Stop Smoking – It’s Bad for the Environment

05 Sep 2013 4 Comments

by Natalie in What We Do/Make for Fun, What's a mom to do?

stop smokingMy 7-year-old son is convinced that if he can get people to stop smoking, he can end global warming.

He and his friend were outside this week passing out hand-made fliers.

They were hackling and picketing in front of my house while I did the dishes after dinner. When I went to see what they were shouting about, they ran up to me excited that they were going to get everyone to stop smoking.

“I just feel so good inside mom,” my son said.

Terrified that they were going to offend some of my cigarette-smoking neighbors by hand delivering fliers to their doors, I tried to steer them away from telling people what to do and push them into a post-the-flier-on-our-front-door direction. I told them I didn’t want them to hurt people’s feelings.

They thought about what I said, but decided to continue with a slightly altered message. They weren’t going to force people to stop smoking they would ask people nicely to stop smoking.

“Here, I’ll write ‘please’” at the top,” my son added.

And that’s just what he did. He added “please,” above the message that read: stop smoking, globel warming, naturl gas, invirement needs help. Ice burg melting. Kids that hav asmu can’t breeth http://www.stopsmokingtoday.org.

But in the end the kids weren’t really singling out cigarette smokers like I feared.

I asked them specifically what type of smoke they were talking about and they said every type of smoke – fires, cars, everything.

These two second-graders are pretty passionate when it comes to ending pollution.

They are so passionate that they ended up grabbing a tin can and banging it on the sidewalk while drumming up “donatshons” for the “Invirment.” They weren’t able to collect anything but if they did, they were going to give it to a forest ranger.

Kids are pretty amazing. My son watched a documentary last week with my husband about global warming and the melting of arctic ice caps. I’m sure that’s what inspired this campaign – a campaign that has my full backing.

Heck, I’ll support anything that my child does to try to make the world a better place.

Especially because he and his friend weren’t judging people or telling them what to do, they were on a special mission to save Mother Earth.

And that makes me feel so good inside.

Still Screaming and Pretty Much Addicted

15 Aug 2013 8 Comments

by Natalie in Trying to be a Better Mom, What's a mom to do?

Well, I’m still screaming and pretty much addicted. I must be because no matter what I do, I can’t stop. I CAN’T STOP YELLING AT MY KIDS!!

No matter how much I want to.

I started the Orange Rhino Challenge back in April – a challenge that I was able to succeed at very briefly. (You can read about that here.) I lasted a few weeks without shouting at my boys.

Then summer vacation struck.

That’s when I stopped listing how many days I was “yell-free” on the bottom of my blog. I was ashamed to admit I can’t quit. I’m not “yell-free.”

The more time I spent with my boys the harder it was to keep from screaming. The more time I spent with them the more tired I was which led to more screaming. The more time I spent with them the more messy my house was which led to more screaming.

I CAN’T STOP!!!

Tuesday night I lost it yet again. Apparently my boys lost their hearing the night before because no matter how many times I asked them to do something on Tuesday they couldn’t hear me.

More like they wouldn’t hear me.

They wouldn’t stay near me by the pond when I took them fishing. They wouldn’t keep in my sight when I took them to the train museum. And they especially wouldn’t keep away from the hose and waterspout when they were out playing in the back yard.

All things they had been asked nicely to do. More than once.

It’s not like I was asking them to clean their room or empty the dishwasher. I was asking them to listen and obey me while we tried to jam a few more fun activities into our last week of summer.

Right before bedtime I asked them to go to the bathroom and get ready to hop in the tub. I walked in a few minutes later to find them pinching vitamin E tablets with a set of heavy-duty pliers, then dumping them into my plugged bathroom sink.

That was the straw that broke this camel’s back.

I snapped. Again. My voice transformed into demon-mommy tone as I shouted for them to head to their room and hop into bed. That’s when my oldest wouldn’t stop shouting that he wanted to bath.

Over, and over, he kept shouting at me.

Tough. Luck. Buddy.

I spanked his bum, put him in bed and left the room without cracking the bedroom door like I usually do.

My 5-year-old was sobbing. He was scared to death, which made me feel really bad.

After a few minutes my oldest came out with red, wet eyes and apologized. I went in their room and told them that we all needed to start treating one another better. I told them that they needed to show me some respect.

But I doubt that will happen. They think they can walk all over me. They think that if I tell them to stop doing something they don’t have to listen, until I scream.

How can I break this scream, feel like crap, apologize, never-ending cycle?

How do other people get their kids to listen?

