Costume Time

This evening Munchkie and I spent some time together creating a Halloween costume for her to wear this weekend.  As I looked online, cut, glued, and measured, I was reminded of how much my mother did for me growing up.  She made so many costumes, and not always just for Halloween, she encouraged our creativity and exploration.  Because of her encouragement and creativity I am now trying to do the same for my own daughter.

My mom is coming in just a few short hours and I am always so grateful for her when she comes.  She can hold it all together, helping us clean, cook and care for Munchkie.  We know that she is there to support us and help us.    She's always up for any activity we plan and watches Munchkie for us so we can plan an activity for just Munchkie's Daddy and I.

 I hope that I can pass on to Munchkie what my mother has passed on to me.  I hope that she someday is creative and makes costumes for her own kids.  I also hope that Munchkie doesn't look ridiculous begging for candy next to all of the expensive store bought costumes that the other kids will be wearing.

 

Munchkie and Mommy Monday

I am very slowly adjusting to city life.  I can get where I need to by bus or by subway.  I'm learning to walk to the Family Dollar down the street or popping into a CVS I pass by instead of hopping in my car and going to Target.  I love the convenience of being able to walk most places.  I love that we're hardly ever filling our car with gas.

However, I do not like the fact that I have to wake up at 5:15am and leave the house by ten til six.  Or that IF I get off my twelve and a half hour shift on time I can hope to be home by 8:30pm.  I do not like that these days are long and tiring.  I feel like I have to spend a day recovering from them, which to me defeats the purpose of working only three days a week.

So on my days off, I try to give myself at least one recoop day.  We are paying for Munchkie to go to daycare five days a week, but I keep her home with me at least one day each week.  We need our time together.  Time to do fun things and spend time together.  Today started off a little rough, I had a hard time pulling myself together, but once I was up and going, we made the most of our day.

 We walked to the neighborhood square, mailed some packages at the post office.  Then we picked up some pull ups for big girls at night and stopped at the little ice cream shop.  There's a crate full of games in the corner to play while you're eating your ice cream, homemade soup or fresh lobster roll.

 We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and headed home, with a little hand in the box of cereal to help erase the phrase "I hun-gee Mommy"

 Apparently I wore her out.  I arrived home and this is what I found.  Hand still in the box.

 I had to go in and wake her up after a three hour nap.  Then we went for a walk, bus ride and two subways to meet Munchkie's Daddy after school.

 Watching out the window is so much fun!  Especially when there are sailboats out on the river we're crossing. 

 My plan was to arrive downtown, take a picture of a recipe in a cookbook at Barnes and Noble, pick up Munchkie's Daddy and head home.  Well, it took us almost two hours to get downtown.  There was a really cute little table set up in the kids section with scrap paper and crayons, so we sat and colored for a little bit. 

 And the apple must not have lasted too long because the phrase "I hun-gee Mom" returned.  So we ended up walking to a nearby Chipotle to fill those empty tummies.

 And we couldn't pass up the ice cream store we went by.......

this one had a cow on it

 While eating her apple cider ice cream Munchkie says: This ice cream tastes like a mountain.

What does that mean?!?!?

Apparently I had been taking too many pictures today.  Munchkie says "Smile Mama!  I taking your picture!"

That's Some Stellar Parenting

I have felt like a stellar mother this week (insert dripping sarcasm here).  I am in no way a morning person and thankfully this job has eased me into the early morning thing with each morning of work being an hour earlier.  However, it kills me that I live a ten to fifteen minute drive from the hospital and yet, it takes me over an hour to get to work using the public transportation system.  The other morning I woke up at the still-night-hour of 5:45 to get ready to be at work by 8am. Munchkie's Daddy had his first presentation of the school year and was a nervous wreck.  I noticed that he wasn't in bed with me and when I went into the living room he was just lying down on the couch.  I told him to go to bed.  What good would he be at a presentation if he got next to no sleep, and the hour or so that he got was on the couch?  After sending him to bed, I rushed around trying to get ready.  As I was trying to get out of the door, a little face was smiling at me over a baby gate.  That sweet little face says to me, "Look Mama!  I wake up!"  Oh no!  Why?!?  Why did she have to wake up so early?!?!  I whispered to her, "Mama has to go to work, play in your room for a little while so Daddy can sleep."  Next thing I knew there was crying, no she didn't want to do that.  She wanted to be with Mama.  Naturally.  So I did what every good mother running out the door does.  I poured a bowl of cereal, filled a sippy cup with milk and turned PBS on, leaving the door to Munchkie's Daddy opened and raced out the door.  I was slightly late to work, but so were other new people, so I didn't feel so bad about that.  However, all morning I was a complete mess about running out the door like that.  Besides the fact that I don't really like that I am leaving my daughter most days with what feels like a stranger who's name I know, mornings like this make it extremely difficult to walk through the door and away from her. 

