Author Archives: Heather

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About Heather

I adore my family, writing, books, cats, lazy mornings in bed, and chocolate. I'll never say no to breakfast for dinner, long talks with friends and lazy summer days at the pool with family. My life is often crazy, always awesome and one I'm so happy to be living! My side hustle is editing and proofing work. Find out more at https://heathercaryn.com/
Jan31

Mean Mom

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“Jeez Mom- you are so mean!”

I had to bit my tongue when Scorch told me that this morning.

Yes, I am mean* when I’ve asked you to get dressed 10 times and you ignored me.

Yes, I am mean when I’ve asked you to clean up and you keep telling me 1 minute. After the 5th time, I snap.

Yes, I am mean when it’s 10 pm and you’re still awake and won’t stop talking.

Yes, I am mean when you push your sister (or vice versa) after being told for the hundredth time to keep your hands to yourself.

I love you, little boy, with my whole heart, but you are making me crazy. I full expected you to loose your teeth when you were five, I didn’t expect you to lose your hearing as well.

*Mean = standing next to Scorch while he does what ever he was supposed to do/putting kids in time out. As The Hubs (a cop) says, my kids really don’t understand the true meaning of mean (thank goodness!).

Jan30

Crazy’s All Nighter

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Last night was a horrible night for bedtime at our house. A combination of a lot of things I won’t bore you with resulted in us starting the kid’s bedtime routine at 6:45 last night in the (vain) hope that the kids would go to bed quickly and easily.  Yeah- not so much.  The Bean was wonderful, but Scorch was freaking out over everything.

The Hubs monitored the situation for the first hour, then he tagged me in to take over before he lost his mind.  While he was downstairs, he fed and watered all our animals and (unbeknownst to me)  put Crazy, our dog, out to go to the bathroom one last time. While Crazy was outside, I asked the Hubs to come back up to help me.

After another 45 minutes of fighting with Scorch, he finally fell asleep and the Hubs and I went to bed shortly there after.

Fast forward to 6:30 this morning when Scorch was up for the day.  I brought him downstairs into our basement so we could watch TV. Normally Crazy greets us as soon as we get down there, but this morning, no Crazy.  She’s almost 10 and losing her hearing, so I figured she was just sleeping.  Nope. The dog isn’t anywhere in our basement. I know she’s not upstairs anywhere, so I proceed to lose my mind and yell bloody murder for the Hubs to get out of bed and downstairs NOW.

He confirms that I’m not nuts and that the dog is, in fact, missing- so I asked him if he brought the dog in last night.  That is when he got the universally recognized “Oh Shit” look on this face and we both ran to the door.  After a few minutes of us yelling (thank goodness we live in the country),  Crazy finally came to the door.

I have no idea where she spent the night, but she came back happy, dry and completely unhurt.  That is a minor miracle considering we got 3 inches of snow last night.  She bounded into the house as frisky as a puppy and wanted to play for another hour before crashing.  My heart rate finally returned to normal around noon today and Crazy spent the day sleeping on the couch.

~*~*~*~*~*

In completely unrelated news, I finished Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I really enjoyed it! Parts of it were a little wooden, but I flew through it and had a very hard time putting it down.  I also finished Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos. I loved, loved, loved 90% of this book. The description of friendships had and lost was wonderful. The end felt a little rushed to me, but I’d highly recommend it!

Jan26

A Made Up Word

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I like to sing- a lot.  Mind you, I can’t carry a tune and I can’t remember any more then two lines from any given song, but that doesn’t stop me from breaking into song any time I feel like it.  After I’ve song the lines I do remember I just start making it up as I go along. As long as I can find words that rhyme, I keep going.  My poor kids are usually my only audience so they are used to it and usually help me along when I run out of words.

This afternoon, I was getting Scorch out of the bath while singing my own personal version of “Tomorrow” from Annie.  In the middle of the song, Scorch almost slipped in the bath, so I sang a made up line that ended in floor, then another ending in sore (as in how he’d feel if he did fall) and then I got stumped.  So Scorch kindly offered up the word “whore.”

Huh.

My mind does this holy crap brain freeze thing where there are so many conflicting thoughts fighting for space everything just gets stuck. I figured one of two things just happened:

1) Either Scorch did hear that word used somewhere by someone and doesn’t realize it’s a bad word

or

2) Scorch just made up a word on the spot simply because it rhymes.

I didn’t want to overreact and draw attention to the word, so I simply say “Whore, huh?” (I know- sometimes my parenting skills are so sharp I scare myself).

“Yup- I made it up! Floor, sore, whore, bore, pour….”

