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.

It has been so peaceful and restful here in our neck of the woods... I certainly was not too busy with appointments and errands and housework to post the past few weeks. I have not found it hard to work on blog posts or even facebook updates because I am too contented busy holding my beautiful baby. Nor am I nursing as I type this, as I always give my baby my undivided attention!

So, a few things that have not happened the past few weeks...

I did not pour my cereal into my orange juice. I am barely functioning wide awake, alert, and enthusiastic in the morning because I love the hours before 7:30 am. On a side note, Post cereals should not add Honey Bunches of Oats with Oranges to their product line. Seriously.

We did not almost get paged to the church nursery because of our oldest daughter's behavior. She is a perfect angel, and would never dream of coloring on the tables or refusing to obey the nursery attendants. She never acts like a typical 3 year old! But, if she ever did any of those things, we would have her write an apology note, even if the attendants would be different than the past week and have no idea what she was apologizing for, as she was a perfect angel for them!

It was not our family that you saw driving down the street with our car stuffed to the gills with a grill, kid's picnic table, rototiller, 3 children safely secured in their car seats, 2 adults, a propane tank (for the grill) and several bags of groceries. Anyways, all that stuff wouldn't have fit in our vehicle unless the table folded flat and slid in front of the girls, the grill stuck out the back window of the hatch, and my feet were on the dash so the groceries and propane tank could fit on the floor in front of me. And, the thought that if we had a van this would probably be so much easier never crossed my mind. Because, even if we do have 3 children under the age of 4, I'm not sure I'm ready to be that mom.

Ben and I most certainly did not attend a fabulous Southern Gospel concert at our church. Because, as the girl at the door said, we're too young to like that kind of music. I mean, that's what she would have said if we had gone. And, if we had gone inside, we would have seen that we were part of the maybe twenty people under 40 years old out of the 300+ crowd, and that would have included our 2 month old daughter, who would have spent much of the concert asleep in her grandpa's arms. We would have really gotten our money's worth, as the concert would have lasted two hours longer than we would have expected. Our older girls would have totally enjoyed their time with Gram, eating a delicious Gram-cooked meal, reading lots of books, and discovering that our church has an ice cream store- nearby in reality, or at the church according to the girls.

Speaking of ice cream, I definitely did not allow my children to have two ice cream cones at their father's most recent softball game. I would never cave to mommy peer pressure like that! And I absolutely would not let them have those two ice cream cones after a nutritious dinner of pizza and cheese sticks. Unless I subscribe to the idea of all things in moderation, and had balanced out their dinner with a breakfast of cereal and yogurt and a lunch of broccoli, green beans, and ham and cheese sandwiches. Because just two ice cream cones is moderate.

I will have to save the story of what my beloved sister-in-law and I actually did not do for another post. It is worthy and accompanied by pictures. I'll leave you with an image from a photo shoot that was completely spur of the moment...

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.

As for my idyllic life, I have not been woken up too early (6:15 a.m.) several days this past week by my older children running into our bedroom and yelling, "Momma, there's dirt in the road again!" The people who own the land across the road from us would never dream of irritating their new neighbors before they even live here by dumping several loads of dirt throughout the day and then spreading it around their land with a bulldozer that sounds as if it is stuck in the mud every 2 inches it travels. My days have not been filled with "clank, clang, crash" and "vroom, errk, vroom, errk." Ugh! And, I have not seen the silver lining of the rain clouds that have prohibited the dirt dumping the past few days!

I absolutely did not enjoy the blissful extra hour of sleep as part of my Mother's Day gift! I certainly did not take over my husband's side of the bed while he fed our older daughters (French toast) and bathed them! Nor did I devour a delicious omelet, strawberry-jellied toast, fresh strawberries, and orange juice! I obviously do not have the best husband in the world! (I'm thinking more like the best in the universe!) And, although I have banned sugar in our household (how else will I ever lose this post-partum body?), I was not touched when he picked up my favorite sugar cookies as well as the hamburgers when we stopped at the grocery store after church before heading out to camp for the first time this summer year.

