One more Disney Channel star goes belly up and insane it might just break my 'achey breaky heart'. Remind me to NOT let my children pursue any dreams they may have of being a Disney Star. My goodness. It's a train wreck. I don't think exposing children to such stardom at such young ages is very good for them (obviously). Whatever happened to just letting kids be kids and being their innocent sweet selves? Just because they've made it to Hollywood doesn't mean they need to be exposed to all of the insanity that goes along with it.
Brittney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes (not a Disney star but still a child star none the less), and Miley Cyrus. Just to name a few. You'd think one train wreck would learn from another, and I mean learn what NOT to do. Apparently they are learning from each other, how to OUT DO each other. It's all attention seeking, and at this point they don't really seem to care WHAT kind of attention they are getting, as long as they are getting the attention.
Personally, I think Miss Cyrus fears of ending up like a one hit wonder, washed up celebrity like her Daddy. Trust me. The world is NOT going to forget who Miley Cyrus is. We all know she ISN'T Hannah Montana.
I am not going to lie, as I was folding laundry earlier I came across one of my daughters Hannah Montana shirts, and I had to cringe. This morning I watched my daughter run through the house in her Hannah Montana house slippers, and yet again...cringed. Thankfully, my daughter is not even 6 yet and hasn't a clue who Hannah Montana is, or who Miley Cyrus is. She doesn't even know who Justin Beiber is (even though she has a shirt with his face on it, she just knows he sings and that's it).
Thankfully, her taste in music still lies in "Jim Cosgrove, Mr. Stinky Feet" (Don't know who he is, look him up! He has fun kids music that is silly and family friendly). Otherwise, my kid isn't a big music lover unless it's some old rock on roll. She does like the group FUN but I have to make sure it isn't the songs with the bad language, same with Maroon 5 who she also likes, I have to be careful which songs she listens to. She isn't a big Taylor Swift fan either, though her little brothers are. Should be interesting to see how my daughters taste in music develops as she gets older. When I was her age I was all about the Country music (and I still am to an extent).
I want my daughter to have roll models who are actually DOING something positive for the world. Not roll models who thing showing off their vagina to everyone is how you get popular. Sorry, that doesn't make you popular (or at least not a GOOD kind of popular).
I've read a few HILARIOUS blogs about Miley Cyrus's performance at the VMA's last night. I didn't get to watch the show last night, but thanks to the wonder that is You Tube I did catch the performance this afternoon after I dropped my sons off at preschool (no way was I watching that performance with them around after reading my Facebook news feed this morning)!
My husband and I stood in horrified silence as we watched the show.
SO many people are hailing Miley as a 'genius' and that's she's being "real" and being original. Phhhggfffftttt. No she's not.
She's no more real than Madonna was when she pulled stuff similar to this years ago! Miley is no more real than the crazy stuff Lady Gaga or Katy Perry does. Has anyone seen some of Pink's videos? Yeh. They are all pretty trashy (though I have to say Pink is like my faaaavorite performer I LOVE her music, though not so much for letting my KIDS hear it).
For as long as there has been music there have been those that have "pushed the edge" with their "new" ideas. It will never stop. Ever.
Miley isn't the first train wreck we've watched either. At this point it's just like "WOW....that's insane" *yawn* "move along....on to the next melt down"
Though I have to say that Will Smith's families reaction to Miley's performance was PRICELESS and pretty much summed up the reaction of MOST people. I'm pretty sure if my husband and I would have had a mirror in front of us when we watched the performance on You Tube this afternoon that is probably EXACTLY what our faces looked like.
I've read a lot of comments about the performance. Honestly, my reaction is...thank GOODNESS she isn't my daughter. However, as I watch my own innocent sweet little girl who will be 6 next month...I wonder, what will 10 or 12 years do to her? I HOPE and PRAY that I'm raising her right and instilling good morals and values in her. Teaching her to LOVE and RESPECT her body and who she is. Not use her body as a money maker. I want my daughter to stay true to who she is and do whatever she wants to in life, but I want her to realize that there are always consequences to everything you do.
My heart breaks for the path Miley is on, I pray that she finds herself soon and can correct the way she is going. I wonder what her parents really feel about their daughters behavior? I know at the VMA's her mom gave her daughter a standing ovation. Was it a genuine heart felt ovation? I know not. It might have just been her way of showing love and support for her daughter, letting her know she is there...regardless of the odd choices she makes in life. You don't stop loving your child just because they do things you don't like. Or at least you shouldn't stop loving your child because of such things. I don't feel there is a reason to ever STOP loving your child. I will always LOVE my children. If my children did something awful, I would still love them. I can't guarantee I would LIKE who they had become though, but my love for them would always be there.
I know we have all heard of the Australian gentleman who was murdered in cold blood by 'bored' teenagers. The excuse has been used that they were "good kids who got in with a bad crowd" that is not an acceptable 'excuse' for the murder of a man in cold blood! There is no acceptable excuse for that. A man is now dead due to the actions of some bored teenagers.
I never want my children to be so bored they feel the urge to harm someone or something. There is always SOMETHING that can be done. A sport they can play, an activity they can be in, volunteer work that they can do, something worth while to HELP humanity rather than destroy it.
I know as parents MOST of us do the best we can and try our best to raise our children to be the best that they can be. To be productive, kind, caring members of society. I don't feel that parents are accountable for EVERY action their child does. You can raise your child perfectly (well as perfect as you can get as I don't feel there is EVERY a thing as perfect parenting)! But you can do your best, and your child is ULTIMATELY the one responsible for making the decisions that they make. Mom and Dad can't be there forever breathing down their neck making sure they do what is right. Even with teaching your children the best morales, they will still mess up.
Should friends be blamed? No, not really. We all have free will, we make our OWN decisions, no one else.
Those teenage boys chose to hang out together (whether the parents tried to prevent it or not, I do not know). That was their decision. They made the decision to take a life. They didn't have to do that. One or all of them could have walked away from it all, but they didn't. THAT is on the teenage boys, not their parents. We didn't grow up in their home, we don't know exactly how the parent(s) tried or did not try to raise the children.
Too many parents look at their children and think they are perfect and do no wrong. That, is a very misguided idea! Everyone makes mistakes, your children are no exception, and neither are mine.
So to Miley, I hope you find yourself soon before you go down the drain. I know you are your own person. No one can make decisions for you, unless you let them. If this is how you want to choose to live your life...that is your right. Just know that there are lots of people who are concerned about you.
Mae
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Finally Some Skin Answers?
Today has been a long and pretty decent day, can't complain anyway. My sons had an appointment with their ENT to check on their ear tubes, so that set the boys and I off on an early morning adventure. Never a dull moment when heading to the doctors office that's for sure!
While at the ENT's office found out that the boys have lost both of their ear tubes (they are unfortunately still in their ears but just sitting there and neither of the boys would let the doctor come close to just gently scraping the tiny tubes/ear wax out of their ears). Of course not. They acted like the doctor was trying to remove their brain through their ears. The doctor was smart and realized it best not to harass the boys further and just let the tubes fall out on their own. Thank you for that, and I'm sure other patrons of the ENT office appreciate that as well.
So the boy will go back in 6 months just to see how things are going and if it all looks good then they most likely will not be going back again unless there is a further problem with ear infections.
However, my daughter gets to go back to the ENT allergist on September 11th. She was there a year ago to have some allergy testing done as we were concerned about her reactions to bug bites/bee stings and we wanted to make sure she wasn't actually allergic to them. She was always coming up with odd rashes when she came home from preschool, so we thought she might also be allergic to something at the school. We never did figure out what the problem was but whatever it was it went away half way through the school year.
We've always known that she has sensitive skin and from the MOMENT she was born her ex pediatrician was telling us how since she was a red head she'd have skin issues all her life (blah blah blah....same crap I've heard a million times because I'M a red head so yeh, I've heard it). Sure enough, yes she did in fact have skin issues. We were always told "Oh don't worry it's just eczema do this this and this and she'll be fine. Fast forward almost 6 years later and my daughter is STILL dealing with what we have thought was eczema this whole time.
While talking to the boys ENT I showed her some of the same spots on the boys (they don't have it as bad as Kams does though). Turns out...it is NOT eczema. It is actually Keratosis Pilaris (otherwise known as...chicken skin, which I think is a gross and awful name and won't be using). It is essentially the build of keratonin. Which is something your skin produces naturally to help protect it from the suns harmful rays. Sometimes your body produces too much or it clogs folicals and low and behold it produces the little pimple like bumps on the skin. Mainly on the cheek, shoulder, thigh and sometimes buttocks areas. No one knows why it happens and it can be due to genetics, or other conditions. It can also happen in perfectly healthy people too.
There is no cure for it though. It will be something all three of my kids deal with their whole lives. They aren't alone though because it is something they inherited from their Mom. Great. So they got my red hair and my skin issues, ugh.
I dealt with skin issues my whole life. It sucked. I was teased relentlessly for my skin issues because I was led to believe I had acne, when it was more than likely a flair up of the keratosis pilaris. I remember having these very same types of bumps on my face in 3rd-5th grade. By the time 6th grade came around I was having actual acne issues on top of it (thank you early puberty, I hate you). I struggled and suffered through acne all throughout high school, it was awful. I didn't like my skin I felt gross in my own skin because no matter what we tried, no matter what the dermatologist prescribed nothing helped. I suffered on. FINALLY by the time I was a Junior/Senior in high school and was actually wearing make up more often the acne got a LOT better, and now it is only an issue during those wonderful mother nature times of the month, and is even then VERY tame and mild and of no concern compared to what it used to be. However, the damage is already done. I'll never get rid of all of the scarring, both physically and emotionally. I'll never "love" my skin or truly feel comfortable in it.
So I want to help my daughter by getting her keratosis pilaris sorted out NOW. Help her learn how to cope with it early so she can help avoid flare ups and how she can treat it when she does have a flare up. I still get it on my shoulders and thighs, I'm just glad I actually know what it is now. Compared to some photos I've seen of it on line, I am glad Kams and the boys and I do NOT have it as bad as many children and adults do! It could be a LOT WORSE!
Mae
While at the ENT's office found out that the boys have lost both of their ear tubes (they are unfortunately still in their ears but just sitting there and neither of the boys would let the doctor come close to just gently scraping the tiny tubes/ear wax out of their ears). Of course not. They acted like the doctor was trying to remove their brain through their ears. The doctor was smart and realized it best not to harass the boys further and just let the tubes fall out on their own. Thank you for that, and I'm sure other patrons of the ENT office appreciate that as well.
So the boy will go back in 6 months just to see how things are going and if it all looks good then they most likely will not be going back again unless there is a further problem with ear infections.
However, my daughter gets to go back to the ENT allergist on September 11th. She was there a year ago to have some allergy testing done as we were concerned about her reactions to bug bites/bee stings and we wanted to make sure she wasn't actually allergic to them. She was always coming up with odd rashes when she came home from preschool, so we thought she might also be allergic to something at the school. We never did figure out what the problem was but whatever it was it went away half way through the school year.
