The Bug went for her three month check up on Wednesday. At 14 lbs and 14 oz, she has more than doubled in size!
And that’s a lot of Bug to love!
Bloggy Diarrhea
November 13, 2008 No comments »Ok, sorry for the title. I figure what’s the harm in a little poop reference among parents (even if your kids are of the feline/canine variety). Fortunately for all of us, this post really isn’t about poop. It’s more of a purge of things swirling around in my head. The title was almost “Blowing Bloggy Chunks”, but that really did make me want to hurl, so I went with the other end.
First of all, let me just say “WOW! I LOVE MY BLOGGY FRIENDS!” Seriously, I am so touched that so many of you have left such sweet comments on my last post. I’ve even gotten an email or two. I am so encouraged by your words. I am so relieved that I’m not alone in feeling the way I do. I plan on responding to every one of them. The only reason I haven’t yet is that some of them made me a little weepy and I tend to get all sappy-rambley when I respond to those. I do promise to keep the bloggy-whining to a minimum in the future, though.
I’ve been quite busy trying to tidy up and pretty up the blog. My blogroll is screwy due to the Wordpress update that HH installed a couple of months back. So you’ll notice that it will disappear and reappear as I play with it. So, if you’ve got a button for your blog, let me know so I can add it. I’ve already added a few of the blogs I love, if you’d care to check them out!
You’ll also notice some new buttons to the far right. Boomama is hosting another Christmas Tour of Homes. Our decorating will be very minimal this year, but I plan on showing you our tree! Also, it’s time for 5 Minutes for Mom’s Christmas Giveaways! There are some great prizes up for grabs already. And finally, I’ve joined the Soles4Souls 50,000 Pairs in 50 Days Challenge. For as little as $5, you can help too! I can’t think of anything more rewarding that giving God’s blessing of SHOES to those in need! Click on the button (far right corner) to help out!
Also, I’ve got a couple of reviews and a couple of giveaways coming up! So stay tuned for that.
And if you did come here to read about poop, let me not disappoint…
Woggie has started announcing his twosies, with “I’m am poopin’.” (As if the odd posture and grunting did not give it away.) I realize that it’s quite the milestone for a toddler to be aware of this and even though I don’t think I’m quite ready to potty train him yet, I hate to miss the opportunity to open the potty discussion. So, at his announcement, I ask “Would you like to poop in the potty?” To which he responds, “No, I’m am like poopin’ in the living room.” What do you say to that?
Some Whining, Some Rambling, Some Self-Help, and A New Euphemism To Add To Your Vocabulary
November 11, 2008 No comments »I’m not enjoying my life right now. Is it ok to say that?!
Having a new baby has stressed me and stretched me more than I’d ever imagined. I am fully aware than many folks parent two children every day. Some, even three, four, or five kids. Some, even without the aids of anti-psychotic medications. But, I have come to a creeping realization that I am not cut out for this. That is not to say that I do not love my kids or love being a mom. I adore both of my children more than anything. Being their mom is a more amazing role than I could have ever dreamed (dreamt?) for myself. I am richly blessed. That being said, the crying, the feeding, the spit up, the changing, the snot… I’m drowning in it. And it took a weekend away from all of that to realize just how much I’m losing myself.
HH and I spent the weekend at our collegiate alma mater’s homecoming festivities. Festivities that for the past ten years have involved loading up and heading to a small college town a few hours away and acting like we’re still college students. It’s been fun and a much needed yearly escape from normal life. This year was different, though. It could have been the band that we heard on Friday night. They were fourteen. No, they didn’t look fourteen (they looked twelve if you ask me), they were fourteen. It could have been the young campus bookstore employee that “yes ma’am”ed me three times. It could have that all I really wanted to do while I was there was sleep without interruption. Or maybe it was just that the only time I felt really normal was at the game when I spent thirty minutes with my friend, J, talking about our children’s behavior issues. I’m pretty sure that it had nothing to do with the two young ladies that joined the group of us for dinner after the game who, despite having each bore a child, had tiny waists, awesome racks, and train cases FULL of MAC eyeshadows. Or maybe that had something to do with it. By the way, am I the only one who had no idea that “selling shoes” was a euphemism for exotic dancing? Just checking.
Whatever the exact cause, I felt all out of sorts. As HH kindly put it to me, so much in my life has changed in the two years since the last time I ventured to our college town… kids, career, church, etc. And, while it’s obvious he is a closeted Dr. Phil watcher, he had a point. I guess it is pretty normal to feel wonky when you leave the element that is home to revisit a place where you spent so many years being someone so different, especially when you are still struggling to find yourself in the place you are every day. (Trust me when I tell you that thought makes complete sense in my head and I amm therefore, deeming it too philisophically deep to properly translate into sentence form.)
Having the Bug has thrown me into a tailspin. I enjoy her coos and her smiles. And Woggie’s “terrible twos” are speckled with moments that make my heart want to burst, like when he sings his ABC’s or when he reaches for my hand so we can say the blessing. Those are moments that I love and I know I will miss. Those are moments when I want to stop time and just nuzzle squishy cheeks or squeeze little hands. Those are moments when I don’t want time to go by any faster. I do, however, realize that this stage of motherhood is not where my gifts lie. I have been putting too much stress on myself to be supermom and feeling too much guilt for not loving every minute of my day.
I think I now kind of have my head wrapped around how I’ve been feeling for a few months. Now, I can work on feeling like myself again, fully realizing that the myself that I am may not be the myself that I remember (ok, enough with the deep stuff). The first thing I need to do is admit some things:
1. I am having a hard time being a mom of two.
2. And that is ok.
3. This is just a season of my life.
4. And a season only lasts for a short time.
(I’ll be rereading #2 and #4 until I am 100% believing it!)
(Oh, and I know that all of you moms to more than two are totally laughing me for #1.)
The next thing I have to do is make adjustments to my life and my attitude to not only get us through this season, but to find the joy in it. I know it’s there. I read your blogs.
Let’s all take some time to absorb what we’ve learned today, shall we? We’ll revisit the adjustments later.
Ya’ll, He Had So Much Fun
November 2, 2008 No comments »In what wreaks of Slacker Mom Syndrome, I sent Wog trick-or-treating in his pajamas. But he didn’t seem to mind nearly as much as I did. This year was his first trick-or-treat outing (as in walking around the neighborhood and begging complete strangers for candy). He had so much fun! With little rehearsal at all, he was able to exclaim “Trick-or-Treat!” or “Thank you!” at the appropriate times and with little prompting. Of course, there was that one older gentleman’s home where Wog got a little confused and said “Thank you” when the man opened the door and “Trick-or-Treat” once he’d given him the candy. But all in all it was a wonderful time. Until Saturday, that is, when all day long he whined to go trick-or-treating again.
And I do have a small confession. We totally crashed a neighborhood to trick-or-treat. But it was my parents’ neighborhood. We sensed that the candy would be better there, plus we had someone to watch the Bug so that HH and I could both accompany Woggie on his first T.o.T. (can I coin that abbreviation? I am so tired of typing those words… I think I’ve used them a bazillion times already).