Today, I was scheduled to work for twelve hours, the shift that I will be working.  Somehow we got very lucky and they decided to cut our training a little short today, so I was home shortly after seven.  Normally I will be getting home around 8:30.  This means that I will be gone from before 6:00am until around 8:30am.  If I work two days in a row, I will not see Munchkie for those two days.  At all.  Oh, this is a very difficult realization.  While life in a city has so many advantages at times, being able to walk down to a market, having a huge aquarium or park nearby and having access to a very reliable public transportation system, it also means that it takes a while to get anywhere.  I just don't know how I will be able to handle this.  I love my family and my family comes first in everything.  Not being able to see Munchkie, hear about her day, talk to her or even get a hug is going to be extremely difficult.  I guess that it will be a learning experience for all of us. 

We will have to learn how to make the time we do have together incredible.  This makes it very difficult to want to do necessary things around the house.  I feel like even reading the mail is taking time away from spending time with Munchkie.  Right now I am writing this quickly, since she just went to bed and I need to do the same.  I cannot bring myself to set my alarm clock for any earlier than 5am, so I have one alarm set for 5am and another "no really, wake up now" alarm set for 5:15am.  Hopefully by the time I come home tomorrow, I will still be functioning enough to make Saturday a wonderful together time day.  Each day home has to count, has to make up for those days that the time spent together is only moments, if any. 

These few and far between times together, along with racing out the door leaving a crying child behind and not being able to provide more than a bowl of cold, dry cereal, does not make me feel like a good mother at all.  I don't know how other mothers do it.  I just don't.

Time Off

I'm starting to get a little depressed.  I was so excited to have a month off of work during our move and now that month is rapidly coming to a close.  I had such high hopes to explore the area and spend time with Munchkie but I have been dwelling on the fact that I have to go back to work soon.  I think that since Munchkie has started her childcare, I am spending my days alone and it makes me sad.  I am here with time off so that I can spend it with her.  But instead, I am home, and she is under the care of someone else. 

I know that she is having a lot of fun and talks about all of the kids that she plays with.  I know that she needs the interaction with other kids and the time away from family to learn in other ways.  However, I also know that I like to spend time with Munchkie.   I think she's getting tired of my "lovin" but she still gives me hugs and kisses when I ask.  We also have been snuggling on the couch when she gets home. 

I'm hoping that by writing out my fears here, I can get past them and get my behind into gear.  I have just over a week left of my time off and I need to make the most of it instead of dwelling on the time that I don't have off.  I need to stick to my room a day organization and do things like make it to the DMV to get a new license.  Hopefully tomorrow's post will have pictures of my completed bedroom.

The New NonMom 'Do

**You don't have to be a mom to take advantage of this great hair idea!**
My wonderful friend from Our Tiny House passed along a link to me on how to create curly/wavy hair in literally no time.  I tried it overnight last night and it truly was amazing.  Many times I have talked about my hair and so you know that I am always striving to find something fast and easy.

The Busy Mom Hair Trick That Changed My Life

It was so easy and after watching the video once I did what she said.  Here are the pictures that I took along the way.

 This was my hair air dried- not so great looking.

 All wrapped up and ready to go

 Side view

 This was what it looked like after sleeping on it all night.  Still pretty much the same as the day before.

 On a walk this morning to the farmer's market.

This was what the back looked like when we got back from the farmer's market.

UPDATE 9/6/11

I tried the hair thing a little differently.  I didn't like the way the back didn't get much wave.  So I put one headband on and took a top section of the back of my hair and wrapped it around the headband.  Then I wrapped my bangs around this headband the other direction.  Then I took the rest of my hair and wrapped it around a second headband.  I like these results much better.  It's just so easy! 

A Good Lesson to Teach

I hope this is something that I can pass along to my own daughter. 

Take a minute and stop to help someone in need.  You'll remember it, and probably so will they.

Character on Aisle Nine

First of the Goodbyes

Yesterday we went to our favorite store, Whole Foods, to get some fruit for a daycare goodbye party.  Today was the "party" and with all of the regulations at the daycare fresh fruit seems to be the best option.  While there and walking by the body section it completely hit me that I forgot about teacher's gifts.  How could I forget such a thing growing up in a family of teachers? 

