Not My Child! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I will preface this by saying that the majority of what NEVER happens to me is typically not caused by my 5-year-old little man. He was born a preemie, and he just came out fighting. Needless to say, the fight has never left him.

This past week, I certainly did not have one of the worst weeks of my life. My son was not singlehandedly responsible for one of those extremely horrific days. While watching tv with the kiddos one day, I did not find myself dozing off, as they were sitting ever so calmly... one by my side and the other on my back. I was not awakened to little man in my face saying, "Look what I did to my hair, Mommy." My eyes began to focus and this is what I did NOT see: My son's beautiful, long blonde hair chopped off on top...to the skin...with kitchen scissors. I did not proceed to shriek and then turn around to realize that he had not also given his sister a nice little hair cut as well. Her long, beautiful, dark brown curls were not gone, and she was not also nearly scalped in some places. What kind of a mother would fall asleep while watching tv with her kids? Not me. I get a full night's rest every single night, and I am NEVER worn out or exhausted by my children's antics or their sometimes crazy schedules. I am the picture of readiness and alertness. Or something like that.

My children are always so well-behaved. They would never throw fits, especially in public. I mean, seriously. They would not even think about it. This week was not a particularly stressful one, and you can not see that written all over their faces. Thus, at Sunday dinner yesterday with 15 members of our family (at Texas Roadhouse...my fav!), both little ones did not cry and cling to me, begging to be carried. They are way more mature than that. They did not refuse to be carried by any other member of my family, and when I chose one to carry, the other did not scream and cry all of the way to the table. I did not quickly feed little man the free rolls, rush order mac-n-cheese for baby sister, feed them as quickly as possible, and leave my favorite restaurant without even eating. My children would never stress me out that much. NEVER.

Little man also does not start pre-kindergarten on Thursday. Not my tiny little baby who fit in the palm of my hand when we brought him home from the hospital. He could NOT be starting school already! Where has the time gone??? At registration, he was most definitely not the clingy, crying, fit-throwing, mama-hugging child that every parent glares at. NOT my son. He is totally not babified or spoiled like that. That same boy did not surprise me at orientation when he did wonderfully! On the other hand he also did not embarass both his parents when he went to visit his teacher this morning while taking big sister to school. He spoke to the teacher and did not proceed to teach him the basics of pre-kindergarten farting, er, I mean gas expulsion. Not my child!!! And through all of the frustrations, crises, and stressful times I experience with my kiddos, I most certainly do not love them more than life itself. Not me.

The good, the bad, and the really ugly

A lot has been going on around here lately. Some good things, some bad things, and some really ugly things.

My symptoms with pseudotumor cerebri have progressively been getting worse. I had an appointment with my neurosurgeon, Dr.McG, a few weeks ago and he informed me that things didn't appear to be getting better and in his medical opinion (which I so highly respect) it is time to, shall we say, bite the bullet and have the shunt surgery performed. We discussed all of the risks and benefits and the procedure in detail. He sent me to have an MRI done to determine what type of shunt would work best for me. The V-shunt that is placed directly into the brain, though it's rather scary for me, seems like it will be what works best, but I guess we will find out for sure when Dr. McG gets the results and notifies me. The shunt will work continuously to remove the extra spinal fluid that surrounds my brain, thus keeping my spinal pressure low and alleviating alot of the symptoms I am having. Though I am definitely NOT excited to shave my head and have my head cut open, I am sooo looking forward to reaping the benefits that the shunt will bestown upon me. Please keep me in your prayers, because I am really nervous/scared/anxious, and just about any other emotion you can think of!!

The news gets even uglier. My brother's wife who was expecting their first child in February, learned this past week that she had lost the baby. They are completely heartbroken, as is the whole family. The army granted my brother a week of leave so they could come home and be with family during this difficult time. We got to spend the whole day with them yesterday, and this evening our family went out to dinner, and then they came over to our house to hang out. We have been able to have quite a few laughs which I think has helped tremendously. They say laughter is the best medicine. Well, in my brother's case, tattoos are. He and his wife got matching tattoos of a baby with wings. If you could, would you please pray for them? There are alot of private issues that make this even harder for them, and they are certainly in need of your prayers.

And, finally, some good news. There is a personal issue that I have really been struggling with lately, and I am happy to say that things seem to be improving. I'll be honest, it's not fixed, and the road ahead is a long one, but things are definitely looking up.

Most importantly, I am thankful for a God who is with me ALL of the time. He never leaves me or forsakes me. Through the calm and through the storm, He is ALWAYS beside me. I guess you could say that He is a God through the good, the bad, and even the really ugly.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I absolutely did not let my three-year-old daughter turn back into a baby while we were at the beach. That did not include lugging her around on my hip all week, letting her have a binky (which she hasn't taken in a loooong time), or rocking her to sleep every single night. That would just not be good for her development, so I wouldn't do such a thing.

On said trip, I also did not feed the kids cookies and chips for breakfast or lunch, or encourage them to, ahem, pee in the ocean, or maybe even the pool. That is disgusting, and I would never encourage them to do that just so I didn't have to trudge around with two little sand covered bodies trying to find the nearest restroom. But, they did go #2 in actual potties, and I definitely did not make little man wipe his own bottom because I couldnt' stand the stench of the restroom at the waterpark. I wouldn't make him do that.

And my husband is not such a tightwad that I did not have to confront his lie (in front of a waitress nonetheless) when he tried to say that baby sister was 2. He knows she just had a birthday and turned 3.

I am ALWAYS completely honest with my children, and I would never lie or use scare tactics to trick them into being good. Not me! Thus, when both of the little ones cried and fought the entire nine hour drive to the beach, this conversation did not happen between Ethan and myself.

Mommy: You better be quiet, Ethan. We are getting ready to pass a cop car. Oh, here it comes!!

Ethan: Where? Where? I didn't see no policeman.

Mommy: Oh, you didn't? It was an undercover one.

At this point he starts crying uncontrollably.

Ethan: Liar! You lied to me!! Why would you lie to me, Mommy??!!

I most certainly did not get caught up in a lie by my five year old son. Christians don't lie, and Mommys don't lie to thier precious little children. So, I definitely wouldn't. NOT ME!!