Speaking of mothers...

Grace certainly has not learned the art of multitasking from my example! (She's missing a glass of water and a computer...)


And, being the supermomma that I am, I would never dream of posting another Not Me! Monday before blogging about lovely Lydia's birth... and I would never spotlight a pic of my 1 month old (where did the past 4 weeks go?!?!) going on the potty! I certainly would never support my husband's decision to have her poop on the potty instead of in her diaper, especially considering we use cloth diapers and this meant one less diaper to wash! And, I would not take a picture of Lydia and Daddy sitting on the potty! (but I really won't post the pic of what she did deposit in the commode! I definitely won't hide it in her scrapbook! Ha!)

I really do not expect this to become a habit, unless she continues to poop only on Saturdays as she has the past two weeks. Taking my 1 month old to the potty truly is not going to happen when I'm home with our 2 year old and 3.5 year old by myself. (And, I cropped this pic just for you, Deb! I certainly would not put a pic of Ben's "Yankees Suck" t-shirt on my blog! *wink)

I absolutely would be remiss and feed into the middle child syndrome by excluding her from this post, so please enjoy a pic of my favorite diva as this week's good bye!

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.

We've been on hiatus from Not Me! Mondays- MckMama's beautiful 4th child, Stellan, has been hospitalized due to his heart condition and I've been waiting for, finally having, and adjusting to life with our own beautiful third child... but now everyone is home, trying to return to or find a new "normal", and praising God for all his blessings! He is GOOD!

This supermomma would never dream of posting a Not Me! post before blogging about her third daughter's birth! NO, not Me! Well, maybe I would kind of blend the two together and then blog later in detail about Lydia's arrival...

I would never claim to be a prophet or brag about when I am right, but I called it! Right from the beginning of our pregnancy, I said Lydia would come on April 7, and that is what she did! And I certainly did not get my hopes up for her to come earlier! NO, not Me! (disregard my last post, of course!) My biggest baby thus far arrived just before 2:30, weighed in just short of 9 pounds (half an ounce short!), and measured 21 inches long.

Being a supermomma, the transition to mothering 3 children has been a true change breeze! While my mom was here to help out (Thanks again, mom!), I certainly did not sleep in until 10 am most any day! And, I definitely have not already taken advantage of the soothing effects of a pacifier and the swing! Nor have I resorted to wearing Lydia in my sling or moby wrap just so she can get some sleep away from her sisters' thousands of loving kisses in the comfort of a pseudo-womb. I absolutely have not worn Lydia in the sling or wrap while she is awake just to have her close to me or so I could hold her and have my hands free. Since I am a supermomma, I automatically respond to every cry and fuss my third baby makes, with the same reaction time as my first two children, of course. I never let her cry just a bit so I can finish eating the last three bites of my dinner. I never fall asleep at night when nursing our little one and never allow my newborn to sleep in bed with my husband and me, especially since I have a bassinet set up right beside our bed. And since Lydia sleeps in her bassinet every night, I definitely do not use it to store extra clean clothes, diapers, and other baby paraphernalia. Nope, not Me!

But, if I were to do any of that, it would only be because I know it will not harm my beautiful baby. See?

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.

In our perfect little world, we certainly did not do any of the following:

While we were at our hairdresser's so Daddy could finally get his hair cut, I took Ella to the potty. Even though I was holding her hands, she did not fall in so far that her little bum got wet! I, of course, did not laugh hysterically to the point of tears, but pulled her up immediately and wiped her bum dry. I did not make her continue to sit on the toilet until she had relieved herself, lavishing praise on her to make up for the laughing previous reaction. This incident has not created a small fear of public toilets, particularly large commercial style commodes, in our younger daughter. She has not amazed me with the length of time she will now hold out rather than use a public restroom- we're talking an entire shopping trip, including a trip to the restroom for both her sister and mother!

