Girlymama

Here are 5 reasons I will be blowing that recommended weight gain out of the water with this pregnancy:

1. Due to morning sickness, I only want to eat things that I usually avoid. Like bread. And potatoes. And all those starchy-carby foods that aren’t good for you anymore according to Oprah, Bob Greene and other experts.

2. I now hate diet drinks. Hate them. I used to live for Cherry Coke Zero. Favorite drink EVER. But now, anything with fake sweeteners tastes awful to me. Crystal Light, Diet Coke, Splenda (sob!), even my beloved Cherry Coke Zero. While my Husband is thrilled, as he hates diet drinks and is always reminding me as I’m drinking that they are going to give me cancer, I miss those lovely caffeine-laden, calorie-free bubbles. I love drinks with bubbles. Sigh.

3. My biggest craving is fruit. Especially really sour apples. This may help me stay just shy of weighing more than my husband. However….

4. My other craving is Cheetos. Which will make my friends and family laugh. No, actually, it will make them fall off their chairs in hysterics. Why? Because I hate cheese. Hate it. Yet, somehow, Cheetos are just about my favorite food right now.
Woe be to the Husband who finishes off the pregnant woman’s Cheetos while watching soccer because he will be headed out to buy her more as soon as the game is over. If he lives that long.
5. And, finally, saving the best for last, some genius, who I would love to personally thank, invented these:

Coincidence that these were invented just as I got pregnant? I. Think. Not.

This post on Beth Moore’s blog was a huge blessing to me this morning. Just what I needed to be encouraged about:
“God’s Word and His ways were meant for real living. If we keep saving sacred practices for sacred life-moments, we will never truly see our theology collide with our reality. We may feel a tad better at church and more spiritually in-tune at Bible study but we’ll never get the fact that Christ meant to infuse Himself into our relentless carpool lines, traffic jams, elevator rides, grocery store check-outs, expense reports, tank fill-ups, and family fights. If we reserve divine moments for divine situations, we are in for long waits and short visits. I don’t know about you but I need Him more than that.”

So fantastic. Read it, please!!!!

There are some obvious, mushy qualities that everyone talks about. Things like a mother’s “unconditional love” and “patience” and “self-sacrifice” blah blah blah. But I’ve been noticing some not-so-sentimental ones that come in very handy in keeping sane during this little adventure called motherhood.

1. the ability to ignore things. Things like sticky floors. Fingerprints on the walls. That the entire roll of toilet paper has been unrolled and then (very messily) re-rolled going the wrong direction. That little foot that will not stop kicking the back of your seat no matter how many times you ask its owner to stop. That favorite movie or cd that plays over and over and over and over and over….

2. the ability to hold two conversations simultaneously. This usually comes in handy when you are talking on the telephone. Because you can not even see your kids all day until the phone rings. Then they have at least 6 very important questions. This may fluster some people, but a mom can take it in stride. “Yes, I’m calling to make an appointment for my minivan. No, you can not have a cookie right now. I was hoping to bring it in next week. Because I said so, that’s why. Well, its making this weird clunking sound when I turn corners. I mean it, if you take a cookie you will be in big trouble! I checked under all the seats and found a bunch of stuff, but its still making that sound. Oh, you are in so much trouble when I hang up this phone, young lady. Wednesday is perfect! Thanks!”

3. the ability to survive on very, very little sleep. This is learned quite early and comes in handy often. The exhaustion does not end when the baby is “sleeping through the night.” There will still be nights where you are up 6 times with your four-year-old.

4. the ability to get down and dirty. Besides the fact that you may find it seriously difficult to shower, no job is beneath you now that you are a mom. Cleaning up poop? Your job. Getting peed on? Check. Human Kleenex? That’s you. Barf? Oh, yes. There will be barf. All you, honey.

5. the ability to keep your mouth shut. Like when you want to scream “What is the matter with you? Have you learned absolutely nothing since you’ve been born!?!?!?” But instead you grit your teeth and say “Now what did we learn about flushing rocks down the toilet? Is that a good idea?” This really comes into play when your child starts to dress themselves. “Um, yeah. That looks great, sweetie. I would have never thought to wear those things together. Are those my socks?”

6. the ability to multi-task. This is not surfing the Internet while watching tv or ironing while talking on the phone. This is serious multi-tasking. This is cooking dinner while helping your child with homework while vacuuming while making lunches for tomorrow while doing laundry while baking cupcakes for a class party. During which you might be talking on the phone to another mom doing the same things.

7. the ability to get over it. Quickly. Get over that sickness. Get over being tired. Get over that bad mood. Get over that annoyance with the know-it-all room mother who you really, really want to tell to get over herself. Get over that lingering anger with your child. Moms have to power through and keep going. Life is too quick and too busy to stay sick/mad/annoyed for long.

