Mommy of Many®

I’m constantly handing out extra chores, or punishments. There always seems to be someone pushing someone else, or yelling at someone else or telling me that they are NEVER going to do what I just told them to do or say. So, all of these things result in either getting an extra chore or being punished ie; no phone, no computer or in extreme cases, blackout. Now, when I’m at the top of my game I write up a Morning Memo for the family that lays the day out for all of us and tells who’s doing what and also lists the extra chores, should anyone need one for the day. However, some days I get thrown off and don’t have the time to type up the magic document the keeps all running smoothly. Yesterday was one of those days. So, I ended up giving one of the older children a “blackout” for a period of time and then wrote it on the calendar. Well, I took the other kids to run errands and during that time the kiddo who is in blackout calls me and says, “If I get such and such done can I do such and such tomorrow”. My overloaded, I don’t have my calendar or Morning Memo in front of me response, “sure”. Then I get home, realize I’ve just overridden my own punishment and feel stuck. I don’t feel like I can say, “Sorry, but you CAN NOT do such and such, because you are in blackout.” Because then I will hear, “You SAID I could!”. Ok, but I also SAID and WROTE down, “blackout”.

Alright, in taking the time to write this all down, I realize I just have to endure the yelling from the child and go over to the calendar and point to it and say, “You called me while I was out with numerous other children, trying to run errands and so my brain was mushy. But, you are clearly in blackout for this period of time and CAN NOT do anything today, even though you caught me off guard, yesterday and I said yes.”

Ok, wish me luck!

Have a great day~

P.S. While searching the web, after writing this post, I came across a few interesting sites on parenting; Pocket Parenting and this one. Ok, and THIS one (miracle worker?!)

Yesterday afternoon, I had conferences for 3 of my kiddos. This is a once-a-year requirement with the school, to touch-base with the teachers and get a good feel for how things are going. And, of course, you receive the first report card. So far, so good! The girls seem to be easing into 6th grade and all of it’s demands fairly well and Tristan is just knocking-it-out-of-the-park in 2nd grade. Good job guys! I had a bit of a wait between my 2nd and 3rd conferences, so I decided (not having brought a book or magazine and not needing to make any phone calls) to clean out my bag. This is the same bag that I found the elusive tuition check hidden in. So, I was unsure of what might be learking in the depths of it’s pockets. Hmmmmmm………lost house keys? A pack of gum? Hidden $20 bills? A small child I had forgot about? Alright, I found the gum and the keys. Dang it on the $ and a ~big sigh~ of relief on the child! Apparently this bag has developed a small hole in the lining of one pocket and my keys were able to wiggle right through. I guess I’ll put, “New Bag” on my Christmas list. Any volunteers to help Clay with the bag shopping?

So, on to today-This morning I’ve got to get the kids moving and off to school. It’s the final 1/2 day in a week of short days due to the conferences and tomorrow is off for Veterans Day. Then Max and Gabi are scheduled at the dentist. Both of their Tonsil-Ravaged mouths seem to be doing well now. Max had MAJOR dental surgery earlier this year to remove, repair and cap his little teeth. He had terrible tonsils that had kept an acid wash in his mouth that rapidly decayed and destroyed his teeth. His health has improved since the procedure and so has his confidence. We had started to see the same effects on Gabi and had her tonsils removed promptly and the damage to her teeth repaired before it got to the point Max’s was at. Today they are just heading in for a cleaning. Of course, this will mean juggling Luke-Xavier while trying to convince each of them that the dentist is NOT going to hurt them. Once all of that is over we will head back to the school to get kids. This afternoon brings; volleyball practice, a play-date, soccer practice, Girl Scouts, John Robert Powers and a gathering that I’m not sure I will make it to. Whew! The time change has still got me all off kilter. Hopefully when Clay returns, we can get things back in order and get used to having it be dark so early.

Ok, that’s it from MommyofMany’s headquarters. I hope it’s a great day for each of you. Until tomorrow, I’ll be here listening to the rhythm in my head and Doing the Dance of The Children~

Go Maddi! Go Anna!

