Baby Ninja or Power Ranger

Here comes another Halloween. I have a 7 year old who chose to be a "Stealth Ninja" this year and a 4 year old who is going to be the Red Power Ranger.  I have no costume ideas yet for the little guy, but of course his brothers want him to match them. Doesn't quite seem worth it to buy an actual costume for one day.

Also, I have the chance to win some money towards my half marathon fundraising if I run on October 27 in costume. I'm trying to think of something creative while at the same time allowing for me to run without much hindrance.  Hmmm....

Can't we just get past this idiotic holiday and move on to my favorites?

Marathon Mom

Today I signed up to do a half marathon. I am not a runner, but all the literature said that there were options to walk/run so I am certain that's what I'm gonna do.

I joined Team in Training so that I could raise funds for blood cancer research and also because they will provide me with coaching and mentors along the way. Likewise, because I am asking for financial assistance with my goal pledge of $3400, I feel doubly accountable to make sure that I follow through to the finish line.

My mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in June 2011. She began treatment right away and has been a fighter ever since. Her expert doctors performed two stem cell transplants and she is currently in remission. I am raising money so that more treatments can be found and hopefully, a cure.

I would love to receive encouraging words, running buddies, or your uplifting stories. You may check on my progress at my Team in Training website which will be live in a few days.

Melissa

I have worked Saturdays for such a long time, so with today being my first Saturday off in years, you would think that I would choose to do nothing.  Ha! Have you not been reading my blog?!  Sitting still is definitely not my style.

Here's what happened today:
-Several loads of laundry
-Practiced guitar
-Went to Target and actually stayed true to my shopping list, with the exception of adding paper lunch bags
-Came home, put the baby to bed
-Searched high & low for wrapping paper or gift bag. Couldn't find either, so I used a small beach bag and tied on some blue curly ribbon
-Took my 7 year old to a bowling birthday party
-Bowled with my 4 year old in a neighboring lane. Bowled 3 strikes and 1 spare somehow! :)

-Fed the baby chicken, smiley fries, and apple in the stroller between bowling. (I sneaked the food in, but I was planning to tell them that he had food allergies if I got caught.)

-Put the baby back to bed.

-Helped hubby tear carpet out of older son's bedroom.

-Pulled staples out of plywood and hammered in nails to prepare floor for new laminate.

-Made ratatouille for supper. Tasted good, but kids wouldn't try it. Not worth a fight tonight I decided.

-Made homemade oatmeal raisin whoopie pies with orange buttercream filling. (picture below)

-And I'm still in the kitchen preparing meatballs for a Labor Day family reunion that is sure to be visited by all-day thunderstorms. 

Whew. This is my written record for years later, when life is even busier, that I did actually have it somewhat together for a period in my life. 

-

Great Tips from The Little Gym

As I've mentioned before, I juggle two jobs: mom & gym manager. Things that I've learned as a mom have definitely come in handy at the gym and vice versa.

Here are some tips and parent wisdom I've gathered along the way. Most of it comes directly from the curriculum for The Little Gym's parent/child classes. It's good stuff.

1. Stability leads to agility.  Though not every child is blessed with the genes and grace of a ballerina, you can improve on one's natural coordination. Activities that promote climbing, rotating, and all 4-limb weight bearing help to enhance core strength. Once a child has improved stability and balance, he/she can then tackle more challenging movements, like quickly changing direction, cartwheeling, and various jumps.
2. Don't over-react when your child has a fall. Most often, the fall caused the child to feel scared rather than feel hurt. Your calm demeanor and loving hugs are usually the perfect medicine.
3. Kids can learn how to share, take turns, and communicate their needs at a very young age. Participation in group classes, along with attentive parent involvement, helps to make your young toddler "head of the class" in peer interactions. I have seen countless examples of sharing and turn taking with kids as young as 14 months. And two year olds who can cope with situations better because of this early start.
4. Music is a universally great teaching tool. We have plenty of jingles at the gym and they all work! Babies, toddlers, and preschool-aged children love to move & groove to music and it also captures their attention whereas just speaking something may not. With just a little bit of effort, parents can create fun jingles to get kids to follow directions.

Best of luck to you parents! I hope to see you soon at The Little Gym.

Melissa

Impossible Impassable August

Our summer schedule is not going as I planned. But I am stubbornly unwilling to say that I am fully to blame. We lost our summer babysitter about a week and a half sooner than we had hoped. So even our best-laid plans and beautiful color coded Google calendar (accessible on my smartphone) were of no use anymore.

