Groupies

I have groupies. I know, you’re jealous. They are my biggest fans. I’m thinking that they will be life-long fans. Although I have to admit, sometimes I wish they were someone else’s fans. Like when they come with me into the restroom, or after I have heard ‘mommy’ for the 100^th time in one day (before 9am!).

Here is what I find interesting, I am a tough mom. I discipline regularly and I don’t think I am all that much fun (which daddy is). So at the end of the day, once daddy get’s home, why do they still want me? 

I love my kids (something I had to remind myself of several times today), and as I’ve said before – I want to be the first person they call when they are hurt, in trouble or want to give hugs (and kisses), but I reeeeaallly just want to be able to pee all by myself.

I guess kids understand all of the different displays of love and show their appreciation all. the .time. And really, I DO love my kids, more than anything. And I wouldn’t trade being home with them for anything (but I am still kinda excited about school starting next week!).

Lessons I learned today:

·       Jalapeno popper grilled cheese (grilled cheese with cream cheese and jalapenos) is DELICIOUS!

·       We need to start keeping better track of our library books. I do NOT want to pay the fine for a St. Patrick’s Day book (in August!).

·       Having a fan club really is quite cool (even if they do want to watch you pee).

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my...

To celebrate our last few days of summer and the nice weather we’ve been having, I decided to take the kids to the zoo today. Little did I know that I didn’t have to go anywhere to be in a zoo J

I should have known it was going to be a wild ride when E decided to bless us with some quality time at 1AM and 5AM. Her 5AM wake up proceded to wake everyone else a bit earlier than normal causing the gremlins to join the family for the day.

I realize that lack of sleep is not good for my children – which is why I am so structured about their schedules – or at least I used to be. I’m beginning to understand that keeping a third kid on a nap schedule is difficult when you are running around with the older children. I’m hoping that with the start of school next week, I will be able to get some sort of structure together for E so she can nap in her crib (as opposed to her carseat, which she’s getting too comfortable with). We've also gotten lazy about what time they go to bed during the summer since they don't have to wake up early anymore (but what we have failed to realize is that they are still waking up at the same time!)

I also know that kids crave structure, which is why I am so mad at myself for not having more structure for our summer break. Especially since J and L have had a very structured routine since they were 3 months old. I had a ‘light bulb’ moment today… realizing that the reason why J has been so grumpy lately is because he has been off his schedule for 6 weeks now. I am hoping that having a new schedule will help turn our house back into a home and not the crazy zoo it has become.

Lessons I learned today:

·       You better be prepared if you’re going to take three kids under four to the zoo by yourself.

·       Having Daddy play outside with the kids when he gets home gives me some nice quite time to cook a proper dinner.

·       I had better figure out a new schedule so that my kids aren’t mistaken for zoo animals.

Back to School

Our local schools start on Wednesday and the town is all a buzz with everyone getting ready.

I went grocery shopping today (yes, Sunday is supposed to be my grocery day but I had to go to an antique fair and take a nap yesterday instead) and all of the deals were about back to school (10 packs of lunch meat for $10 – who would eat 10 packs of lunch meat in a week?). There weren’t many people at my gym class today --- my guess is they are all getting everything ready for Wednesday. The school parking lots are full of teacher & staff cars getting ready for the students, and kids are not out as late at night (assuming parents have already started the school night early bedtime schedules).

I love back to school time. I always have. Maybe that’s why I went to school for so long? I love buying school supplies – I still buy them as a 30-something (for myself, not my kids!). I must admit that I am a bit jealous of all the families getting ready to send their little ones back to school. Not just because they get to buy looonnngg lists of school supplies but also because they get to have someone else entertain their children for several hours during the day!

J begins school next week but it’s just a transition period; so 1 hour on Wed, 1.5 on Thurs and 2 on Friday. Then on Tuesday after Labor Day he will start his morning schedule (9am – 11:45am). I must admit I’m excited for him to start school – not just because I will be free of his whining (which has become his predominate way of communicating lately) but because I think he’s really going to thrive in the Montessori environment, I hope so at least J

On the contrary, I’m worried about L who will only be going to school two mornings a week for two hours. She went to her previous school since birth and still cried every morning when she was dropped off. I’m thinking that with just two days for two hours, she’ll spend all of her time crying and not really enjoy herself (now, I know that she is fine about 4 seconds after we leave but it’s going to be painful just two days a week!).