The body scrub that caught our eye reminded me of a body scrub I had made a while back and so I decided that I could do better than the asking $14.99 a pound.  Salt is under $2 a pound so with a couple essential oils I decided to make my own.  I tried to recreate the scent we all liked the best, but it didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.  While I was doing that I also started working on some candles.

These aren't just any candles.  These were candles that I was going to make for Mother's Day.  We bought all of the ingredients in April and a box of ingredients has been sitting on the floor of our kitchen since about then.  I had literally everything ready to go and just never got around to doing it.  I told Munchkie's Daddy that it was because I was supposed to wait until now for teacher's gifts.  So with some sand from the beach just down the street, wax, ocean mist scent and Goodwill glasses, I made some candles.

I have to say that I was so proud of the finished product.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I took them in this morning and just walking into the room I started crying.  The daycare has done so much for us in the last 8 months.  They taught Munchkie how to play with other kids and share. How to "use her words," and to "focus."  She learned to wait her turn and be patient.  She learned colors, and potty trained.  She made friends and looked forward to every day there.  They helped me be able to sleep and work without worry.  I also was able to spend a few days completely by myself, which is something a working mother is never able to do.  While most people look down on daycare, I am eternally grateful for all this daycare has been to us.  The first of our goodbyes was an emotional one.

Body Scrub
2 cups salt
1/4 cup safflower oil
several drops essential oil(s) of your choice
-Mix together until thoroughly mixed, but still powdery.  Rub over body and wash off. 

No Princesses Here

I have a little pet peeve.  No.  Not a little one.  A HUGE pet peeve.  I can not handle the little divas of today.  I can not handle when I go into a store and see little girls throwing temper tantrums in the aisles and their tired mothers' give in to them to avoid a scene.  Because with each "compromise" a girl realizes that she has control over her parents and that she can continue to throw a fit to get what she wants.  I spend a lot of time hoping and praying that I am not that mother in one of those aisles.  I can not handle the mentality that each girl is a princess who should get whatever she wants.  The phrase "treat her like a princess" does not mean to give into her every whim, as most people think. 

A few weeks ago when Munchkie and I walked into her classroom there was someone visiting who made a comment about Munchkie being such a little princess and recent events started to come together.  I had seen this parent in the classroom several times and a few day prior to this Munchkie came home, found a blanket and put it on her head.  She pranced around saying "I a pin-sess Mommy!  I a pin-sess!"  and I told her then "We don't have princess in this house, so take the blanket off your head or pretend something else."  See, pretending to be a princess today is very different than pretending to be a princess when I was growing up.  I used to pretend to have tea parties, I loved the Disney Princess movies and spent hours in my great grandmother's old heels wearing my mother's old dresses.  However, the lessons I learned from the Disney Princesses were not lessons of being entitled and privileged but of overcoming difficult times- which everyone has, including princesses. 

So today, when a nice Italian man said to Munchkie "oh aren't you a little princess" to which she energetically agreed, I refrained from stating the thoughts in my head.  I wanted to shoot off that she was not a princess, we didn't believe in princesses, she has manners and respect for others around her.  But I refrained and instead smiled, said "yeah she's a crazy" and kept walking.  In my head I began to think about how I was going to combat this princess mentality.  Because I will not have a diva with a princess mentality.  I will continue to enforce manners, treating others with respect, and selflessness and hope that I can help form a beautiful girl who exemplifies these qualities..

There's An App For That

We recently switched cell phone companies and thanks to an amazing deal, were able to join the world of wireless at your fingertips.  I love being able to send off an email when I think of something I want to tell someone.  I love being able to respond quickly to an email.  I love being in a store, remembering something in the circular that I wanted, bringing it up on my phone, showing the employee who then finds the item for me.  But most of all, I love having apps on my phone.

Right now my favorite is a game for Munchkie.  It is so great, she wants to play with it all day long.  The app is called "Where's Mommy?" and it's description is "The Photo Game You Create."  What you do is take pictures of anything you want, ad it to the app and then record your voice saying "Where is <fill in the blank>."  Then for the game the screen has twelve pictures on it and your voice gives the commands.  The child then taps the corresponding picture and this continues until all twelve items have been found.  I spent most of the morning taking pictures of everything I could find around the house, from food to toys to shapes to animals.