The girls had their first volleyball playoff game today and won! They are so excited! They play again on Sunday.

Because of conferences this week, the kids have 1/2 days. I like not having to make lunches, but the days are so unproductive. I feel like I drop them off at school, pull the little ones out of the car and into the house, get them settled with something to do and then it’s right back in the car and off the school again. I’m pretty sure the kids enjoy them, though.

One week until Clay gets back from his work-up. It seems that everytime he leaves, so much happens. The kids have been really antsy while he’s been gone. I am hopeful that they will settle down again when he returns. Just days after he returns, JJ flies in! I am so excited to have the kids here for Thanksgiving! I’m not used to having them gone. I’m hoping that we can work in time for a family picture while they are here, so we have a nice one of everyone for Christmas cards.

I hope you each have a great day. I’m missing hearing from all of you! Everyone’s been so quiet! Remember, if you don’t like leaving a comment, but have a question or something to say, you can email me at; Jen@MommyofMany.com

Happy Wednesday~

Whoo! I feel like I’ve made it through a storm! I’m not sure I can even give an accurate account of what happened with these kiddos over the last 2 days. It was just one thing after another. For the first time in a VERY long time and certainly the first time in Max’s life, I had to teach the lesson of eating what you ask for, no matter HOW long you sit at the table. Geesh! It took him 2 hours to finish a yogurt that I told him not to take, because I knew (from the past) that he doesn’t like that particular kind. Sometimes it’s REALLY hard to follow through with these kinds of lessons, because I’ve already taught them numerous times before and I find myself slacking off and letting things slide. But Max is getting really bad about taking food and either opening it and leaving it completely untouched, or taking a bite or two and then throwing it away and coming to ask for something else. This happens over and over again on a daily basis. So, yesterday when he pulled the greek yogurt with honey out of the fridge, I looked right at him and said, “put that back. You don’t like it.” Of course, 5 minutes later it’s on the table, opened and all the honey has been eaten out of it and he’s getting out of his chair to say he’s done. Think again! Over the course of the time that he sat at the table, I kept reminding him that he was there to learn the lesson of, “doing what you’re told, when, you’re told”. (Do NOT bother to leave comments calling me a tyrant! Any name calling that was to be done has already been done over the years by the children and yours’ will simply fall on deaf ears. Plus I can delete it! Ha!) The other kids kept going to the table to give him advice on how best to eat something you hate; “Eat really big bites so that it goes faster.” or “Drink water with it” or even, “Hold your nose so that you can’t taste it.” Gotta love that sibling advice! Anyway, he DID eventually eat the dang yogurt and I’m willing to bet he will NEVER take another. But, this is just a sampling of the adventures we had all weekend. The hose kept getting turned on by a mysterious force that would then spray it in the direction of the children, who, of course, did not want to get wet! I guess it’s time to call in the Ghost Busters! After 3 times of wet, shivering children in 2 days, I decided the biv (I think that’s what the handle part is called) had to be removed. This was a good example of a lesson I was revisiting from the past. We had removed it years ago, only to get frustrated with always having to hunt it down when I wanted to water the plants or the dog. Why it would disappear from where I had put it is still a Lang Family mystery. So there you go, a mere sampling of the super, fun, weekend adventures we had! Maybe I’ll start leaving the video camera running so that we can catch the culprit!

Have a good night~

New babies can be challenging. Babies don’t care what number they are in a family. Whether first, third, seventh or even ninth, they come into the world with their own individual needs, wants and personalities. New moms, while deeply in love with their new blessing, can be exhausted and challenged by lack of sleep and trying to figure out their new bundle’s schedule. In this show I talk about the importance of community, family and friends and give a couple of ideas that are helpful to a new mom.

You can share your ideas by leaving a comment or email me at; Jen@MommyofMany.com
Check back for daily blog and weekly podcasts. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy!

