Missing Melissa

Hello faithful readers who probably no longer bother to visit my blog! Yes, I apologize for being AWOL for so very long. If you would like to keep up with the lives of the Linenberger family your best bet would be to catch the sentence or two that I manage to post on Facebook each week. Yep, that's about it.

Oh, and you know those great photos of the boys I took for Christmas? The ones on the nice Christmas cards I had printed at my wonderful photo lab online? Well, they are still sitting on my desk. Labels, photos, and envelopes, all sitting there bundled together waiting to be put together and mailed. I do not think they will make it by Christmas. Sorry to burst your happy bubble! I kept thinking they would be out in time. I took the gorgeous photos of my young, handsome sons, placed them in a nice mpix card that was perfect, order the cards, the cards arrived, Christmas came and went. I'm really not sure where the past few months went. It's crazy! One minute it was summer. The next it is almost Spring. Well, at least that means we had a fast (although very snowy) winter. Maybe I will post those photos on Facebook now that I have announced that the cards will not be sent out... Hmmm... Maybe it can be time to update my family photos on Facebook so that you can see how wonderful our brown-eyed boys are doing. Yes, it is a plan.

I will post photos to Facebook sometime soon. But probably not tonight. Nope, not tonight. I just got home from Logan's parent/teacher conference (he is doing spectacular and they soooo adore him, who wouldn't!). Shaun dropped the boys off at scouts. I am just snuggling in bed for some reading...homework reading that is. I get to read three long articles and write one big message board post tonight. On the bright side I have finished all my other homework until this weekend. Also, Shaun and AJ are making a trip to Best Buy to shop for a new printer/scanner/fax for the downstairs office. I have the house to myself! Ahhh, the peace and quiet. I will enjoy the next hour of reading transformative mediation materials. All. by. myself!

If you are not my friend on Facebook yet... well, maybe you are not my friend then. Just kidding! Please be my friend. I love you all! Hopefully I will write on my blog again before another few months passes me by. I have so much to say and so little time.

Just Popping In

I just wanted to say a quick "HI!" It's been a while...I know. Life has taken off and we're crazy busy, as is usual for this time of the year. Here are a few reasons why:

Logan is playing football- two practices and one or two games, each week.
Logan's scouts and church activities
Shane's scouts and church activities
My church activities
My book club
Shaun's Primerica stuff (or rather the lack of business the past few weeks as he struggles to keep going)
My work
Shaun's work
My master's degree program online (VERY DEMANDING of my time)
AJ- enough said- We love the little guy and he goes everywhere and does everything with us. I'm surprised that he doesn't demand even more of our time. We've been blessed with such a carefree baby.

There's more...I'm just too tired to remember it all. Oh, and one sick kid a week for the past three weeks does not help. Mainly they have been sick for a couple days on weekends, but it does spill over a bit and causes us to get behind on, OH, HOUSEWORK. Yep, I'm not sure what that word means at the moment. It's not getting done. It hasn't been a priority. The house is messy but not dirty and gets picked up whenever we have friends over for any reason (photo sessions, dinner, visiting, etc.). Well, at least the rooms to be seen by guests get picked up. The other rooms are invisable so they don't really matter.

Yep, that pretty much says it all. Busy! One day I will have time to blog about my daily joys and rants once again. Today I will leave you with this beautiful little tidbit:

AJ SINGS! He has for the past two months- since about 7 1/2 months old. He started to sing at church when the congregation sang. Then he would sing when he would hear the organ or piano start. Next he started singing in the car/truck with the radio. Now he'll sing just to sing, even without accompanyment. Oh, and whenever he is in a large and excited crowd (football games especially) he sings because he thinks that is what they are doing and he wants to join in. It is soooo cute! Everyone notices and smiles and laughs. The funniest thing is that he has recently decided he needs to be just as loud as the people around him, which can mean that he gets VERY loud. I LOVE it! It melts my heart every time I hear him. This brings so much joy to my heart! I just listen and give him lots of hugs and kisses. At times he gets so into it that I have to hush him quickly when everyone becomes quiet at the end of a song. :)

Postcard from Home

This was another assignment for my photo class. It was fun and actually fairly easy to do. I mIGHt do something similar for the baby announcement. This is one main picture with several other pictures used to cut out the letters. The second one is the one I was supposed to turn in for the class but I just realized I turned in the wrong one! Either one should be fine though. I'll probably email the second one to the instructor, just in case.