8. the ability to live without privacy.  It starts in the delivery room where your sense of modesty gets stomped on by the legions of perfect strangers who will see your hoo-ha. Its never getting to pee by yourself. Its having your peaceful shower interrupted, as your child’s head pops into view asking, “Are you done yet, Mom?” Its never being able to eat or drink anything without answering 20 questions about what it is, what it tastes like and whether they can have some. Its little bodies crowding you out of your own bed. Its little mouths that repeat things you say, sometimes with embarrassing consequences.

9. the ability to wing it. You can plan and plan and plan. But your day will rarely reflect said plan. Kids get sick on the day you absolutely must go somewhere important. Babysitters cancel and you’re stuck dragging your kids to your ob/gyn appointment where they ask terribly embarrassing questions while your doctor (who has 3 kids herself) tries not to laugh outloud. Or your day was going perfectly normal and somehow you ended up in the emergency room wondering how many stitches it will take this time. Or you go to open that package of chicken breasts for dinner and notice a funny smell so you look at the package to discover they expired week ago. Or you forget to make dinner completely. So you put everyone in their pajamas and announce its backwards day and you’re all having cereal for dinner.

What qualities do you think mom’s need to have?

So today I gave my girls haircuts. Oh. My. Goodness. Gracie’s hair is SO short. Not only should I have known that it is impossible to get a 3-year-old to sit still for longer than .8 seconds so it is extremely difficult to cut their hair straight. But why didn’t it occur to me that when you cut curly hair wet is gets so much shorter when it dries?!!?!? Why?!?! WHY????

She will be telling her therapist about this some day, as she wonders why there were no pictures taken of her from September 2007 until July 2008.

Husband keeps making helpful suggestions (after his initial “What did you do to her hair??? comment) like “Maybe if you cut that bottom part a little shorter it would even it out?”
“NO!” I say “NO!! I’m never cutting her hair again!!! I’m going to take her to a salon when she is 7 and this haircut is grown out enough that I’m not totally embarrassed when the stylist asks me who gave this adorable girl this ridiculous haircut!!!!!!”

Yes, I will post a picture when she will stand still long enough.
Okay – Here she is on Saturday, getting a pony ride at the zoo. Look at those curls. Sob! Please don’t throw stones at me for even thinking about touching those curls.

Here’s the best post-traumatic haircut one I could get:

Not a good shot. But this video will show you why they were all a little blurry. She was a bunny, after all. And this is how much energy she has after going to ballet class and not having dessert. Can you just imagine her on sugar?

Here are my guilty parenting secrets. Now, I know all of ya’ll are convinced I am perfect *ahem* so you may be quite shocked by some of this:

1. My kids have never had a swimming lesson. But I told my pediatrician they had because I was embarrassed. They’ve also never been to the dentist.

2. I’m really bad about giving them vitamins. Really. Bad. Seriously, if you see Dr. Field, please don’t tell her.

3. They have gone an entire calendar week without a bath. Yup, that’s right. Seven days.

4. I let my kids eat non-organic food. Like candy. And McDonalds. And cookie dough. And they both love to take sips of my coffee.

5. My kids call for Daddy in the middle of the night because I’m mean to them when they wake me up. Especially after 2am.
6. When Daddy is out of town, we have either scrambled eggs, cereal, grilled cheese or frozen pizza for dinner. That’s about it. This gets old when he is gone for a full week. If I’m feeling guilty about not cooking, I may compensate by taking themour for pizza.

7. My kids have never, ever used glitter because the very thought of an open glitter container in my house makes me hyperventilate.

8. My kids regularly make me cry. Not in a good way.

9. I sometimes feed them breakfast, then turn on the TV. And go back to bed for another hour or two.

10. I usually don’t do all that extra stuff the school sends home for “extra enrichment.” I also rarely volunteer in the kids schools because I can’t stand most of the other Alpha-Moms.

There you have it. Some of my guilty parenting secrets. (That’s right, I said “some” there’s more that I’m too embarrassed to share 😉

to do anything.

Well, I am motivated to sleep. Does that count?

Ugh. I should be a bundle of energy, since I just got back from a vacation. But instead, I am suffering from severe lack of motivation. I just don’t want to do anything. ‘Course I have eleventy billion things to do. Like visa applications for our trip, paying bills, preparing Bible Study, grocery shopping…

I know what I need to do. Just make my to-do list and plow through it. I just can’t seem to get my act together this week. And my kids are driving me nuts. Not just because they keep spilling sticky things on the floor I just cleaned. Grace is in tattle-tale mode and Ellie is being unusually mean to her sister. Constant cat-fights. I can’t figure it out.

Grumble, grumble, grumble. Maybe I should take a nap.

**update** nap + husband picking up pizza for dinner + bubble bath planned for later = me feeling much better 🙂

Well, we did comtemplate hopping on to the plane at the next gate that was going to Puerta Vallarta instead of Philly. But we decided to be all responsible and come home.