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday, during nap time in which she has to come with me.  I am hoping that she likes the app so much that it will keep her occupied and happy for the length of the appointment.  I think I will soon become one of those moms who can't imagine life without her phone.  It keeps our lives together with the calender, updates all my contacts from my email account, keeps me linked to the wireless world AND entertains my child.  You can't beat that!

MY Mama Never Said There'd Be Days Like This!

Well, at least if my mom did tell me there would be days like these, I didn't listen to her.  To start, I am writing this at 2:09 am.  I worked Friday night through Wednesday night with Monday night "off", which means that I spent at least part of the day sleeping for work, working or sleeping from work, Friday through Thursday and spent over 63 out of 133 hours at work.  Ugh!  Today I intentionally only allowed myself a few hours sleep in the hopes that I would be able to sleep tonight.  Nice try!

While working so much there was absolutely no way that I could even fathom thinking up, making and cleaning up after a meal.  I have never been so thankful for Chipotle in all of my life.  I was able to "provide" a meal that was full of veggies, beans, and meat free of hormones or antibiotics.  It was a delicious meal that fed us that night, then Munchkie and Munchkie's Daddy the next day for lunch as well.

I just don't ever think that I realized how tired a person could be.  Emotionally and physically.  All this work, prep for traveling to the in-laws this weekend, more work, traveling 17 hours to the family lakehouse, more work and then moving is a lot for one little family to handle!  I just never expected my life to be like this.  So busy all of the time that I can barely keep my head on straight, let alone do things that are enjoyable.  On Tuesday when I woke up I took Munchkie to daycare, Munchkie's Daddy to work, came home, got a quick work out in, showered, dashed off to the dentist, came home, tried to sleep for a couple hours, got my dinner and Munchkie's lunch ready for the next day, laid her outfit out, while trying to have some quality time with the family at the same time as I was getting ready for work.  Whew!

So how is it, that after this exhausting week I cannot fall asleep?  How is this possible?  Probably a lot of it has to do with the fact that when my head hits the pillow it starts running like crazy.  Making lists for the store, making lists of things to pack for this weekend, making lists of things to pack for two weeks from now, figuring out what days I can get all of the laundry done, plotting out a Word document of all the things we need to measure at the new apartment next week, who I need to call to catch up with and meals I can put together or bring with me to keep eating healthy during these busy times.

Throughout this I am finding it even more important to deliberately spend time with my family.  Something I thought just happened.  I never realized that you have to specifically set aside time to spend with those you live with.  Through all of this we are trying to make time to get a little movement in together.  This actually works out beautifully, we go walking on paths by our house laughing, talking and playing together.  We look for animals and identify different sounds we hear.  Then we sit on the rock and watch for boats to go by before heading back watching out for rocks and roots.  Taking this time in the quiet, peaceful outdoors has really showed me how great it is to spend time moving as a family, it makes those busy times just melt away for a little while.

Yay! E-i-zing!

I have tried countless times to get into exercising.  To be honest, I just hate it.  It's something that I dread, but I know that I have to do.  I don't enjoy sweating.  I don't enjoy huffing and puffing.  I don't enjoy feeling like I'm going to die.  I don't enjoy having to take the time to get ready afterwords. I just don't like it.  Munchkie's Daddy and I say frequently that we wish we were the kind of people who craved running or weight lifting instead of craving Cheese-its or ice cream.  We're just not those kind of people.  Munchkie's Daddy sent me this article on How Exercise Makes Us Feel Good from the NY Times and I know that you are supposed to feel good when you exercise, but it's actually building up the motivation to start exercising that's the problem.  When you anticipate the sweating, shortness of breath, feeling of death, you have to really psych yourself up to exercise.  We are moving soon to an area that relies mostly on public transportation, bikes or your own two feet to get around and so I feel that we need to really work on our physical fitness.  If I'm miserable exercising and I have to run a few blocks to catch a train, I'm going to be out of breath, sweating and miserable before I even get to work.  Not something I'm looking forward to.

I subscribe to several of the Simple Living Media blogs and in their newsletter they highlighted this post on Simple Family Fitness and it caught my eye.  I have always been someone who needed someone to exercise with and keep me motivated.  Who's better to keep you motivated than your family?  So I did some blog hopping from that post and went to fitfamilytogether.com to read some more.  Munchkie's Daddy really like the idea too and so I signed up for the 7 day challenge.  We went on our first family walk together when I woke up today.  I have to go back into work tonight, but instead of wanting to lay on the couch and not do anything, I'm feeling pretty good.  We had such a fun time and hope to continue going on family walks and bike rides. In the words of Munchkie "Yay Mommy, we're e-i-zing! look at me! I running!"

