Lock Me Up & Throw Away The Key

     If you're the mother of small children, you'll understand me when I say, I get really tired of hearing the sound my own voice! My days typically go a little something like this, "No Dakotah! Do not write on yourself with markers!  I love u too Dani.  Dakotah, put the wet cat back outside.  I love u too Dani.  Dakotah, quit pretending like you're smoking the ink pen. I love u too Dani. Hey Daakkoottaahh, where are you? Oh there u are. Painting the bathroom with green nail polish...I LOVE U TOO DANI!"

     Sounds familiar to anyone?  Or are my kids the only ones that seem to make it their life's mission to run me as ragged as possible and try their best to make me cry before the sun goes down?  The above scene really happened, about two years ago.  That was probably one of those days that by the time I got supper on the table and everybody had their second or third plate, I was laying in the floor, in the fetal position, slobbering all over myself and Curtis was wondering what happened to his fun loving wife that he used to come home to every day after work.

Poor Mommy needs a time out!

     Well, since then I've grown some pretty thick skin.  And learned to block things out. I'm pretty sure it's a gift.  My mom and dad both say, "I don't know how you can just sit there and ignore Dakotah crying like she's not even there!" or "Why don't you answer him?! That drives me crazy!"  It was either learn to block out a little bit of the insanity, or kill somebody.  I knew the second wasn't an option.  For one,  orange is NOT my color.  And, I know I'm not tough enough for the prison life.  So, I went with the "tune em' out" method. It works really good for me!

     One day a couple of summers ago, I was cooking dinner and the kids were all playing outside. Running in and out, in and out.  I was just doing my thing. (ignoring the slamming door) Devin, 10 at the time and Kaya, my stepdaughter, then 12 said they were going for a walk.  I told them that was fine, just don't go too far and don't stay gone long.  They are our explorers. 

     If I haven't mentioned it in my past blogs.  Devin's my child that I have to be very specific with.  I'm honestly not sure how I've kept him alive this long or at the least from severe harm.  My daily dialogue:  "Devin, don't run with scissors...Devin, you can't use that sharp knife...Devin, don't jump off of the roof...Devin, don't drink anti-freeze." Okay, maybe that last one was an exaggeration. 

     Anyway, about 100 yards from our driveway, in the middle of the highway, there's a dead opossum.  It's been there for a few days and every time we drive by it, Devin wants me to slow down so he can inspect it.  I'm sure you can all see where this is going.

     On their walk, Kaya and Devin discovered that not only was the poor opossum murdered, but she also had three babies that were dead too.  They came back in from their adventure and Devin was excited to tell me about the babies. Kaya was sad. She thinks it's a tragedy anytime an animal dies. ANY animal! She has such a big heart.

     Devin proceeded to say, "Ya know, there's blood everywhere around that opossum."  I said, "Yeah. I'm sure there is." He said, "And when you pour peroxide on it, it bubbles like crazy!" I said "Why were you guys in the middle of the highway in the first place?" He said, "that's where we were taking our walk." Then I ask him, "And why in the world did you have peroxide with you?"  He looked at me with a look on his face like, you are sooooo stupid.  And said, "We didn't. We came back and got it!" DUH!!!

     Ya know, 3 hots and a cot sounds better all the time.  They'll let me have my books, right?!

Kiss Sleeping Good Night

I heard a young married couple that just had their first baby, talking at church Sunday morning. Someone said something to them about it being 3 months until they get a full nights sleep. The person that made this statement either, a.) didn't have children or b.) had super human babies that slept all night at an amazingly young age. Either way, I kept my mouth shut, for a change. But I was laughing it up on the inside.
I learned after baby #1, to totally take advantage of the hospital nursery for my two night luxury stay in Cox South. Because that was the best sleep I was gonna get for a while.
After going home with my little bundle's of joy I was very fortunate to get 4 hours of sleep per night. I was always so jealous of my friends when they said their babies got up every two hours to nurse. What in the world was wrong with my children? I was just sure they were in some kind of excruciating pain, or the formula was NOT doing it's job, or at the very least, they were possessed! Something?!
Dakotah, my 5th and final baby was my best sleeper. She started sleeping all night at three weeks old. I think God looked down, saw the black circles under my eyes, and thought, bless her heart, she needs some sleep. And so, Dakotah slept all night until she was 4 months old. It was nice while it lasted.
Well, none of them are babies anymore. Whew! Got that stage whooped. So their reasons for waking me up all through the night have completely changed, but alas, they are still there.
I don't really remember the last time Daymond woke me up in the middle of the night. If he wakes me up, it's usually needful. But Devin...Oh Devin. He keeps my door knob hot running in and out of my room. Here's a few of the excuses/reasons that he's used just over the past month:

Devin: "It's really hot in our room."
Me: "Open your window."
Devin: "I already did."
Me: "Then put your fan in it."
Devin: "I did that too."
Me: "Then what would you like for me to do?"
Devin: "I don't know."
Me: "Go. To. BED!!!

