Bullying!

Honestly, I want to know how kids are still getting away with some of these things?



My boys have a friend who comes over to play often. He really is their ONLY friend who comes over to play and he is a great kid! Maybe I am that mean Mom who scares the other kids away, I do not know! All I know is that this little boy comes over and plays with my boys! They either kick a ball around outside, run in the yard, or they play inside on the computer or they have even played with Lego's! It just depends on what they are in the mood for.

However, there have been many times I have had to remind the little boy and my own boys that "We do not care what other people think about us!" He will sometimes mention how another little boy, who he is friends with but who does not like my oldest, will say things about how my oldest son is a cry baby or all you have to do is look at my son and he cries. Guess what, my son is sensitive! He has been through so much already in his life that he has every right to be! I know he has an issue with getting too upset way too fast. But when he started at his Brick and Mortar school for 1st grade the kid mentions above teamed up with another and did not make him feel welcome at all! It was like starting school all over again, but with kids that for some reason did not like him! When he started Kindergarten everything was great! He had tons of friends and kids in the neighborhood to play with! He was so happy going to that school and having those friends! He was doing awesome! He never broke down and never cried, except for when he decided to bite the pavement. But even that was understandable! I hated taking him away from his friends. But we had to move! We had to bring him here. He went to the same school I did when I was little and that made me feel good!

It was just somewhat discouraging when I would talk to the school about him getting "picked on" and they would tell me he was in the wrong. When I asked how the other kids were doing with accepting him into their lives I was told they did great together! Then, he would come home crying! Telling me that so and so did this. Or so and so did that! It got to the point that I was having WEEKLY conversations with someone at that school about how MY son was behaving! Granted, some things were his fault! But some weren't! And it was the things that weren't that I myself was not seeing a change in! So, at the end of 1st grade I demanded that he not be in the same class as at least one of the boys who was constantly picking on him! And the school at least did that for me.

Then, 2nd grade came along! Not much changed after that! He would still come home upset because "they laughed at him" or "they picked on him for his choice of food at lunch!" I had had enough! I looked into Home Schooling and now here we are! Only a few more short weeks and I will officially be a Learning Coach! Teaching my children to grow their minds! And, Bully's?! Not an issue!! If anyone bullies their BROTHER (and I do mean anyone!) they get to sit in timeout for recess(outside playtime)! I know that will just be terrible for my 6 year old! He hates missing recess!

But, My main question is.... How is it that a school can say that they do not tolerate bullying yet when I point blank ask them to stop my child's bullies, they wont do anything!?

Just food for thought and a small vent by me! (I think all children are great by the way! I just think they all need more guidance, including my own!) Enjoy your evening, day, whichever!

~TTFN!

Me vs Chair!

I know a lot of Facebook friends have been waiting for this post for the last couple hours... LOL! So, here it is!

Kitchen Chair: 1
Me: 0

That is what my personal Facebook status was and it got a bit of a reaction and a lot of 'Likes' LOL!

While cooking Dinner for my guys tonight I was attempting to have a rather calm go of it since the Hubby was sleeping in preparation for working a graveyard shift because a co-worker called in sick tonight.

Well, my oh so hyper active 4 year old decided "I am gonna move that chair Mom keeps telling me NOT to move!" (I am sure that was not his actual thought, but it seemed to be at the time! LOL) As I turned around because I heard the chair moving I noticed it was him moving it, and that it was our "new" kitchen chair that seems slightly out of place for being so large, yet it is oh so comfy! It really only works in the kitchen if someone is sitting in it, pushed up to the table and not in the middle of the kitchen and in the way! Well, there it was, in the middle! With the 4 year old paused looking at me with his "Oh snap! I'm busted now!" face on!

So, I tell him again....

    "I told you to stop moving that chair! It has to stay in its home!" While saying this I place my right foot on the bar that connects the front and back legs together for a sturdy base and give the chair a shove.

This is where I lost and the chair won!

Kitchen Chair: 1

Me: 0
I know you can barely see the bruise!
I know it will get darker though!