I was more than 30 minutes late to pick up my older sons from vacation Bible school. Not once but twice. That is not acceptable. Luckily, I volunteer there every year and know the camp director so she was willing to keep an eye on my boys until I could get there. I hope that the money I'm making at work is enough to pay for their psychiatrist bills later. 

The cavalry is on the way. My mother-in-law is coming in for a week. Hallelujah!  My husband bribed her with a few rounds of golf (and seeing her 3 beautiful grandsons of course). This is great--- now I don't have to be the bad mom who cancels Lego camp because carpooling is impossible. I might actually come out of this looking pretty good. Lego camp is still on, grandma is visiting, and we can actually get to the county fair too. As a reward for my greatness, I made delicious peanut butter cookies. 

Cooking in bulk

I find it sort of funny how different my husband and I approach grocery shopping. He likes a hand-written list and he will stick to it to a tee. Well, occasionally chips and dip find their way into his cart!  But me on the other hand... I start out with a list and before I've even gotten 20 feet into the produce aisle, I am adding red peppers, zuchinni (never could spell that word), collard greens and whatever else piques my interest. So I should've been more specific yesterday when he chose to go to the grocery store for me....

Our cupboards were bare again and I thought it would be a good use of my time this weekend to cook in bulk. I love to be in the kitchen cooking, but what I don't love is being in the kitchen cooking for my family of 5 in 90 degree weather and having 3 kids underfoot. Got out the "Once a Month Cookbook" and perused through for some good summer choices, made a halfhearted grocery list, and had a plan to cook most of the day Sunday. Information that in hindsight would've been helpful for him to know in advance.

I gave him the list and I took our 3 boys to the local splashpark. Upon returning home, I took over the cooking and excitedly started looking for all the new groceries. But there wasn't much to find. My to-the-point engineer husband stuck to the list exactly. I thanked him for starting the collard greens for me and went about putting a meal together. I was a little disappointed but I didn't dare say that. I perhaps romanticized the idea in my head a little too much of me in my apron and the kitchen smelling of herbs, husband and kids smiling and eating new gourmet foods....

It all worked out for the best anyway. My mom who is being treated for multiple myeloma was given the okay by her oncologist that she could have visitors again. So instead of cooking all day today, we drove and met my parents in Gettysburg and spent half the day there. I made a beef roast in the crockpot and a pork roast in the oven so at least I have a few meal options this week. Better than McDonald's.

Much-needed long weekend

May has come and gone in a flash.  Could feel that way because I've been on the go all month. Working 6 days a week  + Mom 24/7.

First weekend: In Austin, TX for The Little Gym annual conference
Second weekend: T-ball. Work. Mother's Day weekend. Normal "running around" and family busy-ness
Third weekend: T-ball in morning (we were on for snacks so it was homemade "baseball" rice krispie treats), then drive to Pennsylvania for younger brother's wedding. Spend the next 2 days doing wedding/family stuff.
Fourth weekend: Memorial Day. Work followed by picnic, followed by church, hiking, pool. Followed by complete house cleaning, another picnic and more pool.

Busy. The life that I prefer. The house does suffer for it. I actually completely lost my mind the other night and started screaming at my husband. By the grace of God he didn't have me commited or threaten divorce. For a change, he actually screamed back. Took me by surprise, I'm not gonna lie. For the 10 years we've known each other, this has only happened 1 other time. I deserved to be put in my place.

And just to show me that God still is very much present....the Bible study the day after our fight was on Ephesians and how a husband and wife should treat each other. Okay, I'm listening. Message received.

I chose to be busy because that's the life I live and love. On to the next work week. And this week I promise to approach it with a little less yelling. :)

Busy Summer Up Ahead

I totally get it now when parents say, "I just don't know how I'm going to keep track of my summer plans."

I get it now because I have 3 kids all at different stages of life and I'm a full-time working mom. My school-age son is off school from June 14 through August 26. My middle son can attend his daycare all through the summer but wants to do some camps. My almost one-year old will be at daycare all summer but that fills me with a little bit of guilt. So I'm trying to decide if I have this all figured out yet. And the answer is a simple "no".

We have 1 week of summer vacation planned. I have volunteered to help out at Neelsville Presbyterian's Vacation Bible School for a week. I also want to help out with a local outreach project for a non-profit for which I am on the Board of Directors. (Learn more about Breezy Acres Ministry) And then factor in my full-time work schedule at The Little Gym, camp arrangements, visits to see family, and spontaneous day-cations, including the pool. It's time to consider a nanny.

If anyone has this juggling act figured out, would you please get in touch with me and share your invaluable advice?

