Me
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Putting Family First
Tonight I enjoyed the first Sunday since October with the boys and Blake. You see, when Blake took his latest job to be a restaurant chef, the trade-off was that three nights during the week and all weekend he’d be working. To say it has been tough would be an understatement. But, the life as the wife of a chef is just that – it’s tough. Many times you take a back seat to a career that is long hours, fast-paced and high-stress. Nine years ago when we met, Blake worked in a kitchen, and so I knew what I signed up for when we started dating, when we got…
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A Busy Week
I took a little hiatus from blogging last week because sometimes there’s just a lot going on! My week went a little something like this… Beckett got a new bed! Bye bye crib (sniff, sniff), hello big boy bed. He was really proud of it and has made the transition pretty easily. He stays in it when we put him down, and so for me, that’s all that matters! Valentine Cupcakes for Preschool! The ice storm a couple weeks ago meant the Valentine’s party at Brogan’s school was postponed until last week. Brogan’s Valentines for his friends were strawberry cupcakes. Brogan and Beckett started a band with the pots, pans…
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My Snowpocalypse Adventure
Tuesday started off as a pretty normal day. I knew snow was in the forecast, and was pretty excited about it for the boys. I went to work and was told our office would close early and folks could take off when needed to be able to get home safely. I got a lot of work done in the morning and decided I’d stick around to eat lunch, and then hit the road. No rush. The snow had just started at my work when I set off for home. The first couple of miles were pretty easy… the roads were definitely getting snowy, but all the traffic was moving. A…
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The things I didn’t know about myself… until I became a parent
Becoming a parent is an enlightening experience. You see life through a whole new lens – you gain an instant appreciation (and admiration) for your own parents; the screaming children on a plane or in a restaurant create empathy (for the parents) instead of anger; in the presence of your kids you develop critical eyes (and ears) for television and song lyrics and others’ conversations, constantly filtering for appropriateness. But the biggest change for me has been within… or a new vantage point to myself as I discover things about me that were unknown before kids. I can handle a lot more than I ever thought. Not that I ever…
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He gets it from me?
Ever since Brogan’s feisty little personality started to present itself – along with the mischief and hyper-activity, I was certain this came from my husband. I had heard the stories from his parents about he and his twin brother always fighting; I still hear from his dad (to Blake) the infamous words, “you pay for your raising when you raise your own.” So surely Brogan’s traits were courtesy of his paternal chromosomes. And if it didn’t come from my husband, then it must have come straight out of thin air. Made sense to me. And then one day at work, I was telling one my hundreds of Brogan stories, when…
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Why I’m Not the Soccer Mom I Hoped I’d Be
Soccer mom – it’s what a lot of us strive to be – myself included. Ever since I found out there was tot soccer in our area, and Brogan expressed an interest in playing, I was pumped to get this title. I didn’t have great expectations for this 6-week “season.” I knew there would not be any real games, just “sessions” where the kids play, run and kick around a soccer ball. I was happy to ease into it all and thrilled to see Brogan in what I thought would be his element. But what being a soccer mom has meant for me is embarrassment and shame. Trying to deal…
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I Speak Mommy
Foreign language was never my strong suit. I took two years of German in high school and all I can remember is how to count to 10, “guten tag” and “ich habe die nase vol!” (“I’ve had it up to here,” for all of you non-German speakers) – sorry Mr. Brown. They say emersion is the best way to pick up another language. I’d have to agree. Turns out that after spending three years in a home with a baby (and then another), I now fluently speak mommy. The problem is, as I’m sure happens to other folks who are bi-lingual, I’ve been finding myself intertwining the two languages when…
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Winning the New Mommy Game
I’ll never forget in the first days after bringing Brogan home from the hospital, wondering how you manage to do anything other than care for your baby. And secondarily, how in the world does anyone ever do this with two?!? It was completely overwhelming; my entire day was wholly consumed with this new little being. I found it hard to do anything for myself – eat, pee, shower, you know, the basics. But eventually I was able to care for myself again. As time went on, I’d get in the groove feeling in control, routine down pat, and then guess what? The damn routine would change. But I found that…
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Toilet Seats, Road Signs and Other Random Thoughts
Everyone has them; the situations in life that make you go hmmm… things that just don’t seem right. So here are some of mine – this probably won’t be the last installment of random thoughts, but it’s a start. Why do we put seat liners on public toilets, but pay no mind to putting our tushes on (other people’s) home toilets. Is it that we think the butts of our friends are cleaner than the butts of strangers? How well do you really know your friends’ butts? Ever notice how the speed of other cars on the highway is completely relative to yours? If you’re going 15 over, all the…
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How to Be a Happy Parent
Parenting is hard and it’s easy to find yourself stuck in a rut with all the damn dailies. But I believe that happiness is relative to your expectations. We all have this romanticized idea of what parenting will be like before we have kids… and then we have them and realize some if it’s not so glamorous. Managing your expectations and keeping perspective is key to finding all the joy that parenting has to offer. Juggling your children, your marriage, a job (perhaps), and the stresses from the outside world (strangers, other parents, the media, the “experts”) can be downright stressful. Hey, no pressure, you’re only doing the most important…