I also like back to school season because it means football is here and fall is right around the corner – two of my favorite things! Can’t wait to start eating pumpkin treats, wearing sweaters and cheering on my favorite teams (since my NFL team will be lucky to win 2 games this season, I’m turning my attention to our local high school where my little brother will play his senior year – GO BIRDS!).

Lessons I learned today:

·      Going to bed early means nothing if you get woken up 3 times before sunup (argh!)

·      Pinterest is addicting and could be blamed for me not being nominated for mother-of-the-year this year

·      Organizing for back to school also means organizing everything else (bonus!)

Party Dress

I often err on the side of being over-dressed in most situations. In fact, my summer uniform happens to be sundresses – which are easy to dress up or down (and are easy and comfortable with no pesky waste band to contend with). I also go shoe shopping at the beginning of every summer to buy one pair of metallic flip flops that I can wear with everything (I wear them so much that I have to throw them away at the end of the season).

So I suppose it’s not surprising that my children have started to request outfits that would put them into the ‘over dressed’ category. J has taken an affinity to collared shirts. So much so that if there isn’t one in his drawer in the morning he throws a fit (in preparation for him starting Montessori school in a few weeks (who teach independence), he now picks out his own outfits. Of course, I put the outfits together in the drawer – tshirt on top of shorts). He has long loved his ‘fancy’ shoes and asks to wear them whenever we go out (regardless if the situation merits dressing up or not).  He is often the best-dressed person in our family when we go out (I’m certain people think that I’m dressing him).

Similarly, L has started to request ‘party dresses’ in the morning when getting dressed. She also has specific ideas about which party dress she would like to wear that day – which causes some problems when she selects something that is too special to wear to the park. As with any fashion conscience diva, she also likes to accessorize. Usually with silly bands and a necklace but has recently added a sun hat and sunglasses. I have learned to plan ahead when we are leaving the house to ensure that she has all of her accoutrements. I have also learned that she gets a lot of attention when all dolled up, which means that the rest of us get attention too – so I’m sure to look in the mirror before going out to make sure everything is in it’s correct place!

So far E hasn’t requested any special wardrobe items. But I am a little worried about the precedent set by her big brother and sister. I’m also a bit worried about how our new  getting dressed routine will affect our morning schedules once school starts (before we were all at home together, I would lay out all of the kids’ clothes the night before so there was no debate or consideration about what to wear in the morning). I’m guessing I’ll have everyone make their decision before heading to bed each night to minimize the disruption in our morning routine (I’m not really a morning person so I try to minimize as much debate as possible before I finish my necessary 2 cups of coffee).

Lessons I learned today:

·       Don’t forget to set the DVR to record the new season of Project Runway! I have some making up to do next week.

·       Getting a big payday from the consignment shop provides mixed emotions (excited for the big pay day and a big sick about how much money was originally spent on all those clothes).

·       Giving kids the opportunity to pick out their own outfits provides countless smiles and memories.

Moooommmyyyy...

I’m thinking of buying one of those counters that people working a carnival use to keep track of the number of people coming through the gates - just to count the number of times I hear ‘mommy’ in one day. I swear that it’s at LEAST 100 times before 9 AM!!

I always answer my kids when they call my name, well – when they call me ‘mommy’ (which I prefer over ‘Mom’ at this age!). I answer even if they just say ‘mommy’, even when it’s 7 times in a row with nothing to say after. Sometimes I think they just want to say my name to hear how it sounds (as if they’ve never said it before). I love that my kids always want to talk to me about something, really I do, but do they have to talk to me ALL. THE. TIME??

Of course, I like having my cake and eating it too – so when my kids fall or when they are sick, I WANT to be the person they want (like when L was coming out of anesthesia on Monday I wanted to be the first person to hold her). I also smile a bit when my ‘name’ is the first they say when they wake up in the morning (or in the middle of the night, as the case may be). BUT, at the end of the day, when I’ve heard ‘mommy’ no less than ‘one millliiiooon’ times, I am ready to change my name!