Whew. Another bullet dodged- now I just have to explain to my sweet boy why I can’t sing that song anymore without giggling.

Jan25

A Book Worm is Born

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“Hey Mom- if you replace the “d” in “dog” with an “l,” it spells “log.”

“Dad, Dad- at the end of movies, it says “The End” but if you swap that “E” with an “A”- you’d get “The And.” Wouldn’t that be funny?”

As, so it begins- my boy is reading! He read us a book the other night before bed, blending all the words and getting every one just right.  The Hubs and I just sat there and grinned like fools the whole time, so proud that I thought we were going to burst.  Sure, this means our time of being able to spell words we don’t want the kids to know is dwindling down, but the upside to this whole Scorch being able to read things is enormous. I hope so much for my kids- including that they the same passion for reading that I do. I simply can’t imagine how boring and stale my life would be without a good book.

On that note, the kids are finally asleep (thank goodness– it’s been a crappy day here behavior wise), the Hubs is watching TV and I have a lot of books to enjoy.

Books, glorious books!

 

What are you reading? You know I’m always looking for a good recommendation or two!

Jan23

Sick Days

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One of the reasons I started keeping an online journal 9+ years ago and this blog 1.5 years ago was so I didn’t forget things. The good and the bad things- the things that make up our daily lives and that make my family tick. The way words were pronounced with my kids were really little, the love that swelled in my heart on a certain date, the times the kids cracked me up and, yes, even the times when I wondered why I thought having kids was a good idea.

Well, it turns out that recording the ups and down doesn’t mean I’m not able to push somethings right out of my mind.

Like how often little kids get sick their first year in school. Holy crow-we’re on the Bean’s 3rd illness in 4 weeks (stomach bug, ear infection/strep, stomach bug if you want to play at home). And no worries- that week that she wasn’t sick, Scorch was.  My mind immediately does what it does best -internally overreact- when I started to think of this string of illnesses until I looked back and realized that, yup, Scorch was sick this much too.  The good news is after his first year, Scorch has been pretty darn healthy, so I’m hoping that happens with the Bean.

In the meantime, if you need me, follow the scent of Lysol wipes- I’ll be the one scrubbing everything down.

 

 

Jan22

Mocking Bird

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Typically when I don’t post here, things are either really good (see: Christmas break) or really bad (relatively speaking). This past week+ has been bad.  Sleep has been beyond miserable thanks to Scorch and his continued fear of Kitty Galore. A month and a half ago, my kids were in bed, asleep, by 7:45 or 8 most nights.  Now we’re lucky if they are in bed, asleep, before 10. And forget sleeping through the night- I think I can count on one hand the number of times that’s happened since mid-December.

In short, we’re all exhausted and cranky.

Like I mentioned before, the problem isn’t nightmares as much as it is Scorch laying in bed freaking himself out thinking about scary things. Out of desperation I shared all this with some of my best online friends last week as we had gone through everything the Hubs and I could think of. One friend recommended a meditation CD for kids.  I was desperate, so I bought it right then and there (love you, iTunes!) and we tried it that night.

Scorch was asleep within 10 minutes.  I almost cried I was so happy. Evidently having something to occupy his smart, sweet brain was what he really needed to keep his mind off of scary things.  We had great success the 2nd night and since then it’s been a bit more hit and miss, but things are much better then they were before.

The CD really is lovely – the voice speaking is incredible smoothing and she speaks in a very soft, sing-songy cadence asking the listener to envision different things (you’re sailing on a ship, you’re in a garden) and Scorch loves it. I can’t recommend it enough…unless your child has a sibling like the Bean.

This morning Bean took away Scorch’s favorite toy while he wasn’t paying attention. He threw a total fit and without missing a beat, the Bean started to mimic the tone and rhythm of the meditation CD. “Picture your dragon, Scorch. What color is your dragon? Is he flying?” and on and on. Scorch started laughing so hard he let her keep his toys.

Jan17

Winter Wonderland

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I’ve lived in roughly the same area of the North East for 30 out of my 33 years on this planet. You’d think in all that time, I’d get use to winter. That I’d embrace the cold and the snow and learn to love it.

You’d be wrong.

But this winter has been a bit freaky- it snowed 3 separate times from October through December. Most years, it snows every single day (or close to it) during that time frame.  Now, I’m not complaining really- but it is odd and a bit unsettling when weather is that different then how it normally is.

Heavy snow weighing down the branches

For that reason alone, I was relieved (not happy, mind you, but relieved) when we got socked this past week with a winter storm.  And even I, hater of all things cold, had to admit that there is something absolutely breath taking about the first major storm of the year.

The trees that border my back yard.

