Baby math

2 self-employed parents + 0 maternity insurance coverage = 1 expensive pregnancy
2 self-employed parents + 1 recession = 0 new houses

1 baby due mid-March + 1 CPA mom = 1 pregnant woman in denial
4th kid on the way + 1 kids bedroom = -1 home office

Nonetheless: 2 parents + 4 kids = 1 happy family!

Oops

Oops.  Apparently his diaper was fairly wet and needed to be changed, because it fell right off through the shorts. 

Swinging Monkeys

Folding laundry is a fun time in my family.  Weird, huh? I always hear people complain about laundry, but I guess I don't have enough kids yet or big enough kids yet that it is overwhelming for me. Or maybe I just don't wash things enough!  I do one load a day 3 or 4 times a week.  (Not counting those small quick loads where someone has leaked onto their clothes and they need to go right into the wash). Doing it this way, putting a load in just becomes part of my morning routine and it never gets overwhelming. 

In the late afternoon, in that time period before I need to start getting dinner ready and when the kids are starting to get tired, we all go upstairs with a basket of clean laundry to Mom & Dad's bedroom.  I dump the clothes on the bed, and the kids all climb onto the bed with all the clothes. (Note: I rarely buy clothing that needs to be ironed.) They run around on and jump off the bed while we do the little rhyme of "Five little monkeys swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Crocodile".  I pretend to be Mr. Crocodile and "snap" them off the bed in a hug.  It's so much fun, that it makes folding laundry (which comes after the rhyme, while they're jumping off the bed onto the pillows on the floor) so much more bearable.  They even ask if they can go to Swinging Monkeys. Granted, they're not folding all the laundry for me, but they see me doing it, and the older ones will try to find their clothes in the pile and even attempt folding them all by themselves.  I keep hoping also that this is one of those things that if I don't make it seem like a horrible chore to do, they'll be more willing to help with it or do it themselves as they get older.  More of the "spoonful of sugar" helping the medicine go down, I guess!

And the answer is...read a book.

I've found that the answer to many problems with my children is "read a book".  If my children are fighting, I'll say, "Why don't we read some books." If we have time before bedtime but need to keep things calm, "Let's get our library books out." If we're waiting for dinner or lunch to be ready, "Let's read some books until the timer goes off." If I'm too tired to do anything that requires any effort, "Why don't you bring me a book to read." Even if one of them says they don't want to read a book, if I start reading aloud, they wander in and start listening.

I really believe that reading is the answer to a lot of problems.  Obviously there are educational benefits for my children if I read to them, but it's also just a lot of fun.  We go to the library every week and get new books, and it's like buying new toys for my children.  Sometimes we do get some of the same books over and over, but usually I know I only have to read a book over and over for a week.  (This is especially comforting for some of the really poorly written or annoying children's books out there).

I used to limit the number of books to 2 or 3 for each child each time we went, but I decided I'd rather have them get 6 or 7 and read through them and decide whether it's a book they like or not.  Thank goodness for the receipts the library prints that list all the books you have checked out.  And thank goodness for the library.  They've saved me thousands of dollars and lots of tears.

Butter and Honey

Isaiah 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

I was reading the other day in Isaiah, and this verse stood out to me as a great parenting scripture. Isn't being a good parent all about providing good experiences for your children (butter and honey, so to speak)? When you've gotten used to eating top quality food, it's hard to go back to generic mac & cheese on a daily basis.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if our children are so used to being surrounded by good people and good environments and experiences, that when they are confronted with evil, they automatically refuse it and choose the good instead? We can't force our children to choose good, but we can certainly do our best to make sure they know what is truly good so that the differences are obvious.  That can be a good goal for me - to ask myself each day, "What good thing can I expose my child to today?"

Benefits of a dirty house

Today (as I was actually cleaning my house), I thought of all the benefits of having a dirty house.
1 - My kids are building up a great immunity to germs.  By not having everything bleached and sanitized on a daily basis, I figure it's helping their bodies learn to fight germs better.  By the time they get to school age, they should be set!
2 - Cleaning is still fun to my kids.  If you don't clean too often, your kids get excited to help out.  I frequently have arguing over who gets to clean the mirror, who gets the green sponge, who gets to dust, who gets the spray bottle, etc.
3 - So much extra time.  It's amazing how much you can get done in the 15 minutes you don't spend cleaning every day.  There's extra time to play with my kids, shower, read that magazine that's been sitting there for 4 months.
The next time I get the urge to clean my house, I'll have to remember all these and save myself the trouble. :)

Ignoring my children

So...the other day I ignored my children for most of the day.  I still took care of their basic needs, but I spent most of the day reading a book.  I was in escapism mode, and thought it would be a nice break.  It wasn't.  I was reminded that I really do enjoy spending time with my children.  They're not going to be little like this for long where I have a chance to play with them and have them want me to spend all my time with them.  I know I still need a break every now and then, but for me, apparently, taking a whole day to read a book is not the way to do it.  I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed the book more if I had still played with my children and read all night after they were in bed.  I'll have to remind myself of this when I'm reading another book that is hard to put down.