Ask Away Friday with Mrs Aok!

I love Ask Away Friday.  Long before I worked up the nerve to ask if I can participate, I enjoyed reading the #AAF posts.  Bloggers trade ten questions and the result is often hilarious and always interesting.  I have met a great group of women through blogging and this is a fun way for readers to get to know their favorite bloggers a little better.

This week I am trading questions with MrsAok from MrsAOK, a Work in Progress.  I am pretty sure I met her through one of the fabulous social link ups she hosts but I really got to know her through twitter.  From my earliest days blogging she has been welcoming, supportive, and genuinely friendly and I hope you hop on over to MrsAok, a Work in Progress, to get know her and read the answers to the questions I asked her!  She asked me a couple of toughies….

1. In one of your blog posts, you said people assume you have so much time now that you’re a SAHM. Before you were a SAHM did you think you’d have plenty of time on your hands?

I knew I would be busy but I didn’t think I would be this busy. Between going to school myself and the kids’ school drop offs and pick ups, I always seem to be running behind.  I just keep telling myself that things will be much easier when both Pork Chop and Pea are in the same school on the same schedule.  Their spring breaks aren’t even the same weeks since we live the county line and their schools are in different counties.

2. What’s been the biggest adjustment since changing your lifestyle from working mama to stay-at-home mama?

I am LOVING it. My biggest adjustment though has been in finding a routine. In the past, my work schedule dictated my routine but now my priorities are different. I don’t even shower at the same time of day that I used to when I worked—but I do shower every day. There is that whole SAHM not having time to shower myth. That probably would have been the case when the kids were younger though…

3. First off Pea & Porkchop are both beautiful! A while back you wrote a great post “Don’t be that girl, little one. Just Don’t.” I loved it! How do you maintain a humble child with plenty of beauty?
For instance, I ‘m guilty of saying you’re so pretty or beautiful… then I immediately follow up with an “on the inside and out.” {but has the big-headed-damage been done}

Thank you! Unfortunately, Pea doesn’t have a humble bone in her body, but she is generous by nature. I have a three pronged attack. First, I lead by example. I treat others kindly. I am polite. Second, I lecture her constantly on the importance of being smart and kind.  I tell her that she was born looking the way she does so she doesn’t have control over that.  But, she has complete control over how she acts.  As you can see in this post she is actually incredibly intelligent. Her teachers call her brilliant, and her cousin calls her the “criminal mastermind.” I call her frightening. There are a few girls in my family that have the same traits. I plan on having her participate in volunteer work, and JA advocacy with me as she gets older. My cousin’s daughter was and is heavily involved in volunteering and she has grown up to be an AMAZING young woman that my daughter idolizes.  She’s beautiful too.

 This photo was taken by DKeller Designs, she’s a great photographer and an even greater mom (that’s her daughter up there with mine–if she survived it I can too.)

4. So, I have a slight case of anxiousness. When I read your post on volunteering at your son’s school, I totally knew exactly what you meant. I was the volunteering Mama at the kiddos’ old school. The teachers all knew me, I went into the teacher’s lounge and work room with no hesitation. However, it took me awhile to get that comfortable. I’m new here and I feel anxious again. There’s a Pinterest-Mama who is the teacher’s pet, they have a rapport, and I’m the new mama…
Have you volunteered again? Have you made any “Mom” friends at the school yet?

I volunteered a couple of times since then and it did get easier. My plan was to make it a weekly thing but I’ve had to miss a couple of weeks due to Pea’s JA flares. I volunteer with another Mom that I worked with at an old job long before we had kids. I’ve also met another mother who has a daughter on the same soccer team.  I don’t know that I have made “friends” though.  I hope so, but it is still kind of early to tell.

5. Your daughter has Juvenile Arthritis, many people are unaware this exists. As a mother I’m sure it’s tough to see your little one in pain. What are 3 things you want people to know about Juvenile Arthritis and what are 3 ways people can help?

Funny you should ask, I just wrote a speech for school on this exact topic. Three things I think it is very important for people to know are:

• The 300,000 children that suffer from JA don’t have the same type of arthritis that adults get from wear and tear.Most JA kids suffer from an autoimmune disease. Their own immune systems attack their joints along with a host of other symptoms.
• JA isn’t a disease that a kid can “grow out of” and there is no cure. I hear people discount it all the time as nothing serious when they say “oh, don’t they grow out of that?” A child with Juvenile Arthritis has it for life, however, there is the chance that they will go into remission and stay in remission.
• Juvenile Arthritis is an invisible disease. Kids with JA look normal and act normally when they are not in a flare. There is no reason to limit a JA child’s physical activity unless they are in an active flare and it causes too much pain. People look at me crazy when they see her running around or jumping in bounce houses. Limiting her activities would only 1) be depriving her of the joy of childhood and 2) cause her muscles to weaken.
The best way for people to help is to be informed. The misconceptions surrounding JA is one of the reasons that JA research is so underfunded. Also, anyone wishing to can also Donate for a Cure.

Let’s talk Herchel… shall we… {Pictures Please}
6. Favorite earrings? My ears are sensitive so I can’t wear earrings long. I do love them.  They are the only piercings I kept in when I “grew up.”  My favorite pair aren’t in my ears though; they are in my daughter’s. I love them because they always remind me of her bravery, determination, and love for her brother. It takes three people to hold her down for shots but last summer while visiting my sister in Charleston, she decided that she wanted her ears pierced. She is very shy yet she walked up to the cashier at Claire’s and said she wanted to get her ears pierced. I was so shocked I said yes she could if she really wanted it. We gave her opportunities to back out but she never did. She then picked out ruby studs because red is her brother’s favorite color.  (If you look at her photos on the blog, you’ll notice she has a slight addiction to the color pink.)

7. I know you love your nails did… favorite nail polish? I love having my toes done but I rarely wear polish on my fingernails. I hate it when they chip and I can’t seem to keep my fingernails nice. I get kind of squirmy when people look at my feet so no picture for you! However, my color of choice is a glittery pink.  (Frequent pedicures is one of the things I thought I would have enough time for before I stopped working…)

8. Favorite immature movie? {judge-free here} Grease part 2! (Don’t judge me lol) Because “If you really want to know what I want in a guy? Well I am looking for a dream on a mean machine with hell in his eyes…” I recently watched this with my daughter and she loved it too, though she kept telling me to stop singing along! My sister and I can quote this whole movie.

9. Purse or Pockets? Both. The purse holds all the junk but since it also has the epipen in it, I always carry it. The pockets hold my phone, debit card, keys with pepper spray, and my chapstick.

10. You’re a Disney lover 🙂 If you had a day at Disney World {me time} to do whatever you wanted what would you do? The only thing I love to do for myself at Disney is the Move it, Shake it Street party at Magic Kingdom. I love that song and dance along every time! To be honest, every trip we’ve gone on with just our family has been whatever I’ve wanted to do.  I’m a little spoiled that way but this Mama works hard for her Disney vacations.  The magic of Disney is so much better when I see it through the eyes of my kids. (Thanks, MrsAok, I have that song running through my head now)

Thanks, MrsAok, for these great questions!  I got to talk about JA and Disney in the same post.  How awesome is that?!  Now head on over to find out what I asked MrsAok.