~Melissa

Book me on the next flight to Africa

I'm reading a book titled "The Hole in our Gospel" and now I feel the need to go to Africa. Call me naive or blissfully unaware, but I truly didn't know that 26,500 kids die every day in Africa. To read that number simply tore my heart open. I am brokenhearted by this statistic.

Then, the very next day after I started reading this book, I attended a conference for my company. And at The Little Gym's annual reunion (that's what we call it because we're like one big happy family!), I learned that we were soon beginning a philanthropic partnership with Soles 4 Souls. Their mission is to donate used shoes to people all over the world in the effort of preventing disease and helping to end the cycle of poverty. The greatest need is in Africa.

So someone's trying to get my attention to the needs in Africa. Or perhaps I am being called to be a voice for poverty and human equality. I don't know. But it's got me thinking.

I hope that you might take a few minutes to consider how you might be able to get involved too.

http://www.soles4souls.org/

Working at 11:00 pm again

"Seems like there's just not enough hours in the day anymore." I remember hearing this phrase used before yet it didn't really start to have meaning in my life until recently.

I am worried for my computer chair. The imprint of my backside surely can't be good for its daily wear and tear. I just looked up at the clock on the computer screen and about fell over. It's already 11:28! How does this keep happening to me?  I cannot get to bed before midnight though my body needs it so desperately.

I think the most exhausting thing about the work-home balance is the knowledge that tomorrow's schedule looks just the same. Quite possibly even a little worse for what good am I really on 5 hours of sleep? (enter crying baby. wait it stopped)  At least I wasn't in a deep, restful sleep being awakened by this 9-month old love of my life. He's teething bless his little heart. He can be forgiven. I have slightly less tolerance for the 4-year old who a little too cheerfully crawls into my bed around 6:00 am every morning just to ask the same question. "Is Daddy at work?"  And in my head it's always the same answer, "How can it be 6:00 already? I just went to bed a minute ago!"  But the actual answer that comes off my lips is "Yep. Daddy's at work. Wanna lay beside me in bed and see if we can sleep until 7:00?!" I try to make it seem like a fun challenge. He doesn't take me up on the challenge very often.

(Since when did 7:00 am mean sleeping in?)....For me, I can count back 7 years.

I have thoughtfully planned out my day tomorrow. This done, I can now turn to the comfort of my bed and hopefully fall into blissful sleep without concerning myself over the details of my Tuesday itinerary. Just to do it all over again.

Feeling Too Materialistic at the Moment

Do you by chance have too many clothes and toys and nonsense stuff in your house?  I know I do. And it's ruining my mood. I look at it daily and want to bag it all up. Or burn it.

I remember reading a story in Reader's Digest from a family who lost everything they owned to a home fire. What has stayed with me years later is remembering their attitude. The husband and wife both mentioned how it was 'rather like a blessing.' Their old house had been full of stuff accumulated over the years, many of which was just plain junk. Post fire, the husband now owned 7 work shirts and that's all he planned on owning. Similar thing with the wife. Story moral in a nutshell: "There's more to life than having material possessions."

I'll be candidly honest when I say that this is something I struggle with. Thou shalt not covet. I know that, but....aaaaagh, there's the bigger house that's for sale, and the jeans that are so cute, and the shoes that I could get at 1/2 price and....

I sort through my clothes about 3x every year. I bag up the unwanted clothes and donate them to our local Salvation Army. I do the same with my kids' clothes. But the end result is that I'm really just cleaning out to make room for some new ones. Kind of counter productive.

This time I'm about at the breaking point. I am picturing what my house could look like without 1/3 of the stuff. That's motivation to get me going, but how to get started?  I would love to know if other moms feel that it's best to simply donate it or to consign or what. Our homeowners' assoc. doesn't allow yard sales. I'm kind of relieved actually. I hear that it's a lot of work and the whole concept of bartering on prices is just a nightmare.

If I can wrangle my family into this project, I am going to do it. There will be light at the end of the tunnel.

Proud Child, Prouder Parent

This image is of a magnet that's for sale through The Little Gym. I like the message, though tonight I decided  that I'm the Prouder one.

My first grader son is bright and fun and loving but he can also be forgetful, lazy and unfocused. So when he proudly announced a few weeks ago that he wanted to do his school's science fair, I was trying to smile on the outside while quietly grimacing on the inside. I grew up despising the science fair. It was like some teacher's cruel joke on parents to test how much patience they really had. I was an abominable science fair participant. I vividly remember waiting until 2 nights before and then crying my eyes out because of the stress.  Now hindsight is 20/20 of course and thinking back on it, I believe my parents had it worse because I was a temperamental time bomb and my older brother who just totally lacked focus would also procrastinate until the day before. Then the day would arrive and all the kids would be carrying their display boards and contraptions and moldy pieces of bread and my mom would breathe a sigh of relief. One more year down. So that's my experience with science fairs. Not the most positive memory.

