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motherhood

lists you should paste on your fridge, motherhood, Videos I dig

I think this is what they call bittersweet

March 15, 2011

It seems surreal that in about 12 hours, I’ll be on a plane to Florida for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. We’re not bringing the kids along this time so it’ll be the first time since they were born that we’ll be apart for 10 days. That’s 240 hours of not being able to snuggle in bed or smell the faint strawberry scent their freshly-washed hair or nibble on their cheeks. Something tells me that I’m not going to make it.

In short, I’m going into severe baby separation anxiety mode. 10 bucks says that I’ll bawl like a baby when I board the plane.

Also, I’m pretty sure these are the symptoms of extreme separation anxiety.

1. I’m becoming schizophrenic. I spent the last 24 hours alternating between “WHOOOO I’M LEAVING!” and “I CAN’T GO I MISS MY BABIES”, sometimes within the span of 5 seconds.

2. I have been squeezing the life out of both my kids. I’m trying to hug them extra to make up for the next 10 days, so they’ve practically been stuck to my hips all day. So much so that Truett is all “ENOUGH MOMMY” and Kirsten joins in with “don’t want mommy to hugggggg.”

3. Which is the point I sigh dramatically and say, “you guys will miss me when I’m gone.”

4. I’m considering stealing their precious duck and blankie for my trip so I can breathe in their smell and imagine they’re there with me. The only thing stopping me is the knowledge that my mom and in-laws will kill me for the 10 sleepless nights ahead of them.

5. I’m making soppy videos of my kids so I can watch them over and over again when I’m there. Like these.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4jdjsB6Rwg

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEAChqdXWC0

PS. I’ll post pictures when I’m there. Stay tuned.

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motherhood

Girls really do have all the fun

March 1, 2011

For the first time in my life, I can say with all honesty that I actually love my job. It’s definitely the toughest – I wake up earlier, work longer hours, get yelled at indiscriminately, clean up crap all day and do a lot more for way less pay but I get to do this.

I get to take the kids to the beach in the middle of the afternoon and call it education. I get to dust off the sand from in between her toes and build sand slums (they look nothing like castles). I get to see the look on their faces that can best be described as utter bliss.

I whinge a little about how insane it gets from time to time but really, I’m thankful every single day that I get to do this.

Speaking of, my friend Theresa is working on this Great Woman Pledge to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The best part is that you can help without even having to donate a cent, all you need to do is make a pledge and write why you think it’s great to be a woman. If you can’t think of any, you can steal some suggestions from her page or drop me a mail, I’d be happy to give you some ideas.

I’ve made my pledge, go make yours.

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motherhood

This just in: entomophobia could be hereditary

February 28, 2011

I just realized that parenting is a terrifying journey of self-discovery, one I don’t really want to be on.

It’s reminiscent of the time back in Secondary School when a couple of teammates staged an intervention because I was being too bossy on the basketball court (believe it or not I was actually the captain of the school team). I was apparently the equivalent of Hitler by making everyone come down at 6am to run laps around the school, among other things. Exact words were “tyrannical”, “irritating” and “not even that good” if I recall correctly, although I try to block that particular episode out of my memory.

At first, I was all “rubbish, GO RUN 20 LAPS NOW, MINIONS”. Ok, I might have just done that in my head because I had the good sense to not want to be punched in the face but I obviously thought I was being horribly maligned. Only after some discussion, I reluctantly admitted that I had in fact been just a little bit bossy.

It was an important journey of self-discovery albeit a very painful one. I like discovering things like buried treasure but bad stuff, I don’t like to discover them so much.

Over the years, I’ve discovered enough to think that I know myself pretty well. Or maybe people got tired of telling me that I sucked.

My kids though, aren’t tired of it at all. In fact, it’s so much fun pulverizing my ego that they don’t bother telling me about my flaws, they just skip right to the part about showing me instead. They’re brutal that way. And now I’m terrified that my kids are going to grow up to be exactly like me.