Do You Cook in Cast Iron?

Do you own a cast iron skillet?  If so, do you use it?  Like good newlyweds we registered for a Lodge Logic cast iron skillet and didn't know what to do with it.  I made cornbread occasionally and that was the extent of my cast iron usage.  On the way back from my aunt's in North Carolina a few times we stopped at the Lodge Logic outlet and picked up a few more things, including a small skillet that needed to be seasoned.  Now, five years later, we don't even put the skillets away because they are used the most.

Farmer's Market sugar snap peas with a drizzle of olive oil, scoop of sesame tahini, salt, pepper, teriyaki and sesame seeds.

Lately, I've been reading about the health benefits of cast iron, especially for women.  Women are especially prone to anemia, as well as not taking care of ourselves.  If there's something we can do for ourselves that's simple, we should do it.  Everything that we cook from scrambled eggs to vegetables to chicken breast is cooked in the cast iron skillet and the extra iron gives us a little boost.  It also makes a mean corn bread in the oven.  The clean up is ridiculously easy, we just take pour a little drizzle of olive oil in the pan and wipe out.  No water, no soap and no scrubbing.  No matter what we cook in it, all we have to do is wipe it out, the seasoning makes it almost no stick.

Here are several links to articles about cast iron skillets that I found in a two second Google search. 

Anemia and Nutrition: The Importance of Iron
Anemia- Dietary Factors
Anemia and Pregnancy
Ever So Humble, Cast Iron Outshines the Fancy Pans
The Benefits of Cast Iron Cooking

If you have a cast iron skillet you should use it. Not only does it cook your food quickly and evenly, it gives you a little extra iron that you may not be getting from your diet.

I Not Food!

Today I received a call from Munchkie's daycare teacher saying to give her a call, or we'd chat when I picked her up.  When I received the voicemail I was already walking out the door to go get her, so I figured I would just wait until I got to the school.  The whole way there, I was panicking, did I do something wrong?  Did I send the wrong thing in her lunch?  It didn't sound urgent, so I figured she was safe and ok.

When I got to the daycare the aide was there with the remaining kids and looked down at the floor as she said "She got bit today"
I said "Oh, ok, that's no big deal."
She said "No, she got bit by a kid, not a bug."
I replied "Oh I figured, don't worry about it, she's been bit by dogs several times, we just tell her to rub it and move on"

The aide said that the funniest part was that Munchkie said "I not food!" after she was bit, as if to indicate that you are only supposed to bite food.

Because the daycare doesn't want parents to get upset with other kids or blame other parents, they never tell who the offending child is.  Even if a virus is going around the classroom, they don't say who the first snot faced kid was.  So naturally, when Munchkie and I show Munchkie's Daddy her bite, he says "you got bit?  Who bit you?" and being the good daughter she is, she totally sold out the kid. 

Even though she was completely fine and when I asked if I could see her owie, she went to reach for her foot (not sure what owie was there!) so it obviously didn't bother her.  I felt bad for her.  So after dinner we went for ice cream.  She had no idea why we were going out for ice cream, but she was loving figuring out an ice cream cone for the first time.  She was loving it so much that she had to strip down to her diaper for the ride home.

This is a day that I knew was eventually going to come, but still dreaded.  While I completely understand that these things happen, I want to make sure that my daughter was not the one provoking the situation.  I know kids will be kids, but I hope that she will learn to share and be kind to others.

I Actually Won Something!

I am so excited!  I went to check my email before I hopped in the shower for work and there in my inbox was the subject "you won the snack bags from Homemade Mothering!"  Yay!  I had almost forgot that I had entered Homemade Mothering's Contest.  I have seen many reviews on reusable snack bags, but couldn't convince Munchkie's Daddy that they were worth the price.  I think that FREE Itzy Ritzy bags might help.  I am getting two free bags, and I get to choose my three favorite patterns. 
 I can't wait for them to come and although my comment that helped me win the bags was  

My daughter’s favorite thing to say now is “take it us” and she will hold whatever it is up to her cheek. This would be perfect for me to say, if it can fit in the bag, it can come with us. Whether it’s her sunglasses, a random Melissa and Doug pretend food, small book, crayon or anything else she decides to love at that moment.

 I think it will also be used frequently in Munchkie's lunches to daycare.  We tend to use a lot of ziploc bags to daycare because the foods I send are mostly finger foods.  These will be great to replace ziploc bags.

I am so excited and so thankful to Homemade Mothering for a contest that I actually won!