My foot slipped off and in an effort to correct my failing balance I kick my leg up and SLAM! I hit my shin on that same part of the chair I had applied my foot to for the failed pushing of the chair! Needless to say, the chair was still in the same exact spot and my leg was instantly on fire! I checked for bleeding and found none although it felt, at the time, that I was oozing blood from my leg! But nope! All I had going on was a big old nasty bruise forming! I am sure it looks worse to me because it is on MY leg. But this was one war I did not win this day!

We shall meet again Kitchen Chair.... We shall meet again!

~TTFN!

The 4 B's!

Bugs, Bumps, the Baby and a BBQ!

Let us start with the Bugs... LOL! My 4 year old was playing outside the other day while my Husband fed the baby lunch and I went through stuff that needs organizing on the porch. I went inside and when I came back out he was standing next to his little pool screaming at the top of his lungs "Get off me! Stop it! Oh, Get off me!" and then started to cry and scream like he was in pain! As soon as I got over to him (I began to run as he began to cry!) I noticed his legs were covered in black dots that were moving! He was covered in ants! So I quickly pulled him away from the area and batted at his legs, belly, arms, head and any other area that was currently covered in ants until we couldn't see anymore and he wasn't feeling them anymore. Then I look at the ground and it looked like it was moving! A closer look told me he had disturbed a recently formed ant hill! Needless to say, he has not been interested in that little pool at all since the ant incident! LOL!

Bumps...
That same day, the 4 year old bumped his head on I don't know what! But by the end of the night he had a pretty good goose egg. That was Sunday night. Well, by Friday evening he was still complaining that the bump on his head still hurt! So I called the pediatricians office who had to have a nurse from the Portland Children's Hospital call me back! I waited outside so I had reception on my phone for them to call back and in the meanwhile he fell asleep. They told me to call them back if he woke up in the night complaining of pain but that if he didn't wake up to call the pediatrician again in the morning and have them take a look at it since it was odd that it was almost a week later that he was still saying it was bothering him. The doctor thinks he may have gotten a slight concussion and she wanted us to watch him for about 3 weeks for an increase in headaches and/or complaining of the pain. And to make sure he didn't hit his head again. Well, the 3 weeks restarted slightly after we got home because Dad wasn't paying attention and accidentally "kicked" him in the head! I was not in the room but I assume that his foot came down off the bed and he accidentally hit our son with his foot but did not intend for it to happen, since he claimed he didn't do it. All I knew was I had a 4 year old screaming that Daddy kicked him in the head! LOL! I had him get an ice pack and sit on my lap for a bit until it stopped hurting. You may notice that the baby also has a couple bumps on his forehead, those are mosquito bites! When he gets bit they swell to a huge size and I have no idea why!

Waiting for big brother to be seen by the Doctor!
That paper is the BEST!!! LOL

As for the Baby!
Not only has he decided that Standing is the new cool thing to do he has also decided that when possible he must army crawl across the floor! It is rather cute, but I am not sure him being on the move is the best thing just yet. He could be the baby just a little longer! I would so be okay with that! LOL!

He has also developed a love for repeating things lately. If you blow a raspberry with your tongue he will do it back. If you laugh or squeal or making any other kind of sound, he will 10 to 1 repeat it within seconds! He is just growing up so fast it is amazing to me! I only wish he would slow down!

