Picking up laundry

Lately, in an effort to keep my house cleaner I have been trying to teach the kids to put their dirty clothes away. The clothes usually end up all over the floor. When it's time to do laundry it's a nightmare running around the house picking up all the dirty clothes off the floor. So lately after I change the girls I have been handing them their dirty clothes and walking to the hamper with them to show them where it all goes. They actually like this. The key is that I have to walk with them and get them all excited. Hopefully trying to make this a habbit at such a young age will make it stick through their lives.

Laundry

I have a permanent pile of clean clothes on the love seat in my living room. Originally the idea was that I would dump all the clean clothes there and then fold them while I was watching TV. My sister came up with this method. She is a mother of 4 and she does all the laundry in 1 day. She fills the hallway by the laundry room with dirty clothes and sorts them into piles while spraying the stains. After she completes each load it goes on the coach where she then folds for what seems like forever. This method works great for her. But I have not been able to do it. I end up never finding time to either start the folding or finish it. It sits on my coach....forever....till it's worn and dirty and goes back to the hamper....or floor. That's how I used to tell it was time to do laundry again because the pile on the coach would be so low! I have been trying to fold every load right as it has been coming out of the dryer lately and this is working much better. Sometimes my folded piles don't make it all the way to the drawers but I'm working on it! Any other ideas?

Crying/Communicating

This was sent from Kathy Brown:

Whenever a child cries, he or she is trying to tell you something. That's my opinion.

Diaper Rash 1

I've been lucky enough that my kids haven't had many bad diaper rashes, but over the last few days Kayla has developed a pretty bad rash. She is miserable with it! I usaully put A&D cream on it and that helps. Tonight I decided to try Corn Starch because that is what my mom always tells me to use. We'll see what happens!

Bedtime Trip

How many times have your kids fallen asleep in the car and when you get home you end up waking them up to change a diaper for put PJs on them? I was at a babyshower quite some time ago and while one of the moms was preparing to leave with her small children I watched what she did. She changed diapers and took kids to the potty and then quickly put PJs on them before getting in the car. I thought to myself that even though this was such a simple trick, how come I had never figured it out!!! So anytime we think we might be getting home late, I always pack a pair of PJs along for the kids and change them before we head home. Sometimes this little trick works great! Sometimes the kids are stubburn and I swear they catch on and make sure they stay awake! But the times it does work, it's great!

Ear Infection

Quite some time ago Kenzie was acting just a little different than her normal cheerful self. I keep getting the feeling something was wrong and I should take her to the doctor. She had a low fever that was difficult to see if it had gone away. My husband told me I was paranoid. I couldn't shake the feeling though. After taking her to the doctor it was confirmed she did have something wrong. She had an ear infection. Don't ever ignore your mother's intuition even though sometimes it's hard to tell apart from being paranoid. :)

Intuition

This is the story that inspired the name of this blog. I've had many moments being a mother where I have questioned whether or not I posess "mother's intuition." When I was a new mom I once had our pediatrician answer a question I had about my sick child by stating I should use my "mother's intution." I laughed and told him I wasn't sure if I had that yet! Since then I know that "mother's intuition" is real. I know my mom posessed this.

Several months ago my daughters and I caught the stomach flu. When you have babies that can't exactly tell you that they are going to vomit and when it happens it's everywhere what do you do? Both my kids are usually just wanting to be with me when they are vomiting regulary. I drape towels over our recliner and myself while I hold them and they're going in and out of sleep. When the warning signs start (heeving, tossing, crying, etc.) I grab the "puck bucket" and brace myself for what's coming.

My oldest was just getting over the stomach flu when one night Kayla woke up crying. Already exhausted from caring for Kenzie through her illness, I brought Kayla into my bed to sleep. We both fell asleep again. A few hours later I was dreaming a very strange dream about getting ready to go on a date with my husband. It was one of those dreams that felt so real yet had such strange things happen. Eventually the dream changed that I wasn't going on a date with my husband anymore, I was getting ready to take Kayla on a mommy daughter outting. She was in her saucer playing and as I approached her she looked like she was going to vomit. I heard a voice in my dream calmly tell me, "She's going to throw up. Wake up." I suddenly realized it was all a dream and quickly woke up. I checked on Kayla as she was sleeping next to me in my bed. Everything was fine and she was still. I rolled over to reach for my water and as I started to drink I heard something. In the dark I could see that Kayla was now choking in her sleep. She was not vomiting, but while laying on her back sleeping she was choking on her vomit. With my one free hand I grabbed her and rolled her towards me. She stopped choking...and vomited all over me. But the good news is that she didn't choke in her sleep. Sometimes miracles are messy. But what a crazy experience!

The mom blog!

I'm not the most computer friendly person so I've decided to start this blog as an experiment and an opportunity to learn. I decided to write about what I spend almost all my time doing. Being a mom!!! I am a mother of 2 miraculous little girls. Since I'll be talking a lot about them, allow me to introduce my family to you. First off, my name is Jeannie and my husband is Greg. He is a wonderful husband and dad who works full time and is completing his senior year in college. Kenzie is my energetic and kind 3 year old. She takes on the role of being the oldest and caring for her little sister with ease. Of course she has her fair share of "mine" episodes, but she loves her little sister and loves to care for those around her. Kayla is my youngest and she is 15 months old. She is my loving and bold "little sister." Our daring Kayla will try anything her older sister can do and will climb up anything. Now that you know my family, I'm excited to start this blog. I'm hoping I can share my experiences with you and that I can learn of other moms stories and trials through there stories shared as well.