Regression

I picked Munchkie up from daycare today and ended up staying for a little bit talking with her teacher.  They document everything the children do from each minute they sleep, to each bite they take as well as every time they go to the bathroom.  My poor Munchkie had wet herself at least 6 times, sometimes just minutes after sitting on the toilet.  Yesterday morning by the time I woke up there was a pile of dirty wet clothes from her multiple accidents. This started happening last week after she would go an entire week without an accident.

It's amazing how much your own feelings can influence a child who doesn't even comprehend the feelings her parents are feeling.  Right now I can not even comprehend all that is going on in our life.  There have been way too many stressors and way too many tragedies in our lives lately.  I feel like every time I log onto Facebook I see something else that adds to my prayer list and brings tears to my eyes.  I don't understand why these things are happening to those I love, but I will continue to pray for the families of those going through difficult times.

I am also praying for peace and comfort to my own family.  We are taking a several day hiatus from potty training, knowing that we will be traveling and celebrating the life of a close family member.  We are hoping that upon our return we will be able to restore a happy, positive, peaceful environment to our home and begin the potty training process over again. 

I am going to continue telling myself that regressions happen and it is not my fault that Munchkie is being influenced by the feelings of her parents.  As a parent you want to protect your child from the negative things in life, but no matter how hard you try, they are touched by it.  It kills me to know that my tears and my sadness are directly relating to her accidents, but I also want Munchkie to understand that emotions are not something to be hidden and covered up.  I want to teach her that in difficult times we "pay to Sheshus (pray to Jesus)," in good times we "pay to Sheshus" and with his help, we can overcome all of the hurt and stress in our lives.

Honey Whole-Wheat Strawberry Shortcakes for Mother’s Day

This looks freaking amazing!  Hey Munchkie's Daddy, are you keeping up with my blog?????  Hint Hint.....

Honey Whole-Wheat Strawberry Shortcakes for Mother’s Day

Two Going on Tween

With all the change that is happening in our lives it feels like things are moving so fast.  I feel like my life is rapidly changing and evolving into something unrecognizable.  I am overcome with all kinds of emotions every day.  The array of emotions include fear, excitement, anxiety, sadness, anticipation, and stress.  Tonight I was watching TV and there was a commercial for Mother's Day and I actually had to choke back tears.  There was a teenager in the commercial and I had visions of my little Munchkie as a teenager.  It feels like life is moving so fast that this day will come much sooner than I would like.  Each day Munchkie is expressing more of an attitude and temper tantrums that really show she's no longer my little baby.  This is such a difficult realization.  I know that I am being a little overly dramatic about her being a teenager soon, but things are moving fast.  I just love my Munchkie so much and even though each day seems better than the last, I don't want the days to fly.

How do you savor each moment?  How do you prevent the days, months and years from flying by?

A Day in the Life

I wrote most of this in the car on the way to my inlaws for Easter. I thought I would share a day in the life of Munchkie's Mama. And then I wonder why I'm tired.....