We've always known that she has sensitive skin and from the MOMENT she was born her ex pediatrician was telling us how since she was a red head she'd have skin issues all her life (blah blah blah....same crap I've heard a million times because I'M a red head so yeh, I've heard it). Sure enough, yes she did in fact have skin issues. We were always told "Oh don't worry it's just eczema do this this and this and she'll be fine. Fast forward almost 6 years later and my daughter is STILL dealing with what we have thought was eczema this whole time.
While talking to the boys ENT I showed her some of the same spots on the boys (they don't have it as bad as Kams does though). Turns out...it is NOT eczema. It is actually Keratosis Pilaris (otherwise known as...chicken skin, which I think is a gross and awful name and won't be using). It is essentially the build of keratonin. Which is something your skin produces naturally to help protect it from the suns harmful rays. Sometimes your body produces too much or it clogs folicals and low and behold it produces the little pimple like bumps on the skin. Mainly on the cheek, shoulder, thigh and sometimes buttocks areas. No one knows why it happens and it can be due to genetics, or other conditions. It can also happen in perfectly healthy people too.
There is no cure for it though. It will be something all three of my kids deal with their whole lives. They aren't alone though because it is something they inherited from their Mom. Great. So they got my red hair and my skin issues, ugh.
I dealt with skin issues my whole life. It sucked. I was teased relentlessly for my skin issues because I was led to believe I had acne, when it was more than likely a flair up of the keratosis pilaris. I remember having these very same types of bumps on my face in 3rd-5th grade. By the time 6th grade came around I was having actual acne issues on top of it (thank you early puberty, I hate you). I struggled and suffered through acne all throughout high school, it was awful. I didn't like my skin I felt gross in my own skin because no matter what we tried, no matter what the dermatologist prescribed nothing helped. I suffered on. FINALLY by the time I was a Junior/Senior in high school and was actually wearing make up more often the acne got a LOT better, and now it is only an issue during those wonderful mother nature times of the month, and is even then VERY tame and mild and of no concern compared to what it used to be. However, the damage is already done. I'll never get rid of all of the scarring, both physically and emotionally. I'll never "love" my skin or truly feel comfortable in it.
So I want to help my daughter by getting her keratosis pilaris sorted out NOW. Help her learn how to cope with it early so she can help avoid flare ups and how she can treat it when she does have a flare up. I still get it on my shoulders and thighs, I'm just glad I actually know what it is now. Compared to some photos I've seen of it on line, I am glad Kams and the boys and I do NOT have it as bad as many children and adults do! It could be a LOT WORSE!
Mae
Back To School, Back To School
It's back to school, back to school, those kids have gone back to school! I'd LIKE to say I did the joyful parent dance yesterday when my kids went off to school for the first day. I'd like to say it, but I can't, well at least not 100% truthfully.
My daughter started her first day of Kindergarten yesterday and it was such a bittersweet moment. On one hand I was THRILLED that the kids were FINALLY going back to school because frankly the endless fighting and craziness was wearing on my nerves. On the OTHER hand...my first born baby was going off to her FIRST DAY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL! Doesn't help that, that very same morning my little sister was going off to HER first day of COLLEGE. So I had double the tears and boo hoo's and my sons were going off to their least year of preschool before THEY start Kindergarten next year. WAAAH!!!!
I drove my daughter to school and walked her to her classroom. She handled it all fine, I sniffed back tears, blinking rapidly refusing to cry in front of my daughters teacher, and other moms. Nope. Wasn't gonna do it.
I took a million and one photos of the "Jelly Bean" on her first day of Kindergarten. I got scolded for calling her Jelly Bean, she said "MOM, I'm not your Jelly Bean NO MORE! I'm KAMILAH" Whaaaat?! Nope. Sorry kid you will be my JELLY BEAN even when you are 45 years old and have your own candy shop full of the sweet goodness of her own Jelly Belly Beans!
So my daughter finally kicked me out of her classroom, and I dejectedly went back to the van where I shed a few tears. Fortunately I had a friend with me who had road along with her daughter on her first day of first grade. So I still didn't shed too many tears. However when I got home, I called my Mother, and cried. You know what? That woman had no sympathy for me. I mean, really? Hasn't she forgiven me for MY first day of Kindergarten? Sure, I mean maybe I looked at her and said "You can leave now, I don't need you anymore" and walked off without a hug or kiss or high 5 or anything. Can't hold that against me forever, right? *sniffle* Here I thought the woman would have some pity for me, I was wrong. She pretty much said "suck it up buttercup" Thanks MOTHER. Remind me not to go to her for sympathy anymore.
Kams told me yesterday after about the 100th photo in her class room, she goes "Mom, I love you, but you can go, I want to go to breakfast now and eat with my friends, and you can't go".
Fine. At least she cushioned it with an I Love You, and I DID get a hug and a high 5 out of her, but still...ouch. Leave mom, scram. Get outta here. Ok so she didn't say those exact words, but still...knife to the heart. *sniff sniff*
At least she was super excited to see me when she got off the bus yesterday afternoon!! She ran straight to me and gave me the biggest hugs ever.
My husband went back to his first day of college today, so we dropped Kams off at Kindergarten this morning and then I took the husband to the college to drop off and me and the boys drove home. They don't go to preschool till the afternoon.
Yesterday was also their first day of preschool. Unfortunately they do not go in the morning (much to my WOE)! So by the time the afternoon rolled around and their bus was here, I couldn't get them out the door quick enough. There wasn't really much mourning their first day of preschool. It was more of a "OMG MAKE THE FIGHTING STOP!!! GET THEM TO SCHOOL AND SEPERATE THEM SO THEY DON'T KILL EACH OTHER!!" They had numerous battle royales before the bus arrived. Thankfully though it looks as if both boys had a GOOD DAY at school. I hope today goes as well. They looked so adorable yesterday :)
Here's to more great days ahead in this school year!
Mae
My daughter started her first day of Kindergarten yesterday and it was such a bittersweet moment. On one hand I was THRILLED that the kids were FINALLY going back to school because frankly the endless fighting and craziness was wearing on my nerves. On the OTHER hand...my first born baby was going off to her FIRST DAY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL! Doesn't help that, that very same morning my little sister was going off to HER first day of COLLEGE. So I had double the tears and boo hoo's and my sons were going off to their least year of preschool before THEY start Kindergarten next year. WAAAH!!!!
I drove my daughter to school and walked her to her classroom. She handled it all fine, I sniffed back tears, blinking rapidly refusing to cry in front of my daughters teacher, and other moms. Nope. Wasn't gonna do it.
I took a million and one photos of the "Jelly Bean" on her first day of Kindergarten. I got scolded for calling her Jelly Bean, she said "MOM, I'm not your Jelly Bean NO MORE! I'm KAMILAH" Whaaaat?! Nope. Sorry kid you will be my JELLY BEAN even when you are 45 years old and have your own candy shop full of the sweet goodness of her own Jelly Belly Beans!
So my daughter finally kicked me out of her classroom, and I dejectedly went back to the van where I shed a few tears. Fortunately I had a friend with me who had road along with her daughter on her first day of first grade. So I still didn't shed too many tears. However when I got home, I called my Mother, and cried. You know what? That woman had no sympathy for me. I mean, really? Hasn't she forgiven me for MY first day of Kindergarten? Sure, I mean maybe I looked at her and said "You can leave now, I don't need you anymore" and walked off without a hug or kiss or high 5 or anything. Can't hold that against me forever, right? *sniffle* Here I thought the woman would have some pity for me, I was wrong. She pretty much said "suck it up buttercup" Thanks MOTHER. Remind me not to go to her for sympathy anymore.
Kams told me yesterday after about the 100th photo in her class room, she goes "Mom, I love you, but you can go, I want to go to breakfast now and eat with my friends, and you can't go".
Fine. At least she cushioned it with an I Love You, and I DID get a hug and a high 5 out of her, but still...ouch. Leave mom, scram. Get outta here. Ok so she didn't say those exact words, but still...knife to the heart. *sniff sniff*
At least she was super excited to see me when she got off the bus yesterday afternoon!! She ran straight to me and gave me the biggest hugs ever.
My husband went back to his first day of college today, so we dropped Kams off at Kindergarten this morning and then I took the husband to the college to drop off and me and the boys drove home. They don't go to preschool till the afternoon.
Here's to more great days ahead in this school year!
Mae
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Never Ever Gunna
So today was a 'Mommy/Daughter' day with my sweet little Jelly Bean, Miss Kams. Sheesh, she is growing up so much. She is quite the little personality! We had a busy afternoon scheduled so I thought a girls day out would be nice. So we left the boys home with Daddy and Grandma and we hit the "open road". Not that we went far, our errands and what not only took us around town but we made the most of it.
Our first stop was cut short because the Sonic drive through at noon is just as impossible as the McDonalds drive through at noon. So we figured we would revisit that "Wacky Pack" idea later. Hey, don't judge, we don't generally eat fast food and she won a free kids meal for Sonic during VBS so by golly it was the perfect time to use that bad boy. Free food? Heck yes. A chance for her to eat said free food without her brothers around, YES! Which meant...Mommy didn't have to buy 2 extra Wacky Packs for the boys. CHEAP SKATE I KNOW! The boys would have just wasted it anyway. At least Kams ate hers, or well she shared some of it with her Mommy like the darling daughter she is.
However, since the drive through was SOOO FULL you couldn't even pull into the stupid parking lot we just kept on driving and decided we'd go drive around the down town alley ways and find some good spots for some fun pictures with Miss Kams. After all she starts kindergarten next week, and she turns 6 next month. So a photo shoot IS indeed in need.
We scoped out our locations, took a few fun photos but we didn't get to finish because a wonderful energetic elderly gentleman came up to us and asked to "follow him to the museum" I shrugged, figured sure why not. In hind sight....most people might have said "Ummm no" But not me and Kams. We apparently like a sense of adventure and following strangers (even elderly ones) to unknown locations (in this case said "unknown location" was around a corner to the city museum).
They were open, and things were slow, and the guy gave a WONDERFUL tour of the tiny museum. He was born and raised in the town we lived in. Her served our country in the Army as well, and was a school teacher as well. My daughter thought he was a pretty cool guy, and for ONCE she didn't say "That old guy" she called him 'sir'. THANK HEAVENS the child DOES know her manners.
While we were at the museum Kams got to try on some really cool old hats from back in the 30's she thought that was so cool, she loves hats. She also saw clothes that little girls her age would have wore "back in the day" this little child sized mannequin had on a dress that Kams would have certainly wore NOW. It was SUPER cute. She was impressed with the shoes those little girls wore back then too. She loves shoes too.
She was a little shocked at the first TV. She said "Mommy, why does it have such a small screen?" (The rest of it was pretty big, but the screen was probably not even 12") The look on my daughters face was priceless. We do not by any means have a huge TV, but it is a nice ish TV that we baby and protect (after our previous one of which one of the sons through a toy hippo through). So anyway, my daughter stood there perplexed by this small screen, and she was wanting to know why the screen was so small. I told her they didn't know how to make TV's like ours back then. I asked her if she thought she could have watched SpongeBob on that TV and she said nope. Then she couldn't believe that the shows were all black and white. Her little pint sized mine, was blown away.
