The plight of the stay at home mom

I, Lindsey, stay at home mom of four years and counting, do solemnly swear and assert the following:

The life of a person employed outside of their home is a difficult one. She/he (hereafter referred to as she) does not "have it easy." She faces many hardships and challenges each day. She is entitled to the respect her position affords her.

In stating such, I hereby declare it uncool that she employs the tactics of playground bullies in seeking to raise herself up by making another seem inferior. Having asserted my knowledge that her life is hard, the use of such tactics is uncalled for and it is deemed necessary that she cease such practice.

She is therefore requested to desist in the promulgation of the following falsehoods:

• Stay at home moms disgrace the name of women.
• Stay at home moms have allowed themselves to be brainwashed.
• Stay at home moms are wasting their education.
• Stay at home moms are incompetent.
• Stay at home moms are just lazy and ignorant.
• Stay at home moms are simple minded.
• Stay at home moms lead boring and unexciting lives with nothing to look forward to.
• Stay at home moms are trapped.
• Stay at home moms have lost their sense of self.
• Stay at home moms are pitiful.
• Stay at home moms are slaves.

I firmly proclaim my gratitude at her compliance and, most especially, in the reciprocation of the aforementioned sworn statement on this, the thirtieth day of September in the year of our Lord, two thousand and nine.

P.S. Here's a good summary of the day to day life of a stay at home mom: "Tell me about it."
It's funny cuz it's true.

Thankful Thursday

I have to do something I hate very often these days as my family goes through the process of moving- conduct business over the phone.

I'm not a big phone talker and trying to do business over the phone is just aggravating.

Since this thorn in my side is currently getting pushed deeper, I figure I need to find something to be thankful for about it.

So- this Thursday I am thankful that I can do business over the phone and I don't have to drag my kids all over the place trying to do business in person. It saves on gas. It keeps the kids from being stuck in places where they aren't really welcome. It saves my ears the ache of listening to how they feel about being stuck in such places. It saves my arms the ache of getting everyone in and out of car seats all the time. I don't have to waste time in waiting rooms or lobbies or driving all over the place. Thank you telephone for helping me conduct necessary business without the extra hassles.

And with that, I am off to try and convince our lender that they made a mix up with home insurance. Yippee.

What are you thankful for today???

Thankful Thursday

Lucky for all of you that are waiting on pins and needles for Thankful Thursday...siiiigh, okay. Lucky for those of you who drop by every once in awhile, I got internet service turned on in the new digs- just in time for a Thankful Thursday post.

Do you know what today is? I mean, besides Thankful Thursday. It's September 17th! And that, dear friends, is a very special day over here in the United States of America. September 17th is Constitution Day! Today is a holiday because on this day in 1787, the US Constitution was signed into being.

And so, today I am extra thankful for the Constitution and the government it instituted. Granted, I believe said government has strayed into unhappy territory. And that straying, I believe, is due to the straying of the people.

Side note:

I love this quote from John Adams, second President of the United States-

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

And so, while I fear we are becoming a far too immoral and nonreligious people, I am thankful that the Constitution is not yet inadequate and hope it never becomes such.

Happy Constitution Day!!!!

Thankful Thursday

I'm feeling somewhat discouraged today; discouraged with the world I live in and how much worse it will get while my children are growing up. I'm also discouraged with people today since they are the ones making the world what it is and after I write this, I'm swearing off the news for a bit. Nothing like ignoring the issues to make you feel better, right?;)

Because of this downer feeling, I want to make a list of things I'm thankful for today instead of just elaborating on one thing. This is not a complete list because that's impossible, but it's a short summary that I hope inspires some happy and grateful feelings in you and me today. So, in no particular order, today I am thankful for:

• Smiles on my sons' faces
• Electricity
• Indoor plumbing
• A van for me and a car for my husband so I don't have to drive him to work or feel "trapped" at home during the day
• Ice cream:)
• Washing machines and dryers
• Scriptures
• Good books
• My generous parents
• Totally awesome brothers and Tanya
• A husband who is reasonable and logical, giving me contact with at least one sane person every day.
• A husband who is handsome
• A husband who plays with his kids and makes them laugh
• A husband who is hilarious. To remove the need for jokes here, Bret, all "a husband" items are indeed referring to you and not multiple men.
• The chance to be a stay at home mom
• Common sense
• Couches, chairs, and comfortable resting places
• Showers
• Gospel truths
• Water
• Food processors
• Telephones
• Portable cribs
• Disposable diapers
• Temples
• Trust
• Budgets
• Shoes...and socks!
• Disney movies and cartoons from back when cartoons were awesome:)
• Ovens that I don't have to worry about my kids getting burned on
• Refrigerators
• Alone time
• Family time

That's the list for now. I think it's time for me to go bake something. Enjoy this thankful Thursday and your weekend, too!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am mighty thankful that Al and Goose are still good nap takers (knock on wood!). I got a small taste today of what it might be like when they give up naps and I'm beat! As it is, we only delayed nap time by two hours and they're conked out now. I'm so glad I don't have to face the end of naps yet.

AND, today I am thankful that we were finally able to close on our house!...sort of. The papers are all signed, but we don't get access to the house until Tuesday afternoon or evening. But we're that much closer!!

What are you thankful for today? Or tomorrow? Or ever?:)

When will I learn not to expect things?

I have twins.

They are 21 months old.

They are adorable, and as such (especially as their lucky mother) I adore them.

But having twins, these twins, is nothing like I expected it to be.

I was surprised beyond all surprise when I found out I was carrying two babies instead of the expected one. But once I got over the surprise, I started to create some expectations in my mind.

I expected it to be hard. That came true, and then some...and then some more:)

I expected that it would be totally cute to dress them in coordinating clothes. That came true, too.

I expected them to love each other, to be each others' best friend. To not have separation anxiety because they'd have each other. False, false, false.

My sons are great pretenders. And when it comes to pretending, my youngest boys have it down to an art. They spend 75% of their time pretending that the other doesn't exist. Then 24% of their time is spent screaming and screeching at "that guy who looks like me and has a hold of my toy." A mere 1% of time is spent acknowledging the others' presence, with a sliver of that percentage accounting for the rare giggle they allow to escape when one of them does something the other finds entertaining.

I know they have it in them to love their brother. They are often cracking up at Jonzy's antics and will even let him hold their arm and lead them somewhere...sometimes.

But if I try and put Al and Goose in the same chair they start clawing at each other. Why, oh why don't they like each other? Did they have some sort of tense relationship before they came here and God said, "You guys need to work on that, so I'm going to send you together." ??? It's been this way since infancy. I thought they'd outgrow the propensity to look at everything but their twin. Nope. I still hold out hope that they'll find some sort of affection for each other as they get older. But is that going to just make it harder if/when they don't???

Anyone with twins or siblings who didn't pay any positive attention to each other out there? Did they grow out of it?