I took Liam to his first swimming lesson of the summer yesterday. Liam walked right up to his teacher, who is 7 months pregnant, and proceeded to lift her tankini top, put his hands on her belly and said, "What's that?!" I apologized and added, "He's never seen one of those before."
He's never been shy.
I probably should have added, "I don't encourage my boys to lift women's shirts too often."
He's Not Shy
My Blogging Story
Chilihead is hosting a carnival in which many bloggers are sharing their blogging story. Here's my story.
How did you start blogging?
I began reading blogs shortly after we adopted Jack, because I had zero life with two newborns and a two year-old. The highlight of my day was when all boys were napping, so I could sit on the couch with my laptop and catch up on the lives of bloggers. Who am I kidding? It's still the highlight of my day!
I secretly wanted to begin my own blog for several months. I was nervous to mention it to Rick, because I was afraid it would be yet another hobby that wouldn't hold my interest. This past December, I was excitedly telling Rick about something I had read on a blog that day, and he said, "Why don't you start your own blog?" I couldn't muster up enough nerve to use my full voice, so I whispered, "I want my own blog. And Blogger is free." That was that. I had Cup Runneth Over up and running within a few days.
Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?
I hoped for a following of some kind, but I've never expected to be as big as Shannon or BigMama. My heart flutters when I see new visitors on my site meter!
What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
My main goal is to chronicle our life in a light, fun manner. I feel that I'm able to accomplish that most days.
What? A plan? No, thanks, this is all for fun. If I need a plan, then this becomes another task.
Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
I'm not big on change, so my blog's focus has remained pretty steady.
What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
That this gosh darn blog would be so addicting!
Do you make money with your blog?
Nope. On the one hand, some cash that is mine, mine, all mine would be nice. But then this blog would become a job. No thanks.
Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
When I began this blog, I thought that our out-of-state friends and family would be frequent flyers in order to keep in touch, but I've been surprised to see that my devoted readers are mostly strangers. In addition, my mom and sister-in-law are devoted readers. (Hi, Mom. Hi, Bec.) My hubby reads occasionally. My mom mentioned one day that my grandparents read it occasionally. I hope not! I hope they have better things to do with their retirement.
What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
1. Don't think that one hour every day will be enough time to read your favorite blogs and post on your own.
2. Return comments as often as possible. It's great fun to have a running dialogue with your commenters.
There you have it. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
Summer is for Fun
Liam got a slip 'n slide for his birthday in April. Every day since then, he has asked to put that baby in the backyard and put it to good use. I would remind him every day that we had to wait for summer time.
Summer officially began for us on Tuesday night when we put that slip 'n slide to good use. And yesterday, we went swimming at a friend's house, the ultimate summer activity. When Liam got up this morning, he asked, "Mommy, is it still summer time?" I think he was worried that summer had vanished over night. Oh to being a kid again, the time when 90-plus temps meant nothing but fun times.
Nervous Mommy Seeks Advice
I am about to enter a new phase in my parenting. I am on the hunt for a babysitter. Because we live only five minutes from my parents' home and maybe twenty minutes from my in-laws', we usually just call them up when we need to get away from these monkeys! But in order to get out more often without wearing out our parents, I'm in the business of looking for the occasional sitter.
My mother-in-law recently mentioned that she knows the mother of a sixteen year-old girl that lives around the corner from us. "This girl enjoys babysitting," declared my mother-in-law. I think that was a hint, don't you?
I am not real crazy about a teenager being in charge of my three, very close-in-age boys, so I've put it off for a month or ten. But the time has come. I need to venture out and entrust my angels to someone soon.
I have some questions to throw out to you, the parents who are screaming at me, "Get over it already. Get a sitter and get out of the house!" When I call this girl, what do I say? "Um, hi, I'm the mom of three boys who might wear you out in thirty minutes. Would you like to come play for say two hours?"
No, but here are some genuine questions that I would appreciate your more experienced answers:
- I plan to ask her to come visit all 5 of us before asking her to actually babysit. What do I offer to pay for this visit?
