So I've done a web site change. I've changed the Life as Mommy site to Creative Motherhood.
Why?
Well, when we started Life as Mommy, it was a bit on a whim, and I had little kids and babies at the time. It made a little sense. Except [...]
So I've done a web site change. I've changed the Life as Mommy site to Creative Motherhood.
Why?
Well, when we started Life as Mommy, it was a bit on a whim, and I had little kids and babies at the time. It made a little sense. Except [...]
I just get a feeling that this year is going to be one of those more interesting ones. Either that, or we're getting all our "fun" stuff over at the beginning of the year. However, I don't hold my breath on that.
I spent January running from doctor to [...]
My kids do say interesting things. Today was not an exception.
Mim and I went errand running, and ended up at a Starbucks for a break and hot chocolate and chai. The subject of college came up, so I was telling her all the gory details about finals and credits [...]
Collin has always been one of those quirky kids who got more than he should have at a young age. My mother once said "He's intense, like that kid from "The Sixth Sense", only without the whole "I see dead people" thing."
When he was four and a half, we' [...]
Today, after her AVB therapy session, I learned that Maura was using three new signs. Trying to be less of a slacker parent, I decided to try out one of the new signs, the one for "movie".
So out in the parking lot, I asked her "Did you watch a" [...]
A very interesting read -
Brain waves are window into autism language woes - Yahoo! News
CHICAGO - Unique brain wave patterns, spotted for the first time in autistic children, may help explain why they have so much trouble communicating.
Using an imaging helmet that [...]
As many of you know, we've been trying to find a diagnosis for Maura that explains the low muscle tone, delays, crossed eyes, blah blah, yadda yadda, and everything else.
Today, someone asked why I don't get her an autism diagnosis. This isn't the first time this has been asked, and' [...]
I hoard towels.
When I use towels, I take them and hang them up on the post of my bed's footboard. This way, if I need a clean towel, I just grab those.
(Okay, I know some of you feel that once a towel has been used, it' [...]
The four weeks before Christmas are always busy, especially what with a small herd of children to get presents and outfits for, the extra time it takes to just get through a regular shopping trip through Target, trying to get decorations up, figure out what to get the rest of the [...]
In the living room, I hear this soft thudding noise.
I say "Sean, stop jumping onto the couch."
I hear "Sorry." from Sean - who was jumping on the couch.
No sight necessary, just the awesome powers of motherly deduction.
Now if I could only get Miriam [...]
Wednesday is Dance Class Day. I thought this would work out great - Miriam has dance at 5:30, Maura right after Mim's class. One trip, two events covered, less running around for me, and all just a couple blocks from home. Even better, two of my friends have their daughters in' [...]
I'm finally getting around to painting the dining room. It's a lovely muted shade of yellow that makes the room glow in a nice way (unlike the yellow kitchen counters which glow in a bad road paint yellow way.)
Painting by myself gives my mind a lot of time to [...]
Put Mim on the bus at 7:30. She's perfectly fine except for a minor clothing battle (she was not going to school in striped tights and a floral print summer dress. Not on my watch!)
Her bus drops her off about 8-ish.
8:15, the school calls, says Mim's [...]
Okay, not quite.
I'm home with Vomit Boy Collin, who threw up last night. Josh took other children to church. Me, I'm having my own Sunday Service here, praying desperately to God that the plague that has entered our house will be confined to just Collin of the Weak Stomach.
Today, [...]
I'm watching some "mystery illness" show on Discovery Health. At commercial breaks, they have a little "this person has these symptoms, what disease do they have?"
I'm getting most of them right.
Yep - between scouring the Internet trying to figure out what Maura has, and watching too many Discovery [...]
Proving that indeed, this is genetic...
Collin was telling me how in his creative writing class, the students were being too noisy, so had to do a writing assignment as punishment. Two paragraphs on how they'd change the world.
I asked him "What did you write it on?"
He said' [...]
...is that it's so hard to catch up to everything once you return home.
We went to Ireland. It was gorgeous. As was the bacon in Ireland. Yes, we liked the bacon. It was good. And the Bulmer's cider. The roads could have been a wee bit wider. But the [...]
No, really.
I ordered pizza for dinner tonight, right before dropping the boys off at religious education, picked it up after dropping them off, fed the girls and myself, and went back to pick the boys up from religious education. They were looking forward to pizza for dinner.
Except when we [...]
Those are sounds to the soundtrack of my life - aka breaking glass.
I was the middle of five kids. We broke glass. There were the regular things of dropped drinking glasses and rogue baseballs. But there were other more interesting times, like when I threw a baby rattle at [...]
I finished the socks I've been knitting! How flippin cool am I? Okay, so the yarn was self-striping, I don't get that credit. But everything else was all me. I followed the pattern on this website, which also has a handy dandy photo tutorial as well. So like when I wasn't' [...]
I'm making my first pair of socks. I finished one and am working on the heel of the second. I'm feeling very cool right now about being able to figure out how to knit socks. Though I didn't really have to figure out anything - I'm following the directions on [...]
The other day, that one Jif peanut butter commercial was playing on tv. The one where there's only one slice of bread to spread the goodness that is Jif all over. So the boys have to cut and share.