 

The kids were thrilled to see the snow- they have been waiting for months to use the new sleds they got. Too bad the snow wasn’t quite good enough to sleigh ride in- they had to settle for walking around our property instead.

On our walkabout

 

A good chunk of the snow is melted already and what’s left is brown and dingy- but it was gorgeous while it lasted! Let’s just hope we don’t see too much more of it.

Jan12

I Think Her Medicine is Laced with Sugar & Other Tales

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Yesterday when I picked up the Bean from school she was pale, wouldn’t really talk to me and wouldn’t stop holding her right ear. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was sick, so off to the dr’s we went (huge thanks to them for getting us in with 10 minutes notice!).  Final diagnosis: strep throat and an ear infection.

Awesome.

I asked for a different kind of antibiotic to give her since she flat out refused to take the last kind, so we have a new med we’re using. This one is actually going down, thank goodness. But I think it’s laced with crack because Beaner hasn’t slowed down once since taking it. So the good news is she’s feeling much better, the bad news is she’s learned how to scale the kitchen cabinets.

~*~*~*~

One of the things I’d like to do better in 2012 is keep track of what I read. There is nothing I hate more then getting a book out of the library (or worse, buying it!) only to realize 10 pages in that I’ve already read it. So I started tracking my books on Good Reads.  Not sure if this link will work- but here are all the books I’ve reviewed so far.  I’ve reviewed either some of my favorites (The Outlander Series, for example)  as well as the books I’ve read in 2012.  I picked up 6 new books from the library this week, so I hope to update it again soon.

~*~*~*~

My other goal this year is to be more consistent with my workouts and to start working out with a trainer. That is why I haven’t been online as much- it hurts to type.

 

Jan10

Siblings

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I wasn’t sure if Scorch was going to have a sibling.  The long road we traveled on to have him was full of a lot of disappointment and heartbreak- I honestly wasn’t sure if I had the strength to go that way again.  Plus, Scorch was perfect. How could we improve on that? We had gotten everything we wanted in that one miracle baby- were we tempting fate to try to have another child?  So, we didn’t try.  We didn’t not try, either- but we didn’t actively set out to have another baby, the Bean just happen.

The minute I saw my two babies together I wondered why in the world I thought having two kids was a bad idea.

Now my two babies are 5 and 3 and I wonder a lot of things.

> How can two kids torment each other so much?

> How does the Bean know just what to say to rile Scorch up so quickly?

> How can two kids profess to hate each other one minute and be as thick as thieves the next?

> How does the Bean know just the right thing to say when Scorch is throwing a fit to make him laugh?

> How can Scorch be trying to whack the Bean one second and then agree to play “Daddy” when she wants to play house the next?

These children of mine, they are a mystery to me.  But I don’t ever, ever wonder why I had them.

Jan4

Calming the Fears?

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A few weeks ago, Scorch watched the movie Cats & Dogs 2. He’s seen this movie a few times before and never had a problem with it, so I didn’t think twice about putting it on for him and going back to bed.  About 30 minutes into the movie he started screaming blood murder. I tore down the stairs thinking something was seriously wrong.  Thankfully nothing happened to him- he was just scared spitless over the movie.

So, since then every time Scorch goes to bed, he thinks about the bad kitty in the movie and freaks himself right out and doesn’t want to go to bed. Some nights are worse then others- last night he was up 1 hour and 20 minutes past lights out because he kept scaring himself.  Here’s what we’ve tried to help him out:

> Talking about what scares him and why. Explaining that cats aren’t bad and that Kitty Galore* (the bad kitty in the movie) is just pretend.
> Talking about all the great things Scorch can think about at night before bed instead- Christmas, friends, football, etc.
> Letting  Scorch sleep with a variety of things (toy guns, super heros, etc) to make him feel better.
> Letting Scorch sleep with a stuffed baby Jesus from our plush nativity scene under his pillow.

> Coming up with a special prayer we can say to ask for help in keeping the bad thoughts away.
> Putting a bunch of family pics in his room so everyone can watch over him and keep him safe
> Letting Scorch sleep with a flashlight.
> Keeping his door all the way open when he goes to bed.

I honestly don’t know what else to do? At night he’s not hysterical, he simply keeps getting out of bed because he says he’s scared. I feel like a heartless witch telling him to deal with it, but that is what we’re starting to do because I’m out of ideas. Any other suggestions?

*Please, let’s take a moment to acknowledge how hard I’m trying not to turn this into a funny post. Come on now- my son is scared of an imaginary cat named Kitty Galore- that begs to be humorously blogged about. But he’s legitimately scared and I don’t watch Scorch in 5 years to come online and see me mocking him. Even though I really want to.