that were left outside by accident.

WE ARE REALLY SICK OF HAVING A GOOD ATTITUDE ABOUT THE KIDNEY TRANSPLANT. Enough already. It's been 2.5 years. The average wait in our area is 12-18 months. We've been at the top of the list for 4 months now. Please Lord, just give Eric a kidney already! We don't feel patient. We are thankful for dialysis, but being on dialysis really sucks! It's awful. It's painful. My husband carries 2-3 liters of liquid in his abdomen ALL THE TIME, which makes him looks 6 months pregnant (and lowers his self esteem). It's not good for the bedroom relationship. He can't pick up our kids. WE JUST WANT A KIDNEY! [We're all leaving Tulsa are for the first time in six months to go to Wichita for Christmas. No doubt the call will come then.] ;-)

WE DON'T ALWAYS WATCH OUR KIDS CLOSELY ENOUGH: Bright has gone to the emergency room because he ate 8 immodiums. Countless walls with marker and pencil and mascara drawings. Toilets stuffed with legos. Sinks clogged with beads. Samren once took is passport to school for show and tell (got into the important documents to snatch it and we didn't know--found his passport in his backpack who knows how many weeks later). I could go on...
Kendi did this tonight SIX INCHES in front of Eric's face--literally. He had is eyes closed because he was tired. I was writing this post! This is Kendi's hair growth gel stuff. We washed her hair with Dawn (the stuff they use to get oil out of duck feathers after an oil spill!) for 15 minutes and she still went to bed VERY greasy!
IT'S DECEMBER 3RD AND THERE ARE NO LIGHTS ON THE TREE. The decorations are finally up (sans lights). But the tree is naked. I've never gotten this far into December without having my tree up. This says something about the chaos in my life right now. =-) But isn't my Ghana nativity so pretty?!There. How's that for a little view into the not so perfect stuff? LOL! I could go on but I don't want to shock you TOO much. You still love me, don't you?! Now you see my pictures in a different light, right?!
Anita

9 comments:

Jen 11:39 PM  

This is beautiful! I love it! Don't you feel better to have gotten it off your chest?

When I make it through a day and feel like reliving the hard parts, I will have to do a post like this a I have my own confessions!!

Right now, I clean what needs to be done at minimun and play Farkle on Facebook to numb myself! Don't get me wrong, I love my life but when it is quiet, I just need to enjoy the silence and do something that does not require much of me!!

Monica 12:31 AM  

Hi Anita

Just wanted to say hello and know that I still feel connected to your family. I enjoy your blog and check it as often as I can... One quick comment about Bright. If he is only pooping twice a week, you may want to get him checked out by the doc. I had a friend whose child continued to struggle with pooping in his pants (almost 6) before they took him in. It turned out he had some type of nerve damage in "that area" and he just did not KNOW when to go. The earlier it gets detected the better chance of helping him learn to go :) I hope I did not stick my NOSE in..
Blessings
MO

Bingaling 8:55 AM  

What?!?! You're not perfect??!?! Gasp!

There simply just are not enough hours in the day to do EVERYTHING. And even if there were...would you want to spend all your time cleaning and making your house look perfect if it meant spending less quality time with your kids (or your husband)?

Unknown 9:52 AM  

Thanks for sharing. :) Got a good chuckle out of the greasy head...

Oh, and LOVE that nativity!!!!

Sister Beta 10:57 AM  

I love your honesty! I'm so sorry for your wait with the kidney. :( I know it's not NEARLY the same, but my man and I have been waiting years for his visa-I get the sick of waiting part! I'm gonna stick my nose in about the poop thing too-I was a nanny for a family with a 4yo and a new baby. The 4yo started doing the same thing when baby came along, it was a control issue. Balance that with what the other commenter said, maybe a call to the Dr. instead of a visit? You're doing great, I'm praying for that transplant!!

FullPlateMom 11:09 AM  

Thank God! I thought I was the only one who endured what we have affectionately entitled "big Ghanaian fits" (not because Ghanaians are thrown to fits, but because that is what our little Bubbly did in Ghana. ALL THE TIME). They were probably 50 times per day at the beginning. Now, after nearly 6 months, it is down to 1-2 a week. But those first 12 weeks were a nightmare. I feel like I'm just waking up from the fog.
She's learning, Kendi is too. I know you know that, but sometimes you're just too close to see all the progress. It's there though, I'm sure.

God Bless,
Becky

Story of our Life 3:07 PM  

Awesome. You're human. I love it.

I don't even know where our decorations are. I was wondering if my kids would even notice we didn't have a tree this year.

We added a 3rd chidl. That child doesn't/didn't talk when she came to us. Now she doesn't shut up most days and other days we dont' know she is here.

My 10 yr old does the same as Taevy. She races to get herself dressed in the am so she can then pic out Ms. N's clothes. Heaven forbd she help the 7 yr old though...

I love this post. I didn't think you weren't human....I just though I loved how positive you are. That is partially why I've not wrote that much on my blog lately..cuz I'm not feelin all to positive. :)

Thanks for the smile today.

Julie 9:54 PM  

Have you been peeking in my windows so that you could write this blog post? : )

Renee 10:29 PM  

Anita,

You are a trip!

I honestly don't know how you do all you do and you so it so well.

-The craft looks so fun.

-Kidney transplant :o( Ugh-we are praying..

-Big Kids love to shepherd little ones here too..

-Look up encopresis for Bright. Friends ds had it and it sounds similar to what Y'all are going through..

-Hear you on the loudness. We *are* a joyful noise. I wonder sometimes if our house literally rocks..

-Christmas decorating is slow going here this year too. I have to laugh as every morning I open my blinds and the family across the street has added yet another decoration to their yard. They have one sweet child, a cleaning lady, lawn service, etc..Different seasons.

You sound like you have a hpaay and wonderful home.