Stuff that only experience can teach you

Hurts go away

Aches tend to stay

Chocolate really is medicinal

Alcohol really is not

Just keep washing. The dryer will eventually catch up.

Never, ever, EVER walk in front of a child pushing a grocery cart.

Fevers are good, puking is bad, you can survive head lice and they really do stop getting sick as much as they get older.

If you have a soccer chair in a bag on your shoulder and a toddler on the ground pitching a fit, set down said soccer chair BEFORE bending over to deal with aforementioned toddler or else the soccer chair in question will come swinging off of your shoulder straight into the face of said toddler with truly remarkable force.

This will not improve the toddler in questions mood.

Kiss your spouse every day.

Kiss your children every day.

In the beginning this is easy. Newlyweds and babies are very kissable. As people age it might not hurt to remind yourself to kiss them but I have found that as my loved ones grow bigger (and in my husband's case just older ;) that the kissing is all the more sweeter.

Do not ever say that you are looking forward to a quiet week. There is no quicker way to invite puking/huge household disaster/unexpected house guests to appear.

Do not ever, EVER, ever under any circumstances say,

"Oh well my (insert your angelic child's name here) would NEVER do that."

(Cuz guess what - they somehow have a magical way to hear you say that to someone and will think of something particularly shocking to horrify you with next week.)

If you burn dinner (not saying I have but you know - an example ;) no one needs to know. Calmly walk to your meal plan (I hate to break it to you because I know you obsess over your meal plan. Well I know that I do but the cold hard truth is that no one reads it but you.) Anyway, go to meal plan, cross of whatever burnt, write in grilled cheese, no one will be the wiser. This is the beauty of being the master of the meal plan - ultimate control.

If you are standing behind a child that is in a crouching position and you bend over to help the crouching child, for the love of all things painful, protect your nose at all costs.

I do, I never, I might

So - I have been thinking of the "I never" philosophy. You know - when you say - "oh I NEVER...."

If there is one thing that I have learned it is never ever to say I NEVER.

I mean - if you say I NEVER - I mean - really? Can you follow through on that?

One of my oldest friends and I laugh sometimes because we remember distinctly me saying before my first child was born,

"I will NEVER let my child go with bare feet. I just don't get the whole thing with baby feet."

Fastforward 10 years and 3 babies later - ok I admit it - I get it. I have kissed my share of toes and my children have spent an enormous percentage of their lives barefoot. I totally get it. My bad.

When I married my husband, I said,

I do

I should have also said

and you know what?

I might

If you say......

I never

shovel snow or take out the trash. EVER. That is my husband's job and I REFUSE to cross that line

If your husband is in a horrific accident or has a terrible disease or a crazy week at work guess what?

You might

If you say.....

I never

let my kids eat unorganic/fast/insert whatever food horrifies you here

If you have a child get sick or you are stranded at a rest stop or you have a child that will literally only eat one color of foods (you would be amazed how often that happens)

Guess what?

You might

If you say.....

I never

ever ever ever would medicate a child for behavior issues

If you had a child who couldn't function in a classroom. Who is a danger to themselves or their family. Comes home from school crying every single day....

Guess what

You might

Luke 6:37 tells us

"Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.

It is so easy to look at what other people do and say

You Should

Oh I would never

I CANNOT believe (you know with the emphasis on the second syllable of cannot an octave higher)

I do wonder sometimes what others say about me and the way that I am living my life and raising my own but you know what - this is mine to do and my prayer for you is that you make your own decisions without worrying about the you should's and the I would never's because really - no one - no one but you - knows what it is to walk in your shoes. Even you do not know what it will be like to walk in your own shoes a month, a year, ten years from now.

Save yourself from the I never's and the you should's and go back to Kindergarten. Follow this one simple piece of advice that your teacher probably told you

Be Respectful

Be Polite

Work hard

Try harder

Be kind to your neighbor

There is so much ugliness and dissent out there - if we could all try and simplify. If we could all hear that grade school teacher's voice in our ear.

I think

It is possible

That the world could be a kinder place.

In retrospect.....

It may not have been my smartest move when I told the three five year old boys that they could cut and color all of the packaging from that big box........

They did have an awesome time though

and my Dyson got to prove it's worth so in the end- a good time was had by all. (I know, I know - I need to work on my definition of a good time;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone on the fly!!!! ;)

My long-time-coming political rant - politics and children

Well - I gotta admit - we here at I Heart Bowheads (that would be me) don't really get terribly riled about stuff. Not a lot of drama. Not a lot of controversy. We (once again me - not sure why I feel the need to explain that) tend to keep it pretty light.

