Sunday, December 27, 2009

Starbucks Saves the Day

My hubby came home yesterday, napped and had to leave again today. I'm just loving the holidays!!! At least today was a relatively beautiful day, so I packed the girls up and headed out!!! Destination, Starbucks! If the baby is not going to sleep while I'm staying away from caffeine, I might as well indulge at least one of my vices!!

And oh, the joy!!! Just to hold the warm cup with anticipation felt great! It is amazing what a little caffeine will do for one's mood!! Temper tantrum while leaving the playground... nothing to worry about, the poor darling is just tired. Husband is gone.... well someone has to make the money!! Baby won't sleep... Heck, I'll sleep when she goes off to college (or will i????!!).

Thank you Starbucks and your gingerbread latte!! ( I actually didn't care for the fake gingerbread taste, but I still gulped it down VERY quickly!!!! )

THE BLURTER

You know the mom I'm talking about . You are at the playground, enjoying the outdoors and the prospect of your children burning some energy. And then you see her -- pushing her stroller with a determined walk, slightly disheveled, and looking slightly frazzled. She appears to be looking for something and maybe a little sad all at once. She unstraps her children from the confines of the stroller and then she searches. What for? For the approachable, unsuspecting mom or dad from which to gain some adult conversation. "Your child is adorable?" blah, blah, blah... "How old is your child?" blah, blah, blah. And then of course, to be polite you reciprocate the standard playground questions. That's when she strikes!! You have opened yourselves up for attack!!!.. "Well..." she begins. And then she goes on and on about sleepless nights, traveling husbands, growth spurts of children.... Wait!!! That mom is me!!!

Yes, I to sometimes gush to some unsuspecting soul. On and on I'll go with hardly a polite pause. What is the motivation of the blurter you ask? Perhaps maybe a word of consolation or assurance that she is not the worst mommy in the world for feeding her daughter frozen waffles for dinner (guilty!)

No. I am not always this pathetic, but I have my moments. Don't we all? (Please say yes!)

To all those recipients of a mommy's blurting moments, be patient. For there are those who have, and those who will. I speak from experience.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Holiday Fun

Here is one of the fun things I did with my two year old. It took a lot longer to dry than advertised, but with a little TLC it turned out pretty nice.

http://video.about.com/familycrafts/Christmas-Magic-Ornaments.htm

PS The hyperlink is not working for me, so cut and paste into your browser.

Bed Time Joys

Prior to having my children, I based all my knowledge of motherhood on what I saw on television or in the movies. Bedtime is always portrayed as a beautiful conclusion to a day. The parent gazes lovingly at their child as she falls asleep like a little angel. These are the lies Hollywood portrays in order to get the general public to reproduce.

Bedtime for me is a joyous occasion because I get to dump the kids into bed and have a few moments of mommy-time before I commence with the daily clean up. I watch the clock from the end of nap time, counting the hours until bedtime. And then, when it is time to begin the journey upstairs that will result in my downtime, I am joyous!! My oldest daughter must pick up on my excitement because she always seems a little spastic during our bedtime ritual.

First, I plop her in the bathtub wondering how short I can make the experience without any whining. And then I quickly dress her for bedtime and have her pick out two books. (It used to be three, but somehow she has not noticed that one has gone by the wayside!) And then quickly into bed, covers, music, a pat on the back and I am out the door quicker than she can say, "mommy!" I am not really heartless; I'm just tired. On nights when my husband is home, I don't rush as much; I let her relax a bit. But there is nothing like the feeling of closing her door knowing I should have a little bit of time to myself. That is, if the baby will cooperate!!! Can someone please explain to my baby that it is poor baby etiquette to wake up every single hour??!?!?

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Holiday Mommy

\Welcome to my blog. Is that how one begins? To date, I am not a blog follower, so I am not sure if this is the proper way to begin. However, since I am a woman with little time and of little patience for the nitty gritty of things, I figured I would just jump right in and hope for the best.

I prefer not to disclose the intimate details of my life so that I can have some freedom to air my mommy tales without judgement from those who may know me. Here is what you need to know about me:

  • I am a mom of two living in a major metropolitan area;
  • My children are less than two years apart (yes, this was on purpose!);
  • I am in my late thirties;
  • I have a pretty intense part time job, however I am on extended maternity leave;
  • I have a wonderful husband who travels frequently for work (if you are clever, you realize that is why I am on my computer on Christmas eve!)
Why blog you ask? Well, why not? While I am supposed to be bonding with my beautiful baby girl as I nurse her, wondering how one could possibly eat a zillion times in one day, I have numerous thoughts that flood my head on mommy-hood. Some of these I will discuss in my mommy circles, but some... well, even though I have a hard time controlling myself most times, I shouldn't say everything that I think. Right?
Enough with the introduction....

Santa came to visit our children yesterday since we knew my husband would more than likely be out of town today and tomorrow. And of course, it was joyous to witness my two year old's indoctrination to the greed that comes with Christmas. But truly, this tired mommy would have been happy to watch it on the video camera after the fact if I just could have snoozed a little bit longer.

No, I am not a completely heartless woman. I'm just tired. Yes, I know, every mommy is tired, but we're all entitled to whine a bit, right?

Anyway, I did do lots of fun holiday stuff with the kids and enjoyed it. But oh... the cries of two!!! Just what I wanted for Christmas! I will continue tomorrow!!!

Thanks for reading!