During this week I did not decide to throw a "picnic lunch" in our living room, complete with PB&J sandwiches, apple slices, carrots, and fish crackers for "dessert". I did not do this so I would not have to cook another meal and could rest on the couch instead. And, I certainly would not allow my children to watch a Veggie Tales video while we ate our lunch. Nor would I have permitted singing and dancing along with food in hand! But if I had allowed such foolishness, I certainly would have prepared by using Daddy's note blanket on the floor as a crumb catcher dance floor. At least I didn't take any incriminating pictures. But, if there happens to be another picnic day, I will definitely have my camera ready to video my little divas, especially as they sing "Cebu!"

Our girls, in their sweet, silly, sisters-only language, have not taken to chanting nonsensical phrases over and over before erupting into fits of giggles! Their favorite phrase of late seems to be "Liger! Liger! Liger!" Of course, as they laugh their little heads off, I am not envisioning this:



Deb: What are you drawing?
Napoleon Dynamite: A liger.
Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.
(Napoleon Dynamite, 2004)

This weekend we enjoyed some Spring-like weather, with temperatures reaching into the mid 40s! In celebrating the heatwave Ben and I did not walk around without hats, gloves, or even jackets! And as we were all heading out for some family togetherness at Daddy's school's Fun Fair, we did not go at least a mile before realizing we had not brought hats and gloves for the girls. And, it did not take us almost another mile to decide to turn around and retrieve them. Nor was that decision influenced by the fact that our camera was also at home... We just wanted to make sure we were being "good parents"! I won't mention that when we dropped our little loves off at their grandparents' house for a practice (for when Lydia is born) sleepover, their hats and gloves stayed in the car and came all the way home with us. At least the warm temps continued on Sunday!

Not Me! Monday

A witty and oh-so-funny blogger, MckMama started a fun blog carnival with a twist...

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.

and after several weeks of blog stalking reading, I want to play, too!

In our idyllic life, nothing ever goes unplanned, uncoordinated, or awry...

This week I have not had to say:

"Take your finger out of your nose."

"Do not pat your sister's butt." (Especially not while it's bare and dirty from sitting on the potty!)

Or, my favorite,
"Do not put your face in the toilet!" (Apparently the praise and accolades we lavish on our children when they use the toilet, especially for solid waste elimination, have not fostered an interest and curiosity in the size or amount of the aforementioned waste.)

I certainly did not spend 2 hours redding up the house (because I certainly did not put off vacuuming for a week due to our busy schedule!) before my treasured SIL and her 2 little loves came over for a playdate... and absolutely would not stick our overflowing compost bowl in the oven to hide it! And, I would absolutely never put the same overflowing compost bowl back in the same oven several days later before a wonderful cousin and her daughter came over to play! Not Me! And, my beloved husband certainly would never turn on said oven while said overflowing (and plastic) compost bowl was still in said oven... only to discover it by the smell of the "cooking" plastic and compost fodder. Not Him!

After being gone ALL day at a music festival for his students, when my husband came home he was not greeted by squeals and shrieks of "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" and quickly attacked enveloped in the loving arms of his 2 daughters. And when, after a hug and kiss from his devoted wife, he gave me 2 of my favorite cookies (sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles... YUM!) I DID NOT scarf them down like a ravenous wolf! Nope, not 9 months pregnant me!

I do not think the nesting bug has spread to my husband, especially considering he spent most of Sunday cleaning out our cars- including vacuuming the trunk! And we most certainly did not find all sorts of GROSS food scrids when he took out the car seats... our children NEVER eat any food in the car. Since we are such conscientious parents, we absolutely did not find Ella's milk cup that has been missing since before Christmas for a little bit. I was not relieved to see that it appeared that the cup had actually been filled with juice, and not milk, on its last use (which is probably why we didn't find it by its smell before this). Since it did not have mold spots on the inside, I did not enthusiastically trash it!

But, I AM going to go vacuum up all the little crumbs and dirt came into our house with the carseats while I wait for MckMama to post Mr. Linky.