To My Son, On His Birthday

Colin, 

I want you to know how amazing you are. You have taught me equally as much as I have tried to teach you, probably more. You are growing up to be a responsible, bright, young man. 

Never stop being sensitive. Its better to care too much than not at all. Don't lose your voice and your rhythm. Sing when the moment arises, and dance it up when the song permits. Always be the silly, outgoing (sometimes crazy) boy you are today. Never let the fear of what someone might think get in the way of you being happy in that moment. Keep making people laugh but never sacrifice who you are to do so. Just remember life is more about your own laughter, so never lose the ability to laugh at yourself.  It will come in handy always. I envy this quality about you. Never pretend to be something you aren't. People love you for you!

Never be afraid to try new things. You WILL fail at many, but you will succeed at many more.  The ones you fail at will teach you lessons along the way. They may even become some of your favorite things. 

You are an amazing big brother, always caring and helpful. Sometimes you amaze me with your huge heart and teach me to be a better person. You care about all things, big and small. You can argue your way out of most things, and the ones you cant, you give a 110% trying! Always fight for what you believe is right, never stand by and watch something you know is wrong. One person CAN make a difference! 

Never be afraid or embarrassed to love or show love. You will no doubt, love many times in your lifetime. All of them will guide you and teach you valuable lessons. Starting with myself, daddy and sissy. Relationships are important and needed, no matter how big or small. People will let you down, and they will hurt you. Dust yourself off, forgive and move on. Never hold onto hatred. It will eat you alive and destroy you.

My wish for you is that you continue to grow up into a respectful, polite, caring young man.  That you always know your self worth. I pray you make smart choices as you grow into a teenager, and never allow anyone to make you feel you need to do something that is wrong. 

Never allow someone to bring you down enough that you think you are less than you are. Never give someone that power, because without it they can't tear you down. Continue to make people laugh and be the silly, crazy, fun loving boy that we all love. People will love or hate you, but let them do it for who you really are. 

Continue to hold onto your faith and do what is right. Keep growing your relationship with the lord. Later, he will be the person you answer to. Always live through him and let him guide you on the right path. He will never lead you the wrong way.

I love you so much, and I am proud to say I am your Mom! 

Eat What I Serve Or Starve!!

As a parent we try to do what's best for our children. Every sense of our being is to ensure their happiness. We cater to their every need, when they say jump we ask how high! If we fail to give them everything, we feel we fail as parents. Not true, Momma, not true. There are so many things we will actually fail at no matter how hard we try, let's not add to that list! 

From the time my son was old enough to eat solids he would not eat cooked veggies. He would eat veggies like carrots, broccoli, and celery all day long if it was raw. Anytime I placed them on his dinner plate, even if only slighty steamed, shit was about to hit the fan! He was so mind over matter. I always made sure he tasted them, no matter what. If we ate the same thing twice a week, guess what? He tasted that same veggie again and again! I had to be admitted to the hospital for three weeks and my sister helped my husband out(thank you!). She kept my kids and it was really the first time(age two), he was ever away from me that long. 

I still to this day remember her telling me this story. They sat down for dinner and it was something simple like chicken, mashed potatoes and corn. My son refused to eat the taters and corn(who's kid are you??). Her husband made him sit there and he physically made himself gag, to the point he was almost puking. It was mind over matter. If he said it was gross, he sat there and thought about how bad a bite would be. He would hurl in his mouth and swallow. It was awful! He still to this day is hard to deal with when he automatically says it will be gross. His mind controls it and he will sit there gagging. I always make them take at least two bites.

Today my son is 9, turns 10 in January. He eats corn, peas, carrots, asparagus, squash, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, calliflower, cabbage and more. He will not touch beans. Kidney beans in chili, refried beans on taco night....no way, no how. He asked for avocado in his lunch today...wtf!!! He has come so far. I wish back when he was so picky and I had no hope, someone would of said "hey, it's just a phase, they move on!". 

As a parent we stress about so many things. Let's not let food become one. Make them try it over, and over, and over again. I never, ever thought this would be my son. Asking for asparagus and avocado. Shit happens, kids change. We are doing something right Mom!! Continue to make them try things, even if they have already said eww five times! 

Listen Mom. There is still a rule in my house. My daughter hates cabbage and asparagus. I still make her try two bites every time we have it. She yells, screams and puts up a fuss...but from what I have learned to date, its worth it!!!

Magic Monster Spray

We all do things to make our kids happy, keep them from being scared, and have them feeling safe. There is usually no logic behind them, at least not to us. However we find a way to make the kids believe in them, and count on them. Our job is to protect, nurture and love them. Even when they believe in something so silly all of a sudden they know doesn't exist. 

When my kids were little I used to use Monster Spray. When I went to tuck them in I would spray around the room, mostly in the air. Colin was 5 and MaKayla was 3. I am pretty sure I always grabbed the little silver bottle of room spray from The Body Shop. It smelled good and I wasn't harming anything spraying it. I figured at one point they would call me out, since I used other scents in the same bottle throughout the house. It never happened. With the move overseas the spray never really came back up. We did night lights and all was well. Monsters were kept a bay. 

The kids are now 9 and 7. Last night my son had a rather eventful nights sleep, or lack there of. They were tucked in at 7:30 pm as usual. I had just finished my workout at 8:30 pm and he comes walking out to the living room looking half asleep. He sits in the recliner and just looks at me. The conversation went something like this: 

Me- "Colin what do you need?"

Colin- "Mmm umm nothing"

Me- "Why are you out of bed?"

