Thankful Mommy

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We have a wonderful family. We are all happy and healthy. However, I am also thankful for the following:

• The parking spots reserved for families with small children. I wonder how long I can milk that one.
  
• Catherine’s trips to the naughty chair are getting less frequent. We will keep it around for Maddie. I have a feeling she will keep it warm quite a bit.
  
• The new play area in the mall. What a great idea! I do get confused about the shoes though. Is it just the kids that need to remove them? Or the adults too?
  
• Maddie feeding Abby from her highchair. Sometimes I get busy and forget to fill Abby’s dish. Next I will teach her to throw some food into the fish bowl.
  
• A market basket employee actually helped me put my groceries in the car last weekend (and I was alone – no kids). I have not seen that since I was a kid.
  
  Happy Thanksgiving!

Am I doing this right?

This is going to shock a few of you out there. I’m not perfect at this mommy thing. No really, it’s true. I have still not been able to pack perfect diaper bag. I am always missing something. I don’t always brush Catherine’s teeth at night. I forgot to send her with an item for show & tell last week. We don’t belong to any playgroups or participate in any sports. I even forgot to bring my camera with me to the hospital when I was having Maddie. (Okay, so I was in labor three weeks early and went from 0-7 cm in under two hours. I think I get a pass for that one) Catherine’s baby scrapbook album stops at the age of 9 months. I am the mommy at the birthday parties that doesn’t know anyone else.

The wonderful thing about this is that kids don’t expect perfection. They love you with all of your faults. They still say you’re beautiful when your hair is a mess and you have baby food all over your clothes. They don’t mind when you haven’t had time to make a home cooked meal. (In some cases they prefer canned pasta….something I never understood). At the end of the day when I’m feeling so much “mommy guilt” there is nothing like Catherine saying “I just love you soooooo much!” Perfection is overrated anyway.

Happy Birthday!

So my baby is turning one on Sunday. I know we've heard it a million times before but the years really do fly by. One year olds are such fun. I think that has to be my favorite age so far.

• They can't talk yet which means they can't yell at you.
• They think you are the funniest person they've ever met (or at least they pretend - either way its okay by me)
• They are fascinated by the smallest things - such as new shoes. This will keep them busy while you eat or read the paper.
• They LOVE baths
• They squeal when they see you
• They will wear whatever you put on them

Happy Birthday Maddie!!

Fall back

"Don't forget to turn the clocks back tonight. You get an extra hour of sleep!" I would like to know who actually gets an extra hour of sleep. It certainly was not me. Kids do not understand the concept. Actually, Abby wasn't really buying it either. Bill and I do not look at turning the clocks back as a nice thing. In fact, we call it "the longest day of our lives".

Catherine and Maddie both woke up at 6am - which would have been 7am to them. On a normal day that would have been great. Maddie was up in the middle of the night as usual. And so began our longest day. It's amazing what one little hour can do to your internal clock. I was hungry for lunch by 10:30am. I forced Maddie to take her morning nap and even wondered if we could get her to take three naps!

Bill & I decided that in order to get through the "longest day" we would each have some time to ourselves. Bill's alone time was in the morning. He took his truck to Sears to have new tires put on. While they worked on his truck he went fishing. My alone time was later in the afternoon. I was lucky enough to score food shopping as my adventure. Ugh!! It seems that a lot of people DID sleep late as they were all in the store late in the day. There were lines to get into the next aisle. The deli...oh, the deli! I grabbed my ticket and saw that I had #35. They were on #5!! I spent a good amount of time during the longest day in line at the deli.

We did survive the longest day but I really could have used that extra hour of sleep!