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Parenting & Farm Kids:  Brag book, test drive, getting to know you.  |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 28 2005 : 5:23:10 PM
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Newt..I love that..makes me think of "Lonesome Dove!"
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things |
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Park Avenue
True Blue Farmgirl
57 Posts
Michele
Paradise Valley
Alberta
Canada
57 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 06:18:53 AM
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Hi all, i am wife to Dean a great and supportive husband of all that i do and all that i don't do.
I have 2 kids, Shoshanna is 17 and a really great girl. She is heading into grade 12. She isn't fond of school, and has her sights set on something in emergency services. Probably a medical responder for the oil rigs or bush camps. Then she hopes to meet a nice guy, with a quad and a 4x4, get married, have some kids and be a wife and a mom. Maybe driving an ambulance p/t...just to get her out of the house a couple days a week. For now she works at Wal-mart, to pay for her truck and all the things she likes to buy for herself. It kept her very busy and out of trouble for the summer. On a side note she is also hightly intuitive and is very interested in alterntive healings, crystals etc.
Josh is 15, and heading into grade 10....where have all the years gone. My baby is off to high school. ( lol which in our school just means your locker isn't acrooss fromn the kindergarden anymore!)He is a typical boy, interested in cars, bikes, PS2, and music that annoys his mother. He is a great boy also, and spent the last 3 days helping his dad jackhammer the cement step off the front of our house. He always says he is going to grow up and live in the city, and not have to bother with all the grass, and repairs and house and home and garden stuff that he has to help out with....but I think he will stay close.
I was not what you would call an attatchement parent, but i truely loved being a mom. I still do. I raised my kids by what felt right for our family. I did not breastfeed at all, and I am surprised at my friends who seem to equate this with being a 'good mom'.
My kids are my greatest achievement in life so far, and my greatest joy.
I am also learning that while I love them dearly, and will hate for this phase of life to end, I don't want to be a controlling mom, who hangs on tight without giving them the freedom to move on with their lives, I don't want to have a breakdown when they are ready to leave the nest. Trying to develop a life for myself as this phase nears completion, so that i won't be standing there wondering what I do now...as they drive off to new lives of their own.
LOL No one really ever told me this day would come and I would have these feelings of worry about "what will i do when my babies are growing up?" when I was knee deep in bottles, colic, and diapers.
It is so great to read all of these posts about how we feel about our kids. So much love and pride!
I don't know if it is just a lifestyle thing on this list where most want to achieve more of a 'homegrown' lifestyle, but it seem that there are so many moms out there ( not you guys!!) who are just not into thier kids anymore, and so many kids who are growing up kind of lost. It is sad and scarey at the same time.
Hope everyone has a great day!
Michele |
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katie-ell
True Blue Farmgirl
1818 Posts
Katie
Illinois
1818 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 11:18:20 AM
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| Wonderful to read about each family. We have an only child, and I'm surprised that some people feel the need to comment about it. We have a one and only by choice, and have never been unhappy with that decision. We love our families, both our little nucleus and our extended families. That's what it's all about, isn't it. |
Edited by - katie-ell on Aug 29 2005 6:27:56 PM |
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Mamasboys
Farmgirl at Heart
5 Posts
Andrea
Columbia Falls
MT
5 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 1:18:13 PM
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Love reading about all your families!
My boys are 5, 3 1/2 and 9 mos. We are on the see saw about having more. Always wanted a big family, but are living in a 2 bd, 1 ba house and don't really have the means for anything bigger. Besides, the boys spend most of their time outside and you certainly can't beat our view!
We will start homeschooling Josh next week. The thought of sending him to school to be locked into a chair for hours on end makes me shudder. He is about as active as you come and some teacher would have him on Ritalin by the end of his first day! He loves helping with the rabbits, pigs, chickens and garden and is always talking about how big he is and how he is almost a man like his daddy  and he looks forward to putting "bad guys to jail" just like his dad does(he's a police officer).
Will is the brains and heart of the family. He is gentle and sweet, smart as a whip and tough as nails. His brother always comes running to tell me that 'Will has blood!' and there's my buddy, just playing away saying 'I'm not hurt, I'm tough'.
Ben is the baby and having a tough time realizing that life does not revolve around him. Since he has become mobile and able to destroy towers and Lego trucks, he has lost some of the cuteness that his brothers found so dear. Since he has figured out how to open our wood stove and eat and smear charcoal over the carpet and couch I can relate to the boys :) Ben is my budding farmboy who comes w/ me on my chores in the baby backpack and will wean from breastmilk to raw goatsmilk come next spring.