Kams also got to see, and WEAR a few authentic uniforms from WW2 era that had been donated by kind people who used to WEAR these uniforms while serving our country. She found it very fun. She saw the Navy cap to the Navy uniform and she goes "Look Mommy, it's a nurse's hat!" I about died laughing. I explained that this was part of the uniform for a Naval officer.
There was an old shoe shine chair in there as well, and I tried to convince Kams to shine my shoes but she politely said "no thanks". Though she did like sitting in the old fashioned school desk, the kind that took an ink bottle and quill pens! I actually had one of those briefly when I was growing up, not sure what ever happened to it.
She got to work an electric train set and wear a real conductors hat from way back in the day which seriously made her day. My kids are obsessed with trains, and so her little brothers were seriously jealous when they found out what Sissy had gotten to do without them!
She had a really good experience today learning about the history behind the town she has been born and raised in. I am not originally from this town, I've only been transplanted here for 10 years. It's not bad, I don't hate it, and I think it's been better than if we would have stayed living back home. We've met a lot of really great people here (we've also met a LOT of crappy people to, which I could seriously write a BOOK about)!
We thanked the kind gentleman for the lovely tour of the museum and then we had to be on our way to pick up Kams school supplies for school. I am pretty sure Kams and I will be checking out the museum again and bring one of her brothers along (taking them both in there would be just too much)!
We stopped in at one of our favorite places and managed to find some cute clothes for her, the boys, and me which is always nice! Especially this time of year when back to school is just around the corner.
We finally stopped in at Sonic so she could get her Wacky Pack then my little lady and I stopped at the grocery store and she was a super big helper with getting the groceries. She helped me pick out the best veggies and counted them, and we added up the prices so we would know how much we were spending. She showed me how strong she was by getting the orange juice and milk for me (we go through a LOT of milk and orange juice, anyone else)?
This child continue to blow me away with her amazingness. She managed to eat VEGGIES tonight. You may not know this, but my daughter doesn't eat nearly as many veggies as I would like her to. She will eat the heck out of lettuce, and olives, and pickles, occasionally she'll eat the seeds out of the green beans, and sometimes corn. She loves navy beans too. So tonight we had salad with our spaghetti and I somehow connived her to heat cucumbers, tomatoes AND green peppers! I was shocked. Kams took a lettuce and rolled her veggies up inside of it, and ate it. I was impressed. She even ASKED for salad to go with her spaghetti (I would have given it to her anyway, but she actually ASKED FOR IT AND ATE IT)! I still didn't give her too much, didn't want to scare her away from veggies, but this is a good step. She doesn't eat unhealthy by ANY means, we have other methods of getting veggies down her (yay for fruit/veggie shakes and drinks, and for owning a juicer and letting your kids make their own juices to drink)!
So this kind of brings me to my next thing. The "I will nevers". I read a blog tonight that I found myself nodding in agreement to the entire time, and laughing so hard I nearly cried. Why? Because I'VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. Here's a link to the awesomeness if you want to check it out HERE: http://www.ivillage.com.au/when-i-have-kids-i-will-never/
It made me think about all of the "I WILL NEVERS" that I've found myself saying before I had kids thinking I "knew it all and would be the best and superior brand of mom", hahahahaha how jaded I was.
Top of MY "I will nevers"
1. My children will NEVER EVER EVER and I mean EVER sleep in my bed. They make cribs for a reason. That baby will sleep in that bed, my toddler will sleep in their bed, there is NO reason a child should ever sleep with their parents, blah blah blah. I never slept with MY mother and so therefore I'm never doing it ether. Haha. Yeh. Right. I mean sure, my daughter spent the first 2 and a half maybe 3 months of her life sleeping in her bassinet. Then we moved. She would NOT sleep in the new apartment. She hated it. I was drop dead tired, as was my husband, we both had to get up and work in the morning...sooo hubby hit the couch, daughter slipped in bed with Mommy. Lazy parenting? Maybe. Did we all sleep? Yes. This went on till about 2 and a half years ago. Yep. My daughter just 2 and a half years ago started sleeping in her own bed...does she stay there all night? Well, most nights she does. She still ends up in my room a few nights a week from a bad dream or something, but she's gotten better. However, her little brothers start out in their own beds and end up in mind. We are in fact, going on night #3 of Mommy getting woke up by some little darling son PEEING all over me while I TRY to sleep squeezed in between them. Thank goodness for plastic sheets protecting my bed, for a washer and dryer to wash my blankets and sheets in at 3 in the morning, and spare sets of blankets and sheets. (Daddy has issues remembering to cut off their liquids!! I remind him and remind him, but he'll slip up, and since Daddy puts the boys down to bed at the moment, he forgets to have them potty before bed, and then I get wet! Thanks).
2. This one is one my HUSBAND always said, upon seeing a friends 3 rambunctious little boys. "My kids will NEVER EVER act like wild little hooligans when we are out somewhere, and they won't disrespect our home and tear stuff up." Personally, I'd like to punch my husband in the throat for ever saying or thinking this one, because the Karman train was NOT kind to us. Granted our daughter isn't as bad, but our sons....OH MY GOSH. I still see that friend....and her sons have calmed down a LOT she's now in that coveted "sweet spot" with her kids. She just grins at me now, thankfully she's very understanding, ha! We laugh and joke about it and how it is all my husband's fault that we have wild sons who could demolish a whole city in 5 seconds. You know how Stitch felt on "Lilo and Stitch" where Lilo made that "bad meter" and said he was really full of naughty or something...well, that's my boys. They are like little science experiments gone wrong some days, just like Stitch. But they are still family. MY Family. I never find things to be amused, or confused about when it comes to them. Like...how did you get PEE on the ceiling? Or how did you get THAT stuck on your head? Or some of the many odd things that I've heard come out of my mouth when talking about my sons. You pause and think to yourself "What...I never thought I'd hear THOSE words coming out of my mouth!"
3. My kids will NOT drink soda. Nope. My husband and I weren't going to do it. Soda is so bad for kids. The causer of ADD/ADHD bad teeth, and obesity. They weren't getting soda. Especially NOT soda like Mt. Dew or anything. MAYBE Sprite if they had an upset tummy, or as a special treat at a restaurant, but not likely. WATER and milk is where it's AT in this house baby. That lasted 4 months. Seriously. Kams was 4 months old when she was sitting in her Daddy's lap as he was holding a can of soda and in one swoop she snatched up the can and brought it to her mouth getting her first taste of ... wait for it ... Mt. Dew. Her eyes instantly got huge and we thought she was going to turn into the Incredible HULK Baby. After that? Anytime she saw a soda bottle or can she was after it. Thankfully she never got another taste of soda until she was nearly 3. Now I'm lucky if I ever get to finish a drink. I set down my coveted sweet tea, or Pepsi to go chase a kid and come back to said drink (an hour later), and lo and behold...it's gone. OK WHO DRANK MY DRINK THIS TIME! It's never ending. I guess we could have done the whole "no soda in the house ever" thing, but if you knew my husband...you'd understand how that would NEVER happen. Mt. Dew is his coffee.
4. I would NEVER yell at my kids! It's an awful thing to do! What kind of mom loses her temper and just yells at her kids? Yeh well, I'm not ashamed. My kids have not just been yelled at...but they've seen Mommy flip her lid and straight up scream at them. NOT a moment I'm proud of. BUT I'm not ashamed to admit it either. Why? Because I'm human. I screw up. When your child has slap slap slap slapped you on the arm 50 $#%@(&@ times and you've looked at said child and said "yes dear" every SINGLE time and they KNOW they have your attention...and still keep slappity slap slapping on your already bruised arm where they ALWAYS "slap" you or "poke" you to get your attention....your eye twitches...and you snap. "WHAAAAT!!!! I SAID WHAT 50 TIMES NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT MY SWEET ANGELIC CHERUB THAT I LOVE WITH ALL MY SOUL BUT YOUR TINY HAND OF SEARING PAIN BEARING INTO MY ARM IS ABOUT TO MAKE ME LOSE MY EVER LOOFIN' MIND!!!!!!" Same with the whole "I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty,....." AAAAAAAH!!!!!!! I KNOOOOOOW!!!!!!!! I am wooooorking on it, where is your OFF BUTTON!!!! Cups do NOT fill themselves! As if saying "I'm thirsty" a bloody billion times in a row gets your cup filled any faster, it does not.
5. I won't shower/bathe with my kids or change a diaper. Another one of my husband's gems. He was insistent about this the ENTIRE time is pregnant with our daughter. "I'll NEVER change her diaper and I WILL NOT give her a bath or bathe with her" Our conversations, usually left me in hormonal tears. Funnily enough...after I had my daughter via emergency C section and she had her first poop and I obviously couldn't just jump and change her, my husband totally took over. He said I got this, don't worry! He ran to get a nurse and then had the nurse stand there and watch him with me to make sure he was changing her diaper right because he was afraid he might hurt her chunky little butt trying to change her diaper. It was so sweet. I cried. After that? He never had issues changing diapers. He's been craped all over, pee'd on (which he HATES being pee'd on haha), and one of our twins managed to poop IN their daddies MOUTH, now that...takes skill. We still aren't sure how he managed that one. As for the baths? Well, I breast fed our daughter and that was OUR bonding time. So he asked if he could do baths, of course you can. So he would fill up the tub and get in and then hold our newly born daughter on his chest and bathe her ever so carefully. He did great bathing the kids when they were babies/toddlers and I took over once they were older.
6. I will NEVER let my kids spend the night anywhere as babies, not until they are in school and talking. Well, to this I say, never say never. You never know what life is going to throw at you. My daughter was NEVER away from me, until her twin brothers were born, and I was in the hospital having them. Even then she was still home with her Daddy and Grandma came to visit. However when Keegan was in the hospital due to his cancer...we didn't have anyone who could help. So Kams and Marshall stayed with the Pastor of our Church and his wife, and they took WONDERFUL care of our children, but it was ROUGH not having all of my babies together, I sobbed and cried and was a broken down mess. If I would have had MY choice about it, my kids would have NEVER stayed the night anywhere, however things in life rarely ever go the way WE have planned. It's not about OUR plans it's about Gods plans.
7. "I will never, have a mess house!" Hahahaha. THAT is so funny. I've always said (yep I still say this). That having KIDS is NOT an excuse to have a messy house. Really? REALLY? Hahaha...yeh, well you know what I'm lucky if I keep the living room picked up MOST days. I spend my day chasing around THREE smallish dogs, a cat, three VERY busy curious children, a husband who apparently has amnesia and can't remember to ever clean up after himself or shut the cabinet doors and feels like he MUST cook a full course meal before he goes to bed at night and leave me a sink of dirty dishes to wash in the morning making me think I've lost my MIND because I KNOW that sink was EMPTY AND SHINY when I went to bed the night before. Sure, kids aren't an EXCUSE when it comes to having a less than PERFECT immaculate home...but they are a sure darn good reason WHY you will find stains on my carpet, why my WHITE linoleum NEVER looks like it has been mopped (specially under the kitchen table) why the WHITE seat in the bay window looks like anything BUT white, why their are finger smudges and nose prints all over EVER window in my home and I swear I just washed the windows last week. The trash looks like it always needs to be taken out even though it was just taken out that morning. Dog food or dog water spilled on the floor because my kids think it is the best site to play construction worker with their Hot Wheel Toys, you will even find CRAYON on my walls, where the heck did the crayons even COME FROM aren't those under lock and key with the scissors and markers? My kids must have mastered lock picking early. You will find a chewed up dog toy, or was that one a dog toy, I think it MIGHT have once been a child's toy? Thank you dear new puppy. Wait, what the dog needs to go out? Crap, too late it's by the door, don't...ooh...step in it. Didn't get the paper towel grabbed quick enough. Hose down kid, scrub up floor, forget dog still needed to go out. *sigh* It's never ending. No Keegan wait a minute and Mommy will help you poor the Kool aid I'm helping your brother...*splash* Ooops Mommy! Oh we need a towel...a towel...where the blood HECK is a TOWEL!!! The dryer (or washer) it never fails all the tails are in the wash. It's always pick up put away, turn around do it again. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love my chaotic little topsy turvy upside down world. One day all of this business will be gone...and I'll be lost without it.
