Confession

Dear God:
I know you already are aware of this (since you know everything), but I feel like I need to confess anyway. I was really happy that last night was Sunday and that I got to drop my lovely children off at school/daycare and come to work this morning. As you know they are really wearing me out these days and last night it felt like the ending of a Fourth of July fireworks show - fireworks exploding everywhere at the same time! Nothing Mr. ESPN and I were doing was working to get the little people under control. I even tried using our Sunday School lesson on the big kid. As you know, we learned about the 10 Commandments yesterday. I tried reminding her about your rules (commandments), namely Honor your Mother and Father. Apparently she wasn't paying attention as much as she should have been during Sunday School, because she never grasped that concept yesterday.

So finally we just put them to bed (early) and listened to a chorus of little people meltdowns for several minutes (which seemed like hours). And then Mr. ESPN and I remembered that it was Sunday night and it almost felt like a Calgon commercial playing in my head "Work take me away!" I know most Christian parenting manuals wouldn't condone this type of attitude, but I am just being honest with you (do I get partial credit for being honest?). So now that I have had a few hours away, I feel refreshed and ready for the chaos. I am excited to see them this afternoon and hear all about their day. Thank you for giving me healthy, spirited children who oftentimes drive me nuts! Mr. ESPN and I are very thankful for the chaos they bring to our lives!

Love
Me

Tuesday Night Thoughts

I was thinking about several things last night, you know the normal stuff like questioning if I am a good mom or not (especially after reading this post), the hectic pace of my life after reading this post (yes I am way over extended most days and it comes out in my parenting) and how I am always concerned if I offended someone or wonder what they think of me. I have a habit of being pretty honest with people, which isn't always a good thing and has gotten me into more than one predicament in life. Needless to say because of that, I have a tendency to worry if I offend someone. I often wonder why I can't be more like Mr. ESPN (or most other men) who don't really care what other people think (within reason). Ahh the joys of being a woman! Anyway to add to my already hectic schedule I am attending a women's bible study tonight at my church geared toward young moms. They are offering it once a month in hopes that we can make the time to attend. I am really looking forward to it and think it will be good for me but .... it meant in order to work out today I had to get up at 4:40 am at the gym by 5:15 am ... rush out of work to pick up Chatty ... rush home and meet Mr. ESPN and Bia ... eat a quick bite (good thing I have leftovers from all the cooking this weekend) ... and rush to church. What was it I was just saying about being over extended?

Parenting Advice

Thanks to all my mom (and non-mom) blogger friends who commented either on the post or e-mailed me about it. I really appreciate it. This is my plan:

• Behavioral Issues - mostly revolve around Chatty, although Bia has her fair share of tantrums too. Bought a new behavior chart (we used one last year with limited success). I plan to put more specific items on the list this time (i.e. showing respect to others, not hitting/pushing others (namely sister), not talking back to Mom/Dad, eating dinner). Last time it was an all or nothing thing. I think by doing specific items we can what things she achieved and which ones she didn't. She will get a star magnet for each thing she achieves during the day. I am going to do this for both girls but may have to tailor the items to each girl. I will post it in a prominent place in the house so we can all see it (I am thinking on the pantry door). Once she receives a pre-determined number of stars, they will receive a reward.
• Eating Issues - I have done the tailor made meals to each kid and spouse and that is hard. I really try to make an effort to cook something everyone likes. Part of my reason for no custom orders is because if I do it for Bia then I have to for Chatty. I think we will continue to reinforce the rule that she try 1 to 2 bites in order to get dessert or other things she desires (since dessert doesn't top her list these days). I am hoping the star on the chart for "Eating Dinner" will be a big motivator for her as she loves to copy her big sister.

So we will see how this goes and what Mr. ESPN says. I think he is open to anything at this point.

Is it bad that when I ran to Target to get the behavior chart I purposely walked across the entire store to buy a (big) bag of Skittles, opened them in the car and have eaten a ton of them (and now have a sugar headache)?