We had a great time, relaxing and sight-seeing all over San Diego. We are now totally in love with tapas. Soooo yummy. I have several meals that I am determined to recreate.
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During some retail therapy time, I discovered Bitten,  a new clothing line by Sarah Jessica Parker. After this baby is born I will be heading to the nearest one and going nuts. Love it!! I had to satisfy myself with new sunglasses and accessories. Although I did splurge on a pair of Gap maternity jeans, since when packing for this trip I realized I had exactly 3 pants that fit, most of which were of the “sweat” variety.
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Grace: “Mommy, is the baby still in our belly or did it come out on vacation?”
Me: “Nope, its still there.”
Grace: “Oh, man! This is taking forever!”
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Grace: Will we have a girl baby or a boy baby?
Me: We’ll have whatever God decides to give us.
Ellie: I think God wants to give us two babies. Twin babies. One boy and one girl.

What is it with this girl and twins!??!
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Okay, must go do laundry. And unpack. And must. not. take. nap. must. not. take. nap.mustnottazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Last night we went to try the restaurant voted “Best Mexican in San Diego” – Fred’s Mexican Cafe. I was very skeptical at a place called “Fred’s” being authentic Mexican, but it was actually really good. We ate outside on a patio before heading to the Padres game.
Today we’re off to La Jolla for some beaching and shopping. Fun!

Husband gave me my birthday present — tomorrow when he is working, he is sending me to the hotel spa to go be pampered! Hee hee!!  🙂

We may need to move here…..

I made it to San Diego. But, alas, my suitcase did not. So, Husband and my wrinkled self are wandering around the the city today.

Our hotel is totally beautiful, overlooking the skyline with a bit of the ocean thrown in. Last night we went to what my Husband claimed was his “very favorite steakhouse,” blowing Ruth’s Chris and Morton’s out of the water. And after almost fainting when I saw that a steak at this place cost $40 and didn’t even include a stinkin’ baked potato (this was my first steakhouse that was of the non-Outback variety), I have to admit it was a pretty darn good steak. Wow. I believe the expression is “like butter.”

Today we are planning several activities we can never do with our children, like going to stores that sell breakable things, going to a movie and going to a Padres game. Regardless, uninterrupted sleep is definitely good for the soul.

I saw this today on Scribbit‘s blog, and it really got me thinking…

1. To really speak a foreign language.I took Spanish for 6 years. And got straight ‘A’s. And was fairly good!  Now I can pretty much understand what they’re teaching on Sesame Street, but that’s about it. Its annoying that I’ve forgotten everything. Then I got dropped off in China for a couple months and managed to learn quite a bit (I believe they call this the “immersion” method of learning 🙂 bit, again, have forgotten most of it. I can, however, count to ten in several languages.

2. To knit. I’ve tried. Goodness knows, I’ve tried. I have learned to knit about 4 times, but lose steam and forget again. Someday I will get this.

3. To play the piano. Again, took loads of lessons, up until college, but haven’t since. And we have this beautiful piano that my grandfather built in our home and I would love to be playing beautiful music on it. But, sadly, I lack the discipline and motivation to really reteach myself. Even as a kid, I hated practicing. And with my mom not nagging me to practice like she did in high school….

4. To swim.While technically I can keep myself from drowning, I don’t actually know how to swim. I can move around in the water, but I can’t do any strokes properly. This is particularly shameful because all of my siblings are not only certified lifeguards, but were all on the swim team. Now I feel like I’m too old to learn. I’d be in a class with my kids!

5. patience. I’m in training, with these kiddos, but I have a loooooong way to go before I could be considered a “patient” person.

6. To keep my mouth shut. And my emotions off my face. Since on the rare occasion I actually succeed in keeping my mouth shut, people who know me well can look at my face and tell what I’m thinking. So I might as well have said it out loud.

7. To play tennis well. I know how to play tennis – Husband and I took lessons a zillion years ago before we had kids. And I really enjoy playing tennis, but I have never been… shall we say.. actually good at tennis.  Maybe when our kids are older we can begin playing again.

8. To make something with a zipper.  I have tried to make a zippered bag in several occasions, but it usually ends with me saying several very bad words and almost throwing my sewing machine out the window. Then I end up making the bag without the zipper and giving it away because I can’t stand to look at it.  Of course, I also never follow directions, so this may have contributed to my problem here.

9. To be spiritually disciplined.  I try to pray and read my Bible every day. I really do. But I often fail miserably. I really have the desire to do these things, but the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 

10. To iron. Without adding more wrinkles than I’m attempting to take out.

11. To be a better mom. Probably a life-long process.

12. To be organized. I’ve been feeling a bit scatterbrained lately. I’m really good at getting organized. But I’m not as good at staying organized.This could probably eb filed under “discipline.”

13. To enjoy the outdoors. While I enjoy camping, I’m not a huge nature girl. Things like bugs and weather and bugs hinder my getting really into outdoor stuff. Things like “hiking” never really seem fun to me. Why not walk in the mall, where its a nice temperature, nothing will bite you and you can buy a frappachino if you feel thirsty? But I’d like to get over my prissiness and just enjoy God’s beautiful creation.

This isn’t a meme, but if you’d like to share what you’d like to learn go ahead! Leave a comment so we can check out your list!