Those are just 7 of the things we said we'd NEVER do as parents. Trust me, I'm sure there are more, but those were the 7 that stuck out in my mind.
If you read the article I posted above before MY "Never Evers" I'm sure you will nod and agree and laugh till you nearly cry write along with the iVillage blogger Amy Morrison if you didn't get a chance to read her blog, just click her name and you can check it out now.
Remember, you can say all of the "never evers" you want to, but chances are at least one of them will come back to bite you in the bum!
Mae
Our first stop was cut short because the Sonic drive through at noon is just as impossible as the McDonalds drive through at noon. So we figured we would revisit that "Wacky Pack" idea later. Hey, don't judge, we don't generally eat fast food and she won a free kids meal for Sonic during VBS so by golly it was the perfect time to use that bad boy. Free food? Heck yes. A chance for her to eat said free food without her brothers around, YES! Which meant...Mommy didn't have to buy 2 extra Wacky Packs for the boys. CHEAP SKATE I KNOW! The boys would have just wasted it anyway. At least Kams ate hers, or well she shared some of it with her Mommy like the darling daughter she is.
However, since the drive through was SOOO FULL you couldn't even pull into the stupid parking lot we just kept on driving and decided we'd go drive around the down town alley ways and find some good spots for some fun pictures with Miss Kams. After all she starts kindergarten next week, and she turns 6 next month. So a photo shoot IS indeed in need.
We scoped out our locations, took a few fun photos but we didn't get to finish because a wonderful energetic elderly gentleman came up to us and asked to "follow him to the museum" I shrugged, figured sure why not. In hind sight....most people might have said "Ummm no" But not me and Kams. We apparently like a sense of adventure and following strangers (even elderly ones) to unknown locations (in this case said "unknown location" was around a corner to the city museum).
They were open, and things were slow, and the guy gave a WONDERFUL tour of the tiny museum. He was born and raised in the town we lived in. Her served our country in the Army as well, and was a school teacher as well. My daughter thought he was a pretty cool guy, and for ONCE she didn't say "That old guy" she called him 'sir'. THANK HEAVENS the child DOES know her manners.
While we were at the museum Kams got to try on some really cool old hats from back in the 30's she thought that was so cool, she loves hats. She also saw clothes that little girls her age would have wore "back in the day" this little child sized mannequin had on a dress that Kams would have certainly wore NOW. It was SUPER cute. She was impressed with the shoes those little girls wore back then too. She loves shoes too.
She was a little shocked at the first TV. She said "Mommy, why does it have such a small screen?" (The rest of it was pretty big, but the screen was probably not even 12") The look on my daughters face was priceless. We do not by any means have a huge TV, but it is a nice ish TV that we baby and protect (after our previous one of which one of the sons through a toy hippo through). So anyway, my daughter stood there perplexed by this small screen, and she was wanting to know why the screen was so small. I told her they didn't know how to make TV's like ours back then. I asked her if she thought she could have watched SpongeBob on that TV and she said nope. Then she couldn't believe that the shows were all black and white. Her little pint sized mine, was blown away.
Kams also got to see, and WEAR a few authentic uniforms from WW2 era that had been donated by kind people who used to WEAR these uniforms while serving our country. She found it very fun. She saw the Navy cap to the Navy uniform and she goes "Look Mommy, it's a nurse's hat!" I about died laughing. I explained that this was part of the uniform for a Naval officer.
There was an old shoe shine chair in there as well, and I tried to convince Kams to shine my shoes but she politely said "no thanks". Though she did like sitting in the old fashioned school desk, the kind that took an ink bottle and quill pens! I actually had one of those briefly when I was growing up, not sure what ever happened to it.
She got to work an electric train set and wear a real conductors hat from way back in the day which seriously made her day. My kids are obsessed with trains, and so her little brothers were seriously jealous when they found out what Sissy had gotten to do without them!
She had a really good experience today learning about the history behind the town she has been born and raised in. I am not originally from this town, I've only been transplanted here for 10 years. It's not bad, I don't hate it, and I think it's been better than if we would have stayed living back home. We've met a lot of really great people here (we've also met a LOT of crappy people to, which I could seriously write a BOOK about)!
We thanked the kind gentleman for the lovely tour of the museum and then we had to be on our way to pick up Kams school supplies for school. I am pretty sure Kams and I will be checking out the museum again and bring one of her brothers along (taking them both in there would be just too much)!
We stopped in at one of our favorite places and managed to find some cute clothes for her, the boys, and me which is always nice! Especially this time of year when back to school is just around the corner.
We finally stopped in at Sonic so she could get her Wacky Pack then my little lady and I stopped at the grocery store and she was a super big helper with getting the groceries. She helped me pick out the best veggies and counted them, and we added up the prices so we would know how much we were spending. She showed me how strong she was by getting the orange juice and milk for me (we go through a LOT of milk and orange juice, anyone else)?
This child continue to blow me away with her amazingness. She managed to eat VEGGIES tonight. You may not know this, but my daughter doesn't eat nearly as many veggies as I would like her to. She will eat the heck out of lettuce, and olives, and pickles, occasionally she'll eat the seeds out of the green beans, and sometimes corn. She loves navy beans too. So tonight we had salad with our spaghetti and I somehow connived her to heat cucumbers, tomatoes AND green peppers! I was shocked. Kams took a lettuce and rolled her veggies up inside of it, and ate it. I was impressed. She even ASKED for salad to go with her spaghetti (I would have given it to her anyway, but she actually ASKED FOR IT AND ATE IT)! I still didn't give her too much, didn't want to scare her away from veggies, but this is a good step. She doesn't eat unhealthy by ANY means, we have other methods of getting veggies down her (yay for fruit/veggie shakes and drinks, and for owning a juicer and letting your kids make their own juices to drink)!
So this kind of brings me to my next thing. The "I will nevers". I read a blog tonight that I found myself nodding in agreement to the entire time, and laughing so hard I nearly cried. Why? Because I'VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. Here's a link to the awesomeness if you want to check it out HERE: http://www.ivillage.com.au/when-i-have-kids-i-will-never/
It made me think about all of the "I WILL NEVERS" that I've found myself saying before I had kids thinking I "knew it all and would be the best and superior brand of mom", hahahahaha how jaded I was.
Top of MY "I will nevers"
1. My children will NEVER EVER EVER and I mean EVER sleep in my bed. They make cribs for a reason. That baby will sleep in that bed, my toddler will sleep in their bed, there is NO reason a child should ever sleep with their parents, blah blah blah. I never slept with MY mother and so therefore I'm never doing it ether. Haha. Yeh. Right. I mean sure, my daughter spent the first 2 and a half maybe 3 months of her life sleeping in her bassinet. Then we moved. She would NOT sleep in the new apartment. She hated it. I was drop dead tired, as was my husband, we both had to get up and work in the morning...sooo hubby hit the couch, daughter slipped in bed with Mommy. Lazy parenting? Maybe. Did we all sleep? Yes. This went on till about 2 and a half years ago. Yep. My daughter just 2 and a half years ago started sleeping in her own bed...does she stay there all night? Well, most nights she does. She still ends up in my room a few nights a week from a bad dream or something, but she's gotten better. However, her little brothers start out in their own beds and end up in mind. We are in fact, going on night #3 of Mommy getting woke up by some little darling son PEEING all over me while I TRY to sleep squeezed in between them. Thank goodness for plastic sheets protecting my bed, for a washer and dryer to wash my blankets and sheets in at 3 in the morning, and spare sets of blankets and sheets. (Daddy has issues remembering to cut off their liquids!! I remind him and remind him, but he'll slip up, and since Daddy puts the boys down to bed at the moment, he forgets to have them potty before bed, and then I get wet! Thanks).
2. This one is one my HUSBAND always said, upon seeing a friends 3 rambunctious little boys. "My kids will NEVER EVER act like wild little hooligans when we are out somewhere, and they won't disrespect our home and tear stuff up." Personally, I'd like to punch my husband in the throat for ever saying or thinking this one, because the Karman train was NOT kind to us. Granted our daughter isn't as bad, but our sons....OH MY GOSH. I still see that friend....and her sons have calmed down a LOT she's now in that coveted "sweet spot" with her kids. She just grins at me now, thankfully she's very understanding, ha! We laugh and joke about it and how it is all my husband's fault that we have wild sons who could demolish a whole city in 5 seconds. You know how Stitch felt on "Lilo and Stitch" where Lilo made that "bad meter" and said he was really full of naughty or something...well, that's my boys. They are like little science experiments gone wrong some days, just like Stitch. But they are still family. MY Family. I never find things to be amused, or confused about when it comes to them. Like...how did you get PEE on the ceiling? Or how did you get THAT stuck on your head? Or some of the many odd things that I've heard come out of my mouth when talking about my sons. You pause and think to yourself "What...I never thought I'd hear THOSE words coming out of my mouth!"
3. My kids will NOT drink soda. Nope. My husband and I weren't going to do it. Soda is so bad for kids. The causer of ADD/ADHD bad teeth, and obesity. They weren't getting soda. Especially NOT soda like Mt. Dew or anything. MAYBE Sprite if they had an upset tummy, or as a special treat at a restaurant, but not likely. WATER and milk is where it's AT in this house baby. That lasted 4 months. Seriously. Kams was 4 months old when she was sitting in her Daddy's lap as he was holding a can of soda and in one swoop she snatched up the can and brought it to her mouth getting her first taste of ... wait for it ... Mt. Dew. Her eyes instantly got huge and we thought she was going to turn into the Incredible HULK Baby. After that? Anytime she saw a soda bottle or can she was after it. Thankfully she never got another taste of soda until she was nearly 3. Now I'm lucky if I ever get to finish a drink. I set down my coveted sweet tea, or Pepsi to go chase a kid and come back to said drink (an hour later), and lo and behold...it's gone. OK WHO DRANK MY DRINK THIS TIME! It's never ending. I guess we could have done the whole "no soda in the house ever" thing, but if you knew my husband...you'd understand how that would NEVER happen. Mt. Dew is his coffee.