So, we're coming full circle and my firstborn son is sort of a science fan. He knew the project that he wanted to do and I'll be honest with you, I think he's going to be smarter than me in a few short years. So he says, "Let's do an experiment on how color affects heat absorption. Okay?"  Ummmm.....(short pause)....."Good idea buddy. Or we could do something with yeast and do some baking in the kitchen to test stuff?" (I threw out this idea since I personally love to bake) I got a no-go for launch on that one.

Well, long story short, we scheduled several days that we would work on the project and display board together. In 15-30 minute increments so as not to overdue a good thing. And you know what? It wasn't stressful for me or him and I enjoyed it. There, I said it. I enjoyed the science fair.

The expo was today at his school. He was one of 6 first graders who did a project. The other 5 kids are all close friends of his and kids that I appreciate for their friendliness and manners. He sat with his buddies during the presentation portion. I sat 2 rows back. Proud parent.

But you know who's going to give me difficulty about science fair? His younger brother Isaac. I guarantee it because the kids' just like me. Should be fun in a few years.

Are You Kidding Me?

I'm guilty. I bragged about my family's ability to avoid any sickness this year. And like a guaranteed jinx, it came. The stomach bug came. And hung around for the 2 days before our spring break vacation and 5 days into it.

I am a mighty warrior and chose to approach battle armed with Clorox wipes, carpet cleaner, and some faith. Thank goodness we stayed in a condo versus a hotel room. I couldn't have survived in a hotel room that first night with the amount of cleaning my husband and I had to do. We transferred our son from the bed to the couch to the kitchen floor, and finally after he was (fingers crossed) finished vomiting, to the floor near the bathroom. Cleaning up kids' throw up is a thankless job---the kids are too sick to thank you and your spouse who's trying hard not to gag himself doesn't realize that a quick, "Oh honey you're such a good mom" could go a long way.

I have worked as a teacher for enough years that I have built up a resistance to most strains of any illness that works its way through our house. It's a good thing. My husband is an engineer (and great at his job) but he works in a cubicle in a building with only adults. Enough said.

So the illness started on Thursday with the 4-year old. Threw up on the sidewalk right outside of swim lessons. And then in the van on the way home. I was on duty both times. Two days later it went to my 6-year old first night of vacation. Me again. Son of a gun! Then, two days later like clockwork, my husband felt it coming on. We were scheduled to go to Busch Gardens that day so I tried to do some Jedi mindtrick on my husband by telling him, "It sounds like it's not so bad. I bet you just need some Tums & ginger ale." Well, he's a great husband and could've used some choice words on me, but he didn't. He agreed to keep to the vacation itinerary and proceed to Busch Gardens. He was absent most of the day. But, me and the 2 older boys had a great time! (picture above) Did I mention that he's a very selfless individual. Thanks honey, I love you.

Back home from vacation now and wondering why schools need to be off again tomorrow. That just doesn't work out into my plan for getting work done or for unpacking. Lord give me the patience...

Who is a blogger anyway?

I recently discovered that no matter the key words I use in a search engine, I ended up at someone's personal blog. And despite having no personal connection with these people, I have spent some (wasted) time reading. I am a reader. I just don't have time for novels anymore. But blogs in short little doses seems manageable and so, here I am. Writing my own.

I am no different than the thousands of other working moms out there. I know that working outside of the home means that I have intentionally created a life full of chaotic schedules and always attempting more than actually possible. But, on the flip side, I have to believe that my family has benefited from this choice and may even thank me for it in the future. I am not a stay-at-home. (bless those of you who are) Moms clubs and playgroups couldn't possibly maintain my interest for long. Be it a curse or a blessing, I am constantly looking for change and my job fulfills me in that way.

I stumbled upon my career but it had to have been divine intervention. I work as the Gym Director for The Little Gym of Germantown, MD. In a typical day, I teach several gymnastics (or dance or karate) classes, answer the phone dozens of times, talk to customers who I know like family. and work alongside co-workers that I genuinely love. It fits me. I can fill my day with children's laughter and high-fives, random song & dance, and still go home to a loving family with little guilt.

As I write this, all three children are asleep in bed and my husband is doing dishes. Can't complain.