As I was thinking about this blog post, the song by Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, kept coming to me so I Googled (since when did Googled become a ‘verb’?) the lyrics. While the whole song doesn’t really ‘speak’ to my SAHM journey, I think the first verse does a good job:

Is this the real life-
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy-
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
A little high, little low,

Lessons I learned today:

·       It’s going to be difficult to be a Bengals fan once again this year

·       An outing to Target counts as an ‘activity’ for my children (get a treat, play ‘I Spy’, etc) – fun, educational AND productive (my kind of outing!)

·       I will always love being my kids’ ‘mommy’, no matter how many times they need to say my name!

Work it Out

So I have been doing really well with my exercise regime since May 4. Then vacation hit. I had big plans to go running a few times and even took my tension bands to keep my muscles up to snuff. Turns out the only thing I really worked out while on vacation was my liver. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to getting back at it this morning. Interestingly my muscles remembered what they were supposed to do but my feet didn’t. Not surprisingly I was huffier than usual and thought to myself, “I’d better be careful that I don’t hurt myself being as tired as I am.’ I promise, 30 seconds after having that thought, I turned my ankle and down I went --- resulting in a lot of attention being paid to me; laying on the floor, sweaty, not looking my best! I bounced back and finished the workout a little more red in the face than before (which is hard to do considering how flushed I get).

Whenever J & L fight over a toy or argue about something, I tell them to ‘work it out’.  Very rarely do they actually find a solution to their problem. More often I end up sending them both to time out or taking the toy under debate. I chose this approach about a year ago after I found myself always asking J to concede because he was older. I was certain that he was not always in the wrong and that I was being unfair to him. While I’m not sure if my new approach is any better than before, I’m hoping that eventually they will be able to work it out without me.

As we approach the end of summer I’ve been working out our school year schedules. My reign as SAHM started during the summer so this new routine will be new to me. I’m guessing that I will welcome the busier days, the mandated structure and new adventures. Only a week and a half left!

Lessons I learned today:

·         10 days is too long to go without doing some sort of physical activity

·         Always accept an invitation to go to a friend’s pool (especially when there is a water slide)

·         Sometimes it takes patience, sometimes creativity, often it takes time but eventually we can work it out!

Early Day = Long Day

Today started out a bit earlier than most Mondays – and certainly earlier than we were ready for on the heels of a relaxing vacation.

L was scheduled for her second set of tubes this morning. So we got up bright and early to head out to our nationally ranked Children’s Hospital – which I feel very fortunate to have literally 15 minutes from our house (not that I ever want to have a need beyond tubes to use it!). I have been lucky enough to only have to visit this place for very minor procedures and each time leave with overwhelming feelings of gratitude and sympathy. Gracious that for all intents and purposes, my children are very healthy and extremely sympathetic to the families I see who have children dealing with life and death situations.

My visit this morning gave me the serenity to help me get through this day. For several reasons, it was probably my hardest one as a SAHM yet: 1) First Monday after a week of vacation (meaning several other people could take on mommy duties throughout the day giving me many breaks), 2) An early wake-up call by E (early meaning 3 am), 3) Stress induced headache that I couldn’t shake and 4) lots of chores to ‘clean up’ after being away for a week.

Needless to say, not one of my most successful SAHM days. I’m wondering how long it takes to recover from being ‘off’ – will I be back in the game tomorrow or will it take a few extra days? The silver lining today was that all three munchkins were still tuckered from a week of playing in the sand (plus L had some extra help with anesthesia) so they all took extra-long naps (not sure I would have been able to do it otherwise).

Lessons I learned today:

·       It’s easy to entertain kids on days that aren’t 90+ degrees – just play outside for an hour or so!

·       When at Children's Hospital you can visit their pharmacy for a $1 bottle of children's tylenol.

·       It takes more than a day to recover from a week long vacation (does that mean it takes longer to recover from a longer vacation? I’m willing to find out!).