I woke up today very energized and determined to conquor my backed up laundry. I immediately stripped my sheets, tossed them into the machine and started things rolling.
I immediately returned after I fed and dressed everyone to change loads. I yanked the wet mass of sheets out, and to my horror, a gelatinous mess flew every where. Mike will tell you that I screamed very loudly several times in horror as I fished for the culprit. In the back of the machine, there it was, the empty casing that once was a dry pull up.
I wish I could say that this is the first time that this has happened to me, but in reality it happens once or twice a year, despite extreme dilligence on my part to check the laundry. Eventually a child will change clothes when I am not paying attention and put pants that contain a pull up into the hamper, or one of us, in a sleep deprived state will change a child and forget to separate the pull up. There are also times, like today, for reasons that defy logic, a child will stash an unused one in a totally random place. In this case, someone put a dry one in our sheets and it got folded in. I now know that I must shake the sheets out too. Sigh...
Anyway, now the mountain is going to get bigger since it will take all day to rectify what was a split second oversight. For the benefit of others who may not know what to do, here is the protocol:
Remove laundry from washer and place in dryer. Run the dryer.
While laundry is drying, wipe as much gel out of the washer as possible.
Run the washer with no clothes in it.
Wipe the washer out again and rerun if it still is not clean.
When clothes are BONE DRY, remove, take outside and shake what will now be lint that resembles tissue out
Clean the lint trap very well
Rerun the clothes in the wash.
Repeat the above until you have clean clothes and clean machines. This can take all day.
Now this is a disclaimer, my dryer can take the drying process without getting damaged. I do not know how all dryers will handle it, so if you are concerned about your dryer you should line dry everything instead of using the dryer. I am not responsible if you kill your machine. :)
Off to clean the machine again...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Don't Cast Your Shadow Over the Light at the End of my Tunnel
Most days it goes like this:
We are awoken early to various children jumping into our bed. We get up, if it is a run day I run. Meanwhile, Mike starts to get everyone ready. I take over when I get back so he can get ready. If there is time, he takes them back so I can shower before he leaves. If not I have to shower as fast as possible with the door open, fully ready to run out all soapy and wet should I hear something amiss. Then I disperse children to various locations and do chores and practice school work with whoever is home. Then I pick up people who need picking up. We do therapy if there is therapy to do. Lunch is somewhere in there. Lots of fighting, trashing of the house and screaming as the day wears on. By dinner the whole place resembles one of those "Calgon Take Me Away" commercials from the eighties. There is a whole lot of crazy. I turn into a drill sargent. Cristin tells me about 20 times that her life is so unfair. The boys do their best attempt to cause a trip to the ER. I get them ready for bed. We clean up. I tell them they have to pray and then they are in their rooms for the night. They may not go to sleep right away, but I am off duty.
Mike is in sales and he goes to work midmorning, but he is usually not home until very late. He works 6 days a week. This means I sail through the hurricane, every day, all day. When we hit about 4:30 I focus on that little light that is bedtime and I push to the finish, much like I push at the end of my run and I am sucking wind.
Jack, in his ever craziness decided that he no longer needs a nap. Like a fool, I kept forcing the nap because I wanted to have a break, only to realize that this was physiological, and that he could no longer fall asleep before 10pm. This became a horribl experience and I finally realized that it was time to ditch the nap. This was hard for me to do, because in reality I never really had to go the distance without at least one kid crashing out for part of the day.
Yesterday was the first day of no nap and it went fine. He was cranky but went right to sleep. Today I planned on the same. Today was particularly difficult. There was flooding of a bathroom, utter trashing of the house, crazy fights and much whinyness. I locked my sights on that bedtime and stayed focused. I put everyone in their rooms and sat down to rock Jack. Sure enough, he quickly started to drift to sleep. Just as he was about to go out...
DING DONG
The door chime went off. This was not good. I had to set Jack on the ground and go running. Jimmy was opening the back door. I did catch him. Yes he is still alive. But man...... ooh I was mad. I gave him a few choice words. Thankfully Jack was asleep quickly.
Don't mess with bedtime. That's my time.
We are awoken early to various children jumping into our bed. We get up, if it is a run day I run. Meanwhile, Mike starts to get everyone ready. I take over when I get back so he can get ready. If there is time, he takes them back so I can shower before he leaves. If not I have to shower as fast as possible with the door open, fully ready to run out all soapy and wet should I hear something amiss. Then I disperse children to various locations and do chores and practice school work with whoever is home. Then I pick up people who need picking up. We do therapy if there is therapy to do. Lunch is somewhere in there. Lots of fighting, trashing of the house and screaming as the day wears on. By dinner the whole place resembles one of those "Calgon Take Me Away" commercials from the eighties. There is a whole lot of crazy. I turn into a drill sargent. Cristin tells me about 20 times that her life is so unfair. The boys do their best attempt to cause a trip to the ER. I get them ready for bed. We clean up. I tell them they have to pray and then they are in their rooms for the night. They may not go to sleep right away, but I am off duty.
