Ask Me Wednesday!!

..... it's only Wednesday for 32 more minutes, so I'd better get busy.

First off ..... today was ....... exhausting.

New doctor ..... totally unique experience that I will someday blog about.

However, today is not that day.

Suffice it to say that this visit left me physically and emotionally drained.

More tests to follow, but hopefully no big deal.

I had Circle tonight.  We were joined by our new friend.  We had a swim party and brought all of the kids so it was a different kind of night.  It was good.  I love watching the kids together.  They, like us, all "get" each other ..... pretty quickly.

Son #2 had a blast playing in the pool with all of the younger boys, who seemed to love having him to play with.

He has come a long way.

I'm glad.

So .... on to the questions:

Leia asks:

J,
Here is an AMW question if you're up for it... I was wondering, while reading your Russia posts... Does your whole family basically enjoy going to museums, or just you and D1? I noticed it was such a recurring theme in your travels... I know you all are theatre and movie buffs, but was wondering about the art/museum aspect. And, if so, what did you and Jim do to inspire such an interest in the kids?!

Hi Leia:

Hmmmmmm, I would have to say that Son #1 is probably a museum buff, while the other 2 sons are .... not so much.  But that may be their age. 

Daughters #2 & #3 are probably less so than Daughter #1.

Jim and I took the kids to museums quite a few times in Houston ..... mostly to special exhibits.  So hopefully they learned a little bit of appreciation that way.

I must admit that for me, a little museum goes a long way.  I love to look at art ..... but not for days on end.  I really enjoy special exhibits that you can't seen every day of the week.

Jim probably enjoyed those more than he enjoyed just hanging out at a museum.

We also took the kids to the I-Max at the museum in Houston several times.  They enjoyed that.

I also think they enjoyed the gift shop more than any of the exhibits.

I would say that it's great to expose your kids to museums and all things "artsy".  We don't have nearly enough of that anymore.

Marilyn asks:

Question #1: Do you dream of Jim?
#2: I still want to know what the little yellow house with hands prints was in the girls bedroom! Did Jim build it?

Hi Marilyn,

Yes, I do dream of him from time to time.  Not regularly, and probably less than ten times since he died.  I find that very odd ..... especially odd that I didn't dream of him at all after he died for a few months.  I wanted to .... but I didn't.

Maybe that's the body's, or God's, way of providing extra protection.

I don't know.

I'd like to dream of him more .... but only if they were dreams.  I've had a couple of nightmares and those, of course, are never fun.

As for the chest that you saw .... yes, it's a toy chest.  Son #2 went to a private Christian school back in his early days of elementary school and his class painted this toy chest and put their hand prints on it (he was in kindergarten).  It was sold at an auction to benefit the school.

I was out of town the night of the auction but I left explicit instructions with Jim:  I wanted that toy chest.  No matter what.

He followed those instructions very, very well.

:)

Anon asks:

Do you have any home remedies for colds?

Dear Anon,

My only home remedy would be to tell the kids (if I had the cold) to leave me alone.

My other remedy (if they had the cold) would be to tell them to stay away from me.

Other than that, I used Zycam, but I read today's paper so now I'm a bit paranoid about that!

Sorry that I'm not help with this one.

Susan asks:

here's a parenting of girls question...leg shaving...when? B wants to shave because she says she looks like a hairy ape...i say there must have been some awful girl in swim team that gave her that idea...and i think she's way too young, but maybe this is something i should just let go of...what do you think?

and there's still my question from last Thursday about washing mouth out with soap...

come on, mom of the year...i'm looking for answers. :)

Hi Susan,

OK .... even though B IS on the young side, I would probably cave on this one and let her.  I think my girls must've been around 5th grade or so before we encountered this, but had they felt strongly about it .... I may have tried to put them off for a bit, but eventually would have let them if it really bothered them.                                                                Girls do things so much earlier all of the time .... I'd see if I could post pone it, but if she really feels strongly about it, I'd teach her how to do it (after I found out which bratty little girl is responsible for this and decked her.  But then, that's just me.).

As for the washing the mouth out with soap ..... heck yes I did this!    And I think it did a rather decent job.  When it came to liquid soap, I was ruthless.  I would put the liquid soap on a wash cloth, rub it in a bit, and then rub it on the tongue.  And then the offending mouth was not allowed to spit, or rub its tongue on anything to get rid of the taste.        I highly recommend it.  And you may call CPS if you wish.

Tamara asks:

I want to ask the same question as Susan, about the mouth soap thing. Did you do it? Did it work? Do you recommend it? Will you call CPS on me if I do it?

Tamara,

Please see my answer to Susan.  And no, I can't say that I would call CPS.  It would take a lot for me to call in a mother who has children who's tongues need a bit of controlling.

If you lock them in a closet for days on end ...... we may have a problem.    :)

Amber asks:

My AMW question is, as the mother of a large family, how do you feel about Octomom and the Gosselins putting their children in front of so many cameras? And if you were ever offered a show like thay, would you have done it? And last question, promise! Did you plan to have such a large family or was it a surprise to you?

Hi Amber and thanks for commenting to supportively.  I needed that today.  And I appreciate it more than I can say.

As to your question, I never really understood the fuss about the "Octomom" until I learned that she was on government assistance.  That, I have a problem with.   

As long as you can afford to have your own children and be responsible for them, I don't think it's anyone's business how many you have.  Trust me, we've been asked several times about the reasoning behind our large family.  People can be so rude.  Even family members.  Sometimes .... especially family members!

But, no, we would never have put our children on TV.  Jim would never have gone for that.  Ever.  In a million years.  He was way too private.  I, being a Theatre major, may have debated it for a while, though in vain, since he would have had the final vote, which would have been a resounding "NAY!"

I think when you start down that slippery slope then you have to expect to fall.  I'm more sorrier than I can say for what the Gossins are going through, but I also think it comes with the territory and someone should have explained all of this to them before they signed the contract.

As to your last questions,  yes, our large brood did come as somewhat of a surprise to us, though a very welcomed one (after a bit of shock).

We had thought we were done with 4.  

God thought otherwise.

And now ..... especially now .... I am so very thankful that He did.  And grateful that I still have 2 children at home for a few more years.

I'm glad that God saw the "big picture" and knew that I would be needing those 2 special boys.

OK, Peeps, that's all for tonight.

It is officially 12:01 so it's Thursday and I need to go to bed.

Thanks for the questions.  You did a great job this week!!!

G'night.