Maybe I should read some books written by experts. Maybe I should see a shrink. Maybe my kids should start listening.

I know I need to start enforcing more consequences when they don’t listen. I need to make sure that I follow through with my threats. They need to know that I mean business.

I know I need to get more sleep at night so I’m not always a zombie mom walking around on edge.

I know I need to take a chill pill sometimes and realize that kids are kids and that they aren’t going to listen to EVERYTHING I say.

If I can do these things I might not be able to eliminate yelling completely from my life, but I may be able to minimize it. And in doing that I may be able to minimize the guilt I feel after screaming at one of my sons.

I love them. I really don’t want to shout at them.

I might not be able to completely kick my habit, but I can try not to be quite such a yelloholic.

Never, Ever Leave Your Child In the Car — I Will Turn Your Butt In

18 Jul 2013 1 Comment

by Natalie in Uncategorized, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , , ,

Well I did it. I called 911 on a negligent parent.

I didn’t want to rat someone out, and turn someone in (I realize we are all doing the best we can), but I also didn’t want to leave a cute little toddler sitting alone in the back of her car.

On Monday afternoon after a fun-filled trip to Wal-Mart I headed to my van and started loading my boys inside. I noticed that the engine of the car next to me was running.

I peeked inside and thought I saw a baby alone strapped in her car seat in the back of the car. The back windows were tinted and I couldn’t see too clearly so I stopped another lady who was walking into the store and asked her what she thought.

Sure enough, she agreed with me. There was a baby girl about 18-months-old alone inside her car. The car was running and the driver’s side window was a quarter of the way cracked.

I didn’t know what to do so I called 911. They asked me to describe the vehicle, what was going on, where we were and then wait until a policeman arrived.

I was scared to death that a parent was going to show up and I was going to have to confront them alone.

Luckily a policeman arrived before a guardian. He asked me to stay until they found out who was responsible.

My boys, as you can guess, were thrilled. They were watching a police investigation evolved before their eyes. My coolness level skyrocketed as I became a witness to a crime.

A few minutes after the officer arrived, a young father came running through the parking lot to the car. To his defense, he looked like he was in a hurry. But by that time I had sat next to the car for about 10 minutes – way too long for a little girl to be stuck in there alone. And who knows how long she was in there before I showed up. My cell phone registered at 94 degrees. Who knows how hot it was in the car even though the air was on.

Now I will admit that I have THOUGHT about leaving my boys in the car alone dozens of times. It would be a LOT easier to run in for a roll of stamps or pick up a gallon of milk while childless. The very morning of this incident I hopped out of my own van, ran 20 feet and dumped our library books into the drop box while my boys sat watching me from inside the car. I didn’t bother letting them all out while I returned our lot.

They could see me and I could see them the entire time. But now I am wondering if I should have unhooked them and taken them with me.

Because, the thing is, you never know what will happen while you are “hurrying.”

The day I saw this little girl in the back of the car, all of the cash register computers kept going down inside Wal-Mart. Maybe this dad got stuck checking out longer than intended because his card wouldn’t read.

Meanwhile anyone could have reached their hand inside the driver’s window, unlocked the car and taken his baby. Heck, they could have taken the entire car. Who wouldn’t want a nice, new jet-black BMW?

Lucky for this father, no one took his daughter and she didn’t get too hot. Unlucky for him, he was cited for child negligence and given an appointment for a meeting with DCFS. I had to fill out a witness statement and, if it goes that far, could be subpoenaed to appear in court against him. Crazy.

I don’t know why he left his toddler daughter in the back seat of his car, or why he left the engine running and the driver’s side window a quarter of the way down, but I do know that I wasn’t going to let that little girl roast inside.

I may not know what his story is, but I do know that no matter how fast he thought he could make it through the Clinton Super Wal-mart it wouldn’t have been fast enough.

Here’s an article from WebMD on the dangers of leaving kids in cars if you are interested:

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/hot-cars-and-child-death-prevention

Herding Cats at the OBGYN

11 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Don't ever take your kids..., Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do?

Word to the wise: don’t ever take your three boys to an OBGYN appointment. Ever.

If you think you are going to have to drag them along, call me. I’d be happy to come and babysit for you.

I took my boys to the doctor with me on Monday.

Never again.

It wasn’t like it was an invasive appointment. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out-I-may-have-a UTI check-up.

But some things can never be simple when you bring three little boys along.

After banning my two oldest to different couches on opposite walls of the waiting room because they wouldn’t stop fighting, we were finally taken back by one of the nurses.