Mike is in sales and he goes to work midmorning, but he is usually not home until very late. He works 6 days a week. This means I sail through the hurricane, every day, all day. When we hit about 4:30 I focus on that little light that is bedtime and I push to the finish, much like I push at the end of my run and I am sucking wind.
Jack, in his ever craziness decided that he no longer needs a nap. Like a fool, I kept forcing the nap because I wanted to have a break, only to realize that this was physiological, and that he could no longer fall asleep before 10pm. This became a horribl experience and I finally realized that it was time to ditch the nap. This was hard for me to do, because in reality I never really had to go the distance without at least one kid crashing out for part of the day.
Yesterday was the first day of no nap and it went fine. He was cranky but went right to sleep. Today I planned on the same. Today was particularly difficult. There was flooding of a bathroom, utter trashing of the house, crazy fights and much whinyness. I locked my sights on that bedtime and stayed focused. I put everyone in their rooms and sat down to rock Jack. Sure enough, he quickly started to drift to sleep. Just as he was about to go out...
DING DONG
The door chime went off. This was not good. I had to set Jack on the ground and go running. Jimmy was opening the back door. I did catch him. Yes he is still alive. But man...... ooh I was mad. I gave him a few choice words. Thankfully Jack was asleep quickly.
Don't mess with bedtime. That's my time.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Defintely Worth Selling a Limb For
We saw Toy Story 3 yesterday at the full price theatre, which is something we rarely do.
Those of you who know us well know that it is quite unpredictable how a movie will go. Not to mention it seems like it is less expensive to set up a college fund nowadays than to go to a movie. We are Dave Ramsey people. We consider debt an enemy, and have gotten rid of most of ours. We do not use credit cards. It is cash or debit all the way. I coupon, and my 5 year old will tell you that the words "full price" are not a part of our vocabulary. Bottom line is if the budget won't allow it we won't do it.
After spending what seemed like forever pinching pennies to get by, and always aware that we do not know what the next medical need will be, the idea of putting out the ridiculous amount of cash at a movie kind of turns our stomachs. The reason being that if one of the kids can't handle it we are out a lot for nothing, and because with just a little patience we can see it for a dollar. In fact, for us "New Release" means that a movie just hit the Redbox. Toy Story 3, however is an exception, because all of us, especially the boys are so into the series. More importantly, we were certain that all 3 kids would sit for it.
When we told the children yesterday you would have thought it was Christmas. Jack was so excited to wear his Toy Story pull ups to the actual movie, I feared he might show them off (he didn't). Jimmy wanted to buy the movie right then. It was so exciting.
We saw the movie, in the front row of a nearly packed theatre, at 11am. Our biggest obstacle was keeping the boys, particularly Jack from dancing and running in front of the screen. I fully admit to handing my toddler my cup of Coke, which was almost as large as he, to get him to sit in my lap. Bribary is a wonderful thing.
The movie did not dissapoint, and left me with an even greater appreciation for how short this time will be that they are little. It was a blast and was totally worth the splurge.
Those of you who know us well know that it is quite unpredictable how a movie will go. Not to mention it seems like it is less expensive to set up a college fund nowadays than to go to a movie. We are Dave Ramsey people. We consider debt an enemy, and have gotten rid of most of ours. We do not use credit cards. It is cash or debit all the way. I coupon, and my 5 year old will tell you that the words "full price" are not a part of our vocabulary. Bottom line is if the budget won't allow it we won't do it.
After spending what seemed like forever pinching pennies to get by, and always aware that we do not know what the next medical need will be, the idea of putting out the ridiculous amount of cash at a movie kind of turns our stomachs. The reason being that if one of the kids can't handle it we are out a lot for nothing, and because with just a little patience we can see it for a dollar. In fact, for us "New Release" means that a movie just hit the Redbox. Toy Story 3, however is an exception, because all of us, especially the boys are so into the series. More importantly, we were certain that all 3 kids would sit for it.
When we told the children yesterday you would have thought it was Christmas. Jack was so excited to wear his Toy Story pull ups to the actual movie, I feared he might show them off (he didn't). Jimmy wanted to buy the movie right then. It was so exciting.
We saw the movie, in the front row of a nearly packed theatre, at 11am. Our biggest obstacle was keeping the boys, particularly Jack from dancing and running in front of the screen. I fully admit to handing my toddler my cup of Coke, which was almost as large as he, to get him to sit in my lap. Bribary is a wonderful thing.
