Feeling like a mom

Over the past 4 years I have gotten many laughs from my older sister's tales of motherhood (semidesperatehousewife.blogspot.com) and today I felt like I was living one of those stories. Logan, my 4 yr old stepson always gets up at 6-7 and sits at the end of our bed to watch cartoons until we get up and make breakfast. Today however.....I woke up at 4:30 to him jumping on the bed and shaking me saying "Turn on my shooooowwwwss!!!" over and over until I finally realized I wasn't dreaming and turned on cartoons. I then attempted to go back to sleep but every time I started to he would randomly jump on my stomach (did I mention I also started my period last night so I had HORRENDOUS cramps at the time?) I never did go back to sleep, so when Clint got up to shower I tried to sleep because I figured he would let the dog out etc. (The dog always sleeps under the covers with us so you actually have to pull him out to get him to go outside in the mornings) At 7:15 I hear "Umm Rachel the puppy peed and pooped and daddy's in the shower!! BAD DOGGY!" Apparently Clint figured the dog could wait until I got up to go out but as soon as he got in the shower the dog crawled out and used the basement floor as a restroom. Does anyone else have a minpin that does this?? He hates going outside even when it's nice and sneaks off to corners in the house and goes to the bathroom as soon as we take our eyes off of him.

In other "parenting" news, I have found a way to not lose my mind watching endless hours of cartoons. Since I work from home most of the time and am always on my computer I simply plug in my headphones to the computer and either turn on Pandora.com (which is an awesome radio online that plays only songs and genres you like with no commercials.) or my iPod playlist. This way I can keep an eye on Logan, do my work, enjoy some good music, and not want to break the tv just so I don't have to watch Little Einstein's big adventure one more freaking time!

Get kids to drink their veggies!

Seeing as I'm new to parenting most of you may already know this. If so, ignore how excited it makes me. I feel like I've accomplished something here! Logan, my 4yr old soon-to-be-step-son does not like veggies. The only fruit he will eat is golden apples- no skin of course. I love fruits and veggies but don't always have time to have them so for years I've been drinking V8 Fusion, Peach Mango flavor. The Fusion (as opposed to the splash or Fusion Light) has a full serving of fruit AND a full serving of veggies in each 8 oz serving. And it actually tastes good! It doesn't taste like most veggie juice. I only drink the Peach Mango but their are 3 other flavors.

But I digress.... Anyways, when I moved in and started experiencing the diet preferences of a 4yr old I thought I would see if he'd drink the V8, that way I wouldn't feel bad about his diet of meat, eggs, and more meat. Turns out, he loves it! Now it's the only juice we keep in the house and he drinks 3-4 glasses a day. Mission accomplished! Now he gets all the fruit and veggies he needs and doesn't even know it!