A few days ago, we discovered that our septic tank was overflowing. Into our basement. Fortunately, it was contained to the basement bathroom, and after having the plumber and septic pumping people out, it appeared to have been resolved. Jimmy wasn't too happy with this whole scenario. Oh, he seemed to take it all in stride, as he does most things. But every once in a while, he would make a comment that indicated that he wasn't really taking it in stride. "B,what did O flush down the toilet lately?" h...
I had a few minutes recently to read a few new blogs I'd stumbled upon. It's alwaysfun tosee what other moms are up to,butfor me, there's also something , well, unsettlingabout it. The truth is, reading other moms blogs sometimes causes me to question my own experience. It causes me to wonder if I'm doing something wrong. It makes me think maybe I should finally get that script for xanax. Because, the thing is, so many moms who blog about motherhood just love.every.single.minute.of.it. I've written b...
N starts second grade tomorrow. When I was looking over her school supply list, I kept getting all mixed up. Then I realized it was because I was alternately looking at the kindergarten list and the first grade list. It took a lot of effortto actually getmy eyes tofocus on the second grade list, because I still don't know how it is that she's going into second grade. When I was in second grade,I had Sister Mary Laura. Everyone should get to have ateacher like Sister Mary Laura at least once. She was kin...
We teach our children a lot of words. Some of those words, like Please,andThank You, and You're the best mom in the world, seem to take a lot of teaching. Whilethe words we hope they didn't hear are, of course, the ones they learn right away. And the ones they repeat. Often. In Church. Mostof usprobably agree whichwords are the most important. Like I love you, and I'm sorry, and I'm here for you. I've been thinking about those kinds of words a lot this week. Trying to find the right ones. Knowin...
The past few days haven't been particularly fun in NBO land. Without going into details that aren't ours to share, suffice it to say that thereis currentlya lot of sadness within our extended family.Jimmy and I are going through the daily motions of working, and raising our children, and doing everything we aresupposed to do. Barely under the surface, however, we are constantlythinking about the people we wish we could be with right now, and wishing we could do something for them. Of course, the only t...
Recently our local paper ran a story on a toddler who swallowed several small magnets, and whose mom fortunately realized it and took him to the emergency room. Several comments from readers followed the article. Some were supportive. Some mentioned how glad they were that the child was OK. And some--several, in fact--blamed the mom for having the magnets in the house in the first place, or for leaving her child alone long enough for him to swallow them, or for her "bad parenting". People seemed eager, i...
Growing up as the youngest of seven, I often thought that I missed out on a lot. Though our parents had six kids in nine years, there was another nine years before I came along. At times, some people feel a need to point out thatmy mother's pregnancy with mewas obviously unplanned. Iprefer tothink that itwas a pregnancy worth waiting for. Anyway, I often heard stories about family vacationsthat I was never really a part of. Hiding a child under a blanket in the back seat so they didn't have to pay fo...
If you are grossed out by the words "poop" and/or "potty", you should probably stop reading now. So B is finally, thankfully potty trained. Mostly. It just took me locking the two of us in the bathroom together and informing him that he wasn't leaving until he peed. Yeah, I know someone is looking up the number for child protective services right now because this is nothing like what all the books say. I also know that he has been peeing on the potty ever since. Well, when he's not peeing on th...
I once wrote that there's not much I miss about my life before kids. Jimmy read that line, and couldn't seem to get past it. He stared at me, waiting for me to explain this obviously ridiculous statement that I made. "There's not much you miss about your life before kids?" he asked incredulously. He really didn't get it, because while he loves our children every bit as much as I do, there's actually a lot that he misses about his life before kids. Me? No, there's really not that much. Just a few th...
So I don't really have three kids. I have four. No, I'm not talking about Jimmy--that would make five. The first three are pretty good. In fact, they don't do much wrong at all. The fourth though, is quite a trouble maker. If I ever actually lay eyes on him, he's going to get a piece of my mind. Even though I've never seen him, I'm quite familiar with his name. His name is Notme. This morning, he pulled a roll of toilet paper all over the house. I know it was him because, when asked who did it,...