4. I would NEVER yell at my kids! It's an awful thing to do! What kind of mom loses her temper and just yells at her kids? Yeh well, I'm not ashamed. My kids have not just been yelled at...but they've seen Mommy flip her lid and straight up scream at them. NOT a moment I'm proud of. BUT I'm not ashamed to admit it either. Why? Because I'm human. I screw up. When your child has slap slap slap slapped you on the arm 50 $#%@(&@ times and you've looked at said child and said "yes dear" every SINGLE time and they KNOW they have your attention...and still keep slappity slap slapping on your already bruised arm where they ALWAYS "slap" you or "poke" you to get your attention....your eye twitches...and you snap. "WHAAAAT!!!! I SAID WHAT 50 TIMES NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT MY SWEET ANGELIC CHERUB THAT I LOVE WITH ALL MY SOUL BUT YOUR TINY HAND OF SEARING PAIN BEARING INTO MY ARM IS ABOUT TO MAKE ME LOSE MY EVER LOOFIN' MIND!!!!!!" Same with the whole "I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty,....." AAAAAAAH!!!!!!! I KNOOOOOOW!!!!!!!! I am wooooorking on it, where is your OFF BUTTON!!!! Cups do NOT fill themselves! As if saying "I'm thirsty" a bloody billion times in a row gets your cup filled any faster, it does not.
5. I won't shower/bathe with my kids or change a diaper. Another one of my husband's gems. He was insistent about this the ENTIRE time is pregnant with our daughter. "I'll NEVER change her diaper and I WILL NOT give her a bath or bathe with her" Our conversations, usually left me in hormonal tears. Funnily enough...after I had my daughter via emergency C section and she had her first poop and I obviously couldn't just jump and change her, my husband totally took over. He said I got this, don't worry! He ran to get a nurse and then had the nurse stand there and watch him with me to make sure he was changing her diaper right because he was afraid he might hurt her chunky little butt trying to change her diaper. It was so sweet. I cried. After that? He never had issues changing diapers. He's been craped all over, pee'd on (which he HATES being pee'd on haha), and one of our twins managed to poop IN their daddies MOUTH, now that...takes skill. We still aren't sure how he managed that one. As for the baths? Well, I breast fed our daughter and that was OUR bonding time. So he asked if he could do baths, of course you can. So he would fill up the tub and get in and then hold our newly born daughter on his chest and bathe her ever so carefully. He did great bathing the kids when they were babies/toddlers and I took over once they were older.
6. I will NEVER let my kids spend the night anywhere as babies, not until they are in school and talking. Well, to this I say, never say never. You never know what life is going to throw at you. My daughter was NEVER away from me, until her twin brothers were born, and I was in the hospital having them. Even then she was still home with her Daddy and Grandma came to visit. However when Keegan was in the hospital due to his cancer...we didn't have anyone who could help. So Kams and Marshall stayed with the Pastor of our Church and his wife, and they took WONDERFUL care of our children, but it was ROUGH not having all of my babies together, I sobbed and cried and was a broken down mess. If I would have had MY choice about it, my kids would have NEVER stayed the night anywhere, however things in life rarely ever go the way WE have planned. It's not about OUR plans it's about Gods plans.
7. "I will never, have a mess house!" Hahahaha. THAT is so funny. I've always said (yep I still say this). That having KIDS is NOT an excuse to have a messy house. Really? REALLY? Hahaha...yeh, well you know what I'm lucky if I keep the living room picked up MOST days. I spend my day chasing around THREE smallish dogs, a cat, three VERY busy curious children, a husband who apparently has amnesia and can't remember to ever clean up after himself or shut the cabinet doors and feels like he MUST cook a full course meal before he goes to bed at night and leave me a sink of dirty dishes to wash in the morning making me think I've lost my MIND because I KNOW that sink was EMPTY AND SHINY when I went to bed the night before. Sure, kids aren't an EXCUSE when it comes to having a less than PERFECT immaculate home...but they are a sure darn good reason WHY you will find stains on my carpet, why my WHITE linoleum NEVER looks like it has been mopped (specially under the kitchen table) why the WHITE seat in the bay window looks like anything BUT white, why their are finger smudges and nose prints all over EVER window in my home and I swear I just washed the windows last week. The trash looks like it always needs to be taken out even though it was just taken out that morning. Dog food or dog water spilled on the floor because my kids think it is the best site to play construction worker with their Hot Wheel Toys, you will even find CRAYON on my walls, where the heck did the crayons even COME FROM aren't those under lock and key with the scissors and markers? My kids must have mastered lock picking early. You will find a chewed up dog toy, or was that one a dog toy, I think it MIGHT have once been a child's toy? Thank you dear new puppy. Wait, what the dog needs to go out? Crap, too late it's by the door, don't...ooh...step in it. Didn't get the paper towel grabbed quick enough. Hose down kid, scrub up floor, forget dog still needed to go out. *sigh* It's never ending. No Keegan wait a minute and Mommy will help you poor the Kool aid I'm helping your brother...*splash* Ooops Mommy! Oh we need a towel...a towel...where the blood HECK is a TOWEL!!! The dryer (or washer) it never fails all the tails are in the wash. It's always pick up put away, turn around do it again. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love my chaotic little topsy turvy upside down world. One day all of this business will be gone...and I'll be lost without it.
Those are just 7 of the things we said we'd NEVER do as parents. Trust me, I'm sure there are more, but those were the 7 that stuck out in my mind.
If you read the article I posted above before MY "Never Evers" I'm sure you will nod and agree and laugh till you nearly cry write along with the iVillage blogger Amy Morrison if you didn't get a chance to read her blog, just click her name and you can check it out now.
Remember, you can say all of the "never evers" you want to, but chances are at least one of them will come back to bite you in the bum!
Mae
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Clown Phobia Or Clown Racism?
So this has become a popular topic in the 'blogosphere' world apparently. So hey, why not chime in my 2 cents. Not that it really matter much in the grand scheme of things. However, I'm a white, Christian, American mom, of 3 children, living in the state of Missouri so I think my feelings on the situation matter to an extent. (Maybe in my own little world but hey it matters somewhere at least)!
By now you have all heard about the "Great Racist Clown from the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, MO" Oh my gosh what have those freaking red necks done now? You ask.
Well, apparently..."some clown guy" wore a Presidential mask of Barack Obama and he DARE to make fun of him. He did. He dared a bull to gouge him. (Had I been the bull I would have gouged him just for being a clown...and I'm not just talking about him wearing the Obama mask...woops I'm sorry did I say that? hehe).
Anyway, said clown is getting backlash from sooo many people ACROSS THE COUNTRY. From people who weren't even attending the Missouri State Fair. (Granted I wasn't there either but I only live a mere few hours away from there so it was practically an incident in my own back yard). Therefore, I am free to talk about it. (Because that totally makes sense in MY little world, k)?
So now this clown who has probably worked his whole life to become the best clown he can be, and has brought joy and entertainment to many a person (though why people enjoy clowns, I'm still working that out I'm not a clown fan, but feel the need to defend this particular one).
They want to bar this clown from working another state fair, at least in Missouri (and I think I read working at fairs period, but I am not sure how accurate that is).
So there's another guy in the state of Missouri who may be facing unemployment. Nothing worse than a sad clown. (Well scary clowns are pretty bad too).
I personally, think the whole situation is sooo silly. How long have rodeo clowns been wearing presidential masks and things? How long have cartoonists been making fun of Presidents? How long have cartoons and such been making fun of Presidents? FOR YEARS!
They are drawn with large noggins, or big noises, or floppy ears. They are portrayed as dumb dumbs, or common sense challenged.
Masks of Presidents are pretty common. In fact I do believe that bank robbers have utilized those same presidential masks (or maybe that's just in the movies)? Either way I always found it rather ironic.
I don't care what "color" a president is. We could have a neon green president and I would care less. It isn't the COLOR of the skin that should be making the decisions it's the character of the PERSON that should be leading the country. We are MORE than the color of our skin. Our actions speak louder than our skin color does (or at least that's how it SHOULD be).
Was it maybe a little disrespectful to dis the leader of our country...sure perhaps it was, however that's the great thing about living in the United States. You have the freedom to express yourself and your thoughts.
Wasn't it President Nixon who had the famous "I am not a crook" quote? The whole Water Gate Scandal? (I'll admit I'm not as buffed up on my Presidential history as I once was). Didn't people also wear masks depicting him for years, in fact I think they still do! I am pretty sure I still see them every Halloween out and about. No one cries foul when they see and hear that. How is that acceptable, but wearing an Obama mask is not? Is it really due to the color of skin, or is it something else? Are people really that afraid of making someone upset because of the color of their skin?
What are the chances of the ACTUAL President getting gouged by a BULL? Seriously. People need to CHILL OUT. It's not like anyone in Missouri is sitting there going "Gee I'mma gunna mail that thur prezdent a BULL furm my own pasture to gets my point 'crossed to'em, that'll teach'em"
Yeh. Not happening.
Believe it or not, we in Missouri are capable of laughing at things, and having civilized conversations. We have brains and a sense of humor. We aren't a bunch of "dumb rednecks" that sit around the rodeo making a guffaw of the president on a regular basis.
We actually DO care about what goes on in the White House, we DO care about what is happening in our own back yards. We do NOT have to like or agree with everything the President does. We have a LOT of brave men and women who have risked their lives serving our country. A lot of good ol' boys and girls who work hard for their families and their country. THEY certainly get my respect and love.
As a Christian mom I teach my children to love everyone. That we are not to judge. That is God's job. I also teach them that the color of someone's skin does not matter. It is their actions and how they act that truly show what kind of a person someone is. I've met good and bad people of multiple races and religions. I would treat my Black, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim or White neighbor all the same. (I would ignore all of you and mind my own dag gum business and let you know that as long as you do the same to me we're all good. Don't involve my family in YOUR business and I certainly won't involve YOUR family in my business). I prefer to stick to myself, I'm not one of those "warm apple pie to welcome you to the neighborhood" types. I WILL wave and say HI to you on my way to the mail box. If neighbor kids ask to play with my kids, that's ok by all means play together. I might even give you a CHRISTMAS card during Christmas. However I haven't an issue with someone saying Happy Kwanza, or Happy Hanukah or Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays to me. I don't care. It's just a greeting of kindness and good will, not something I'll get all bent out of shape about.
People just take things far too seriously in today's society. It's gotten a little ridiculous. When a CLOWN at the Missouri State Fair makes the freaking National Headlines, you know our world is definitely staring to "Freak the Freak Out"
However, I do have to giggle at some of the blogs I've read from people in places like New York, or California who probably have never visited Missouri in their entire lives. (I wonder how many of them actually KNOW where Missouri is, or where Sedalia is located, without having to Google it)?
I remember when I was in high school, our school band got to march in a parade at the State Fair, I remember that was so cool (ok it was actually SCORCHING HOT) but we were all exited (well I know I was, I had never been to the State Fair until that time)! The people in Sedalia were all very kind and welcoming as most people in Missouri are. Most of us Missourians are down to earth, but it can be sometimes easy to rattle our chains and get us going. Especially when we feel passionately about something.
Mae
By now you have all heard about the "Great Racist Clown from the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, MO" Oh my gosh what have those freaking red necks done now? You ask.
Well, apparently..."some clown guy" wore a Presidential mask of Barack Obama and he DARE to make fun of him. He did. He dared a bull to gouge him. (Had I been the bull I would have gouged him just for being a clown...and I'm not just talking about him wearing the Obama mask...woops I'm sorry did I say that? hehe).
