mrstupy

In My Own Words

ABOUT ME & MY FAMILY: I have enjoyed every aspect of being a parent. Each day is a treaure and each child is truely unique. I remember the first "everything(s)" and they will forever be stamped on my heart!! I started out as a single mother with my first son which I had when I was 22 years old. I was born here in Minnesota until I was about 4yrs old, and was tthen raised in Southern California until I was 18yrs. From there I then moved down to Daytona Beach FL. until I made my way back up here to wonderful Minnesota in 2000. This is where all of my family is and not too many have traveled else where besides me! Plus this is where my roots are and it's a fabulous place to rasise children. I am very into natural and organic health, and have strongly influenced my son since birth. He even now at this age, makes the most amazing healthy food and living choices. We have worked "together" in the community doing volunteer work here and there, and my son has always taken such pride in doing so. Another thing that I have found to be important in instilling important values into my child, has been for him to learn to love to give. I have always had him to go through his own toys periodically and he would even give away a few of those "special" toys, because I have always talked with him about the many people in the world and even in our very own communities, that don't or may not have many toys at all. It is just amazing, and I know it all sounds too good to be true, but that is something we have done for nearly his entire life! I, myself have donated completely furnished apartments with really nice furnishings to a company called Bridging(?). I know that they are an organization that assists battered woman or people trying to get back on their feet after a really bad situation and they set them up with furnished apartments and things. That was something that really felt great to do and I will always feel so proud in the fact that I really, really helped someone in great need. Now with all of these warm fuzzies, comes the crazy part of my life!!! I have married recently, and my husband has 4 children from his previous marriage. They are ALL boys except for the youngest which is a girl. And the ages range from 11, 8, 7, 5, 3. Our seven year old is completely blind and was born that way. But he is anything buy disabled! He can see things better than most people with perfect vision, and he does almost everything the other kids do. He is my little angel. We have had some issues here and there with throwing a single child into a big mix of children, and then expecting him to understand our blind son's....well, blind. And then there has been the pecking order issues and the sharing issues and the list goes on and on. My husband and I did finally figure out that it wasn't the children, but it was us that needed to communicate outside of the children, agree to disagree, realize that these kids need for us to stay strong and set the boundaries. It is an everyday challenge, but I have never been happier. My son loves his brothers and his sister and the kids love all of us. I am just so blessed!! We still have our battles and difficulties and with my son having ADHD, it really doesn't make things much easier. Lastly, about our wonderful family is my son and I come from the city life and are cultured in some different ways, and my husband is from the country. So, with all of that with us and against us...we really are one BIG happy family. PET PEEVES: My now eight year old has got into the bad habbit of telling me "just a second mom" when told to do something....I guess that would be my pet peeve. WHAT I LOOK FORWARD TO IN A TYPICAL DAY: I look forward to hearing about his day at school, the things he has learned, the friends he has played with, the challenges he has faced, and most of all the excitement of when he really learns something that he knew, but now knows in a more mature (different) way. No matter how crazy my days may get...that is always my favorite time. *I also enjoy our evening rituals of getting ready for bed. Praying together. Reading. Talking. Sometimes this is the time when he really opens up to me in a completely different way. He likes to ask me a LOT of questions right before bed. So, trying to answer some of the questions about things I don't always have the answers for, can become quite interesting. :)

Parents I'd Like to Meet

I am very interested in meeting with other moms that work from home. My husband and I run two construction companies from home and he is gone most of the day and I am stuck here doing all of the "everything else". Maybe other parents that have step-children and that may have a blended family. Anyone with information or that has a child with ADD/ADHD or social anxiety. How they handle daily life and what works for them, and what doesn't. I also have one step-son that is 7 years old, and that is completely blind, and would love to connect with any other parents that may also have a blind child. I'm really very interested in becoming more involved with my son's school, on many different levels.