I do have the occasional rant in me and here it goes..........

This is not a rant telling you what to believe.

It is not a rant telling you what party to belong to or what issue you should back.

I will not even be expressing my own political beliefs in this post.

What I am going to rant about is........

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!!!!!!

Back when I was in my Kindergarten classroom, I would do an election every year. I would talk about the three branches of government, the two major political parties and the election process as a whole. I would always send a note home explaining this to the parents in my classroom as well as assuring them that no political opinions were going to be presented to the class. Only an explanation of the process.

This would often spark a lot of political dialogue with my Kindergartners. This was especially true if it was an election year. As my own children got older, they started to ask questions about the process. My husband and I have been very careful to simply explain the process and what both sides believe. We do not tell our children who we each vote for and there are many times that my husband and I are on the same side of an issue or party aisle but I have to be honest - we are also often on opposite sides and we have talked about that.

That is the bleeping (scuse my language - you can tell that I am starting to get worked up - I am even typing faster;) BEAUTY of America.

The debate

The checks and balances

I encourage you to disagree

I encourage you to vote your own choice and then if you don't win - lobby, talk, picket if you want to to get re-elected next time but for heavens sake.....

BE RESPECTFUL OF THE OFFICE WHILE YOU ARE DOING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

No joke - no exaggeration - here are some of the things that children either in my classroom or in my home have asked me.

Mrs. Bowhead- what's a communist? Cuz my Daddy says (such and such political character) is one of those?

Mrs. Bowhead - what's a moron? Cuz my Mommy says (such and such political character) is a big one.

Mommy Mommy - My friend (insert friend's name here) says that if (such and such political character) becomes president he is going to take all of our money!!!!!!!!!!!!! We need money - right? What are we going to do if he takes all of our money?

Mrs. Bowhead - why does (such and such political character) not love everyone? Why do they only love the rich people?

Well my Daddy says that we don't have to listen to him and I don't have to watch his speech on television that is telling me to stay in school and work hard.

REALLY????????????????????

Now I could go on and on with the quotes but I believe you get my point. I would also like to remind you before you go getting yourself all riled up that my quotes also go back ten years which (if you will remember) spans both political parties in power.

Like I said - this is not telling you what to believe. This is not telling you what to feel strongly about. This post is telling you what I feel strongly about and you know what I feel strongly about? Do you? Do you? (Can you tell I am typing fast again? Frank the pug is sitting here next to me watching me with some fascination wondering what is happening with the flying fingers but anyway - I digress.......)

Teach your children to respect the system.

Teach your children to respect the OFFICE.

How can you not teach your children to respect the OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? You do not have to like the man. You do not have to support the party but respect the office. Respect the process.

Use words like.....

Disagree

Feel strongly about

Let's write a letter to our congressman

Please do not use words like

Moron

Idiot

Dumb as a box of rocks

Remember - your children are listening to you. They are watching you and hate and dis-respect can be learned in the most unlikely of places.

They are standing at your feet in the church hall when you are chatting quietly with your neighbor.

They are playing on the floor of the kitchen while you are on the phone.

They are in the other room while you are cussing (I mean loudly disagreeing) with the TV.

Teach them to debate. Teach them to become involved. Please do not teach them to hate the other side.

The other side, in my humble opinion is what makes the country so great. Because we get to have an other side.......

So - I have not had time to blog because I have been way to busy.....

Making snowballs

And watching tv in front of a fire.

I have been skiing with my family,

And making the children do chores in their rollerblades.

I have been hanging out with family and friends,

And getting my children geared up for the outdoors.

I got to watch them have some fun firsts,


And take lots of pictures with my phone which seems to be the only camera I normally have handy.

I get to watch lots of basketball,

And bundle up against the cold.

I have had a lot of help along the way, ( here my constant companion is "helping" me clean the kitchen)

And it seems like I am often dealing with Frank.

I get to watch lots of indoor soccer,

And I am obsessively reorganizing my house.

I got to hang out in airports,

And have lots of priceless moment like these....


We refuse to be concerned about the cold,

And we are very grateful for each and every blessing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone on the fly!!!! ;)

A holiday wrap up

We survived waking up Christmas day, opening presents and then heading to the airport to fly the 4 hours to Texas, jump in a rental car, and be at Grandma's for Christmas dinner at 6.

I know what you are thinking.

It was actually very fun and we all survived.

It was a fun adventure - just the 5 of us - laughing and heading through the airport on Christmas day.

We enjoyed the entire trip and can officially say that we survived.

