I'm Finally Doing it.

Grad school that is. I've been hesitant to apply because I was so terrified of not being accepted, but after some deep soul searching, I made an appointment with my counselor and filled out the application...and guess what?? I start on March 2nd! The fear has almost subsided and I am so incredibly excited. I was looking at the list of classes and they sound so interesting. I'll be working on my Master's in Educational Counseling and hopefully, if all goes well, I'll have my pupil personnell service credential in about 2 years. I'm still somewhat frightened. I still find myself lacking self confidence and asking myself a billion questions. What if the classes are too hard? What if I can't find time to do my homework? Will I be ready when it's time for my internship? Will I truly be able to finish? In addtion, leaving the kids 4 days a week for classes makes me sad, but I know it is ultimately for the best. So wish me luck as I journey into the unknown and make my way towards what will hopefully be a rewarding career.

Marriage is a Worthless Piece of Paper!

Don't get me wrong. I love my husband and I am completely committed to our relationship. This is strictly marriage from a legal point of view. Being married means that our credit, both past and present is shared, however, I cannot make payments on any of his credit accounts. I called today to make our mortgage payment and was told that legally they couldn't accept a payment from anyone but my husband. So when he forgets to make his payments on time my credit will suffer because we are married, but yet the government has passed all of these laws that prevent me from making the payment and protecting my credit even when I can give them his social security number, address, phone number, shoe size, etc.? Additionally, when we bought our house, my name was put on the paperwork as an authorized person so this wouldn't happen, but apparently the mortgage company that first bought our loan from the lender didn't get all of the required information. This just reaffirms my thoughts that the government has no place in marriages. No wonder the fiscal situation is so screwed up in our nation!

Winter Weather and More

Our winters in California tend to be pretty mild and even what they call "storms" usually consist of a little bit of rain and that's about it. Nothing like the storms we experienced this past summer in Illinois. However, today we had a storm in which the thunder shook our house, scared the dog, and produced some very large hail. Justin was a little shakey throughout the whole ordeal, but my little thrill seeker Alexis came running to the windows screaming, "I love storms!" Here is a big of our big storm.


The weather has been keeping us inside more or less, but thankfully the kids (all three of them) have been playing nice...well most of the time.


And our new favorite past time...Rockband! I can't wait until the kids are actually old enough to play. The newest version has a no fail setting so they can play along with daddy without ending his game.

Finally...we booked a house at the beach for the end of February and I can't wait! My mom's friend is getting married on the beach and my brother will be here from Illinois, so I am looking forward to a wonderful weekend in the sand. The last time we went to the beach Justin was a mere 6 months old so this trip should be much more fun for him than last time. Three weeks seems like an eternity!

Discipline (or the lack thereof)

Alexis is becoming nearly impossible to discipline. Timeouts are just a time for her to sit and look cute. Spankings are a temporary fix (sometimes) but usually hurt me more than they hurt her. I asked her yesterday if she wanted me to spank her. Her response: "Yes, I do. Please spank me." At which point she turned her bottom to me and said "Go ahead". Today, I decided to try taking things away from her as a way to encourage her to listen. It all started because she didn't want to get dressed and she didn't want to have her hair combed. She laid down in the middle of the hallway and refused to move. Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Alexis. It is time to get dressed. If you aren't standing in front of me by the time I count to five, you will not watch any TV this morning. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5. (I go to the hallway where she is still laying down) No TV this morning. (At this point she realizes she messed up and starts screaming)

Alexis: NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I wanna watch TV. I'll get dressed.

Me: Sorry honey. It's too late. No TV, but you are going to get dressed. (as she's still not moving toward the couch to get dressed I decided to threaten to take more away) I am going to start taking toys away if you don't come here right now.

Alexis: Go ahead. Take them all away. Throw them in the trash. Want me to help you?

Words cannot explain how hard it is not to laugh when your 2 (almost 3) year old is just so matter-of-fact. So as you can see, this doesn't seem to be a successful method of discipline with her either. What will I ever do when this child is a teenager? God help me!

Though she spent most of the morning begging for TV, we did have the opportunity to spend some quality time together without Sprout. I think I shall keep all mornings television free. After she got over being mad at me, we really have had quite a fun day. Now if only she could learn to listen....

My Biggest Regret

I don't often have regrets because I truly believe that every choice (both good and bad) that I've ever made has just brought me to this place where I am now. When I had children, there were a list of things I said I would never do and choices that I made as to how I would raise them. One of my big things that I refused to do was CIO (that's cry it out for those of you who don't know). I have always laid down with or held both of my babies for naps and nighttime. Not a big deal and I still don't mind doing it. My problem? Lately neither of them want to go to sleep whether I'm next to them or not. They are the most horrible sleepers....well...not sleepers, they sleep fine once they actually go to sleep...it's just a nightmare getting them to that point. Tonight it took me almost an hour to get Justin to go to bed and it was after midnight when Alexis finally gave it up. I am so tired and so frustrated and I wish, while they were smaller, I had made them CIO so that they would be better sleepers now. I guess it does me absolutely no good to sit and dwell on this because it's not like I can make them CIO now, can I? They are both in real beds and no longer in cribs so I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to keep them in and if I did, would it be psychologically damaging to them? There must be a better way. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Sick Again??

Really? Is it possible that this is the worst year ever for colds? My kids have been pretty healthy, but in the last 2 months it seems like it has been one cold after another, after another! Christmas time brought the stomach bug that made us all ill and 2 weeks after that, Justin and Alexis both ran fevers for a couple of days. Not more than a week later we were all sick again. The past seven days has been pure hell. The kids are sick. My mom is sick. Anthony is sick. I am sick. Will it ever end? I thought Justin was getting better as his fever broke on Wednesday, but alas...he's running fever again! I can't tell if it's a continuation of the previous ailment or if he's contracted something new. I guess we're gonna have to brave the doctor's office tomorrow, where he can catch something else while we spend hours in the waiting room. Maybe we can make it til Tuesday when the patient load seems to be smaller. Does that sound like an irresponsible parent? To wait an extra day and keep your child in misery to avoid siting in a waiting room for 2 hours or more with a bunch of sick kids? We'll see what tomorrow brings. I just can't help but think about the first 2 years of Alexis's life. I can count the number of times she was sick on one hand. I wonder if it is just because I never went anywhere or saw anyone so she wasn't exposed to as much as the kids are now. Not only that, but with Anthony's job, I'm sure he's bringing home God knows what. I guess I'll just sit here and wait ever so patiently for summer to come...We're hardly ever sick during the summer so life can go back to being happy and healthy.

Addicted

As if I didn't have enough things to keep me busy, I recently rediscovered Facebook. I've had an account on FB for ages, yet rarely used it. I did however spend hours and hours interacting with friends and family on MySpace, the more popular choice at the time, but the times...they are a changing and it appears that everyone has switched from one social networking site to the other. I, being a follower, not a leader, am following right along and I just can't get enough! I am really enjoying reconnecting with old friends and new friends. If you aren't yet one of my friends...send me a message. It appears I spend much more time there than texting, answering my phone, or managing my blog!