Anyway, said clown is getting backlash from sooo many people ACROSS THE COUNTRY. From people who weren't even attending the Missouri State Fair. (Granted I wasn't there either but I only live a mere few hours away from there so it was practically an incident in my own back yard). Therefore, I am free to talk about it. (Because that totally makes sense in MY little world, k)?
So now this clown who has probably worked his whole life to become the best clown he can be, and has brought joy and entertainment to many a person (though why people enjoy clowns, I'm still working that out I'm not a clown fan, but feel the need to defend this particular one).
They want to bar this clown from working another state fair, at least in Missouri (and I think I read working at fairs period, but I am not sure how accurate that is).
So there's another guy in the state of Missouri who may be facing unemployment. Nothing worse than a sad clown. (Well scary clowns are pretty bad too).
I personally, think the whole situation is sooo silly. How long have rodeo clowns been wearing presidential masks and things? How long have cartoonists been making fun of Presidents? How long have cartoons and such been making fun of Presidents? FOR YEARS!
They are drawn with large noggins, or big noises, or floppy ears. They are portrayed as dumb dumbs, or common sense challenged.
Masks of Presidents are pretty common. In fact I do believe that bank robbers have utilized those same presidential masks (or maybe that's just in the movies)? Either way I always found it rather ironic.
I don't care what "color" a president is. We could have a neon green president and I would care less. It isn't the COLOR of the skin that should be making the decisions it's the character of the PERSON that should be leading the country. We are MORE than the color of our skin. Our actions speak louder than our skin color does (or at least that's how it SHOULD be).
Was it maybe a little disrespectful to dis the leader of our country...sure perhaps it was, however that's the great thing about living in the United States. You have the freedom to express yourself and your thoughts.
Wasn't it President Nixon who had the famous "I am not a crook" quote? The whole Water Gate Scandal? (I'll admit I'm not as buffed up on my Presidential history as I once was). Didn't people also wear masks depicting him for years, in fact I think they still do! I am pretty sure I still see them every Halloween out and about. No one cries foul when they see and hear that. How is that acceptable, but wearing an Obama mask is not? Is it really due to the color of skin, or is it something else? Are people really that afraid of making someone upset because of the color of their skin?
What are the chances of the ACTUAL President getting gouged by a BULL? Seriously. People need to CHILL OUT. It's not like anyone in Missouri is sitting there going "Gee I'mma gunna mail that thur prezdent a BULL furm my own pasture to gets my point 'crossed to'em, that'll teach'em"
Yeh. Not happening.
Believe it or not, we in Missouri are capable of laughing at things, and having civilized conversations. We have brains and a sense of humor. We aren't a bunch of "dumb rednecks" that sit around the rodeo making a guffaw of the president on a regular basis.
We actually DO care about what goes on in the White House, we DO care about what is happening in our own back yards. We do NOT have to like or agree with everything the President does. We have a LOT of brave men and women who have risked their lives serving our country. A lot of good ol' boys and girls who work hard for their families and their country. THEY certainly get my respect and love.
As a Christian mom I teach my children to love everyone. That we are not to judge. That is God's job. I also teach them that the color of someone's skin does not matter. It is their actions and how they act that truly show what kind of a person someone is. I've met good and bad people of multiple races and religions. I would treat my Black, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim or White neighbor all the same. (I would ignore all of you and mind my own dag gum business and let you know that as long as you do the same to me we're all good. Don't involve my family in YOUR business and I certainly won't involve YOUR family in my business). I prefer to stick to myself, I'm not one of those "warm apple pie to welcome you to the neighborhood" types. I WILL wave and say HI to you on my way to the mail box. If neighbor kids ask to play with my kids, that's ok by all means play together. I might even give you a CHRISTMAS card during Christmas. However I haven't an issue with someone saying Happy Kwanza, or Happy Hanukah or Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays to me. I don't care. It's just a greeting of kindness and good will, not something I'll get all bent out of shape about.
People just take things far too seriously in today's society. It's gotten a little ridiculous. When a CLOWN at the Missouri State Fair makes the freaking National Headlines, you know our world is definitely staring to "Freak the Freak Out"
However, I do have to giggle at some of the blogs I've read from people in places like New York, or California who probably have never visited Missouri in their entire lives. (I wonder how many of them actually KNOW where Missouri is, or where Sedalia is located, without having to Google it)?
I remember when I was in high school, our school band got to march in a parade at the State Fair, I remember that was so cool (ok it was actually SCORCHING HOT) but we were all exited (well I know I was, I had never been to the State Fair until that time)! The people in Sedalia were all very kind and welcoming as most people in Missouri are. Most of us Missourians are down to earth, but it can be sometimes easy to rattle our chains and get us going. Especially when we feel passionately about something.
Mae
Monday, August 12, 2013
Enough, is Enough Already!
Oh my goodness, I'm totally at my boiling point. I've had it. I'm sick and tired of people who are supposed to be on the SAME SIDE fighting for the SAME THING getting divided and sectioned off and pointing fingers and spreading hate about one another. I don't care WHAT thing it is you love to support and what not, it happens in everything. It could be animal rescue (yes it happens a LOT there trust me! I've seen it first hand!) and it could be Childhood Cancer (Yep seen it there first hand too)!
Apparently, according to some...you are only supposed to fight for Childhood Cancer if you HAVE a child currently fighting cancer, or have lost a child to cancer. Otherwise, you aren't "allowed" to help in the fight. I think that is pretty bogus and stupid. Anyone at any given time could suddenly be thrust in the world of Childhood Cancer. Chances are we ALL know a child and are close to said child in our lives. THAT CHILD could be at ANY MOMENT diagnosed with cancer. Whether it be a leukemia, brain tumor, bone cancer, or any other of the many childhood cancers. It can happen in an instant and suddenly you are a part of the childhood cancer "world".
It is far from pretty.
I'm not just talking about the affects of Childhood Cancer either. That part is monstrous and horrible, but it goes beyond that so so much.
YES there are people out there who scam the cancer world whether it be childhood cancer or adult cancer. Some people are just BAD. They fake their cancer or that of an imaginary child so they can get attention or money or whatever. However, there is more GOOD that happens in the childhood cancer community, then there is bad.
I know that there are a LOT of angry families that are mourning the loss of a child that was stolen from them. I don't blame them for being angry, I've never lost a child and I pray to never experience that. However, the fact remains that Keegan's cancer COULD relapse or a secondary cancer could be found at any time in my sons life. He could die. There is always that chance. Sad to admit, but my husband and I had Keegan's funeral planned out when he was a baby. We did NOT expect him to die, that was NEVER what we expected. We knew that SHOULD it happen we would NOT be in any state to plan and sort things out. It made me SICK to even THINK about burying my son, and the thought still makes my stomach churn in the most vile way. Parents should never bury their babies. Ever.
So I get it. I GET IT. Having been there as a MOM with a CHILD that has fought cancer since he was born. I UNDERSTAND. I understand being angry, sad, scared, frustrated, hurt. I cannot even pretend to understand to know what it is like to LOSE a child to cancer, as I never have, but I can imagine it's all those feelings times infinity.
However, I don't think it is right to attack other people who are trying to help the cause, whether they have a child with cancer or not. Do you know every waking moment of that persons life? You don't know what brought them to "our side" to fight for our children. I say, the more the merrier!
If we just rely on those with kids diagnosed with cancer, we honestly won't get nearly as far as you would think. Granted, I feel like Childhood Cancer awareness has come along pretty good, but has a LONG LONG way to go. We need everyone's help. I don't care what country or state you are from we NEED YOUR VOICE!
200 kids DIE world wide from childhood cancer EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 600 kids world wide are diagnosed with cancer. It's insane. This affects our WHOLE WORLD, not just the world immediately surrounding you. It's not just in your own back yard, your own town, your own state, your own country, it's everywhere.
Are you aware that Childhood Cancer treatments are not the same in all countries? They are VERY different and sadly MANY Children die from cancers in other countries that they have a higher rate of survival of here in the U.S. Are you aware of the fundraisers that go on in other countries to get their children sent to the U.S. for treatments so their child can LIVE?
I can name off the top of my head MANY people who are doing AMAZING things for Childhood Cancer that DO NOT have a child with cancer. Why are they doing this? Because they saw the NEED, something touched them. They saw or heard about a child fighting cancer and realized how easily it COULD BE THEM AND THEIR CHILD or someone they know and love. They didn't want to sit around on their hands and wait for it to happen, they got involved NOW! Many have started their own organizations dedicated to helping kids with cancer. Bringing comfort to their children and to the families, and getting others involved and working so hard to bring Childhood Cancer Awareness to a NATIONAL HEADLINE. Why? Why should they bother, they don't have a kid with cancer. Guess they should quit? NO!!! Keep up the fight! KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Some of these people with NO KIDS with cancer who haven't been "touched" personally by childhood cancer do more for kids with cancer than I PERSONALLY could EVER HOPE TO DO! And I HAVE a child who has fought cancer!!
I know people who are running for Childhood Cancer in honor of memory of a child who has dealt with cancer. That family itself doesn't have a kid with cancer, but they are doing it FOR THE OTHER FAMILIES! Is that wrong of them? NO! Keep it UP! Keep DOING IT!! You are AMAZING!
I know CHILDREN who do not have cancer and who do not know anyone personally with childhood cancer and yet, there they are out there raising awareness, being AMAZING making a difference in the lives of children with cancer because that child KNOWS that they very well could be diagnosed with cancer as well. They want to make a difference. Should they stop? NO! YOU are amazing as well!
When it comes to Childhood Cancer, I admit...I kind of stay to myself a lot and I'm not overly vocal, I try to be...and I will not lie I think I was definitely A LOT more vocal when Keegan was just diagnosed and during his first year out of treatment. It's not that his threat of cancer is any less dangerous as it was back then, that threat and fear is ALWAYS there. I don't say as much as I used to because honestly? I'm afraid of getting called out as a liar, or a "bad guy". Or whatever so many people call others. It's sad when you see Childhood Cancer families attacking other childhood cancer families, or childhood cancer families attacking those who aren't childhood cancer families but ARE trying to help, and vice versa. It makes me SICK to read Facebook statuses where someone who doesn't have a childhood cancer attack a family who is either grieving the loss of a child or who is attacking a family who has a child in for the fight of their lives. It's sickening. You don't know what that family has gone through or what they are feeling. It's as equally sickening when I read or hear of childhood cancer families attacking a non childhood cancer family and they are working to make a change FOR kids with cancer.
It goes both ways people.
Childhood Cancer is NOT a one lane road. It's like a busy crazy every which way interstate. In order to make it WORD we need to work TOGETHER. Not divide.
I try to stay neutral about soooo many topics. I try to think things through and process as much information as I can. I don't like jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers, I don't like to play the blame game. I like to give people the benefit of a doubt.