The movie did not dissapoint, and left me with an even greater appreciation for how short this time will be that they are little. It was a blast and was totally worth the splurge.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Aliens Have Landed
It has been calm... too calm.
It started last night when Jack (the 2 yr old) woke up WIDE awake and ready to go. This usually spells disaster. When he does this he gets out of bed and wakes us up. We talk to him, return him to bed and he sits there until he gets bored and comes back. This usually happens right as we drift back to sleep. This cycle will repeat over and over half the night, until his little toddler battery finally runs out of juice and he finally passes out. He then will wake up right on schedule at 6:30am and be a speed demon all day, because when Jack is tired he gets wired. Don't ask me how this inverse of the laws of Physics works, I do not understand it myself.
Here's the deal. He was back asleep in about 15 minutes. This was strange but a welcome change from normal.
Then ALL THREE children slept past 7:30. Honestly, there is a better chance of winning Mega Millions than that happening.
Then they all sat quietly and watched cartoons while I made breakast. I kept waiting for the third world war. Didn't happen.
At this point I started to wonder if aliens had kidnapped my children while they were sleeping and had taken their form. They were obviously doing a poor imitation of their behavior and I was getting very suspicious.
But then I took my shower and I came out to find out they were back to normal.
Aliens... you are welcome to visit again anytime.
It started last night when Jack (the 2 yr old) woke up WIDE awake and ready to go. This usually spells disaster. When he does this he gets out of bed and wakes us up. We talk to him, return him to bed and he sits there until he gets bored and comes back. This usually happens right as we drift back to sleep. This cycle will repeat over and over half the night, until his little toddler battery finally runs out of juice and he finally passes out. He then will wake up right on schedule at 6:30am and be a speed demon all day, because when Jack is tired he gets wired. Don't ask me how this inverse of the laws of Physics works, I do not understand it myself.
Here's the deal. He was back asleep in about 15 minutes. This was strange but a welcome change from normal.
Then ALL THREE children slept past 7:30. Honestly, there is a better chance of winning Mega Millions than that happening.
Then they all sat quietly and watched cartoons while I made breakast. I kept waiting for the third world war. Didn't happen.
At this point I started to wonder if aliens had kidnapped my children while they were sleeping and had taken their form. They were obviously doing a poor imitation of their behavior and I was getting very suspicious.
But then I took my shower and I came out to find out they were back to normal.
Aliens... you are welcome to visit again anytime.
Welcome
Welcome to my blog.
My name is Carey. I am a Conservative Catholic SAHM to three beautful children. Jimmy is 7 and loves to ride horses and build things. Cristin is 5 and she loves dancing, singing and drawing. Jack is 2 and he is a wild and nutty madman, as all toddlers should be. I have a loving husband, Mike, who I have been married to for over 8 years.
So why blog?
Well, life in our house isn't 100% typical and can be downright challenging at times. Jimmy has autism and brings a certain level of originality to our parenting experience. Jack has a pronounced speech delay as well. For the most part we are a regular family. We do regular things with some special needs in the mix. I used to be really stressed out almost all of the time. The boys' needs were exhausting for me and I went through a pretty rough adjustment in learning how to meet the needs of typically developping children with the special needs of another. So I started writing about our daily journey, first in little emails and later in status updates on Facebook. Over time I have been asked to write more extensively, so I am writing this blog.
Most of what I write about is simple everyday chaos with a funny spin on it. I do it to help myself appreciate my children. even the wild side of them. I also do it so that other parents realize that they aren't alone... if say.... they just caught their child cracking eggs over their carpet... AGAIN.
I hope you enjoy our adventure,
Carey
My name is Carey. I am a Conservative Catholic SAHM to three beautful children. Jimmy is 7 and loves to ride horses and build things. Cristin is 5 and she loves dancing, singing and drawing. Jack is 2 and he is a wild and nutty madman, as all toddlers should be. I have a loving husband, Mike, who I have been married to for over 8 years.
So why blog?
Well, life in our house isn't 100% typical and can be downright challenging at times. Jimmy has autism and brings a certain level of originality to our parenting experience. Jack has a pronounced speech delay as well. For the most part we are a regular family. We do regular things with some special needs in the mix. I used to be really stressed out almost all of the time. The boys' needs were exhausting for me and I went through a pretty rough adjustment in learning how to meet the needs of typically developping children with the special needs of another. So I started writing about our daily journey, first in little emails and later in status updates on Facebook. Over time I have been asked to write more extensively, so I am writing this blog.
Most of what I write about is simple everyday chaos with a funny spin on it. I do it to help myself appreciate my children. even the wild side of them. I also do it so that other parents realize that they aren't alone... if say.... they just caught their child cracking eggs over their carpet... AGAIN.
I hope you enjoy our adventure,
Carey
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