Another night.

Devin: "Hey. Can we watch a movie on MegaShare."
Me: "No Devin. It's 11:30"
Devin: "But I can't sleep."
Me: "You have school in the morning."
Devin: "It doesn't matter if I'm laying in my room or downstairs, I'm still going to be awake. Can I pleeeaassee???"
Me: "NO DEVIN. Go. To. BED!!!"
You get the picture.
Then there's Dustin. He came in one night crying. He laid his head down on my belly and sobbed. After asking him 3 or 4 times what was wrong. He finally said, "I'm just sooo tired." I said, "If I was tired enough to cry, I'd go to bed." So, after crying a little longer, he did.
So new mommy's, don't think that just because your baby get's older, that you'll get to sleep at night. Oooohhhh noooo. My children's ages ares, 13, 12, 9, 7, and 4. And there is NEVER a night that I don't get woke up for something. The best one yet?
Dani, 7 came in my room crying hysterically one night. With Devin, 12 hot on her heels. Saying Dustin, 9 woke Dani up and told her the house was on fire! Little did I know, that Devin had "not" held a lighter by her face for awesome affect. Just ask him. He would never lie. I tried to go back to sleep. But it was time for the dog to wake me up. If one person says I'm "payin' for my raisin'" I'm going kick them in the throat.
I keep telling myself that one of these days these will be "precious memories." But right now, I just need a nap.

The Art of Raising a Fine Young Man

I have three boys with three completely different personality's. Thank God!

So handsome:)

Daymond, my oldest, will be 14 next month. He plays the role of "Alpha Male" among our children. At 13, he is 6'2" and weighs 175 lbs. So, that role comes naturally to him. I recently found out that when he wants something, whether it be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that his 9 year old brother just spent 10 minutes making himself, or the XBox controller that his 12 year old brother has, he gets it...one way or another.
I am not exaggerating when I say that Daymond eats enough to feed a small family in Africa. He's literally swallowing his last bite of breakfast and asking what I'm cooking for lunch. He say's it takes a lot to "fuel the machine." I say he's a hog!
Then there's Devin. The middle boy and (almost) teenager. Where do I even start?
This one spends, I would say, 80% of his life grounded. This is the same child that received the "citizenship award" every year during elementary school. "He's so sweet." His teachers would

Just look at that "sweet" face!

say. "He's such a wonderful helper." We heard at conferences. "He treats everyone with such respect." They crooned.
Well, Devin's in junior high now. Gone are the days of sweet, respect, and helpfulness. (we don't see these at home any way) There are times that I swear, he lives to torture his other siblings! If it weren't for this extra curricular activity, he would have no reason to live.
Devin has a whole lot of energy. He loves to play sports, ride bikes, dig in the dirt, catch bugs. Pretty much anything that a real boy likes to do. That's where you'll find Devin. I've recently figured out that the more dangerous, the better. I heard him, our 9 year old and their friends from down the street screaming in our back yard. I looked out the kitchen window to check on them and saw Devin doing a flip off of the peek of the garage onto the trampoline. I ran out the back door and screamed, "DEVIN!!!" He slowly walked up to me with a smirk on his face. I said, in a frantic voice, "What are you thinking?" He said, "What? Nobody got hurt! Did you see that? It was Awesome!!!" That's Devin in a nutshell.
Then there's my baby boy, 9 year old Dustin.
He's so sweet and always ready to lend a helping hand. He's my one child that, if he see's that I'm not feeling well, will offer to rub my head. Or if he notices that I'm overwhelmed with housework, he'll ask if there's anything he can do to help me.

My sweet baby boy:)

I'm not saying he's perfect. Far from it. The jury's still out on who spray painted yellow dots on the side of the house with bright yellow spray paint, even though Dustin was caught, red handed, with yellow paint on his finger. He also still deny's, 6 months later, that he texted a dirty word to his older brother from my cell phone. Even though we know that he's the one that had the phone at the time that the text was delivered. But when interrogated by Daymond, he still cries and swears it wasn't him! So who knows, maybe it was the dog!

With all of this bad, comes a whole lot of good.
I was stopped in town Saturday and it was brought to my attention that, while we weren't able to attend Daymond's football game last week, he stopped late in the game while the two teams were tied, knelt down on the field and said a prayer in front of his team mates and all of the other people. That's a pretty bold move for a 13 year old.
Devin may act out at home and torture and torment his siblings, which I hear is completely normal. But he gave up one of the best friends that he had made in a new school because he was making racial comments to some other kids in their class. Devin told him that he wasn't going to be his friend anymore if that's how he was going to treat other people. And that we didn't believe that way because we were christian's. The boy didn't stop. So Devin stuck to his word. An equally bold move for a 12 year old.
I'm proud of my boys. There are times that I think, do they hear anything I say to them? Why do I waste my breath? But I know, at the end of the day, it's getting through. And that makes me one happy mama!