4:45am Alarm goes off, press snooze
4:47am Feel guilty for pressing snooze, so put glasses on.
4:50am Get out of bed and go downstairs
4:55am Take preassembled French toast casserole out of fridge, mush up defrosted fruit and put on top and sprinkle crumb topping over. Put in the oven.
5:05am Go back upstairs to Munchkie’s room and administer nebulizer treatment.
5:15am Put on exercise clothes and get DVD ready to go.
5:17am Put scrubs in dryer on wrinkle release setting because they were wadded up in the bottom of a laundry basket.
5:20am Begin torture aka Jillian’s 30 day shred.
5:35am Pull casserole from oven, resume work out.
5:55am Dripping in sweat, grab apple and quickly eat while getting ready for shower.
6:05am Take shower, dry hair, get ready.
6:32am Finish packing suitcase for Munchkie and I.
6:3 5am Run upstairs, flip lights on to wake Munchkie’s Daddy up and yell, “I’m late I’m really late get up get up get up!”
6:37am Come back downstairs, grab lunch, put on scrubs, sweep bathroom and kitchen for anything missed or left behind.
6:39am Put shoes and jacket on.
6:41am Dash out door with casserole, work bag, and tote with change of clothes.
6:58am Arrive to work and make it upstairs as fast as I can.
7:01am Swipe into work one minute late.
8:32am Have already realized that I forgot something, call Munchkie’s Daddy.
12:45pm Sit to eat a salad.
2:10pm Call Munchkie’s Daddy to see how things are going.
6:23pm Realize that I told Munchkie’s Daddy to bring the eggs, but not the egg decorating kit. He says he’s already got it.
7:33pm Get out of work, change clothes and walk out.
7:38pm Do some slight rearranging of car to fit self and more stuff into the car that already has two adults, two dogs, one toddler, two suitcases, three Easter baskets, Easter basket contents, medical supplies for the wheezing toddler, and several storage tubs to store at inlaws.
7:39pm Insert “Elmo’s Potty Time” into DVD player.
7:40pm Ask Munchkie’s Daddy about everything you can think of that might have been missed.
7:49pm Resort to fast food for dinner because there aren’t many options.
8:35pm Give Munchkie blanket, doll and Elmo and say it’s night night time.
8:53pm Realize that the Easter dress your mother in law made is hanging on the back of Munchkie’s bedroom door.
8:57pm Call work to laugh about it, because what else can you do.
9:01pm Tell Munchkie she’s not funny and that it’s night night time.
9:03pm Explain to Munchkie that we can’t go home yet to go night night because we have to go see Nana and Grandpa.
9:04pm Explain to Munchkie that her Uncle is away at college and will not be there.
9:10pm Tell Munchkie it’s night night time.
9:13pm Put pillow inbetween driver and passenger seat to form a wall.
9:15pm Tell Munchkie to go night night.
9:17pm Realize that Munchkie is dripping in sweat in her fleece pjs.
9:18pm Turn on cold air and start shivering.
9:20pm Begin to ignore Munchkie.
9:45pm Search gps for area stores.
10:08pm Arrive at Walmart.
10:16pm Try to hold back tears when there are no dresses to be found.
10:17pm Find dress on way out of store and figure out which is the lesser of the evils while envisioning the beautiful pink and white checked dress hand made with love.
10:18pm Join what seems to be one of many never ending lines.
10:34 Listen as the cashier states “You would think people didn’t realize that stores were open tomorrow” and reply “Well my excuse is that 2 hours into our trip to my inlaws we realized that my daughter’s Easter dress my mother in law made is sitting at home” then have cashier say “What is your problem mom can’t get things together?” Tell cashier “My problem is that I woke up before 5am, worked all day until 7:30pm and then started on the road” Cashier replies ”Ok, well you probably should have gotten it ready for your husband ahead of time.”
10:36pm Finally get out of Walmart feeling like the worst mom ever and resume travels.
11:25pm Soothe a crying Munchkie back to sleep.
11:55pm Soothe a crying Munchkie back to sleep.
12:24am Soothe a coughing, crying Munchkie back to sleep.
12:49am Tell Munchkie that it’s ok, we’re almost there the neb treatment is coming soon.
12:58am Arrive to inlaws. Run inside, set up neb machine.
1:03am Administer neb to a very cranky and sleepy Munchkie.
1:17am Literally fall into bed.
6:15am Alarm goes off, wake up and shower.
Happy Easter

Aquarium Day....... Again....

I have been reading a book that my good friend sent me "I Don't Know How She Does it" by Allison Pearson and while I can relate to a lot of what is happening in the book, it also makes me feel so much better that maybe I do hold my life together.  I have laughed quite a bit in understanding of the situations and feel like there is finally a book I can relate to while being a working mom.  The pure exhaustion, intense guilt of going to work and desire to "make up" for the time spent away from family.  The book makes me feel legitimized in my feelings and helps me know that I am not the only mother who both loves and hates her job at the same time.  I hate to go because it's so hard to leave but when I'm there I love what I do.  Still, I think of the sacrifices that could be made to stay at home,  not leaving my daughter in the care and control of someone else.

In the book the main character, Kate Reddy, talks about what an awesome responsibility parenthood is.  She says that YOU decide what to teach your kids.  It's up to YOU to help them form their beliefs, morals and ways of life.  What you say, your children believe and your life is an example to them.  She talks about how hard it is to not want your kids to drink juice, but then you aren't there every day to enforce these rules, someone else, that you are paying to grow close to your child, is the one who decides how the rules are followed through.

Now all this to say that I have been overly sensitive lately about having to go to work and leave my daughter in the care of people whom I barely know.  I am giving them my daughter and my hard earned money.  Something seems slightly wrong about this.  So in my guilt, I have been trying to do fun things with Munchkie on my days off.  We have gone to the aquarium weekly for a couple of months now because she loves it so much.  We went to get our car washed several times in the last couple months just for fun, and I let her walk along beside me in Target because I want the time we spend together to be happy memories for both of us.

