Working Mommy Wednesday

 


Share a blog or website that you’ve found meaningful and rewarding to visit (if it's Pinterest please share why this has become such a raging fad).

I don't know if it's meaningful, but there is one blog that makes me laugh every single time I visit.


http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/

This thing is really funny, and probably the most normal-sounding mom stories on the Internet.

As for Pinterest, I really like looking at the pins of my friends. Then I pin things, but never go back to look at them. Maybe someday I will use it more/better.

Crying

What was the last thing your child cried about? Write a blog post about the problem in the voice of your child.






I don't know if it's the age in her life, or if she is just a teenager in a 4-year old's body, but my dear Anne Marie cries ALL THE TIME. Sometimes, it's totally legitimate:

From Emily Juggles

Other times, like this morning, it's not so much.Thomas was feeling particularly grumpy, and so he shouted, "SISTER, YOU ARE NOT IN THE CAR!"
I would like to write it from her perspective, as the prompt requests, but I have absolutely no insight into the 4-year old psyche. She knows her brother is sometimes a 2-year old ball of stark raving mad. Why does she care if he says she's not in the car? I will never know.

Working Mommy Wednesday

How do you carve out personal time for yourself?

The short answer is, I don't sleep. My kids usually aren't asleep until 10- by then, I want to do more, but what I end up doing is watching TV and checking e-mail, then sitting in a coma until about midnight or so, then collapsing until work. It's pretty lame, really.

Any ideas?

Working Mommy Wednesday- Holidays

The last quarter of the year is full of amazing holidays.  What is your favorite?  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Talk Like a Pirate Day or Christmas?

We love them all!  Anne Marie and I are so alike in that respect. Every time she hears an event advertised on the radio, the first thing out of her mouth is "Can we go?" She (and I) doesn't want to miss a thing. I'm a little crazy about it. It kind of freaks me out that I might not be able to take the kids to both our downtown trick-or-treat and the zoo trick or treat. And, although I complain about the fact that Anne Marie's t-ball and soccer land on the same night, I also get a small, min-rush from having to rush to make both.


For photos, however, Halloween beats out Christmas and Thanksgiving, hands-down. Thanksgiving always means pictures of people eating, and Christmas is often in pajamas with wild hair sitting near a tree. Here's some funny ones from last year:

From Halloween 2010

A duck and a butterfly. Here's Anne Marie, showing off her wings.

From Halloween 2010

Game Face

From T-Ball

This girl has her game face on. Also, when did she get to be six feet taller than other kids her age?

Fun at the Fair

It is killing me not having a camera! Luckily, my brother takes a million photos. Here is fun at the fair.

From Fair photos from Alex

From Fair photos from Alex

From Fair photos from Alex

This ride was crazy! Thomas was too short to ride by himself, so he was supposed to go with a "responsible rider." I didn't want to spend another $4 for one ride so I could go too, so I asked the guy if Anne Marie was responsible enough. He took one look at the 4-year old, and said, "Sure." He must have known her ability to boss her brother.

My mom can't handle the ferris wheel. Anne Marie had to help her too.

From Fair photos from Alex

Advice to New Mothers

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week asked for Advice to New Mothers. The timing couldn't be more perfect.

I just got back from a family wedding where I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering if my kids were well-behaved enough. You see, there are some family members who really like quiet, and kids, even good ones, aren't quiet all the time.

I worried so much that I was on my kids ALL THE TIME. Then, later, I felt guilty. Why couldn't I let my kids just be kids? They weren't running around like wild children, misbehaving in restaurants, or disturbing others. They were just playing in ways kids play.

Mothers are constantly bombarded by know-it-all-advice from others. I've heard that kids don't behave like they used to because their parents don't teach them well. I've heard how kids are fat because all parents feed them is junk. I've heard that kids should be banned from restaurants because other people don't want to see them when they are out to eat. It's as if all children will run around destroying public places if they even set foot in them.

Then there are the other mothers — you have to wear your baby, your baby needs time out of the sling, your baby is too hot, your baby is too cold, it's horrible to circumsize your kid, it's horrible not to. Formula kills, allowing them to breastfeed until 2 makes them weird.

My advice is this — don't listen to the "advice." There are enough things to worry about, and what other people think about the decisions you make for your kids shouldn't even be on the radar. Make informed decisions, but in the end, what actually matters is that you love your children, teach them to stand up for themselves and help them learn to care for and respect other people. As for the rest of it, put on your blinders and ignore the "advice."