We struggle with the decision to have more children as travel, camping, canoe trips, etc. are still very doeable with 3 and worry that the more children we have, the less 'fun' things we can do as a family.
I absolutely LOVE having boys and am amazed at the people who feel they have to express their regret that I didn't have a girl. I even had a lady come up to me at Costco and peer into the infant carrier and say 'that better be a little girl in there'. When I said no, it was another boy, she looked sad and said 'you poor thing'! I was stunned for a moment then told her I was only sad it wasn't TWIN boys! Grrr...some people!
Anyway, great to meet you all!! Sounds like you all have very beautiful families. |
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FloralSaucer
True Blue Farmgirl
156 Posts
Australia
156 Posts |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 4:09:43 PM
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| Welcome Mamasboys, Mama0moon, katie-ell and Park Avenue! |
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Park Avenue
True Blue Farmgirl
57 Posts
Michele
Paradise Valley
Alberta
Canada
57 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2005 : 05:57:16 AM
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Thanks!
Michele |
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FloralSaucer
True Blue Farmgirl
156 Posts
Australia
156 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2005 : 5:08:40 PM
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| Things change Mamasboys. Don't be in a rush to make up your mind, especially if you are under 38, as you still have opportunities with your family. If you can manage to take three small children camping, if you had another in two years, your eldest will be quite a large boy and it would still be like taking three small children camping plus one bigger one. Four is a nice number for a family. My fourth is now 8, and her biggest brother is 17 ready to leave home. They were all three years apart. My youngest is 3, and I found the decision hard like you, but have loved having her. |
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Mamasboys
Farmgirl at Heart
5 Posts
Andrea
Columbia Falls
MT
5 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2005 : 10:56:56 AM
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Thanks for the encouragement. It is silly to think we have to be sure of whether to have more or not at this point. I'm 34 and always thought I should be done by the time I'm 35 so I guess that's why I think if we want more we should do it now.
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Park Avenue
True Blue Farmgirl
57 Posts
Michele
Paradise Valley
Alberta
Canada
57 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2005 : 3:31:25 PM
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I think you have a defininate feeling when you know you are done having kids.
I had that feeling when I was 24 and my youngest son was 2. I knew that I didn't want have another baby.
Until you have that absolute feeling that you are done, keep all your options open!
I am now 38, and I am glad with the choices that i made. I have friends my age, who are still having babies, and still don't have that feeling of being done.
I also have friends who didn't have the "i'm done' feeling, yet they thought they should be, and have always regretted not having another baby.
Just my 2 cents on the topic.....if your not sure your done, then don't close of the option of having another.
Michele |
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Mamasboys
Farmgirl at Heart
5 Posts
Andrea
Columbia Falls
MT
5 Posts |
Posted - Sep 14 2005 : 10:56:14 AM
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Right now it's hard to discern whether I really want more or if I'm just sad that this is my last baby. Each stage he enters I think "This is the last time I'll have a baby that ..."
But I guess you're right, if we were really finished, I think we would have peace about it and stop going back and forth. Until we feel sure about our family being complete, we should definitely keep our options open.
Thanks for all the wisdom ladies! |
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jallibunn
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Jodi
Missoula
MT
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Sep 26 2005 : 9:49:08 PM
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Love the comments in this section!
As an only child, I've always been fascinated and cowed by people's willingness to say, shortly after meeting me and finding out I was an only, "Gosh, you must be spoiled rotten." Why it's basically OK to call me a horrible person when they don't know me, I dont know.
Bill McKibben's book, "Maybe One," is a really good answer to this one. It's a social stereotype based on some really bad early sociology done in the 1880s/1890s. It wasn't disproved until the 1920s, but by then it had stuck.
As jpbluesky commented below, the number of children you have often isn't up to you. (For my mother, same situation.) And it's really no one else's business.
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Originally posted by jpbluesky
Well, I have an only child...now 26. Try that for fencing off rude remarks. Even wonderful people who are parents themselves will make terrible remarks about "only" children being spoiled and selfish and unable to socialize. Not true! my daughter is loving and caring and is a good mother herself now, and expecting her second child. She has always been thoughtful and naturally full of integrity.
Four weeks after I had her, I had a hysterectomy, so our choice was made for us. It has made us no less a family unit than if we had several children.
jpbluesky
heartland girl
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Parenting & Farm Kids: Brag book, test drive, getting to know you. |
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Brag book, test drive, getting to know you.
