Travel

Thoughts on travel.   Travel is fun, exhausting, educational, relaxing, cultural, etc.  It's also EXPENSIVE.  If you can afford to travel on a plane, you are a wealthy person.  If you can afford to travel internationally on a plane, stay in accommodations, and feed yourself in Europe, you're extremely wealthy.  Not everyone has that luxury to afford international travel.  Not everyone can afford the time off work, the plane ticket, the hotel costs, and everything that goes along with traveling.  So consider yourself wealthy if international travel, or any travel, is part of your "hobbies".  Because that makes you an elite class of citizen who can afford to do those things.  If you have a trust fund, you're wealthy.  If you have ever lived in a gated community, you're wealthy.  If you don't have student loans, you're wealthy.  If you own a home, you're wealthy.  If you can change your situation easily, you're wealthy.  You have the luxury to decide what to do, where to work, when to work.  I am tired of people who can literally afford a lifestyle that isn't paycheck to paycheck complaining about how they can't afford things and need to scrimp and pinch.  Do you own a home?  Can you pay your bills?  Can you save money each month?  Then you're rich.  So stop telling people you are watching a budget. 

Funny stuff

Jensen was at church with me, and found some coins in our friend Kathy's purse.  She handed him some pennies and he told her "I don't need those, I need 20 dollars"

Thoughts

Sometimes I get super annoyed at social media.  I can't stand reading about how perfect people's lives are (and I know they aren't, social media is just the best of everything).  But can we please stop using it to brag or make ourselves out to be something we aren't?  Or turn ourselves into victims?  Or make cryptic posts just so people will wonder about you?  If you need attention, just say it.  Don't be cryptic and weird.

Some people think that they are so much better than others, and put on this front that I think is extremely fake.  And compound it on social media with how great they are, and how fantastic of a parent they are.  Oh, and how great their kid is.  I get being proud mom, but do we really need to post every time they are sick, or every time they do something you think is extraordinary but really is something every kid does?  Victimize yourself by saying how sick they are, and how they're sick for so long, and then turn around and tell everyone how great your kid is because they do ___.  Every kid gets sick.  Every kid likes helping parents.  I have stopped being on social media as often because it is such an irritant to me.  Whenever I try to say something nice, it falls on deaf ears.  I don't know why I bother, when it's radio silence for huge amounts of time until someone needs something again.  A friend is someone who communicates consistently and doesn't make you feel bad.  They act like they have met my children, when in reality they've never met my kids, and didn't ever seem to be interested in them until they had a kid of their own.  I have consistently tried to reach out, send cards, send gifts, be there, and it's always radio silence until they need something.  Ugh.  I'm so over it.  They has no idea what roads we have gone down with our kids, but they always makes their own situation extra dramatic, so that theirs must be the worst/best of whatever it is.  Baby is sick?  Oh, it's the sickest kid ever and has been sick for 2 weeks and on and on.

Reflecting

It's been quite a while since I've posted, but I would like to try again and maybe turn it into a therapeutic journal.   My babies are growing so fast.  Elise loves to sign "bath" and say "baa" for when it's bathtime.  Jensen loves to play zombies, hide and seek, freeze tag, dance, ride his bike, swim, and eat popcorn.  Popcorn and chips and salsa are his favorite foods.   He's learning to spell words and loves to spell his own name.  He also loves numbers and counting to 100, and asking everyone how old they are, and telling everyone how old he is "I'm still 4!"  He had so much fun at Uncle Phil and Cait's wedding.  He snuggled with Great Grandma a lot.  One time when she coughed, he exclaimed "oh no, great grandma's sick!"  He loves school, and his two best friends there are Ben and Harry. 

Elise had a rough go of it for her start to this life, and had such terrible acid reflux that she was on two types of medicines at 6 times a day from the time she was 2 weeks old until almost 6 months old.  She wasn't gaining weight from all the acid reflux, and luckily she started thriving and is our strong little girl now.  She's a beast.  She will throw her whole body against things, doesn't get hurt, and is a little brute.  She's the sweetest, snuggliest little girl, and LOVES to read books and sit in your lap.  Jensen loves music, Elli loves books.  She loves to wear hats and hairbows, and be outside.  She will walk around the grass, dig through the dirt, and eat chalk.  She is very curious and wants to touch everything (including the dog bowls....we have pulled lots of dog food out of her mouth).