When it rains

.... the inside of your van gets wet (because one of the kids didn't shut the door like they were reminded to and mom was evidently wrong to assume they would do what they were told). ::sigh:: It was just one of those weekends that can't end soon enough. When just about everything makes you feel inadequate.

To start with, my doorbell rings at 2:30 on Thursday afternoon; I answer the door to find 2 county sheriffs standing there (peering around the corners of the house no less in case I opened the door with a gun). One of my neighbors had called and accused me of letting my baby cry for 3.5 hours, which was totally untrue. Supposedly the crying started at 11:00, a time when we weren't even home because we were at school getting the kids' start of school testing done and dropping off all of the school supplies. Sarah cried for a few minutes around 12:30 when I took her upstairs for a nap, after she had fallen asleep in my arms. It lasted maybe 15 minutes before she fell asleep again. She fussed a little after she woke up and I didn't rush right upstairs to rescue her from the crib because I was busy at that particular moment helping one of the other kids with a craft project. I got the impression neither of the two sheriffs were convinced I was a horrible mom, but of course they had to take all of my info so that they could go run my name through the system and check me out. Yes, my kids cry and throw tantrums. No, I do not beat them or let them go on any longer than I think is necessary. What really upsets me is that the neighbor- I don't know who, but I have a guess- didn't even bother to come ring my doorbell to ask if there was something wrong, or if I needed help in any way. They just called the police. We are not the only family with children in the immediate vicinity of our block and other people's kids cry too. Most of us don't have A/C and have to leave our windows open during the summer, so the whole neighborhood hears everything and sounds bounce up and down the block. I stay at home a lot right now because I don't want to deal with Brenna's tantrums out in public (I basically have to put her in her room and let her kick and scream until she gets it out of her system), and now I don't even feel like I can be in my own home without worrying about the neighbors over-reacting to a totally wrong perception.

Because the sheriffs showed up at our door unannounced, that set Mark off on another of his cleaning bugs. I admit I am a pack rat by nature, and I find his obsession with cleaning stressful (and annoying), to say the least. I am working on it and we have gotten rid of a lot of stuff in the last 6 months, but I do not find it easy. What really annoys me though is when he starts throwing out my stuff without asking just because HE doesn't like it. I hate it when he says 'when I was single I didn't have anything and the house was always clean.' Hello?! you aren't single, you have a family of 7 now, and we have stuff that comes with us. That's not to say that the house couldn't be neater at times, but when every other sentence that comes out of his mouth for 4 days is a criticism of how messy things are or how we aren't picking up things fast enough to suit him, I tend to get a bit angry and less cooperative. Finally I blew up at him and it seemed to sink in that he had pushed me far enough for one weekend.

Oh, and Brenna's lack of cooperation with the potty useage and her temper tantrums thrown into all of that just compounded the other issues. I'm trying something new today with the potty training. I'm setting the timer and when it goes off it is time to go potty; no question of if she needs to go, she is just going to go sit on it. Hopefully that will help get her back into the mode of using the potty on a regular basis. So far, so good this morning. I feel like this is more training of mom than her, but if it will alleviate some of Mark's griping I'll do it.

Sorry for dumping all of that on you guys, but I think we get wrong impressions of other people's lives because we only talk about the good and happy things.

Well, now that I've gotten all of that off my chest, on to some LOs.
I finally got a couple of Sarah's 'months' LOs done; I figured I had better do it before another one came around ;) and a couple of Tracy's new kits were perfect.

journaling: Sarah at 8 months
* eats 1 or 2 solid meals a day- cereal and fruit or meat and vegetable
* takes one long nap in the middle of the day and a catnap in the evening
* crawls around the room in search of toys and Mama
* lifts crib bumper to look around the bedroom
* sits up by herself
* says ma-ma-ma-ma-ma
* shakes head no
* gives sloppy, wet kisses
* pulls herself to her feet on anything she can grab and lets go sometimes
* claps her hands
* waves

credits: Cherished by Tracy Blankenship at Digital Freebies and SkrappinDigiKreation; smootzy alpha stamps by Nancie Rowe Janitz; LO based on sketch by Gina Miller
fonts: TXT Abrasive and CK Invitation

journaling: Sarah at 9 months
*in constant motion when awake exploring her surroundings
*pulls to feet on everything
*crawls as main mode of transport
*cruises along the furniture
*lets go to stand briefly by herself
*climbs up the stairs very easily
*hasn't figured out how to go down the stairs safely
*will try to walk when hands are being held
*loves finger foods- especially Cheerios, and Gerber fruit and veggie puffs and crackers
*waves
*shakes head no and yes
*still doesn't really like to sleep in her crib, but will if parents insist (and we do)
*eats 2 meals a day, stage 3 baby foods
*gets excited when she hears Daddy come home
credits: Creative Expression kit by Tracy Blankenship at Digital Freebies and SkrappinDigiKreations and Creative Expression Alpha (blog freebie) by Tracy Blankenship
fonts: TXT Abrasive and CK Invitation

and finally one with new collaborative kit at Scrapdish, Wild Child by Robin, Jeanine, Rachel and Correen. I can see several zoo LOs (I always have zoo pics to scrap!) in the near future with this one too. It's awesome!

Bryce brought home this leapord print pillow from school at the end of May and it is his favorite pillow now.
credits: Wild child by Rachel Dickson, Correen Silke, Jeanine Baechtold, and Robin Cabana at Scrapdish; fonts: TXT Abrasive

I think the digital tears in the photo and papers speak to my large feelings of frustration this weekend, but I think they are an awesome addition to the LO and I am pretty darn pleased with myself for pulling them off so well ;)

I am off to run the vacuum over the carpet real quick since the kids are done with the cereal this morning, and then I have a newsletter article to write since it is due today.