Raising awareness and being involved in Childhood Cancer isn't JUST for families that have a child with cancer, or who has a child that has earned their wings. YES those people may be leaders in the world of Childhood cancer awareness, but DO NOT block out those who aren't "in" the world of childhood cancer. They very easily could be "in" sooner than you think. This fight isn't just for those who have walked the path or who are walking the path, it's for all of us. It takes all of us. TOGETHER. Childhood Cancer isn't some kind of cool "in crowd" that we should be shunning people away from just for the simple fact "it doesn't affect you personally". It affects us all. If Childhood Cancer is the new "in crowd" I certainly do NOT want any part of it. I don't want to be the "cool kid" in the childhood cancer world. If it's suddenly a popularity contest, count me out. I'm not trying to raise awareness when/where I can for the popularity or cool factor or because only "I" can because I'm the mom of a child that has fought cancer. My son is SO much more than his cancer. It doesn't define him, or me, or our family.
Besides, who the heck do you think is FUNDING a lot of these programs for kids with cancer? Who do you think is sending money to the organizations that have been created by grieving Childhood Cancer families in honor or memory of their precious child? It's FAMILIES THAT HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH CHILDHOOD CANCER! So by saying you don't think people who don't have a kid with cancer should advocate for Childhood Cancer, you are pretty much saying you don't want their help, you don't want their money, you don't want their time, that this isn't their fight. It is everyone's fight. You CANNOT fight this fight alone. I know when Keegan was going through treatments I didn't have time to do a lot of things, because that was taking time away from my son and my other 2 children and THEY were the most important part of my life, I didn't have time to advocate a whole lot and create an organization and what not. My son came first.
Don't chase away those who want to donate their money, time and effort to help find a cure for Childhood Cancer, or who want to help make a Child with cancers wish come true, or help make their life a little more cozy, or put a little smile on their faces.
Fighting and squabbling among our selves about who has more "right" to fight for kids with cancer is absolutely absurd. No one has more right than another to fight for kids with cancer. We should all be fighting FOR THE CHILDREN! They are our future.
How many families have done a Lemonade stand for the well known Alex's Lemonade Stand? Chances are 90% of those families and children do NOT have childhood cancer, and chances are they might not KNOW anyone with childhood cancer. Does that mean they shouldn't participate in this fundraiser? NO! The more the merrier! You are doing a great thing by helping. Even the smallest amount of helping, goes a long way!
On Sept. 8th I will be participating in the LINE OF HOPE event. It's a nationwide event to raise awareness and funding for Childhood Cancer. Some events are HUGE with vendors and entertainment. Others are much smaller with just a few friends gathering in the back yard. Ours here in Missouri isn't the largest, we don't have vendors or a committee or live entertainment. Just as many of as possible gathered at the local park along the high way with our signs and posters. It's all of us working together that gets the awareness out there.
I'm sure I'll make someone mad, and I don't apologize. That's how I feel. If Childhood cancer can affect ANY child ANY where at ANY time. Than ANY ONE can help spread awareness and join the fight.
It is far too easy to let the poison of hate ruin your life and cut down others. Do not let hate poison you and cloud your judgment. Hating may be easier than loving but hating just makes you bitter and lonely.
That's my two cents...for what it's worth. These kids need all the people fighting for them in their corner as they can get. Put on your boxing gloves and get to fighting, for the KIDS because they CANNOT do it alone! We won't ever be able to bring back the children that have earned their wings, but we can keep their memory ALIVE and we can help keep other children from dying and other families from feeling the loss and pain so many have felt. Let them know they aren't alone.
Remember EVERY DAY in the U.S. alone 46 kids are diagnosed. That's 46 families that just YESTERDAY were NON childhood cancer families. Who didn't have a clue about childhood cancer. Now they are aware, very aware. And they need us. Remember that every day 7 children will be stolen from this earth, from their families. A gaping hole will be in their lives for ever. They need us, they need people to be there for them. Don't count someone out just because they aren't "in the childhood cancer crowd" it's not a popularity contest, it's not a new country club, it's life or death and we ALL need to fight for the kids, not with each other.
Mae
Apparently, according to some...you are only supposed to fight for Childhood Cancer if you HAVE a child currently fighting cancer, or have lost a child to cancer. Otherwise, you aren't "allowed" to help in the fight. I think that is pretty bogus and stupid. Anyone at any given time could suddenly be thrust in the world of Childhood Cancer. Chances are we ALL know a child and are close to said child in our lives. THAT CHILD could be at ANY MOMENT diagnosed with cancer. Whether it be a leukemia, brain tumor, bone cancer, or any other of the many childhood cancers. It can happen in an instant and suddenly you are a part of the childhood cancer "world".
It is far from pretty.
I'm not just talking about the affects of Childhood Cancer either. That part is monstrous and horrible, but it goes beyond that so so much.
YES there are people out there who scam the cancer world whether it be childhood cancer or adult cancer. Some people are just BAD. They fake their cancer or that of an imaginary child so they can get attention or money or whatever. However, there is more GOOD that happens in the childhood cancer community, then there is bad.
I know that there are a LOT of angry families that are mourning the loss of a child that was stolen from them. I don't blame them for being angry, I've never lost a child and I pray to never experience that. However, the fact remains that Keegan's cancer COULD relapse or a secondary cancer could be found at any time in my sons life. He could die. There is always that chance. Sad to admit, but my husband and I had Keegan's funeral planned out when he was a baby. We did NOT expect him to die, that was NEVER what we expected. We knew that SHOULD it happen we would NOT be in any state to plan and sort things out. It made me SICK to even THINK about burying my son, and the thought still makes my stomach churn in the most vile way. Parents should never bury their babies. Ever.
So I get it. I GET IT. Having been there as a MOM with a CHILD that has fought cancer since he was born. I UNDERSTAND. I understand being angry, sad, scared, frustrated, hurt. I cannot even pretend to understand to know what it is like to LOSE a child to cancer, as I never have, but I can imagine it's all those feelings times infinity.
However, I don't think it is right to attack other people who are trying to help the cause, whether they have a child with cancer or not. Do you know every waking moment of that persons life? You don't know what brought them to "our side" to fight for our children. I say, the more the merrier!
If we just rely on those with kids diagnosed with cancer, we honestly won't get nearly as far as you would think. Granted, I feel like Childhood Cancer awareness has come along pretty good, but has a LONG LONG way to go. We need everyone's help. I don't care what country or state you are from we NEED YOUR VOICE!
200 kids DIE world wide from childhood cancer EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 600 kids world wide are diagnosed with cancer. It's insane. This affects our WHOLE WORLD, not just the world immediately surrounding you. It's not just in your own back yard, your own town, your own state, your own country, it's everywhere.
Are you aware that Childhood Cancer treatments are not the same in all countries? They are VERY different and sadly MANY Children die from cancers in other countries that they have a higher rate of survival of here in the U.S. Are you aware of the fundraisers that go on in other countries to get their children sent to the U.S. for treatments so their child can LIVE?
I can name off the top of my head MANY people who are doing AMAZING things for Childhood Cancer that DO NOT have a child with cancer. Why are they doing this? Because they saw the NEED, something touched them. They saw or heard about a child fighting cancer and realized how easily it COULD BE THEM AND THEIR CHILD or someone they know and love. They didn't want to sit around on their hands and wait for it to happen, they got involved NOW! Many have started their own organizations dedicated to helping kids with cancer. Bringing comfort to their children and to the families, and getting others involved and working so hard to bring Childhood Cancer Awareness to a NATIONAL HEADLINE. Why? Why should they bother, they don't have a kid with cancer. Guess they should quit? NO!!! Keep up the fight! KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Some of these people with NO KIDS with cancer who haven't been "touched" personally by childhood cancer do more for kids with cancer than I PERSONALLY could EVER HOPE TO DO! And I HAVE a child who has fought cancer!!
I know people who are running for Childhood Cancer in honor of memory of a child who has dealt with cancer. That family itself doesn't have a kid with cancer, but they are doing it FOR THE OTHER FAMILIES! Is that wrong of them? NO! Keep it UP! Keep DOING IT!! You are AMAZING!
I know CHILDREN who do not have cancer and who do not know anyone personally with childhood cancer and yet, there they are out there raising awareness, being AMAZING making a difference in the lives of children with cancer because that child KNOWS that they very well could be diagnosed with cancer as well. They want to make a difference. Should they stop? NO! YOU are amazing as well!
When it comes to Childhood Cancer, I admit...I kind of stay to myself a lot and I'm not overly vocal, I try to be...and I will not lie I think I was definitely A LOT more vocal when Keegan was just diagnosed and during his first year out of treatment. It's not that his threat of cancer is any less dangerous as it was back then, that threat and fear is ALWAYS there. I don't say as much as I used to because honestly? I'm afraid of getting called out as a liar, or a "bad guy". Or whatever so many people call others. It's sad when you see Childhood Cancer families attacking other childhood cancer families, or childhood cancer families attacking those who aren't childhood cancer families but ARE trying to help, and vice versa. It makes me SICK to read Facebook statuses where someone who doesn't have a childhood cancer attack a family who is either grieving the loss of a child or who is attacking a family who has a child in for the fight of their lives. It's sickening. You don't know what that family has gone through or what they are feeling. It's as equally sickening when I read or hear of childhood cancer families attacking a non childhood cancer family and they are working to make a change FOR kids with cancer.
It goes both ways people.
Childhood Cancer is NOT a one lane road. It's like a busy crazy every which way interstate. In order to make it WORD we need to work TOGETHER. Not divide.
I try to stay neutral about soooo many topics. I try to think things through and process as much information as I can. I don't like jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers, I don't like to play the blame game. I like to give people the benefit of a doubt.
Raising awareness and being involved in Childhood Cancer isn't JUST for families that have a child with cancer, or who has a child that has earned their wings. YES those people may be leaders in the world of Childhood cancer awareness, but DO NOT block out those who aren't "in" the world of childhood cancer. They very easily could be "in" sooner than you think. This fight isn't just for those who have walked the path or who are walking the path, it's for all of us. It takes all of us. TOGETHER. Childhood Cancer isn't some kind of cool "in crowd" that we should be shunning people away from just for the simple fact "it doesn't affect you personally". It affects us all. If Childhood Cancer is the new "in crowd" I certainly do NOT want any part of it. I don't want to be the "cool kid" in the childhood cancer world. If it's suddenly a popularity contest, count me out. I'm not trying to raise awareness when/where I can for the popularity or cool factor or because only "I" can because I'm the mom of a child that has fought cancer. My son is SO much more than his cancer. It doesn't define him, or me, or our family.
Besides, who the heck do you think is FUNDING a lot of these programs for kids with cancer? Who do you think is sending money to the organizations that have been created by grieving Childhood Cancer families in honor or memory of their precious child? It's FAMILIES THAT HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH CHILDHOOD CANCER! So by saying you don't think people who don't have a kid with cancer should advocate for Childhood Cancer, you are pretty much saying you don't want their help, you don't want their money, you don't want their time, that this isn't their fight. It is everyone's fight. You CANNOT fight this fight alone. I know when Keegan was going through treatments I didn't have time to do a lot of things, because that was taking time away from my son and my other 2 children and THEY were the most important part of my life, I didn't have time to advocate a whole lot and create an organization and what not. My son came first.
Don't chase away those who want to donate their money, time and effort to help find a cure for Childhood Cancer, or who want to help make a Child with cancers wish come true, or help make their life a little more cozy, or put a little smile on their faces.