 

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Children big and small need consistency. This is something I’ve always known, but had to put into play, over time. Here’s the thing…it’s tricky! Kids will tell you that they want choices (we talked about that in an earlier lesson) and they do, but they don’t want so many choices that they never know what to expect. I consider myself an organized person. I lay things out for my family in a fairly clear manner. But when it came to the weekly chores, I was laying it out in a way that made for arguing and headaches. I used make a list of all of the chores and then sit the kids down and have them each pick a chore, one by one until the list was finished. This made for arguing about who was going to go first and that so-and-so went first last time. Or that the least desirable chore was always left for last and then there was crying by the last person to choose. Not so good! I even tried giving each chore a number and then going around the room asking the kids to pick a number between 1 and 12 (or however many chores-kids there were) but THAT didn’t work out peacefully either because if the person who has just had dishes for a week picked it again we were certainly going to hear about how unfair it was! Finally, I’ve used a method that’s based off of one of my friend’s methods. She is also a Mommy of Many and had her children rotate rooms of the house each week. So, every week, they knew what was coming. Now, I have broken the chores up into groups of 3 and we simply move the name down the list each week. Guess what? No fighting! It’s perfectly fair AND they know what to expect! Lesson learned!

Kids need to know what to expect~

If you have a great idea that works well in your family, I’d love to hear about it. I’ve found that it doesn’t matter how many kiddos you are raising or how long you’ve been doing it, there’s always something to learn and another GREAT idea out there. Please share!

Have a great day~

(said with 4yr. old exuberance after the first trick or treating house, tonight) “I love this! I JUST LOVE this!” So, Halloween was a big hit here. The kids did lots of trick or treating and had their school carnival today. Whew! We are exhausted! (Hopefully that will make the baby sleep through the night.) I’ve gathered, bagged and tagged the candy to be put away for special times. The baths have been taken, the teeth brushed, hair combed out and everyone put to bed. Such a day! You should see this house (actually really glad that you can not). So, while we had lots of fun and the kids burned lots of energy, we did have a little snag. Tell me what you think…….

One of the older kids wanted to go trick or treating with friends instead of staying with us. Our policy has always been that anyone who wanted to come with us was welcome, but that our kids stayed together on Halloween. It makes sense because of the area we live in. When you’re in military housing (for the most part), it’s considered a safe area. Our housing is not on a base. It’s just in the middle of town and easily accessible by everyone, so LOTS of extra kids come into the housing for Halloween. LOTS! Well, this year I considered the request to go with a friend, because Clay is out to sea so we all went to a party at a friends’ house. BUT, I needed details. I was told they would be at a school campus for a “like a carnival”. Parents? “Oh yeah. I think so”. So, when I dropped her off, I decided to go in and confirm with the parents. What I was told and what was happening were two very different things. No school carnival, just trick or treating in the area around the school (FAR from the house I was dropping off at) and “no” the parent or parents would not be staying. I told my daughter that I was sorry but that she had to grab her things and come with me because that didn’t fit my criteria for going out with friends on Halloween. EMBARRASSMENT! ANGER! YELLING (once we were away from the other people). So, when we arrived at the party that we were going to, she stayed in the car……the whole time! She refused to attend and I simply let her stay in the car. Why argue?

Ok, what’s your take? I felt that it was vitally important that I hold my ground because I was uncomfortable with the situation of no parents and not knowing more than 2 of the other kids that she would be with. Halloween can be a dangerous night! AND I have several other children coming up behind this one, that would surely point out that So-and-So got to do such-and-such back in 2007!

On that note, I say………………………………………………………………

When I ripped October off of the calendar today and felt how thin the rest of the calendar is, I was in a mild state of shock! Did you realize that it’s New Year’s?! The minute Halloween hits, it’s all over! The stores are filling up with Christmas decor to make me nervous and antsy about all those lists that I really haven’t thought about yet. Sure, Tristan and Max wrote their wish lists to Santa a week or so ago, but those were for Santa! But now I have to worry about Christmas! Yikes!

Happy Halloween!
Good night~