We are home now and I am not sure that my house will.

There comes a moment when you just have to sit among the piles and let them know that they have beaten you. Then maybe tomorrow when the piles have let their guard down you can sneak up on them - not sure if this is going to work but I am trying it out for today.

We got the new Wii U Draw going down in the basement.

I am not sure that we will ever see my artistic 7 year old again. Ever.

I did laundry for two days straight at my Mom's house and yet somehow I have been doing laundry all day. Maybe I need to try out my pile philosophy on the laundry.

It is a really strange thing to be happy to go home only to be really happy to be back home.

I love my house.

I love my children.

I love my husband.

I need for all of them to leave me alone with my house for a little while so I can try and restore some order.

I would be lying if I did not admit that I am looking forward to that being on the agenda for tomorrow.

Then they can come back because I am amazingly not even sick of them.

Frank the pug and the guinea pigs were off in Kato Kaelin land (because really - you just can't have a better houseguest than a guinea pig or a pug). Two awesome families kept them for us and we really appreciate it. We are all happy to have been reunited. My friend Julie brought me the piggies today in the midst of one of my battles with the piles instead of having us over to pick them up.

Did I mention the appreciation?

Anyway,

Our low tonight is going to be 7.

It was 71 yesterday in Texas.

I wonder what my body will think of that.

I feel very grateful for

well

for everything

I am grateful for my family and my friends and that you can read books on your phone.

Did I mention that we flew back home from Texas to Massachusetts yesterday and that our plane was supposed to leave at 1:10 and we finally left on a different plane at 4?

Glad the second one worked at least.

I swear that my house looks like it did when we moved.

I refuse to be discouraged.

I keep coming back to the piles.

Forget the piles - I am going to play games with my family.

I am pretty sure that my New Years Resolution will be to put my house back in order.

I might have that finished by 2013.

Right?

A Little Timeline

So here is a little timeline of the last year here at the Bowheads household (ya'll do know that our actual last name is not Bowheads - right? One day I need to tell the Baylor Bowhead story - any hoo - that is another post for another day - and the only "I digress" in this whole blog post which I believe is a new Bowheads blog record but anyway......)

Week before Thanksgiving 2010: Husband to wife:

"so Babe, what do you think about Massachusetts?"

Company flies husband to Georgia to interview. Company offers husband job. Husband says,

"Well - can I go look at Massachusetts?"

First week of December: Husband gone in Massachusetts. Husband accepts job. Birthday party weekend, Christmas festivities, Husband and wife farm kids out and fly to MA for a 24 hour whirlwind shopping trip. We find the little yellow house which is it's own little story and place a contingency offer on it on the way to the airport after having only been in it for 10 minutes.

Week after Christmas: Install beautiful new granite counters in Texas house and get ready to sell. (One day I will actually have granite counter tops in a house that I am going to live in - until then - at least I know how nice they are for short periods of time;)

January 5: Husband begins work in Massachusetts. Wife remains in Texas with three children and house on the market.

February: 28 days - 4 of them with Daddy.

Mommy is starting to appreciate Daddy more.

March: Still on the market. Husband still flying back and forth between states. Kids are not in any sports or activities because we have no idea when we are moving.

Mommy is starting to get a little bit closer to the edge.

April: A decision is made that no matter what we are moving April 15th and then basically right after we make that decision we get a very low offer on the house. Very low.

We take the offer

April 15th: Move entire family to Massachusetts

May 21st: First houseguests arrive

Memorial Day Weekend: Head to Cape Cod for soccer tournament. Pretty much loved being able to say - "so what are you doing for the holiday weekend? Oh we are headed to the Cape."

June: Discover importance of window air conditioning units. More house guests arrive.

July: Fourth of July camping, trip to New Hampshire, birthday party weekend

August: Oldest gets pneumonia, more house guests arrive, 2 weeks in Disney with Grandma, Hurricane Irene, school starts

September: Trip to Texas for Sister in Laws wedding, birthday party weekend, all team sports start up, soccer tournament in New Hampshire, Applefest

October: House guest, sports all in full swing, Houseguest, massive freak snowstorm that shuts down the town for days, Halloween is rescheduled

November: Recover from massive freak snow storm and losing power for 4 days, Halloween and Thanksgiving

December: Birthday party weekend, husband traveling, stomach virus, husband traveling, heading back to Texas - flying on Christmas Day and New Years Day.

I am grateful for this wild and crazy year and all that we have learned and experienced but my secret wish for 2012.......

To Be Bored

We will just have to wait and see.....................