Fighting and squabbling among our selves about who has more "right" to fight for kids with cancer is absolutely absurd. No one has more right than another to fight for kids with cancer. We should all be fighting FOR THE CHILDREN! They are our future.
How many families have done a Lemonade stand for the well known Alex's Lemonade Stand? Chances are 90% of those families and children do NOT have childhood cancer, and chances are they might not KNOW anyone with childhood cancer. Does that mean they shouldn't participate in this fundraiser? NO! The more the merrier! You are doing a great thing by helping. Even the smallest amount of helping, goes a long way!
On Sept. 8th I will be participating in the LINE OF HOPE event. It's a nationwide event to raise awareness and funding for Childhood Cancer. Some events are HUGE with vendors and entertainment. Others are much smaller with just a few friends gathering in the back yard. Ours here in Missouri isn't the largest, we don't have vendors or a committee or live entertainment. Just as many of as possible gathered at the local park along the high way with our signs and posters. It's all of us working together that gets the awareness out there.
I'm sure I'll make someone mad, and I don't apologize. That's how I feel. If Childhood cancer can affect ANY child ANY where at ANY time. Than ANY ONE can help spread awareness and join the fight.
It is far too easy to let the poison of hate ruin your life and cut down others. Do not let hate poison you and cloud your judgment. Hating may be easier than loving but hating just makes you bitter and lonely.
That's my two cents...for what it's worth. These kids need all the people fighting for them in their corner as they can get. Put on your boxing gloves and get to fighting, for the KIDS because they CANNOT do it alone! We won't ever be able to bring back the children that have earned their wings, but we can keep their memory ALIVE and we can help keep other children from dying and other families from feeling the loss and pain so many have felt. Let them know they aren't alone.
Remember EVERY DAY in the U.S. alone 46 kids are diagnosed. That's 46 families that just YESTERDAY were NON childhood cancer families. Who didn't have a clue about childhood cancer. Now they are aware, very aware. And they need us. Remember that every day 7 children will be stolen from this earth, from their families. A gaping hole will be in their lives for ever. They need us, they need people to be there for them. Don't count someone out just because they aren't "in the childhood cancer crowd" it's not a popularity contest, it's not a new country club, it's life or death and we ALL need to fight for the kids, not with each other.
Mae
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Closing Night of VBS
Tonight was the closing ceremony for Vacation Bible School for the Church the kids and I try to attend when we can (I'll admit, it's been way too long since we've been in Church regularly and that is totally a MOM FAIL right there)! I was raised in Church and wanted my children raised in Church and to have those Church experiences. Not really sure what happened. I think the lamest excuse ever...LIFE got in the way of Church. That is never an acceptable reason not to go to Church.
I always told myself it's because we don't have a car, or I don't want to feel like a burden getting a ride from someone, I'm tired and I want to sleep in, the kids are sick, I'm sick, I have too much to do around the house it's my only day to clean, or it's my only day to kick back and do nothing. Eh, I could keep'em coming.
Truth is, no reason is a "good" reason. It's just dragging yourself out the door and setting a good example for your children. I WANT my children to know God and have a relationship with God and talk to God like he's their best friend. I want them to have those Christian morals and know the word of God. To do that? Church certainly is a strong contributing factor! So my goal for this year is to get my kids to Church much more often.
They had a fantastic time at the VBS and it was absolutely adorable to watch Kams and Marshall up front with the other kids their age participating in their Bible verses and singing the songs and doing the movements to the music. Keegan was too shy to go up front in front of everyone so he stayed in his seat. Marshall was very energetic and totally having a great time. He was adorable. Of COURSE I left my camera at home so I have no pictures of their fun at Vacation Bible School.
After the kids were done with their bit it was time to unleash the kids and their families outside for games, and hot dogs. We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we got to do this together.
My mother in law got out of the hospital today, she's back at our house, she's on oxygen for probably the rest of her life. I guess her COPD and Empazema caught up with her. Plus having a bad case of pneumonia certainly has not helped. So we have spent a huge chunk of our afternoon getting familiarized with all of her oxygen equipment.
Yesterday the kids and I participated in a "Chalk It Up" thing that was held by the local parks and rec in a small park in the downtown area. The kids were offered a LOT of side walk chalk and then they were given fun ideas of things to draw on the side walk, we really had fun, even though it was pretty darn hot out there.
I also forgot to share with you a photo from Kams first day of Jump Start (It's a week of half day kindergarten where ONLY the kindergartners go so they can get used to the routine of kindergarten, I figured it wasn't much different than preschool but thought it would be food for Kams to get to know her teacher before school started and already have a few friends and familiar faces to make the first day of kindergarten easier. So here's Kams getting on the bus. She was so excited for Jump Start.
Last week the kids colored a giant floor puzzle that is also a large poster to color. For MOST families coloring is probably a quiet calming endeavor that most parents probably love to do with their kids. Usually I do too, buuuut the calm and peace never lasts long. The adorability of them getting along only lasts for so long until their tempers are flaring, crayons are flying, and quite possibly blood has been drawn. Who knew coloring could become a blood sport? Maybe it's just my kids? In the below photo, I'd like to say that the calm peacefulness you see lasted for multiple minutes. But alas, this photo was taken after they had already had 3 fights. This was just a momentary calm before the next round.
I've been spending this weekend getting caught up on laundry, and this next week will be used putting it all away! HA! My house is decorated in neatly laid piles of clean, freshly folded laundry. Now the task of putting it all away. However, the photo below explains what happens when you let your CAT "help" you fold laundry. He isn't very helpful, he lays on all of the clothes and won't move, and if you DO move him he gives you the stink eye, stretches, and sends a cascade of laundry tumbling down that you scramble to catch before it hits the ground and unfolds.
If the cat is disturbed too often while he is "helping" you fold laundry he will then just have to remove himself from his comfy zone...and go find a new one. Like...right next to the printer. Where he will cover his eyes and say "no, no. No more paparazzi please, I need to get my beauty rest"
Do not let cats help you with laundry. You will not get anything accomplished you will just take a hundred cat pictures and still have a pile of laundry on your desk begging to be folded and put away. (Psst I'm still peeking over a pile of my sons underwear to see my screen)!
Now it's time to drag my sorry kester to bed. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and got up at 7:30am. I never go to bed at 9! Last night I was feeling awful, all of my joints from the waist down were in a great deal of pain for some reason. Have a very busy week coming up doing some last minute things for back to school.
OH and forgot to mention that Keegan's 6 month scans went very well. His CT scan and MIBG scan were both normal which is what we want to hear. Very happy for my big guy! Now he doesn't have to go back until February.
Mae
I always told myself it's because we don't have a car, or I don't want to feel like a burden getting a ride from someone, I'm tired and I want to sleep in, the kids are sick, I'm sick, I have too much to do around the house it's my only day to clean, or it's my only day to kick back and do nothing. Eh, I could keep'em coming.
Truth is, no reason is a "good" reason. It's just dragging yourself out the door and setting a good example for your children. I WANT my children to know God and have a relationship with God and talk to God like he's their best friend. I want them to have those Christian morals and know the word of God. To do that? Church certainly is a strong contributing factor! So my goal for this year is to get my kids to Church much more often.
They had a fantastic time at the VBS and it was absolutely adorable to watch Kams and Marshall up front with the other kids their age participating in their Bible verses and singing the songs and doing the movements to the music. Keegan was too shy to go up front in front of everyone so he stayed in his seat. Marshall was very energetic and totally having a great time. He was adorable. Of COURSE I left my camera at home so I have no pictures of their fun at Vacation Bible School.
After the kids were done with their bit it was time to unleash the kids and their families outside for games, and hot dogs. We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we got to do this together.
My mother in law got out of the hospital today, she's back at our house, she's on oxygen for probably the rest of her life. I guess her COPD and Empazema caught up with her. Plus having a bad case of pneumonia certainly has not helped. So we have spent a huge chunk of our afternoon getting familiarized with all of her oxygen equipment.
Yesterday the kids and I participated in a "Chalk It Up" thing that was held by the local parks and rec in a small park in the downtown area. The kids were offered a LOT of side walk chalk and then they were given fun ideas of things to draw on the side walk, we really had fun, even though it was pretty darn hot out there.
 |
| Kamilah wanted me to trace her body and color it in and make HER |
 |
| Keegan drew a blue moon |
 |
| Keegan first drew a snake, and then decided it was a really big boat. |
 |
| We were asked to draw the state of Missouri, so I did. Ta da. I never said I was an artist, ok? |
 |
| Flowers I drew with my Kams |
 |
| The green blob is a venus fly trap, until Marshall made it "new and improved" Love it! |
 |
| Yeh, sooo that's not a slug...that's supposed to be a whale. Apparently I can't draw whales. But I did draw a jelly fish, and Kams drew a monkey with a banana next to the jelly fish. |
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| Marshall drawing a house |
I also forgot to share with you a photo from Kams first day of Jump Start (It's a week of half day kindergarten where ONLY the kindergartners go so they can get used to the routine of kindergarten, I figured it wasn't much different than preschool but thought it would be food for Kams to get to know her teacher before school started and already have a few friends and familiar faces to make the first day of kindergarten easier. So here's Kams getting on the bus. She was so excited for Jump Start.
Last week the kids colored a giant floor puzzle that is also a large poster to color. For MOST families coloring is probably a quiet calming endeavor that most parents probably love to do with their kids. Usually I do too, buuuut the calm and peace never lasts long. The adorability of them getting along only lasts for so long until their tempers are flaring, crayons are flying, and quite possibly blood has been drawn. Who knew coloring could become a blood sport? Maybe it's just my kids? In the below photo, I'd like to say that the calm peacefulness you see lasted for multiple minutes. But alas, this photo was taken after they had already had 3 fights. This was just a momentary calm before the next round.
I've been spending this weekend getting caught up on laundry, and this next week will be used putting it all away! HA! My house is decorated in neatly laid piles of clean, freshly folded laundry. Now the task of putting it all away. However, the photo below explains what happens when you let your CAT "help" you fold laundry. He isn't very helpful, he lays on all of the clothes and won't move, and if you DO move him he gives you the stink eye, stretches, and sends a cascade of laundry tumbling down that you scramble to catch before it hits the ground and unfolds.
If the cat is disturbed too often while he is "helping" you fold laundry he will then just have to remove himself from his comfy zone...and go find a new one. Like...right next to the printer. Where he will cover his eyes and say "no, no. No more paparazzi please, I need to get my beauty rest"
Do not let cats help you with laundry. You will not get anything accomplished you will just take a hundred cat pictures and still have a pile of laundry on your desk begging to be folded and put away. (Psst I'm still peeking over a pile of my sons underwear to see my screen)!
Now it's time to drag my sorry kester to bed. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and got up at 7:30am. I never go to bed at 9! Last night I was feeling awful, all of my joints from the waist down were in a great deal of pain for some reason. Have a very busy week coming up doing some last minute things for back to school.
OH and forgot to mention that Keegan's 6 month scans went very well. His CT scan and MIBG scan were both normal which is what we want to hear. Very happy for my big guy! Now he doesn't have to go back until February.
Mae
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