Monroe Parenting

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Last night Caitlyn and I went to see “Charlotte’s Web” at St. Mary’s Park (with a TON of other children and their parents). Dave stayed home with Keegan because we discovered after trying to take the kids to the “Shout!” concert at the park, that it just doesn’t mesh well with Keegan’s bedtime.

Anyway, it was such a good time!! Knowing that the ice cream truck would be haunting the park, and that I never seem to have cash on me (only a debit card), we went to Walgreens and picked up some ice cream cookie sandwiches. Mmmmm!! Of course, I should have known that the two of us could just share one, but Caitlyn was so excited that I bought one for each of us. What was I thinking?!

After we got to the park and set up our blanket and pillows next to Caitlyn’s little friend Carolyn, we eagerly opened up our tasty treats. After three bites, Caitlyn decided she was done. Now what in the world was I suppose to do with a partially-eaten ice cream sandwich with no freezer available??? I tried to pawn it off on one of the other kids, but I guess sugar + bedtime wasn’t an option for them. So it ended up melting in the grass. Eh, whatcha gonna do?

Anyway, it was just like taking Caitlyn to the actual theater — only better because we could look up and see all the stars.

It was a very cute movie but the only problem was it that it wrapped up around 10 p.m. and by that point Caitlyn was asleep. So then I had to try to wake her up to put her shoes on while getting all our stuff together in the dark. (Yeah, we didn’t think to bring a flashlight, but we had the snacks! lol). Once I had everything (the blanket, snack bag and two gianormous pillows) in one arm, then I had to try and get a groggy Caitlyn to hold on to my other hand and walk with me back to our car.

On the bright side though, after all that fresh air she sure slept good last night!!!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

And no, that’s not a comment on the actual weather!

In the midst of trying to figure out what to do with our housing situation, we are faced with another problem — Dave’s car is dead. He took it to a shop in Dearborn (which is close to his place of work) and they did a bunch of repairs to it. $300 later the car is still dead.

So in the meantime, until we figured something out, Dave was driving his parents’ work van. Well, he was driving it until that, too, died on the freeway the other night. Nothing better than working 10 hours, then having to hurry and pick up the kids from my mom’s, and then having to drive to Belleville to get Dave. From there we went to Metro Airport to rent a car, which is a whole other story. (Hertz didn’t have the car we needed to rent right then and there so we paid for a rental and were told we could pick it up the next morning at 7 a.m. at the Monroe dealer. Turns out the dealer didn’t open until 7:30, but we didn’t know that until we were sitting in their lot the next morning with two cranky kids in the backseat and both of us running late for work….)

So Dave is temporarily driving the rental car and that puts a Band-Aid on our problem for the moment. Thus far it’s just been one of those weeks where I just want to go back to bed and stay there!!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Okay, so I’ve been griping about this to co-workers all morning, so I figured I might as well blog about……

Why is it that people assume just because you have children that you don’t have a job outside the home, too? (I just want to clarify the “outside the home” thing, because staying home all day with your kids IS a full-time job, too!)

Anyway, someone said to me the other day that maybe in a few years when the housing market is better I’ll have a “full time job” to help with the finances. It was said under the assumption that I did not work at all because I have two small children. ….. Grrrrr!

I politely informed the person that I work TWO part time jobs (which sometimes equal more than 40 hours a week) in addition to going to school for my master’s degree. I work most days, but not everyday, and when I am home I do take care of my children. But for that person to naturally assume I’ve given up my identity because I have kids was so obnoxious!

Has anyone else had this problem or should I just chalk it up to having a bad week?

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

It was a busy, and somewhat crappy, week for me last week, so I really didn’t get much time to blog. But here are the highlights of what I was up to:

1. I worked close to 50 hours between my two jobs, so I didn’t get to see much of the kids. Caitlyn called me while I was working late one night and begged me to come home because she was “scared that I wasn’t there when the moon was awake.” As if I didn’t feel bad enough that I was burning the midnight oil, then Caitlyn heaps on the guilt. Let me tell ya, I was about ready to crack from the stress at that point.

2. Another stressing factor was that we had a realtor come over Friday night to check out our house because we’d like to sell it and have our eye on something bigger. That meant that I needed to clean, clean clean like crazy in all my “spare time” to make sure everything looked good.