It took at least six tries to get an accurate reading on my weight. Every time I stepped onto the scale, I had a little hand, foot, knee — you name it — weighing along with me.

Then we went to the exam room. It was pure chaos the moment we stepped inside. My 6-year-old headed straight for the plastic colorful female anatomy sculpture and stuck his hand inside.

When he asked me what it was, I lied and said I didn’t know. Luckily he decided it looked like an ear.

I had to fight my one-year-old off of the mini red biohazard trashcans that he kept trying to open and reach inside of.

My four-year-old thought the swirly doctor’s stool was his personal merry-go-round.

They scrambled through the room wreaking havoc within seconds. Then they noticed the blood pressure cuff and boxes of blue plastic exam gloves hanging on the walls.

It was all I could do to keep them away from pretty much everything.

I was worn out long before I ever made it to the restroom to give a urine sample.

That was another challenge.

I tried to sit my baby on the bathroom floor sandwiched between his two brothers to keep him from crawling all over the place. I positioned the three of them just outside my stall.

Bad idea.

My boys both tried to “help” hold their brother in place by squeezing and smashing him. I bet everyone in the entire clinic heard him screaming.

On the way back to the exam room I told my boys that they could quietly look around the halls of the office where the doctor has posted pictures of babies he has delivered.

That’s when they sprung into a mad-dash-“Where’s Waldo?” search, looking for the picture we sent the doctor of my youngest after he was born.

Again, mass chaos. I found the picture, pointed it out to them and dashed them back inside the exam room.

That’s where the PA asked me to hop onto the exam table. I sat up there and watched my four-year-old nearly strangle my one-year-old in a tight-thigh-death grip while she pushed on my stomach. Meanwhile my oldest kept begging to take home one of the blue plastic exam gloves.

It was exhausting.

The best part? I went through all of this only to find out that I am fine. My test results came back normal.

I’m not one bit sick.

Talk about a let down — all of that hard work for nothing. Especially after I had to pay a co-pay. We all know how much I love paying those.

Diggin’ Up Them Holes

13 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in What's a mom to do?

I took this picture while my boys were in time out because they kept soaking water into their mud hole after I asked them not to.

I took this picture while my boys were in time out because they kept soaking water into their mud hole after I asked them not to.

I am absolutely convinced that my boys are going to do one of two things this summer: flood my entire home or dig a hole to China.

And I don’t know which one would be worse.

The thing is, my boys love dirt and water. Two things that are seriously going to get them into trouble nearly every day of this summer vacation – unless they learn to stay the heck away from both, or I can learn how to calm the heck down about both.

Because right now, every time I turn around they are digging a giant ditch or pouring water into one of their new concoctions.

My house has been transformed into a paleontology dig/science lab.

One of their latest things is conducting water experiments. Each and every one of our bottles, cans, Tupperwares and cups have been used as beakers. They’ll sneak into the bathroom, pour water, soap, candy, sugar, fruit – you name it – into a bottle to see “what will happen.”

Now I don’t want to crush their scientific imaginations, but when I open the fridge to see a shelf full of half a dozen bottles filled with nasty candy creations, it’s hard not to shut the experiment down.

concoction

Several concoctions chilling in our fridge.

A couple of times I have actually knocked one of the mixtures over and the nasty science juice has slimed my fridge’s insides. That’s when I lose it.

They’ve also started making rat “poison” in the back yard. They’ll take metal cans and fill them with dirt, water, grass, clovers – and my favorite – slug heads. Then they’ll stir it up for hours. YUCK! They claim they are perfecting a poison to use on the rat that has been scampering around my parents’ back yard.

On Monday they started dumping the rat “poison” into a new giant hole they were digging in my side flowerbed. They were certain the watery poison was helping soften the ground so they could dig all the way to China before bedtime.

Part of me actually hopes they do dig through Earth’s inner core and pop out on the other side of the planet. They are driving me that crazy. Maybe they’ll be taken in by a kind and loving Asian. Maybe he or she will love letting them dig.

The truth is I don’t mind when they dig, in fact I often let them make craters in my flowerbeds while I am doing yard work. It keeps them busy so I can weed. But I can’t stand when they make a giant mud pie caking themselves – and their clothes – in thick layers of gooey, slimy sludge.

I also can’t stand when they don’t listen to me. Imagine that.

