In this moment VI

This is the final post in this series.  If you would like to read the others here are the links:

In this moment I

In this moment II

In this moment III

In this moment IV
In this moment V

Sometimes the prayer I need to say the most is the one that is the hardest. Somedays I find myself questioning Gods motives. Somedays I doubt myself and worry that I'm not cut out to be a mommy or teach. Sometimes I look at everything going on around me and I just want to ask God why? The most challenging part of having faith in God is having it on the bad days too. On the days when it appears everything is going wrong, everyone is crabby and miserable, and it appears that chaos reigns.

On those days, when the moment of silence comes in the morning I am tempted to ask God, "What the f*ck is going on? How am I supposed to be a good mom when I have to work? How the hell am I supposed to be a good teacher when these kids come to me from these totally screwed up situations? How am I supposed to be a good spouse when my husband is so difficult to talk to? How can I be a good friend when I have no free time? Why is the world so crazy sometimes?" It is not my place to question God. I know in my heart that even when it seems like there is no plan, that that is when I need to have faith the most. God will provide.

That prayer that I mentioned, the hardest one to say. It is not a prayer that questions or begs. It is a prayer of thanks. When I am frustrated and stressed out a prayer of thanksgiving can be the most difficult to say, but it the type of prayer that helps me get right with God and get ready for the day. After reading some of the other posts in this series you might wonder what there is to be thankful for. Everything.

I am thankful for my partner and spouse, help me to show him that. I am thankful for our amazing children, let me be the best mommy to them that I can. Thank you Lord for providing me the opportunity to work so that I can contribute to our household and be a good model for my children. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work with students who will benefit from the work I do. Thank you for providing this school. Thank you for guiding all of us and thank you for the many blessings you bestow.

There are so many blessings to be thankful for. Often the students that push me the hardest are the ones that come back later on to tell me how much of a difference I made in their lives. Students who acted out come back and apologize and thank me for teaching. I take their testimony as evidence that God does have a plan for us all, even if we can't see it right away.  A teenage mother comes back two years after graduating to tell me she is working and in college, "It was only with the love and support of my Grandparents and the Grace of God that I have made it to where I am." A teenage father (not related to her) comes back after graduation to tell me he has finished his associates degree and is going to college. Thank you Lord for getting him there.  A student that was arrested his Junior year comes back to tell me he finished his GED and is going to barber school.

My husband doing the dishes, my son making it to the potty, my sister getting a job, finding a great new resource to teach with, my daughters smile, the students who work hard without a struggle, the opportunity to serve. There are countless things to be thankful for. Sometimes when I find myself downtrodden, the best thing I can do is remember all I have to be thankful for and demonstrate my gratitude by saying a prayer of Thanks. It helps me to remember there is a plan and get my mind right.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the 

renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, 

that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

Thanks be to God,

Mrs.PJ

You know you are grocery shopping with a toddler when......

- You speed through the parking lot to flag down a bag boy collecting carts, screaming out the window, 'Hey, excuse me sir! I will take that cart! Yes that cart right there." Which cart could be so special?

Yep, that's the one.

- Your trip is slowed down by random, well meaning people who have to come introduce themselves to your kids and try to initiate a conversation with your three year old. Yes he likes to help shop. No he will not be the one making dinner, but he can help. No we will not be stocking up on cookies, and I don't appreciate you telling my kid this is where cookies come from. Thanks.

- You can barely navigate your extended cab car cart around the store because it is so crowded. That is until you accidently knock over an entire display of air fresheners, then everyone else disappears. The toddler declares, "You made a big mess Mommy!" After being  momentarily frozen in shock / embarrassment you decide to have a contest to see who can pick it up the fastest. I swear there was 100 cans of aerosol spray and 75 car fresheners on the floor. 

- You have to explain to the cashier why you have items in our cart that you did not pick up. They are there because your helper helped himself to a few cans of ravioli and surprise surprise, cookies. 

- You are physically exhausted after pushing a jumbo car cart loaded down with groceries all over the store and through the parking lot. You happened to be wearing the baby, so that is another 18lbs of wight lifting. By the time you get home you just want a nap, but you still have to put up all of the groceries. 

-You kind of wish your grocery store offered a service where you could just shop online and have every thing delivered.

Happy shopping,

Mrs.PJ

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My United States of Geography

and now for a little fun and geekery.......

The Names Behind The States infographic by Fonx.


I adore geography. Interesting graphic huh? So did you learn anything? 

Take care,
Mrs.PJ

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Already

      This Saturday marks nine months since our little girl was born. That means she has been out of the belly longer than she was in. Already. Really. She is standing on her own and will be taking her first steps any day now. Already. She is eating squishy food and trying to talk. She recognizes her name, is doing a super fast crawl and is chasing all of us around the house. Already. She has outgrown the baby whale tub and is bathing in the big tub (in about three inches of water). Already. She loves it and I can tell she will be outgrowing her rear facing car seat soon. Already.
     They say time flies when you are having fun. They aren't kidding. Days and months disappear so quickly that I find myself writing the wrong date more and more. It is not just the little girl. Our son is telling us stories about his day and pretending to read his books. He wants to help with dishes and laundry and dinner. This year is just disappearing so fast. It is almost the end of the school year already. It is almost the weekend already. Wait, it is almost 10:00pm already. Good God where does the time go?

How my son plays house.

Mommy Tractor with her little baby lawn mower(?) and baby dump truck.

steam roller: Oh Mommy you are so big and yellow.
Mommy Tractor: Little lawn mower, you are sooo cute. I love you. And I love you my little baby dump truck.
dump truck: Mommy you have big wheels and you have four wheels.
Mommy Tractor: Get into my big hand baby dump truck. Get in too sister lawn mower. I can pick you up with my big hand and hug you.
dump truck: Aww Mommy, you put us in your big hand and take us for a walk?
Mommy Tractor: Yes baby we will go outside.