This week when we were at the aquarium I noticed (and obviously was bothered by it, or I wouldn't be blogging) that the other moms were giving me this look.  We go first thing in the morning, just minutes after the aquarium opens, on a weekday when there aren't many people there.  The moms look at me and give me this look.  The only way I know how to describe it is "Aren't you just so glad that we get to stay home and do things with our kids?  We are providing so much more to them by staying home and enriching their lives with outings such as the aquarium."  I really am not imagining these looks.  At first I thought I was just crazy, but then I realized that every single mom gave me that look.  And the two dads that were there with their children had almost guilty looks on their faces.  Probably similar to what I was feeling, the "I work so much and spend so little time with my children that I take them to places like the aquarium so we can have a good time together and talk about it for several days afterword while I continue to work and not be home."  I wanted to punch these moms in the face and tell them that they have no idea.

While Munchkie and I were at the children's touch and explore tank, feeling sea stars and crabs, there were three moms, with their kids running around uncontrolled, talking.  I overheard their conversation and had to roll my eyes.  They were discussing the academies they were applying to get their kids into.  The one mom asked if they had been to visit a certain academy and the responding mom waved a hand in the direction of a crazy young boy running around saying "well I don't know if we would be able to get in because we have to work on such and such."  The boy couldn't even talk yet.  Seriously?  You spend your days discussing what you have to work on with your preverbal toddler to get them into an academy so they can be ivy league material?

This reminded me that there are many positives about the life we live.  Munchkie goes to a daycare where she is surrounded by kids of many different backgrounds and ethnicities.  She is learning to work well with others, use manners, share, respect those around her and look up to children older than her. She is well loved and knows that Mommy and Daddy can relax and have fun with her. We both work and she sees that working is a necessary part of life.  Munchkie understands that household chores are shared by both Mommy and Daddy.  She knows that she does not get everything she asks for and that she needs to work to achieve her goals.

While it still kills me to go to work, I also know that we have our priorities straight.

Hair Clip Review

Recently a blog that I follow had a giveaway of a hair clip by Lilla Rose and so I of course entered the contest.  I went to the website to check them out and part of the contest entry was to "like" it on Facebook, which I did.  These clips sparked my interest and I decided that although I didn't win the giveaway, I wanted to try it out.  I get bored very quickly with my hair and then tend to do something that I regret later that usually involves dye or scissors.  I thought that these clips might be a way to change things up for less money and not be quite as permanent.

After pouring through all of the option,s I selected two different kinds in two different sizes and bought them on Monday.  They arrived in the mail yesterday (Thursday)!  And I choose the cheapest mailing option.  They are speedy!  I tried out several styles last night, making Munchkie's Daddy take pictures, and also tried the small sized one on Munchkie.  She was able to wear it well until she wanted to exercise with Munchkie's Daddy and I, then it just slid out of her smooth baby hair with the jumping around.

Then I put the clip to the test.  I put it in my hair when we got to the aquarium today, chased Munchkie around the aquarium all day, came home, took a nap and then took pictures in my bathroom mirror to see what it looked like.  I have to say that I am impressed with how well it held my hair, it did take a couple attempts to get it to feel tight.  And it was much more comfortable than wearing a ponytail.  The only thing is that I'm not sure if it makes my hair look fun or if I look like a Duggar. 

I decided the best way to show these clips was just to post a lot of pictures.  So here I go.

I didn't quite understand how these clips work.  The two parts are attached and then the pin part has grooves in it that keeps it in place.

See how it's attached to the figure eight part?  Then you push the pin under your hair, as close to your scalp as you can, and push it through the loop of the figure eight part on the other side.

The figure eight part is very flexible and so can bend around different styles of hair.

I tried out the small one on Munchkie.  It's small, but just a little too big/heavy to stay in her hair like this.  I think it will work out well on my hair if I'm just going to do it halfway or maybe even just a ponytail if I can get all my hair to fit.

I did a twist with Munchkie's hair and stuck it in.  This was the hairstyle that held up until Jillian's 30 Day Shred started, and the jumping jacks were just too much for it.

These are my hair in just a simple twist.  My hair stood up a little too much for my liking. 

And then the basic ponytail.  Nothing too exciting.

Here's a random twist.

And then of course the classic french twist.

And then this is my hair after today's activities.  I didn't look in the mirror and had no idea what it looked like until I got home and took pictures.

So.  Tell me your thoughts.  What do you think about this clip?  How does it look?  Do I look like I should be wearing a long skirt?