Colin shrugs

Me- "Colin are you awake?"

He stares at me. I walk over and help him up only to realize he is sleep walking(usually that is my daughters speciality). I walk him to his room and tuck him in once again. 

Around 2am he comes stumbling into my room and says he had a bad dream. I ask him about what and he says a scary movie in his dvd player that was trapping him in his room and he couldn't get out. He then says he was scared there was monsters under the bed so he sat on his bed working up the nerve to jump off and run to my room. Needless to say he slept with me the rest of the night after I reassured him it was just a dream. He hasn't watched any scary movies either, FYI.

So today after school at one point I realize he is not watching an animal show with us. I go to check on him and he isn't in his room. I make my way room by room and finally find him in the playroom watching a video about Minecraft. Mind you the playroom light is off so he is sitting in the dark. I ask what he is doing and he tells me. I ask why he is in there and not his room and he smirks. I repeat the question and he says he is scared. I asked of what and he says under his bed. I try not to laugh at him and remind him he is in the dark currently. So after dinner I give Daddy the job of taking him back to his room and cleaning under the bed and verifying nothing is there. All is well or so it appears. 

After everyone is in pajamas my daughter comes out and asks if I remember the Monster Spray I used to use. she then points out I always used air freshener and that is all it was. First she was no older than three, how the hell does she remember that lol. I tell them every Mom has a recipe for Monster Spray. Colin asks me to make some and use it tonight. I disappear and come back with Magically Blue Monster Spray, you know, because Monsters hate blue. In the dark it glows to Monsters only and they run away and cry. Kind of like white and light colors glows for butterflies and attracts them. It also smells good because Monsters like smelly things like dirty socks and garbage. 

Half an hour before bed I take him back to his room. We spray his closets, under his bed and all over his bed. He is satisfied. We do the same in her room. They both beg me to tell them the secret ingredients and I say Mom cant until your eighteen. my daughter is very insistent Monsters aren't real, but the spray will make her older brother feel better. They are both tucked in and no one has came out running as of yet. Here is to a nightmare, monster free evening! 

As for the Monster Spray? A spray bottle, a little fabric softener and water. Yeah, I'm a genius! LOL

On another note I used to have really bad dreams when I was little. I was trapped and would wake facing the wall or from sleep walking and be elsewhere and almost as if my eyes are broken and cant see I panic and fell all over trying to find the doorway. It was the same dream over and over and used to affect me a lot. Scared the shit out of me almost nightly. Bad dreams are no fun, but I hope if your children are having them it is short lived and bearable. 

Sweet Dreams! 

Finally Half Way There

So the kids have had a month off. We didn't do anything too cool because we didn't know until a week before that they had this time off. I feel bad but what can ya do? We still had a fun time.

I managed to get the house in order since I too had some time off. It still needs a lot of work, hard to make it pretty with government issued furniture ha. I still had about 5 boxes to unpack as well as the master bedroom bathroom which had become the catch all. That's done now. I need to do the kids room and the playroom which I'm not including in the pictures because there are toys everywhere. I need to go through them and find some toy boxes or something. There is a lack of choices here with few stores.

Conversations

MaKayla and Daddy on the couch while I'm redoing some logos at home for work. They are watching animal planet.

M="Daddy do they get milk out of her private?"

D="No baby, Mommies feed the babies from their boobies, they have milk."

M="Only Moms have it, not you Daddy.
That looks like her private, not her boob. (Tigers)
Daddy, will I have babies when I grow up?"

D="That's up to you baby. Do you want kids?"

M="Yeah, I want 3 kids."

D="Do you want boys, or girls?"

M="I want all girls only!"

D="Well what are their names going to be?"

M"Matilda, Ayla and Sandy. "

She knows where milk comes from, but the baby tiger was eating from the mommy and it looked like her head was down lower because she was on a nipple closer to the tail end. Bless her heart if she has 3 girls.

Australian Slang For Your Entertainment

Some words and meanings for you to get a kick out of.

Whinge= complain
Backchat=talk back
Wowser=straight laced person, prude
Whacker=idiot
Bloke=man
Blue-=fight
Chewie=gum
Crack a Fat=get an erection
Fruit Loop=fool
Hottie=hot water bottle
Lollies=candy
Oldies=parents
Op shop=Thrift store(opportunity shop)
Pokies=poker machine, slots
Ta=thank you
Rotten=drunk
Scratchy=instant scratch off ticket
Yanks=Americans
Stubby Holder=beer coozie
Swag=rolled up bedding, like a sleeping bag but made to use without a tent with a special head piece to cover your head if needed
Tea=supper
Tinny=can of beer
Wog=flu
Fanny=vagina


I don't know if they use all of these, but most of them I have heard used often or hear daily at work.

Another Time, Another Place, Sir!

Tonight we went out to dinner, and the kids were being bad. They were talking back, questioning and arguing with what we said. We had a long talk on the way home about how they have been awful about doing as they are told and we should hear yes sir or yes ma'am when we tell them to do something.

During the conversation Colin told me about a teacher putting him on time out for saying it, because he thought he was being a smart ass. I guess Daddy knew and forgot, or thought I was there and heard this conversation. It had happened quite a while ago. I never knew about it. I was kind of dumb founded, but I can see how someone who isn't used to hearing it could think the kid was being a smart ass.

Needless to say, I'm sending a note tomorrow letting the teacher know my kids say it out of respect, not disrespect, and though I see how it could of been confused, that was not the case and they need to be aware of how my kids from America were raised.

Funny how you are worried about big things, and it's sometimes the little things that come up.