Today is a special day: it is my oldest brother Chris’s birthday and the “estimated” due date of when Keenan was supposed to be born two years ago (he decided to arrive nine days early!). My brother would have been 40 years old today. We lost him fourteen years ago in a freak accident on my family’s farm. Even though he was 10 years older than me, he was a wonderful big brother, always looking out for me. When my other brother would pick on me when we were kids, Chris would always come to my rescue! In addition, he always looked out for me at school, making sure I was okay. He babysat me when I was little, drove me to school (even walking me to class) and picked me up. He was really the best brother a little girl could ever have! To keep his name and memory alive, we named Keenan’s middle name after him: Keenan Christopher. Keenan will always have a special guardian angel looking after him, his Uncle Chris. Happy Birthday, Chris! We love you and miss you!
After we had breakfast this morning (our “usual”), we went to swim class at the Y and then ran a couple of errands, including a trip to Marshalls. I am looking for a small basket for some of Keenan’s kitchen accessories ( “cook cook” stuff, as he calls it!) and a small water cup like mine below. Keenan loves to drink out of water my cup, especially in the morning, so I thought he would enjoy his own cup like mine. But, we didn’t have such luck, we didn’t find a basket or a cup. However, I did find some great deals on workout clothes! I love that you can find quality workout clothing for such a bargain!
While we were shopping, I put Keenan’s sunglasses next to him (in our shopping cart cover) and somehow he misplaced them. I must have been looking at some clothes while he dropped them somewhere. Needless to say, we looked all over the store, but couldn’t find his sunglasses. I was a little frustrated, so I said “Gosh,” and Keenan started saying, “Gosh Damn it” over and over (thanks to hearing it from my lovely husband when he was fixing something a while ago). I immediately told him we don’t say that word and redirected him, but once we got home, he said it again, thinking it was funny. I told him no, we don’t say that word again, but he said it once more. I put Keenan in a time out for a few minutes and he was quite upset. I felt bad (and still do) for punishing him, when I should have paid more attention to where he put the sunglasses, making sure he didn’t lose them. If we hadn’t lost the sunglasses, Keenan probably wouldn’t have said those words Ugh…I hate the Mommy guilt! Do you ever feel guilty, even though part of you feels you did the right thing when it comes to disciplining your children?
For lunch, we ate the rest of the turkey meatloaf. Keenan had meatloaf, roasted sweet potatoes and leftover yogurt that he didn’t finish from his breakfast this morning. I made a salad and added the meatloaf for protein; it hit the spot!
Enjoying his lunch!
My lunch!
Once Keenan wakes up we will be off to CrossFit for my favorite day: Gymnastics! I’m always curious about what the WODS will be on Wednesdays. For dinner tonight, we are having grilled country style pork ribs, leftover spaghetti squash tomato bake (from last night) and sauteed chard with an onion and sun dried tomatoes! I just finished prepping the chard and marinating the pork, to save time for tonight.
Letting the chard dry (after I washed it) before chopping it.
Before I forget, here is the recipe for my kettle corn that I made for Keenan’s party favors. I received a couple of inquiries for the recipe, and I completely forgot to post it yesterday.
Kettle Corn:
Ingredients:
– 1/2 cup large popcorn (Pop Secret Jumbo Size Popcorn) *You can use any kind/size of popcorn, I just like using the large kind.
– 1/4 cup oil
– 2 Tbsp sugar
– salt (to taste)
Directions:
1. Pour oil and sugar into a large pot and heat on the stove (medium to high heat).
2. Pour popcorn kernels into pot and place lid on top.
3. As soon as you hear the oil and sugar sizzling, and the first kernel to pot, start shaking pan.
4. Continue shaking the pan until the last kernel is popped (or popping to slows down).
5. Pour popcorn into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and mix. Enjoy!
Dear Melissa, Really enjoying your blog! Your style is really beginning to develop. Just an FYI you probably already know about. For getting your blog out to more folks you can sign up for 2 free items: pingomatic.com and pingmyblog.com Hope this is helpful! Denise Rinzler
Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:52:25 +0000 To: drinzler@hotmail.com
Thanks, Denise!
Oh Melissa, if you’re feeling guilty and somehow responsible that your son lost his sunglasses, we need to have a talk! He’s going to lose a lot more in the coming years, and that’s just life. There are many, many, many things to feel guilty of as a mommy, and if you ever don’t struggle with mommy guilt, then that’s when there’s a problem in my opinion. However, with that said, as long as you’re doing the best you can do as a mom, and are open and honest (and willingly ask for forgiveness) with your kids, then that’s all you can do. I believe it’s very important to teach our kids that parents make mistakes too (and yes, that sometimes includes saying words that we shouldn’t!). Soon enough, Keenan will be correcting you (and anyone else) who is saying something he’s been taught not to.
Very recently Noah had to confront his Taekwondo instructor with the news that he’d been consistently dishonest (all over the most stupid things!) at home. He was lowered one rank until he proved to us at home that he had made significant improvement. It was the hardest thing he’s EVER had to do!!! And I had to sit and watch him, however, it’s the ONLY thing that worked. He has now not lied about anything (at least that I’ve caught) in over two weeks, and that’s extremely good for him! At first I felt guilty for ever letting his lying get to where it was, and I found myself giving him multiple chances to not have to go tell his instructor, but I finally realized that it’s not my fault he was lying. He knows it’s not acceptable behavior, but he chose to do it, and I somehow was condoning it by not following through on consequences as severely as I had warned. Ultimately, when it comes to discipline, it’s usually hardest on the parent, because we don’t like to see our kids upset or hurt, but without discipline, they will take advantage of us as parents and SOOO early on! So, good for you for following through! It’s only going to get worse. Ah…. isn’t parenting grand?!
On a side note… what type of basket are you looking for? A small version of the handheld baskets stores have? If so, I’ll send you one of ours… We have four :/ Time to purge!
Sarah, thanks for your motherly advice! I definitely needed it after yesterday. I guess this is just a taste of what’s to come as Keenan gets older! Like you said, it is hard to see your child upset or hurt. It breaks my heart, even when I know he did something wrong.
For the basket, I’m looking for something small and deep, about the width of my hand and a couple of fingers. What is the size of your basket?
Melissa,
I loved what you said about Chris. He was your protector on earth and he still is in heaven.
Love you,
nonna
Thank you, mom!
Dear Melissa,
Your written blog is awesome and i had really fun while reading this. This baby chris is really very cute baby and naughty.