Let’s see. They hate vegetables, love Mraz, eat their fishball skin before the meat, laugh at inappropriate moments, are impatient, demanding, slightly insecure and also just a little bit bossy. The way Truett orders his sister around, let’s just say I can see a lot of myself in there. Best part is, Kirsten is learning to do the same. These days, she’s always “kor kor, COME HERE NOW WEAR SHOES!!”

Just the other day, I was feeding the kids dinner and as I went in to the kitchen to get a refill of water, Tru went completely batshitcrazy and started SCUH-REAMING for his life. I sprinted back into the dining room thinking that he got hurt real bad or was in severe pain and started checking him all over for cuts but there were none. He was too traumatized to talk so I just held him for a long time. Finally, after a lot of shhhhushing and gummies, he pointed to the chair and said “the insect wants to bite me.” I thought it had to be at least a madagascar hissing cockroach or a tarantula but turns out, it was a very tiny flying ant.

Before my son came along, I was the queen of overreacting to insects and the like but I’ve just been ousted by my mini me. I don’t know if I should be proud or appalled.

 

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motherhood, the breast things in life are free

My 2-and-a-half-year-old is the best medicine

December 20, 2010

I’m down with a terrible flu infection and heavily medicated but I’m still lucid enough to write this down before I go take a nap. Last night, I threw up the entire contents of my dinner after a terrible coughing fit. The kids came running to the toilet looking very concerned because they’ve never seen momma this sick before.

On the way home in the car, Tru turned to me and said “Are you feeling ok mommy? You feel better?”

My head was pounding and I was still hacking away but I felt instantly better. I’ve got the sweetest boy in the world and that really does make everything ok.

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motherhood

I love you too, princess

November 24, 2010

This is my baby at 16 months, who sometimes drives me up the wall, often says she loves me and always, always makes me feel like she means every word of it.

She just discovered the beauty of flowers and looks at them so lovingly before pressing it tightly to her chest. She held this one for a long time, then stretched out her hand and said “Fower, mommy”, which is her way of saying “Momma, you’re so awesome I want you to have the most beautiful flower I’ve ever seen”.

Touché, my little flower girl.

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milestones & musings, motherhood, stuff best described as not safe for parents

Yay I get to be the favorite

October 13, 2010

Every now and then, I still think about whether I should have left my job to stay home with the kids. Especially when I’m missing my holidays and I start reading all these studies that show how having mommy at home doesn’t necessarily make them smarter or more successful people and I’m like you’re telling me this now, after I spent the last 2 years thinking that me being home with them would be the reason they are getting into Harvard Law School. (No pressure, kids, Yale or Princeton are ok too)

Honestly, I don’t know how successful they are going to be when they grow up, but that’s not really the reason why I chose to stay home in the first place. The whole point was to be around for them during these years that they needed mommy the most. To clean their poop and fix them snacks and snuggle in bed and read stories after a nap.

Just because I’m their momma doesn’t make me their favorite person in the world. All relationships take time and effort and they’re going to be closest to whoever spent the most quality time with them, whether it’s grandma or the maid or the teachers in childcare.

Like yesterday, Tru woke up from his nap early and he was in a particularly snuggly mood. He made me put aside my laptop and said “mommy don’t do work, mommy hug Truett.” Which I did for a long time. At that point I thought of how immensely sucky it would be if he was home alone with a maid or stuck in childcare all day.

Bad scenario: He needs mommy to snuggle and ends up snuggling with Aunty Mina and one day momma comes home from work all ready for some snuggly time and he’s all like “don’t want mommy to hug, want aunty to hug” and I will go stab myself with a fork.

Worse scenario: He needs mommy to snuggle and goes to Aunty Mina and she’s too busy watching tv so he cries himself to sleep and grows up emotionally shut down and has to spend the next 20 years in counseling therapy.

So yes, I have to put up with all the tantrums and mess and screaming fits but I also enjoy the fun stuff like baby kisses and cuddles and I get to know that they mean it when they say “Mommy FAVORITE!”

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