The BBQ...
We were finally able to get some friends over for swimming and dinner the other night! That was awesome! They brought their 3 children over and we swam and then I cooked and then we ate! I loved having the whole "crowd" here! LOL One of our boys is with my Mother up visiting my Sister and helping her to be ready for her little bundle so it was just Myself, the Husband, the 8 year old, 4 year old and the baby along with the 5 of them! Which, she is pregnant! Yippee! Congrats to her again! I am excited and I hope they get the boy they want! LOL! They have 1 boy and then were blessed with 2 girls! I would love to of had a girl! Yet, I had all boys and I love them all! Anyways, I ended up being the only adult in the pool with the kiddos! And that was alright. I actually needed to cool off before cooking and getting hot doing all that! LOL! I ended up burning the burgers for the first time this year! And I do mean BURNED! They were tasty little chunks of blackness! Notice, tasty! Ha! Yes, even though I burned them, they were still good! We were able to set the 2 little girls with my flirtatious 4 year old at the little picnic table and the 2 older boys at the "chat table" and then the 4 adults at the big table outside. Fun was had, food was good and it seemed to have gone well! I really do feel blessed to have this friend in my life! I mentioned her before, she was the one who came to the hospital when my baby was born and she came to visit me when I was in the hospital a second time with Postpartum Preeclampsia only 6 days after my baby was born. She really means the world to me as a friend! I have no clue what I would do with my sanity had I never met her!

My youngest and Oldest play in the water at the BBQ!
The baby got so relaxed in the floater that he was laying back! LOL
Big Brother was going to tickle his feet as this pic was snapped!

It has been a nice week but I am ready to see my 6 year old! I miss him! Ready to do some household rearranging as far as furniture and such goes in our home! And ready to start school! Now that we have all the supplies it is just about go time! Until then....

~TTFN!

Bad Blogger Person!

I know, I know! I need to get on here more!

Maybe this will give some the time to "catch up" on Posts from the Past!

I have a post or two in the works, been a busy Mama lately! Just wanted to let everyone know, yes, I am still here! LOL

Catch up now! He he...

~TTFN!

Breastfeeding! And A Birthday!

Breastfeeding First.....

I love breastfeeding my youngest son! I wish I would have been able to do the same with his 3 older brothers. However, things like work, an addiction to cigarettes and my stupidity of my youth caused me to only breastfeed my 3 older boys for around 1 month only for each child!

Here I am at almost 9 months going strong with breastfeeding my fourth and final child and I absolutely LOVE it! I am ashamed of myself for "giving up" on my other children. If it wasn't that I was "craving that cigarette so badly" or "had to go back to work and wouldn't have time to pump", I think I would have had a better time of breastfeeding my other boys. The topic has been itching at the back of my brain since it was National Breastfeeding week and there was a lot of talk about it on Facebook! I have several "friends" who have children the same age as my youngest and they are also big on breastfeeding! One friend has been reading and posting things from The Badass Breastfeeder and I have found myself spending a good amount of time reading some of the things she posts on Facebook and tonight was probably the best part of it all! I found that The Badass Breastfeeder has a BLOG!!! Hahaha.... I love it! And of course, the first blog post I read is "The Sex Argument Ends Here"! (Click the link.... Click it!.... But come back! LOL)

Ha! I enjoyed that post! She is also an Attachment Parent! I think I will have to read more about that as well. But I have found that it is easier to breastfeed when you have more support! I had little support during my breastfeeding efforts with my oldest 3 boys and with my youngest, I was one determined mama! When the pediatrician said "give him formula, he doesn't weigh enough!" I gave it to him a couple times in the beginning and he would vomit/spit up almost as soon as it hit his stomach! So, I said okay... took their "samples" and stuffed them under the bad! Never giving them to my little guy! He did not agree with them and I was not going to push it. When the Doctor would ask how he did, I replied "Fine! Drank it all!" I know, bad me for lying to the baby's doctor. But, I was not going to formula feed another baby just to have him vomit every time he finished eating!

The Birthday!!!! (Pictures to be added at a later date)

My oldest son turned 8 on 8/8! He was up early and ready to go to the movie theater for $1 movie day! We went to see Hoodwinked Too! which was good! (What I got to see of it, the above mentioned Breast-feeder was being extra demanding and I had to leave the theater to nurse him while walking up and down the theater entry ramp! That was an interesting challenge!) Dad ended up missing the "fun filled day" due to being called into work, but the money is always good so we didn't complain too much although Dad was missed! Before the movie started we went to the restroom and on our way back in the birthday boy face planted the ramp! Causing himself to have rug burn on both knees! Poor guy! I ended up getting him some damp napkins to set on them to help "cool" them off! After the movie we went to his favorite birthday spot, Red Robin! (He usually goes there with his Aunt and Uncle and they sing to him and give him ice cream about a month before his actual birthday, they did that and made him so happy to have it happen on his actual birthday!) At Red Robin he opened all of his gifts that we had there for him! I was able to snap a few pictures on a disposable camera that we later got the photos developed for.