Tidbits of Today's Thoughts

It has been a while since I blogged. Oops! Life took over as usual. It's been a crazy month. Here are a few of my recent thoughts:

1. People who get lost in K-State's new parking garage make me laugh. Seriously people? It's not that big! I'm still trying to decide if the price is worth parking there. We'll see.

2. I'm pregnant, not broken. I'm pregnant, not dumb. YES this pregnancy was planned. NO I'm not regretting it. YES my children's ages are very spread out. YES I am cute with this protruding belly; I don't mind saying so and I don't mind hearing it. WHY do I feel like I have to complain when I am asked how I'm doing knowing full well that random people I don't know that well ask me and are referring only to my pregnancy. I'm a person too you know! My life contains many aspects, pregnancy just being the most obvious at this point. Overall I am doing wonderful and loving it! YES I have some discomfort from pregnancy and YES my back aches. NO I'm not bloated, yet.

3. My boss is great! Today she decided we needed to have an ice cream social so that I could show off my 3D baby pics to some friends working down the hall. She announced this to me as she was walking out the door to a meeting. I had the small ice cream social while she was gone. :) I guess that was her plan. It was fun. She had provided the ice cream. I provided the pictures to look at. It was me and three others. What a nice late afternoon break!

4. YES, the 3D sono pics and perhaps the video (if I can upload it) will be online, probably tonight since I'm procrastinating on watching an online lecture!

5. My kids are aggravating me a lot lately. Probably because I'm always tired and therefore moody. They seem to be very loud. Logan fusses too much and doesn't think he has an "indoor voice." Shane isn't applying himself, anywhere, at times. Otherwise they are wonderful boys who just want to hug and cuddle with me A LOT. Yes, that annoys me at times but I deal with it. I love their hugs and cuddles too much to let it annoy me for very long. I'm very blessed!

Hmmm. There were three or four other thoughts that I'd tried to share however blogger has been giving me problems. Here's the short version of those:

6. Shaun has been great, most of the time. :) He's been spoiling me with meals in bed once in while and has been very understanding when I am tired and grouchy. He knows when to avoid me. He has also helped me to complete a couple photography assignments for an online class. I have a hard time being inspired for this class just because I am tired and don't want to do things by deadlines. He helps me to meet the deadlines though and has been having fun learning along side of me.

7. I have started the application process for graduate school. I am still planning to go to Creighton, in Omaha but mostly online, for Dispute Resolution and Negotiation with an emphasis on educational institutions. I tried to link this earlier but that was what started my half hour of blogging problems so I'm not going to do it again! Shaun "mentally clapped" his hands for me Monday when I called to inform him that I have decided to go ahead with the August enrollment for my application. The admissions rep assigned to me suggested that since this is a very competitive application process and only 15 people are allowed into each class that I should apply for May or June instead of waiting for the August class due to the number of students who apply for the more traditional start dates. I was told that my GPA and career goals will be a great fit for them and that I should have no problem with being accepted so I decided that I, and my family, deserve a few months break before I continue my college career. Summers are hectic enough around here and I really want to have a short time without coursework. Adding a baby to our summer baseball schedule will be enough to handle! I decided if I am not accepted in the August class then I will apply for a later class whenever offered, most likely the following January, May, or June. As long as I get in eventually I will be fine.

8. I use contractions too often so I'm cutting back.

9. There was something else... Oh well! I'll do another post if I remember and deem it important or random enough.


These were just a few "thinks" I thought I would share. :)

The End.

Bedtime

It's a few minutes after 8 here and I am dreading bedtime. Yep, that's right. I dread it. My kids should be very tired and ready for bed but this is not usually the case.

Shane likes to stay up too late reading. I like that he likes to read but his light never gets turned off and he stays up late reading almost every night. I normally fall asleep before him, and sometimes before his lights out time.

Logan's another story. He's impossible! Let's think back to about six and a half years ago. As a baby Logan moved into his own room at about 5 1/2 months old to sleep there every night. He was super easy to put to bed. I'd simply lay him down and he'd either go right to sleep or talk to himself a little and then go to sleep. Either way he didn't cry and he fell asleep very easily. However, about three years ago, Logan stopped being so easy at bedtime. Now he whines, screams, cries, everything and anything to not sleep in his own room. IF I let him fall asleep in my room, whether he'll be moved to his own bed later or not, he goes right to sleep. IF he is allowed to fall asleep downstairs near Shaun, he'll usually go right to sleep. However, if he is forced to sleep in his room he all of a sudden gets separation anxiety. He refuses to "sleep alone." He says he as to "sleep with somebody." His words.