This conversation was voiced entirely by my three year old son while I was putting up laundry in his room. I just had to share this.

Take care,
 Mrs. PJ

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Milestones

1. Starting with the youngest, our  eight month old baby girl is crawling with her belly off of the floor. She is also pulling up and walking along while holding to furniture. Yesterday she pulled herself up to standing using my leg and then she let go and was standing on her own! So exciting.
2. Our son has been voluntarily brushing his teeth and sitting on the real toilet to poop. I mean without us prompting or nagging, he is getting excited about personal hygiene. This might have something to do with the fact that he has figured out how to make "snakes" with his toothpaste and likes flushing toilet paper. Hey, it doesn't matter what his motivation is, he is doing it. So proud.

That was a new roll five minutes ago.

3. The school district I work for has hired me to work on two curriculum projects. I feel honored that I was selected, plus it will help me recoup some of the money I lost when I took a three month maternity leave. Then on Friday my Assistant Principle and the Lead Principle gave me high praise for a study guide I created. So nerdy, I know.

4. Mr. PJ is making mad progress on the car he is rebuilding in the garage. A few weeks ago it just looked like an empty frame with a couple hundred parts laying around. Now it is starting to look like it might run again one day. So impressive.

Take care,

Mrs.PJ

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You know you share your bathroom with a toddler when ..........

... you get the play by play on the laundry, "The dirty laundry was this big and now it is this big." He tells me this with his hands clearly exaggerating how tall our laundry pile is.
... every beauty and hygiene product you leave out on the counter gets stacked into a carefully balanced "mountain".
...no matter how hard you scrub the toilet, how long you burn a candle or how much disinfectant you spray, it always smells like someone just peed on the floor.
... the toilet paper roll (that you just replaced) looks like someone unwound the entire roll and then carelessly rolled it back on, creating a giant toilet paper wad that barely turns, because someone did.
... you emerge from a nice warm relaxing shower to be greeted with the double whammy of a tiny ice cold hand slapping you on the bum and then jabbing you in the bely button.

I might need to start locking the door,
Mrs. PJ


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Show and Tell

How to change a wriggly toddler:
1. Lay toddler on floor and sit at a 90 degree angle facing him or her.
2. Use your leg to pin toddlers upper body and arms. There has to be some kind of wrestling term for this maneuver, I just don't know what it is. If you don't want to pin their arms you can hand them a toy or a book and hope they don't throw it back at you. Then pin their body.
3. Fold your other leg under you, sing a song to distract them and quickly change the offending diaper.
4. Release your toddler.

Don't let that tiny baby head confuse you, the toddler is behind the Dr. Suess book.

The demonstration photo above looks a little confusing, but this technique really works, trust me.  I witnessed a good friend of mine changing her little man this way and asked if I could share it with you.   Our tot is in undies most of the time now, but I will definitely be using this when little miss PJ gets big enough to fight back. 

How to break in a new glove:

1. Buy your new softball or baseball glove and make sure the person using it can fit their hand into it before you bring it home. 

2. Slather that crisp glove with vitamin E oil. Yes, the same vitamin E oil you used on your post pregnancy stretch marks. 

3. Now coat that thing with lanolin, rubbing it into every crook, seam and cranny. Yes, the same lanolin you use on breast feeding nipples. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. This stuff is good for your glove. 

4. Put the ball you will be using in the pocket of the glove and wrap that thing like a christmas present. Wrap a hand towel or handkerchief around the ball and glove, tie with twine, and then toss the whole ensemble into a pillow case and tie that off. 

5. Throw that thing into the dryer with a load of wet laundry. The heat will work the oil and lanolin into the leather, the tumbling action will beat the stiffness out, and the humidity from the laundry will prevent your glove from getting to dry. The pillow case and towel layers around the glove protect your glove. You will see a noticeable difference in the play of your glove, but you can repeat steps 2-5 as needed.

How to wear your baby:

I wish I could carry her to work like this.

1. Find a baby wearing support group like Bay Area Baby Wearers.

2. Check out the great guides at Becoming Mommas or Sleeping Baby Productions.

3. Enjoy snuggling with your baby and having your hands free!

Remember I share because I care. Nobody is paying me to, FYI. 

Take care,

Mrs. PJ

Money is dirty

Seriously people, money is filthy. I don't mean in a hippie dippie socialist let's go back to bartering way. I mean money carries a lot of germs. Why is that you might ask? Basically because toddlers and other gross people handle it. Let me explain. Our house should be under quarantine right now because the little dude and I have a bad stomach virus. Apparently it is very contagious because lots of people we know have had it. How bad could it be you ask? Every time the poor little dude passed gas yesterday we had to change his underwear. So he was wearing just his underwear and a t-shirt for most of the day. At one point he walks through the room and quarters start falling out of his undies. They were coming out of the leg hole every time he took a step. It was like we won the jackpot at a toddler casino. He had been going through his easter basket and found the quarters in some of the plastic eggs. He explained that he put them in his "pocket"(the flap on the front of his undies). So these quarters were jingling around in what is probably the most germ contaminated spot in our house. Where are those quarters now? Who knows. They are probably in a piggy bank, waiting to release their evil stomach bug germs on the next unsuspecting victim. It reminds me of when I used to work in retail and people would use the waistband of their spandex bike shorts or their bra as a wallet. It is pretty gross being handed cash soaking wet with sweat. Remember when you were a child and your classmates carried their lunch money in their shoes? Bottom line, money is dirty, so wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after you handle cash. Don't try to blame it on my toddler either.

 Don't forget to wash those hands,
Mrs.PJ

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