- I plan to ask her for references. Is that being paranoid? I mean, I know I'm being paranoid, but how normal is it to ask for references?
- What do you pay for sitters these days?
- What else do I need to know?
I babysat when I was young. In fact, I began sitting at the age of ten years old, which is crazy to think about now! But I was a darn good sitter, if I do say so myself. I played with the kids, fed them well, followed their routine, cleaned up our messes, etc. I enjoyed it. So why am I so nervous about this from the parents' end? Because they're my kids!
A Contest
A contest for $25 gift card to Joann's Fabrics! I'm in! I'm in!
Now, don't get all impressed thinking that I'm some crafty mommy. I'm not, no way! But I love to roam around Joann's and dream of all the wonderful projects that I could begin.
I'm currently dreaming of making curtains for my kitchen. Actually, let me correct myself, I want to buy the fabric for my mother to make my kitchen curtains! $25 won't pay for the entire project, but this gift card will definitely get me started.
Oh, sweet, Wooden Porch, please pick me! My kitchen windows would love you forever, and so would I!
To Carry the Camera or Not to Carry the Camera
In case you've been wondering where the heck I've been, here's a run-down of the last four days:
On Friday, Rick surprised me by taking the day off. I was able to buy groceries with only one child, which seemed so incredibly easy that perhaps I should look into hiring a sitter every grocery day. You're probably thinking, "Why don't you just buy groceries in the evenings when Rick is home?" I live in a state where my perishables might perish in the parking lot during the time it takes me to load all bought groceries into the car; thus, I buy groceries in the mornings. "Why don't you buy groceries after maybe 9 pm?" Because I'm not a very pleasant person after 8 pm. Ahem.
After putting away the groceries, my spontaneous husband decided that we needed to hit the road for Aggieland. The Ags are playing in the NCAA championship, and we just can't have them playing post-season baseball without us. We were able to get down there in time for Friday evening's 7 pm game. We had the best time! Aggie fans taunt the opposing team like no other fans I've ever seen. As an example, LeMoyne's pitcher was taking a bit too long to wind up, so we patient fans teased him with, "Bobby's stalling. Bobby's stalling." I love sarcasm! Even Garrett chimed in.
I'd love to show you a photo of Jack and Garrett enjoying their first-ever, real-live Aggie game, but we left the camera in the car. Brilliant, aren't we? And the trek to the car in the 90-degree temp to get the camera just wasn't calling my name.
But just imagine two 2 year-olds standing on bleachers between their parents, looking down on a massive crowd of fans screaming at baseball players down below. They ate it up! (By the way, Liam was not with us. He was lucky enough to enjoy a full weekend of camping with his grandparents.)
After winning the game 7-2, we spent the night in College Station. We took the boys back to the campus Saturday morning with the camera in hand and took some pictures for scrapbooking purposes. Although it's not nearly as exciting as seeing the boys experience their first Aggie game, here's a shot of them in front of Olsen Field that proves this entire trip actually did happen.
We drove home in time to enjoy naps in our own house. In case you haven't figured it out, nap time is my absolute favorite time of the day!
When we got up Sunday morning, there was yet another thunderstorm brewing. I haven't written about the weather lately, because I know it can be boring to hear about someone else's weather, but let me just sum it up by saying that it has rained nearly every day in May. Seriously. Officially, it rained 20 of the 30 days in May. And yesterday was not May, so stop it already! Ahem.
We went to the Fort Worth zoo with our friends today. Nothing wears me out like chasing five boys, all aged 4 and 2, around the zoo! One second we have all 5 heads accounted for. The next second, "Where is Jackson? Jack! Jack, stay with us!" I said that five hundred times, I assure you.I did remember my camera today. Yea! Here's a photo that I took at the beginning of the day, in the event that we needed a current photo of any lost children.
Yep, that's the best shot I got. It's nothing less than challenging to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time with their hands down at their sides.
So that catches you up on my whereabouts. Where have you been lately?
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