Coming Up Collins: The Power of Lists and/or Post It Notes...

I swear that my mind has gone K.A.P.U.T...for real. As in, if my children weren't reminding me 20 times a day that they are hungry, they might not even be fed...okay, I might be exaggerating on that part a bit, because quite frankly, it's because of my children and the 102 things that are on constant revolve in my mind concerning them and their well being, that takes away from anything else that is trying to gain access in my conscious. For starters, we missed one of the kids' friends' birthdays this past Sunday. Because I KNOW that I "CRS" (Can't remember s*%$) lately, I even put a reminder in my phone for the event. But the super cool person that I am, set the reminder for 6 in he morning, so what did I do? I dismissed it once it went off because duh, I was sleeping at 6 in the morning...none the less, the thought never crossed my mind again until my friend texted the next day to see if things were okay...Yeah, things are definitely okay, except that my mind has gone missing...as of about 4.5 years ago. Perhaps it wasn't completely missing but with the addition of each child, more of it continues to go. If my brain could have actual guidelines that went with it, I think it would go something like this:

December 26th, 1980: Warning...a genius has been born...handle with care...
December 26th, 1990: God really outdid himself...no visual signs of wear at all...brain remains in perfect condition...if not progressively better with age...
December 26th 2000: Something is a little wonky...the owner is not using the brain to it's full capacity now that she's realized she can "learn" at her own pace...it's taking longer to get through school at this rate BUT the capacity to learn and retain is still fully functional....
December 26th 2005: Hormones seem to have shifted a bit, therefore throwing off the brains capacity to function at it's highest level...crossing my fingers that it will resume normal processing soon...
January 18th, 2006: 1st child is born...THIS would probably be my brains' sell-by date...it's not gonna get any better from here on out so you might as well squeeze the last bits of goodness from it right now...
September 28th, 2007: Brain is functioning at about 50% of it's capacity come the birth of chlid number 2...
May 18th, 2010: Absolute Expiration! Brain might as well be of no use to owner...the only information it can handle revolves around the desire to raise and protect aforementioned children...from here on out, any more children being born, will probably be taken care of by older siblings.

Seriously, all those helpful pregnancy articles will tell you that there is such a thing as pregnancy brain and how you're pretty much stupid until after your child is born...but once that happens, you return to normal...LIES...nothing but lies. Nothing returns to normal...especially not your intellect. I was watching an old episode of Tori and Dean last night and they got a chance to go out on a date night...Dean got ticked because Tori was texting the sitters about the kids...so it started this big fight, and she was like "I just wanted to tell him about Liam's giraffe" or something to that effect...point is, I think moms in general function like this after kids...our minds are constantly on overdrive when it comes to the kids and their needs...even if it's not an absolute need! Just 30 minutes ago at 5 in the a.m., I'm sitting on the couch in the loft waiting to make sure that Adler has fallen back to sleep before I go back to bed (obviously I opted NOT to go back to bed) when I find myself staring at the spiderman nightlight plugged in....Note to self: You should probably pack this nightlight for the trip...we're going to take a few days as a family and Asher is in some phase where he needs a nightlight...that's one of many thoughts that have already gone through my mind concerning this trip...don't forget the sunscreen, we're going to need to find room for the papasan swing because Adler won't have good naps otherwise, 50 random toys for the car ride (check), up Netflix account to 4 movies out at a time so we'll have something to watch (check), juice boxes/food (check), teething pills in case Adler decides to teeth (check), size 6 month clothes in case Adler gains 5 pounds in those few days (check), Tylenol in case one of the kids get a fever (check), two cameras in case one stops working and one of my genius children does something that absolutely has to be caught on film (check)...the list goes on and on...and it ALL relvoves around the kids...Chris and I will be lucky if I pack enough clothes to last us 3 days...or the essentials like toothbrushes and toothpaste...would you believe I forgot my toothpaste/toothbrush when the kids and I went to South Dakota a few weeks back?? This happened to be the SAME weekend that Adler barfed in my mouth. Do you know that barf makes your tongue tingle?? For a couple of hours...I later realized it was probably Adler's stomach acid that contributed to that tingly feeling...point is, you forget about things concerning yourself...it's just all about the kids.

Which, brings me to the power of lists and/or post it notes. I have decided that my life can function a little more smoothly if I have something reminding me of little everyay things that need to be accomplished. Our family is notorious for having fast food multiple times a week...not anymore now that I physically wrote down on a calendar what we were going to be eating for the next two weeks...I have the words written down so now my simple mind can actually read "Steak, potatoes, green beans and cheddar bay biscuits"...instead of being so mentally incapcitated that I stand in the kitchen looking through about $600 worth of groceries and in my mind, not having a single thing to make...furthermore, certain parts of my house have gone to crap again...you know all of that organizing I did before Adler was born? In addition to most of those areas returning to their previous state, I now have other areas of disaster. SO, I am making a list and am going to accomplish one task a day until it's all taken care of...without a list, I would seriously sit around wondering why these things aren't taking care of themselves...because honestly, another thing that happens when you have kids is, instead of having the normal 24 hours in a day, it's lessened to like 4.3 hours. I'm pretty sure I just had Alder a few weeks ago but when I look at the calendar, it's already August...almost September...how'd that happen? I'll tell you how...when your days are only 4 hours long, the months go by SUPER fast...and nothing gets accomplished, because 4 hours is only enough time to feed, bath and change your children before it's time to go to bed and then do it all over again the next day.

I guess the main point of this post is KIDS ARE A.W.E.S.O.M.E...and what's even more awesome is the day to day appreciation that spews from their little mouths on a 24/7 basis...all that love and admiration...the constant "Thank-you-mom-for-giving-up-your-life...your-intellect-your-body-your-soul-for-us" reminders is really key to waking up each morning and doing it all over again. (For all of you non-moms out there...this is not REALLY what happens each day...it's more like constant demands to do better and guilt trips, intentional or not, that make you question if you're really cut out for this low paying, no vacation time, job) BUT in all seriousness, it's worth it...or I wouldn't have as many as I do. =)

Haven't taken very many pictures lately but here are a couple...notice that neither of the boys could pay attention to my taking the picture...they were too busy watching/playing video games...