Although, it was all for nothing because the realtor was ruthless in telling us that our house is “way too cluttered” (Duh! Part of the reason we want to buy something bigger!!!!) and then she finished with: “There is no way I can sell this house. Sorry!” We live in a townhouse, which community shall remain nameless, but it’s really hard to sell your house for what you paid for it when brand new ones were just built next door and are selling for $30,000 less!

I guess the realtor was under the assumption that we would be willing to sell for the same amount as the new ones. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t make much sense to us because then we’d have no house and still part of a mortgage to show for it.

*sigh*

So that about rounds out my week. Boy, nothing makes you feel more depressed about your finances then having a stranger whirl into your house, point out all the mistakes you made by purchasing the house, and then basically saying you’re screwed. It almost makes me feel like I’m failing my kids no matter how hard I try.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

It’s raining outside — again. So what do you do when you’re stuck inside all day because of the pouring rain or the scorching heat? Well, my kids get to turn the living room into a tent fort! My mom use to let us do this when we were little, and we loved it. Heck, sometimes we would even sleep in it!

I just put the kitchen chairs in the living room and draped comforters over the top. We used the high chair for the back of the tent so that the kids could crawl underneath it like a secret door.

On the other side of the tent I set up their little slide so the only way to get in over there would be to use the slide. Wheee!! That being the case, the inside of the fort is lined with blankets and pillows so that they can go in and cuddle up with a picture book or go down the slide into the fort without getting hurt.

Caitlyn even has her little camping bug lantern (pink, of course, and purchased at the Dollar Store) so that she can see her books when she closes all the “tent flaps.” Keegan just likes running in one side and out the other so that the blanket bops him in the face, lol.

We put the tent up on Sunday and just left it up because the kids are enjoying it so much. And with all the rain that we’re getting this morning, I’m sure glad we did!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

That’s it! I’ve had it! From now on I think that my kids will only be allowed to play with cardboard boxes and paper plates like we use to when we were kids.

I feel like every time I turn around there is another toy recall and it’s getting out of hand. I’m at the point where I’m eyeballing every toy they play with and wondering if it’s going to cause them any long-term damage.

And don’t even get me started on trying to take away the recalled toys from the kids!! Keegan has been having a fit that he can’t chew on his Sesame Street giggle doodler and Caitlyn has been going into meltdown mode over her Dora dolls.

If anyone is in the same boat as I am over these toys, here are some tips on how to take the “bad, bad toys” safely away from your little ones without losing your mind.

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

I took Keegan to the doctor this week for his 1-year check-up and he is definitely at the higher end of the charts……..he came in at 26.6 pounds and 31 inches tall.

Although perhaps eventually he will be the one giving the check-ups!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

This is what the Schmitt family would look like as Simpsons characters! So darn cute!

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Finally, here are the pictures from Keegan’s 1st birthday party!

Dog done cookies for all next to the guessing game. There were 287 “puppy treats” in the jar!

Doggy treat bowls for all the kids on the cake table.

Caitlyn ready for the party!

Clifford birthday cake. Mmmmmm, cake!

Blowing out the candle.

The ONLY way to eat cake!

Frosting anyone?

By Shawna Schmitt, sschmitt@monroenews.com

Lately Caitlyn has been on a “why-can’t-I-have-a-sister?” kick. I don’t know what has brought it on, but it’s escalating.

A few days ago in the car she said, “Mom, I need a sister.”

After I jerked the car back onto the road and away from the ditch, I looked at her in the rear view mirror and said “But Caitlyn, you have a brother. You’re his sister. You’re all set!”

No, no. Apparently not good enough for her. That just got her started on why Keegan ALSO needs to have a brother. So now she’s talking about doubling the number of children we have. Maybe Caitlyn didn’t get the memo that mommy and daddy were stopping at two..?

I pacified her by saying that maybe Aunt So-and-So will have a baby girl that she can play with. She responded with “Yeah! That’s a good idea!” and she let it go. Until yesterday………

When I went to pick up the kids at my mom’s house I discovered that instead of Caitlyn and Keegan in the living room there was “Caitlyn and Heather.” That’s right. She decided that she was going to put headbands and bracelets on Keegan and rename him Heather and call him her baby sister. She wants a sister so bad that she’s going torture poor Keegan.

I asked her what in the world she was doing to my boy and she said “Oh mommy, we’re justing ‘tending! Isn’t he pretty?!”

In the future, I am going to send her Keegan’s doctor bills when he needs therapy, LOL.