I love that they want to experiment and explore, but why can’t it be in a controlled environment? When I can help them? Why can’t they ask me when they want to fill up bucket after bucket of water? Why can’t they warn me before digging holes up to their elbows and slopping mud all over their nice clothes? They think I won’t notice a two-foot-deep hole in my garden. They think I can’t hear when they turn the outside hose on. I can.

I guess boys will be boys, but I feel like I have completely lost control.

I’ve got to figure out some healthy, happy parent-and-kid friendly ways to let them experiment to their heart’s content. I’m going to scour Pinterest for science experiments and paleontology activities. Let me know if you have any ideas.

I’ve got to make a giant list before we all go crazy.

Meanwhile, if you see a giant mudslide creeping down the hill in my back yard or water pouring from the windows of my home, come rescue me. I may be stuck in the muck or drowning somewhere.

Orange Rhino Challenge: 2 days yell free! You can read about my quest to quit yelling here.

Broken Fence, Broken Forgiveness

30 May 2013 2 Comments

by Natalie in Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do?

I tried to teach my son a life lesson but ended up freaked out instead. Here’s what I’d like to say to the scary man who treated us like dirt.

Dear Angry Man who rejected my broken-fence apology,

Thank you for keeping me from teaching my 6-year-old a valuable lesson.

I brought him to your house, despite his serious anxiety, to fess up and apologize for accidently knocking over a section of your decrepit cement-slab fence. He was scared to death as we waited on your porch for you to answer your door.

We told you he bumped into the fence a couple of weeks ago and part of it fell to the ground.

But you didn’t believe us. Instead of allowing us to apologize and help you fix the fence, you got angry and shouted at us to break the whole thing down. You snapped at me telling me you didn’t think he was the one who did it.

Do you seriously think I was the one who broke it? Then I blamed my child?

Anyone who has ever walked by your fence will agree that it looks so unstable that if someone whistled while walking by it would topple over.

Other sections of the same fence are missing. Surely he is not the only one to bump one loose.

I hesitated to make him knock on your door and admit to breaking the fence. But I wanted to teach him that he needs to admit to his mistakes and make them right whenever possible. We stopped by your house two times before to talk to you and you were not home.

Now I kind of wish we never talked to you.

Then again now that I think about it, maybe you did help me teach my son a lesson or two, or even three.

1. How not to be a complete jerk if someone accidently damages some of your property.

2. How to graciously accept an apology and an offer to help.

3. How to forgive.

None of those were the lessons I intended, but now they seem even more important than the one I set out to teach.

I can’t help what happened, but I was willing to pay to fix the fence. Now maybe you’ll have to do what you suggested to us and, “break the whole thing down.”

Sincerely,

A tired, busy mother who is trying her best to teach her children manners

broken-fence-hi

Gameday Hustle

23 May 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in What's a mom to do? Tags: , , ,

May 084For someone who hates running, I sure run around a lot – especially on Saturdays.

I’ve been on a wild goose chase all month running from batting practice at 9 a.m. to soccer at 10 a.m. then soccer again at 11 a.m. – all at different parks across town from one another.

And with my husband coaching two of the teams, I’m left scrambling – a lot.  I leave most games 10 minutes early to try to get to the next game on time.

I normally pack my 20-pound baby and my 20-pound diaper bag onto my stroller, strap two or three camping chairs across my back then juggle a soccer ball, camera and my kids’ end-of-game-treats. Half the time I lose my car keys in the shuffle.

Then I push all of us across uneven, grassy fields, bumping along to the next cheering section.

I feel as if I am going crazy. I love watching my kids play, but hate all of the run around.

We’ve spent three and four days a week lately playing organized sports. And my little athletes are only 4 and 6 years old.

I know what you’re thinking. As the mother of several young boys, this is only the beginning.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed lately by all of our extracurricular activities when I stumbled across this article in our local newspaper.

The article talks about Gwen Judkins, mother of eight, who carted her kids around sporting events for years. She signed them up for everything because she saw the joy it brought into their lives. She sat on the bleachers keeping stats and cheering them – and all their teammates – on.

My favorite part of the article comes from Gwen’s youngest son:

Jon said what he appreciated most about his mom was her constant support and encouragement.

“She would come to everything,” he said with a laugh. “And she had eight kids. She’d go to every game, sometimes they were overlapping, but she’d be running from this place to that place … I have four kids, and I don’t know how she did it. She’d go everywhere to support us and that always meant a lot to me.”

Reading about how a mother of eight could support each one of her children gave me the perspective I needed to pick my pom poms back up and keep cheering – no matter how tired I am from packing my junk around town.

