The Neti Pot and my Infant

My 9 month old has been tugging on his ears the past 24 hours and hasn’t been sleeping that well. On top of that he has a cold. Those three items signal = ear infection. So we went to our Predications office. Sure enough. He’s got an ear infection.

While at the Doctor I learned something new. Being the 3^rd kid, I’d think I had learned most of the tricks by now. Here’s what I learned: at the first sign of a cold, start regularly putting one drop in each nostril of the nose a saline solution. There is a little bit of salt in it that helps to flush out the build up and we want to avoid that.

Isn’t that like using a Neti Pot on an infant? Neti Pots sure are awkward and slightly odd for an adult to use, but effective for fighting that cold away. I was determined not to use one, but last year my neighbors finally convinced me to. And thankful I did. Maybe next time, I use the Infant Saline Nose drops.

I need to plug our Pediatricians office (SHMG Pediatrics).  I love that they are always empowering parents. Teaching us so hopefully we can avoid another visit to their office. Plus, when we called this afternoon they had us in their office within 45 minutes, a usual occurrence. Thanks for the tip Doctor.

When you're not looking

I think my kids are junk collectors. Yesterday, my kids’ room was picked up and clean when they went to bed. Tonight, I walked into my boys’ room and the floor is covered with crafts and paper and logos. How does that happen in less than 24 hours? This mess, this disorder drives me nuts.  I’m the kinda person that needs everything in its place and everything to have a place. So my response to my kids tonight, (already past the bedtime hour) “time to clean!” Together we worked quickly and got that room picked up.

But secretly, what am I doing when my kids aren’t looking?  

          . . . tucking a couple of things away, helping those beloved items find their way to the recycling bin.

The item that found the recycling bin tonight was a lovely, beautiful thing that my Eli spent all of 5 minutes on. Tonight it was paper rolled into a tube and then taped to more paper, to make a lid. I should invest in tape.

Maybe I’m a bad mom for not keeping and cherishing all those treasures, artwork, maybe I am forever throwing away their creative stuff and they’ll hate me for it. But you need to realize this is an everyday occurrence in our house. Constant crafts. Constant creatively. I’m trying to keep a few of the extraordinary items. And many of the items, I force them to make decisions about. But tonight was about purging just a couple of things without anyone seeing.

My response tomorrow when my son asks “where is that craft, mom?” is “we’ll look for it” knowing all the while that it is in the recycling . . . and then he’ll go make another paper roll with lid and be satisfied.

A Name

What’s in a name? I give a lot of weight to a name. I think whatever your name means is a good indicator of who you will become. The meaning of a name carries a lot of weight in my book. That’s why my husband and I have spent countless hours picking out names before our children have been born. It’s not just about my husband and I agreeing on a name, we also have to agree that we both like the meaning of our kids names.

I’ve put off starting this blog because I can’t decide upon a name. I’ve thought about it a ton. Should it be called Becoming Organized, or perhaps Finding Peace among the Clutter. Or maybe The Balancing Act: Finding a way to balance, motherhood, work, friendships, marriage and life. Or just Parenting 101 - the joys and trials of parenting.

First you need to know, I’m a perfectionist. Everything has a place. 

BUT today it came to me as I was reflecting :

• on expectations I’ve set for myself that I don’t feel like I’m living up to: more time spent in prayer, doing regular devotions, getting my daily exercise in, watching the food I eat
• about how my baby only wants to sleep 10 minutes at a time, and I’d like to get one good 3 hour stretch of sleep for once
• about friendships and how difficult it is to maintain them, and time consuming
• about being a good mom and wanting to make everything perfect for my kids and solve all their problems and how impossible that task seems
• about how easy it is to keep ourselves busy with unimportant stuff and not make room for the important things in life

As I was reflecting, I was cleaning my house and was thinking about how dirty homes can get when they are not taken care of constantly. AND THEN IT CAME TO ME . . . Life is Messy. I was thinking that I need to let go, it’s okay that I’m not perfect, that my baby is crying as I walk through the library, that my 6 year is struggling to find his place in life (more on his story another day), that my family didn’t eat dinner until 7 p.m. last night, that I have the laundry pile is growing in my bedroom .  .  . LIFE IS MESSY and that’s just the way it is.