Now, I've long ago stopped listening to Jif commercials because [...]
Okay, for some reason, the LiveWriter will post everything just right...and then the text disappears when I go to look at it.
So let's see if this is readable, or if it'll disappear.
ETA - Okay, figured it out. It was the theme (aka design) that [...]
I can now get back to blogging as I do.
Okay, I have nothing to write about. Maura is watching The Backyardigans - as is Sean for some odd reason. Collin's watching something else on the other tv. Miriam is in the kitchen, stomping about because I've made her [...]
It's what Josh uses for all his blogging purposes. It inserts pictures more easily. Let's see if it'll work for me. For this, I'm using a picture we took at the Great Big Sea concert.
Here's hoping it works!
' [...]The other day, while riding in the car (where we have some of our more interesting conversations), Sean asked me about handkerchiefs. I'm not sure how it came up...we were discussing knitting while on our way to pick up Chinese food. His interpretation of handkerchiefs were "Those white things people wave." ' [...]
80
As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Superior
' [...]
As I clean out yet another bunch of spam mail from my email box, I just have to state a few things to you.
First, I don't care what Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, or whatever little "famous for being pretty" female is up to. Or wearing. Or not' [...]
No really...I was...
and then, I got sucked into the Olympics again. Darn gymnastics finals. And pole vaulting.
But, I got to see Bob Costas do a piece about Olympic induced sleep deprivation. It made me giggle. Then again, at this rate, just about anything [...]
Maura's been singing it this morning*, so what the heck? Why should I be the only person with it stuck in my head?
*note that Maura's version is more "Bob bob ba bans, Bob bob ba bans, Bob bob ba bans....Bob bob bob BOB!"
Okay, there's been an addition - I'm also adding "The Campfire" [...]
Welcome to a new feature here on my blog, where I write random letters to complete strangers, or possibly my own children and pets, concerning their behavoirs, etc...enjoy!
Dear Cyclists,
I know that you enjoy spending time riding up and down the hills and [...]
Behind the Thumb...
Dear Mama...can you get me a sandbox please? I only have a pile of dirt to dig in.
The day we discovered why we kept going through a loaf of [...]
Last year, I tried growning tomatoes. It did work, but I didn't like them where I had them. This year, I cleared out the area and planted petunias the kids gave me for Mother's Day and some alyssum (the little white flowers.) My thought was that it would be a [...]
That crazy woman with the four kids trailing her all over the store, taking up too much room with her kids in the back to school section? Who kept losing one of them?
Yeah, that was me.
What possesed me to take four kids out [...]
Really, there's not much to report from these regions. Collin has asked me 15 times about playing Wii, to which I've always answered "no". Sean is gluing popsicle sticks together. Maura spilled cereal all over the living room floor, and then brought me what was left and a bowl. And Miriam [...]
I do believe this song is appropo for my "What do you mean I have to wait three more weeks still for school to start?" state of mind.
"Funny Farm" by Dr. Demento -
[...]
So last Saturday, I bought a loaf of bread. On Sunday morning, Josh went to make french toast and asked me where the bread was.
"On the counter." I replied.
He held up the bag of bread...which only had four slices left.
"Check the" [...]
Okay, so I actually don't find the term "retarded" offensive when used correctly. I'm pretty relaxed about these things, even joke that we should buy a short bus and paint it up all Partridge family style. And as you can tell from my previous post, I can see the humor [...]
Maura and I were out and about town all afternoon. She saw her neurologist and then we ran errands.
Okay, so this may be too much detail for some, but Maura is five, her bladder is ready to potty train but her mind isn't. So she wears pull' [...]
I love my kids. But the bickering happening in the next room is driving me to the point that I'm going to make one of those countdown tickers to let me know just how soon school will start.
It's not really fighting. Lord knows I saw enough of [...]
Yes, I've hit that level of crazy - I decided to try my hand at composting this year. I'm not as dedicated as I could have been, but what I have done has turned out pretty darn decently. It's not a big pile of moldy nastiness. It actually smells like' [...]
Don't worry, my three blog fans, I'm not giving this up ;)
I'm just debating a site name change and more "me" looking blog. It seems weird that my site is "Life as Mommy" when none of my kids call me "mommy". Not even Maura. I'm Mom or [...]
This is one of those times my Catholicism kicks in, because I have the urge to say "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been two weeks since my last blog post."
I can't help it. And I don't care.
But I've been a' [...]
I was about 11 years old when we got cable. A very big deal in our household to say the least.
The man came to install it, and once he got the box hooked up, he punched in the number 34. Channel 34 was Mtv...and it was back when Mtv had VJ's and' [...]
I saw this quote a couple weeks ago and love it. It seems so true.
“"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr. Hans Asperger
[...]Last night, I woke up to the sound of someone leaving their room and heading into the bathroom. After a while, I realized no one had come out of the bathroom. Afraid that I hadn't closed the gate properly to the girls room and Maura had wandered out, I got' [...]
I know you boys have reached the "wrestling and headlock" stage of boyhood. And it's nice that you have each other to do this with, as you both enjoy it equally.
However, can you also come up with one other hobby that doesn't require sitting on your brother, [...]