Gwen’s story inspired me to be a better “soccer mom,” to stop complaining about the rat race and to encourage my children to do what makes them happy.

I’ve missed two of my sons’ games to go to other family functions and I was heartbroken. I want to be there for everything.

Who wouldn’t want to see their tiny first grader strap on catcher’s gear and waddle behind home plate for the first time? Or see them finally score a goal in their last soccer game of the season, then run around the field bearing a permanent smile? Those moments are priceless.

I want a front row seat to all of the action – even if I have to run to get there.

MIA

02 May 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Failed Housewife, Trying to be a Better Mom, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , ,

IMG509

Here’s my half-weeded garden. Anyone who knows me will know that this is driving me nuts. I love to garden and I hate when I don’t finish projects. But, I haven’t had time. Oh well, right?

My children have been motherless for the past month. At least it feels that way to me. I have been running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

Between sewing projects, bathroom remodels, taking a small part in my sister’s wedding festivities, sporting events, church meetings, book clubs, etc., I have been running around ragged.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to do all of these things. I choose to do all of these things – I love socializing and helping others – but it feels like it’s been a jam-packed spring.
Easter snuck up on me and now Mother’s Day is almost a week away! Where has all the time gone?

My poor kids have had to fen for themselves as I have spent a vast majority of my spare time working on a million different projects. For the past month I have been a missing-in-action mother.

I am sure that my children don’t mind that they have watched extra television and played long hours with the neighbor kids. They probably don’t even care that we haven’t read 20 minutes every night or flossed their teeth every day.

But it’s starting to get to me.

My garden is half weeded, my house is half clean and my basement bathroom is halfway remodeled. My kitchen floor is nasty, there are baby treats smashed all over my van and we aren’t even going to mention my laundry room turned dumping pile. It’s so jammed full of crap I don’t even know where to begin.

IMG514

My basement storage room flooded about a month ago. I had to take all of my boxes and papers and move them into the laundry room. They are still sitting in this pile today. I know I need to get rid of a lot of it, but haven’t had time. Hopefully I will have time to sort through them soon!

Ironically there are times in my stay-at-home life that I am so bored I want to cry. But not lately.

I’ve got to step back and take a breather. Before I go insane – or worse – yell at my kids. (Thanks to the allowance of the “Oopsie Snap” I’m still yell-free. You can read about all that here. )

What do you do when you are so busy you can’t think straight?

I miss relaxing with my boys while watching PBS in the afternoons. I miss building Lego sets and spying on enemies in the back yard.

So I say who cares about the kitchen floor and the laundry room? During these busy times we are just going to have to stick to the linoleum and shut the basement door. If I don’t have time to do all of my projects, clean my house and play with my kids, I choose to give up on the cleaning.

It can wait until one of those days I am bored to tears. That’s when I’ll sort through the debris and mop my floor.

I don’t want to be missing in action any longer. I want to cuddle to my boys while we read stories on the couch and huddle with them under their army fort while we make plans for war.

21 Days yell free!!!

Bargains

25 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Don't ever take your kids..., Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , ,

Surviving a trip to the dollar store with my two oldest boys and walking out empty handed is like surviving three hours of church with my baby and walking out without him pooping all over his Sunday best.

Neither happens very often.

For some reason my boys LOVE the local bargain store. They could spend all their time – and money – shopping around its shelves. I don’t know what they see in that place. I don’t know what they see in the toys they find there.

Me? I’d rather steer clear. Because if I get anywhere near that place I know I’m probably going to end up with a new cheap toy that will get broken, or worse, lost.

It doesn’t matter what I go to the discount store to find, the second we step foot inside my boys make a beeline to the back wall. They know that’s where they’ll find all kinds of realistically fake and desperately discounted treasures – knives, swords, guns, ammo, helicopters, dinosaurs – you name it. And all of them priced $6 or less!

I hate how I have to hustle down the aisle hot on their heels because I’m scared to death that they’re going to wreak havoc on the cheap made-in-China-plastic-99-cent bargain toys. Let’s be honest, most of the toys sold in dollar stores aren’t made to last. Well, they don’t last at our house anyway. But I would like to be able to have the chance to take them home before busting them. I can’t tell you how many of our swords split in half or our gun triggers crack.

But my children are more than willing to take the toy-breaking risk. They’ll pay good money for the stuff.

When it comes to shopping at our local bargain outlet, they never seem to run out of spare cash. I know they get money from their grandparents for birthdays and Christmas, but that only happens twice a year. I know that my oldest son sold a ladybug to the neighbor girl but he only took in $0.79 cents for that. Where are these extra $1 bills coming from?