A few times, to solve this issue, I've repeatedly stayed in his room until he falls asleep, normally 30 minutes or so. I'll continue this for a couple weeks or longer but it never lasts. It takes too long to get him to sleep. It also doesn't matter how many times I do this, he still wants to sleep near Shaun or I. Recently he's given in and slept in Shane's room or let Shane to sleep in his room near him a couple times. Unfortunately he will still not, at almost seven years old, sleep in his own room by himself all night. In fact, most nights that he is moved to his own room he'll find his way back to my bed. It doesn't seem to matter what I do!

Any ideas? Should I even worry about this? Because I've grown so accustomed to having Logan in my bed frequently I do feel secure knowing he's beside me but I'd really rather him be in his own room so that both he and I could get used to it again. I don't like him sleeping in my bed and I never have. He kicks, turns all around in the bed during the night, and has recently started to talk a little in his sleep.

What do I do? On one hand I just want to sleep and I want him to get a good night's sleep. For now it seems that he does this best in my bed. I even put a pillow between us so that he can't roll into me or me into him. It helps a bit with his tossing and turning. On the other hand, I want him to "grow up" and sleep in his own room every night, without being put there once he's asleep. He NEEDS to fall asleep on his own in his own bed. Doesn't he?

This is were picking my battles with my kids gets confusing. This is a battle that I've chosen to fight for so long. I'm tired of fighting it. I wish he'd just decided to sleep in his own room and make this easy on me! Maybe I should let Logan win this one. It's not about winning, just about sleep.

Since I've dealt with this for three years, I'm giving up. I want advice. I don't know that it will help but just hearing other's opinions on this may calm my fears about my almost seven year old. Will he still be ok if he continues to sleep in my room until he decides otherwise?

Here's another picture of my bedtime avoiders!

Happiness

YAY!!! I just got a notice from Amazon that my books have shipped: Three Cups of Tea: One Man... $8.25
1 Breaking Dawn (The Twiligh... $12.64 1 $12.64
1 The Host: A Novel $15.59 1 $15.59


I'm soooo excited! I probably won't get Breaking Dawn until Monday (ARGHHHHHH!) but then I'll have two weeks to read before the semester starts (I have one class to finish but only have studying and one final after this upcoming Monday and I'll have two entire weeks to study, then I have one week with no classes whatsoever). I really wish I had time to read during my semesters, but that just doesn't happen. Not if I want to get good grades and be part of my family. :)

On another note, due to all the stress in my life recently... We've decided to bring the kids out tonight to "Time Out Corner." We've been there once and had lots of fun. It's been open a few months now and I know the kids would like to go. So tonight's plan is to eat dinner (most likely at home) and then head out to have fun for a couple hours playing games in the arcade and playing miniature golf on the black-light lit neon course. Tomorrow we plan to go to Sam's in Topeka and will be bringing the kids there too. What could possibly be more fun than Sam's??? Maybe we'll find something fun to do in Topeka too, but at least we'll be together. That's my goal for the weekend, ignore chores and have fun with my boys.

Have a fantastically fun weekend!

Home and Family Life

We're really enjoying having my sister, Betsy, living with us. She's been such a great help. The boys are enjoying their "real summer" and I'm enjoying being less stressed. It's helped me so much to know that she is there for them when I can't be. I'd love to be a stay-at-home mom, but since that's not feasible for us, Betsy is the next best thing. As a stay-at-home Auntie, she's been able to bring the boys to the library, to play group, helped them get their chores done early in the day, brought them to fun places (like the museum on Ft. Riley yesterday), done crafts with them, and I'm sure many more things which I'm forgetting. She also likes to plan dinner, which is always wonderful!

Betsy was afraid I'd be jealous of her spending the time with my boys while I'm at work, but I'm not. Yes, of course I'd love to be there too, but she's getting some great bonding time with them. And they are loving it, too! Overall, her being here has been a wonderful experience for us all. No one could possibly know how much it's helped. Soon school will start- Logan's first day of kindergarten!- karate classes will resume, my classes will resume, and life will be back to normal. I'm happy to say that Betsy will be right there with us in this. She's going to be working and taking classes. The evenings and weekends will always be too short, and we'll never have enough time together as a family, but that's how life is. No matter how busy we are or are not, there's never enough time for fun and love.

Ok, so I know I'm painting a pretty picture here and it's not always so happy and pretty, but I hope Betsy is enjoying it just as much as we are. We really do appreciate her, and she needs to know it. I should also mention that Betsy and the boys picked me up for lunch today, and that's something else that we'd never get to do if she wasn't here.