Once Lunch was done and the gifts had been opened we headed for Fred Meyer to develop the film, do some school shopping and let the 4 year old play in the "Fun-land"! He loved that! There was a few kids there when he was dropped off but by the time we were all ready to go, it was just him having a tea party with the lady running the place. It was really cute actually! And he can still go there for about another year! (They can only be up to age 5 and not in Kindergarten yet! Yippee!) We ended up receiving all the "Big" boys' school supplies on the Seventh and we now need to find somewhere to store it for the time being and for the school year! We found the perfect totes and the remaining school supplies. As well as some new bar stools for them to sit on at the "bar" counter top! These will be assembled and set up to the counter once I have the school supplies stored and "away". Hopefully that will be tomorrows chore!

Once all the in town running around was finished it was time to go home and start dinner. The Birthday Boy chose Pizza, Cake and Ice Cream for his Dinner! So I heated the oven, cooked the pizza and served it. A little while later it was cake time and he said it was just what he had wanted!

All in all it was a great August Eighth yet again! I sure love that little boy who made me a Mommy for the first time! Without him, who knows if I would have my four great boys today! I am sure thankful he is my son! He truly is amazing!

**I love you doodlebug! Never forget that! Love, Mama!**

~TTFN!

A New Me!

So, this is my new hair style! I love it!!! I had forgotten how curly my hair gets when shorter! LOL! Of course, it takes a lot of "help" from the blow dryer and my brush to to get it straight even when long. When medium length it has a wave to it. I love having shorter hair in the warm months though because my hair is so thick! I will now let it grow out until next summer when I get the itch to cut it again because I get "over-heated"!

I asked my 4 year old what he thought of my hair again tonight. Last night he kept telling me that my hair cut looked stupid and that I should put it all back. Tonight I asked him what he thought, if he still thought it was stupid and he looked at me with a half smile and said, "No, it's not stupid." So I asked him if he liked it now and he smiled that half smile again and just simply said, "Maybe." But we shall see. The style may grow on him! Others who have seen my new do have said "Wow!" And "Looks Good!" I even got a "Sexy Mama" from a girl friend! LOL!

The other things that I have been doing is "collecting" Free Samples! Ha! I received a couple different lotions and some shampoo and conditioner (that one has gotten lost in the day to day shuffle). I even got some Emergen-C Vitamin C drink in 2 different flavors and they are 5 and 6 carbs each, so I have been holding off on "testing" those! I got the original Orange flavor and then I got an Acia Berry flavor that I am really interested in! I love that little Super Fruit! Even though I can have fruit in moderation I tend to stay far from it just because I happen to know I can down an entire basket of Blueberries to myself in about 10 minutes if I am really craving them! LOL. I have gotten several other Free or next to nothing items that I am slowly hoping to put a post up about and just let everyone know my own opinion on the products. Who doesn't love reading other peoples opinions? Right?  LOL!

Again, there are many different things I am working on... Even crafts! Christmas-ish gifts included! I think many of the planned Christmas gifts will become birthday gifts since we plan on doing ONE gift per little person ( my 4 boys and my new nephew). That we shall also see how it goes!

I was able to make him a necklace out of
beads that fell off my Mother's shirt!
He ignored them for the most part.
But he looks so stinking cute!

~TTFN!

Love

A simple tittle for a simple post. But a rather complex emotion. I heard a story on the radio the other day and wanted to share it. It was about a couple who met in High School, got married and had 4 kids. They divorced in 1964. Now in 2012, they were getting married again... Yes, married to each other! LOL! They are both 85 and Happy to be back together! Congrats to them!

Saw this on Facebook and thought
 it was perfect for this post!

~TTFN!