They Grow Up So Fast

Sorry I haven't been posting much of anything on here lately. Life has been calling and has been beautifully busy. I'm not going to complain about that--taking care of cute girls is fun (and frustrating) and being their mom is the best job in the world. So writing doesn't always get done the way I'd like it to.

My oldest girlie had her preschool graduation today. I can't believe she's going to start kindergarten in two months. I don't think I'll be one of those moms that cry when their child goes off to school, but I could surprise myself. I'll let you know :)

So now with her school done, we're officially into summer and I'm determined to get more writing squeezed in when my babe's taking her nap and the other two are having "quiet" time in their room. Which is rarely ever quiet and rarely stays in their room, but whatever. I'll work with what I can get!

Back in the Swing of Things

The holidays have come and gone, and I'm sad about that. I spent the holiday in Utah with my family, my parents, and all my siblings and their families. There were three babies, three cute little girls, lots of games, and way too much good food. My five-year-old and two-year-old got to go sledding for the first time, and seeing the sheer joy on their faces as they slipped down the (albeit small) hill in my parents' backyard made the twelve-hour drive worth it.

Today was the first day hubby went back to work, and it's just me and the kiddos around the house, and I have so much to get done. I still haven't gotten the Christmas tree down, but honestly I'm not in a hurry to do it. The house is so bare when all the decorations go away. I have a huge list of the deep-cleaning jobs I need to do around the house. My babe is three-months-old, and now that I feel like I'm finally out of survival mode, the housework that sat neglected is now roaring at me.

And I need to write. I finally made myself sit at the computer last night and start plunking out the finally volume of Terra's adventure on the Burn. Yes, this will be the last book for Terra. There may be prequels (my husband asked my last night if I would ever write a prequel about the colonies being formed, and my brain instantly started churning as I thought, "Hmm...intriguing..." and then my brain jumped to, "Ooo...and a prequel about the Event!"--but there's no promises on that front right now. I have another project on the backburner).

So now I'm hunkering down. Today I already have: fed the kids breakfast, worked out, ran in the grocery store to get milk, vacuumed and mopped, started two loads of laundry, fed the girls lunch, cut some coupons, nursed the baby three times, managed to squeeze in a shower and a pinch of makeup, put the chicken in the oven to roast, deadheaded and watered my beautiful oversized pot of petunias, kissed a few owies, wrangled my girls into cleaning up their shoes and the family room, read two books with my girls, and wrote this blog post. That's all I can think of off the top of my head, at least :) Those people who say that a stay-at-home mom doesn't know how to work obviously have never done it!

Wish me luck. According to the outline I've written, this last book is going to be a doozy, and who knows how it will veer off when I'm in the midst of it. That's the great thing about outlines--they always change.

So Happy New Year to you! I hope this year is full of joy and love, and lots and lots of good books!

Enforced Phobia

So hubby and I took the girlies to the Ronald McDonald magic show at the library a few days ago. (As a side note, I love the Chandler Public Library. This summer they've had great free activities for the kids.) Ronald was there, did a few tricks, did a few gags, talked about loving to read, got my girls smiling and laughing, so it was a winner in my book.

The thing that I really liked watching? Seeing which kids were going to grow up to have a fear of clowns. There's a -phobia word for that, though I can't remember at the moment what it is. The thing that was the most interesting to watch? Which parents made their kids suffer through it and which parents took their kids out. I mean, if my child were hysterical and covering her ears and crying and begging to be taken out, I would find the nearest exit. For her sanity as well as mine.

Do some parents want their kids to be afraid of clowns? Maybe they're the parents who are in fact afraid of clowns themselves and need to pass that fear on to the next generation. Who does that to a child?

Which brings to mind the old saying that the only way to overcome your fear is to face it. Which in most cases is a load of hooey. But some people just don't believe that.

Jumping in Puddles

I got home from picking my girlie up from preschool, and when she saw the puddles in our cul-de-sac left from the rain this morning, she begged me to let her and her sis jump in them. I hemmed and hawed--you know, typical mom stuff when you don't really want to deal with the mess. But I looked at her sweet face, and I said, "Yes."

I mean really, how hard is it to take off wet clothes, clean off wet shoes, and wipe up the floor where a few drips may land in the chaos?

My littlest hadn't ever experienced the joy that comes from jumping in puddles--let's face it, in Phoenix, puddles are few and far between. And the delight on her face made the extra work coming in from outside totally worth it.

A lesson to me: let them be kids just a little bit more. It won't last very long.

Priorities

Now that we're back home and things can settle down, I've found I really missed writing every day. And since I've been feverishly sewing Halloween costumes this morning, I haven't been able to really get back into it yet. But since my 19-month-old is down for a nap, I'll have a little while to get some kind of writing done (fingers crossed), so a blog post it is.

And with that intro, I'll tell you how I write with two kids at home: I don't write nearly as much as I'd like (big surprise). But that's because being a mother comes first. Always. Being a mother is the best, hardest, most exhausting, most rewarding, most aggravating, most love-filled job in the world. There are times I want to pull my hair out, lock myself in my room, and just be alone for an hour. But that's just not going to happen, especially since my four-year-old stopped napping quite a bit ago. So while my little one is napping, I've been trying to teach my oldest that that time is sacred. It's my writing time.

Then I go into frantic fingers mode. I try to get as much done as I can during those precious moments. And bless my oldest, she generally does a pretty good job playing by herself during that time. But sometimes she won't be put off, and so we have fun together. I figure writing can wait until later because being a mommy is the most important thing I can be doing right now.

So I take whatever snippets of writing time I can get. I focus on nap time especially, but I'll squeeze in a minute here and there while my girls are playing nicely together (and wish my hardest that it doesn't end in a fight). It's not ideal. I'd love an entire day away where I can do nothing but write. But I wouldn't trade being their mother for anything.

And I know it's worth it when my four-year-old says, "I want to be a mommy just like you."