Because the second I announce we are heading to the store I turn around to find my two oldest boys stuffing their pockets with cash.

Every once in a while it’s me who chooses to go to the dollar store. I like to go there to get little gifts for neighbors and friends.

Usually on these occasions I try to prep my boys and get them in the giving spirit. But it doesn’t matter how many times I tell them we are there to buy something for someone else, they don’t understand. Or they don’t listen.

I took them to the store last week to help pick out a little something for our friend. On the way to the store I told them at least six times that we weren’t going shopping for them.

Sure enough, less than 10 minutes later we all ended up in the far corner of the toy section butting heads about buying another cheap toy.

I stood my ground and we checked out buying only our friend’s gift. But we went back the next day to buy what they “had to have.” And according to my 4-year-old, “that was the best day of his life.”

I want to be able to take my children to the store to help pick out gifts for others, but I don’t want to fight them every time.

I guess it’s only natural for them to want to get something when they see that someone else is, but I’ve got to figure out how to teach them that it’s OK to give – even when they are walking out of the store empty-handed. Otherwise I’m going to go crazy with all these cheap, crappy toys.

Now if I can teach them that, and manage to make it through church one of these weeks without my baby’s diaper exploding, I’ll have it made.

Sick of Screaming – Ready to Quit

11 Apr 2013 12 Comments

by Natalie in Parenting Battles, Trying to be a Better Mom, What's a mom to do?

button4-tmCan I go 365 days without yelling at my children? Doubtful. But after stumbling upon The Orange Rhino Challenge website, I’m determined to try.

The woman who started the Orange Rhino Challenge has gone more than 400 days without yelling at her children.

If she can do it I can, right?

At first I had some serious doubts. Surely this woman’s children aren’t normal. Or she isn’t normal. Are they perfect angels who never make messes? Are they timid and shy – afraid to anger their mother? Is she doped up on vallum?

But then I started reading more into her blog and I think she’s real. Very real. And I think we would really get along. She’s a stay-at-home mom raising four young boys. Sound familiar?

When I scanned her “Orange Rhino” alternatives to yelling I could see myself doing those same things. Here are some of my favorites:

– Go to the bathroom and scream into the toilet, then flush it away (um symbolic?)

– Go through yelling motions but don’t let voice out (shocks kids and yourself that you didn’t yell, releases endorphins from pride!)

– Look at TV and pretend there is a hidden camera (fear of judgment works wonders)

Anyone who’ll admit to screaming into her toilet instead of at her kids is my type of woman.

But this isn’t going to be easy. I’m a loud person.

Growing up to be a mere 5 ft. zero inches and 100-pounds I have learned that I am better heard than seen.

It’s not only that. I love my house to be clean, my boys to be calm and my plans to go uninterrupted. Couple all that with my quick temper and I’m a sitting grenade. You never know what will pull the pin.

But I’m sick of yelling at my kids. I’m sick of them ignoring me until I’m screaming in neck-vein-bulging tones. I think they don’t “hear” me anymore unless I yell.

Honestly I really don’t think my yelling impacts my boys. It’s like at the sound of my voice invisible earmuffs cup over their ears and my words fall upon deaf ears.

At this point I am pretty sure the only volume my 9-month-old thinks is out there is LOUD. He’s been mimicking my monstrous roar ever since he could utter, “da-da.” I don’t want him growing up thinking that’s the norm.

All my kids are going to have to tune in as I turn down my volume.

I’m tired of going to bed feeling guilty that I snapped – again. And I don’t want to apologize to friends and family anymore for growling at my kids.

I’m going to stop.

I don’t know how many times I’ll have to reset my counter on this challenge, but I’m not a quitter.

Per The Orange Rhino Challenge Details, I am allowed to use a potentially raised stern voice and I get an “oopsie” snap. Sounds like a piece of cake, right?

Right. I’ll put a counter at the bottom of each blog post so you all can see my progress or regress. Hopefully that will help me stick with this challenge.

Bear with me. If I can’t yell at my kids then Boogers on the Wall may features a lot of frustrated writing in the coming weeks. I’ve got to get it out somewhere.

And while I’m thinking of getting it out somewhere, are there any volunteers who’ll let me text them when I am on the verge of losing it? That’s another one of my favorite Orange Rhino yelling alternatives.

If you’re willing to be on call and will help talk me down when I’m going to burst, message me your number. But keep in mind I may use it often. I’m going to need all the help I can get.

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