2020 - month 1

I'm trying a new thing this year - like always, I may fail to complete it each month, but it  never hurts to try, right? 

Each month I plan to post a summary of sorts.  The goal is to write at least once a month, more if possible.   I'm hoping to use this loose writing prompt - Do, Read, Learn, Be....Either what we are currently doing or like a recap of what we did since the last posting. 


DO - This month we put away the Christmas decorations, celebrated my Dad's birthday, watched Moses' basketball games, tackled some laundry and played in the little snow we got.  Colleen had a stress test so we were at the hospital for a long day.  I had some mini adventures with Baby Mercedes and we actually got some projects done around here!  (Goodbye large piece of furniture that wasn't working, hello organizing and dipping my toe into interior decorating!)  I had a blue streak that I kicked to the curb by sledding, talking to some friends (never enough time for that!), changing my eating habits and getting a massage.  I had a pity party one day and felt like I sucked at everything.  Then I asked friends to tell me about their wins so I could celebrate w/them...which led to a new perspective - I've got wins too - even if they are small.  Some of that is what led me to write a little today.  Most of you know that my life can be challenging and my personality sometimes gets in the way - but I'm a work in progress and if being honest about 'the suck' helps push past it, we should do more of it.  I don't want to sit around counting the Ls I've taken for more time than necessary.  I want to keep writing here and celebrating all the aspects that make our family who we are.  It's a good life, even when we have bad days, we are together and the story of us is worth telling.  The 3 younger kids are all doing Destination Imagination this year, so they are busy practicing and preparing for the competition in March.  Dave has been helping fix up things around the house, picking up the Mercedes toys I leave out and recently he and Moses went to a men's conference together.

READ - You guys - I read a book!!!  Not b/c I needed to learn about one of my kids' disorders or how to discipline or a bible study or what not...a book I picked out.  A book I would have highlighted the heck out of, had I owned it.  The author put into words feelings I have had for a while and I am realizing my kids are probably having too.  Normal sucks.  That title is a phrase I have uttered a lot.  I don't want to be normal if it means I am not me.  This book challenges me - I always feel like differences in brain function are roadblocks and I should work on my brain function to make it more like so and so's, why did God make me so different from them, why can't they be normal, etc...what is normal anyway and who gets to decide??  The 'abnormal' parts of my brain are what make me good at being a nurturer and a mother, who cares if I screw up every recipe I try to follow?  For my kids this means I look forward to seeing how their brain develops and how they use their superpowers (aka what the rest of the world labels as deficiencies or disorders) for good!  The kids are reading lots of thing for school - Moses chooses sci-fi/dystopian types of novels in his free time, Colleen is working through Ivy and Bean, while Ezra reads beginning chapter books.  Franklin grumbles about the picture books I choose but once he starts, he is able to read new books cold!  What I mean by that is that he hasn't seen them before...in case you haven't heard that idiom before, although the outdoor temps are cold here, that's not what I mean.  Most of the books he brings home from school, they have already practiced.  It's pretty impressive that he's come so far!!  The look on his face when he finishes a new one is priceless!!  Dave is reading a bunch of Bible study books and all the answers his students write on their math tests. 

LEARN - I am sure I have learned a lot this month, but mostly I want to say that I cooked some new things and I am learning a Bible verse by memory.  If you like ham sammies, try this!  If you'd like a different take on chili, try this - I even made it in the instant pot.  As for the Bible verse, I challenged the kids to see if they could beat me at memorizing Eph 4:29.  My app will only let me practice it in the KJV until I pay, which I probably will, but for now I think I've got it!  I have heard the kids practicing so I think I might actually know their version better, but either way.  Soon I'll have to start looking for a new verse for us to learn.  I have heard a lot about the things the kids are learning - about concentration camps in WWII, about carp in the Great Lakes, about how to make a carnival game using a table saw, about cursive...it's never enough to hear what they are learning.   We are also learning about the impeachment process, caucuses, how to spell caucuses, and what a referendum is (but not necessarily how best to end this sentence!).


BE - I've been concentrating on being more calm.  If you know me, you know I can be loud, passionate and I'm not usually calm.  I'm more of all over the map and up in arms about something.  But in attempting to be calm...I think I've pulled it off for most of the month, save for at least two outbursts during the worst week.  I lost it on a kid and I had a pity party/meltdown, separate occasions, but don't kid yourself, they were related in the emotional sense.  I also am trying to take my self care seriously, so I guess you could say I am being selfish but for good reason.  Naps happened this month.  Not ashamed to say that my mental health is better for it!!  As for the others, Moses was being active by playing on the basketball team for the first time.  Colleen has been more social and the boys are trying to be patient and respectful.  (It's a long time until wrestling starts!)

Round 1 of Do, Read, Learn and Be is done!  Talk in the house has turned to spring break and summer plans.  It's always a fun time planning and plotting.  More on that next time!