Herbal tea

On January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 By JillIn Uncategorized5 Comments

I think I need to take a bit of a break with the daily posts on this blog. Apparently, I am not spending nearly enough time on the extremely important events in my children’s life like the fact that I had no idea that I would have needed to camp out and sleep in my car overnight to get the morning slot for next year at the preschool we now attend! My daughter currently attends this school in town and the registration was this weekend. I sort of heard that a lot of moms wanted this morning slot at this school but I guess I was so involved with blogging lately and attuned to important issues like eating donuts and drinking wine and being silly, that I failed or rather neglected to suck it up and fully commit to the sleepover of all sleepovers! Waiting in line from 4 p.m. Friday afternoon until 9 a.m. the next day to get into the exclusive morning class at the very best preschool in the country!

I mean, my daughter’s entire educational career depends upon this school. I can just forget about scholarships, or an Ivy League education now! Damn you blog for taking me away…ok, the truth is we did make it into the afternoon class so I suppose Gia will still make it in this world, not to mention that I’m sure this isn’t the best school in the country, it’s just the most expensive in this town, thus creating the illusion of the crème of the crop. My husband got on line at 4 a.m. to at least ensure we got into this school. I may not be able to keep my daughter in this school now for other reasons, but the point of this post is I kind of feel that I have been wasting my time a little…

I love writing and it’s a great outlet for me but I feel like the posting every day has been a little obsessive and taking away from my family… not exactly sure if they care…the girls seem much happier to cuddle with their daddy at night anyway…he’s the good guy —I’m the mean one! Oh Mom- looks like I am following in your footsteps! But at this point in my life who do I call almost every day? Sometimes three times a day- sorry Dad, who wouldn’t even be reading this sentence at this point – he sees lots of words and paragraphs as something way too “long.” and I seriously doubt he reads my posts.

Dad may have a point there – when I am looking at other people’s blogs, I tend to see many paragraphs and get kind of bored, we are all so busy and have so much on our plate, who really wants to read about how I love Dunkin Donuts and that my house is a mess! Well, maybe it is comical for the first five posts but after a while, I’m sure you all are rolling your eyes…that Jill, does she do anything except drink coffee and wine, not do her laundry, and talk about what she’s going to do?

I guess the only solution is to switch from wine to herbal tea, send my laundry out to a cleaner, and with all the free time on my hands and laid back disposition, I’ll just start playing with the girls- no need to blog about how I’m going to create all of these index cards full of activities, I’ll just do them! The only problem is I’ll need a money earning job to pay for the laundry…hmm

But seriously, I am a self-admitted obsessive compulsive personality type, but I love my girls and my husband and my family, so so so much and they are my everything so I need to chill out and maybe write every other day…or perhaps just when the mood strikes me.

Never a dull moment

On January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 By JillIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I feel strange. Not myself – I have been wandering around my kitchen and living room for a while, ok, well it only has been five minutes, but in the “Moooomy- where are you?” world it seems downright long. The girls were playing together for five glorious minutes! Five minutes where the little one wasn’t clinging to my leg and Gia wasn’t asking for a snack or water. Seriously, that girl can put it away….

In a day filled with driving to activities, feeding the kids, and breaking up mini girl fights- What is up with that lately? I thought it was boys that were supposed to be rough…what happened to my dream of two little girls, bent over a book, giggling about their mommy (aka Cinderella) scrubbing the floors…

Gia truly believes I am pretty as that golden haired princess, in fact, she actually thinks I am Cinderella. This makes carrying that 8 + pounder around, delivering past my due date, and suffering through 24 hours of labor, among other technical scares all worth it…I will ride this Cinderella train as long as I can…pretty sure I will be the Wicked Witch of the West soon enough.

I may be Cinderella, but my fairy godmother isn’t helping me in the sibling rivalry department! They are constantly fighting with each other and Arianna can get awfully vicious for a two year old. Two days ago she bit Gia really hard and just today, she did some serious damage with her scratchy fingernails – and I just cut them! Do you moms feel like their fingernails always need to be cut? I pick Gia up from school, notice overgrown nails, and that along with her ratty hair (she equates hair brushing with getting shots at the doctor, you should see the fear and tears in her eyes when I bring out the brush) must raise eyebrows at the school.

So back to those five minutes- I find myself just staring at the floor, staring at piles of clothes (well, actually lumps of clothes) that need to be put away, and gazing out the window. I am like a sulky kitten when I am not needed – aimless with no direction. Upon thinking of this, I realized that the girls must feel this way when they are either finished with a snack, a show, or a project/activity.

They simply don’t know what to do with themselves and that’s when these little angels start to drive me bonkers, and I get frustrated saying, “Come on girls- go play- find something to do.” But they just can’t, well, not yet, not until they’ve reached the slamming of the door stage and not wanting to be bothered with their farty old mom. Oh my Goodness- I’m not ready for that! I better enjoy these moments. Look at these faces…

I think I will take their lost kitten moments and just play.

The cleaning and dishes can wait, mommy time can be postponed, who needs to eat anyway, – wine counts as a food anyway, doesn’t it?

I have to admit that while it is easy for me to stop, drop, and play with my children, I am creatively challenged when it comes to I’m bored, what should we do? And what activity works for a 4 and 2 year old combined?

I started to write down activities and things to do- easy ideas, nothing so messy that I have to lay a tarp out, simple activities that don’t require me to buy out the entire arts and crafts section at Michaels, or spend all my allowance on!

That’s right- my husband gives me a weekly allowance based on my dinners. Gourmet equals jackpot, while soup and sandwich, which he deems as a trucker’s dinner, wins me only the change from his pockets 😦

So, when I’m not scouring the internet for a meal that makes me the big bucks, or I’m not hiding in the closet eating cookies, I hope to surf the net and steal ideas from other brilliant moms – why reinvent the wheel?

Soon, my stack o’ fun will be filled, and when the rainy day, dull moments visit our house and the girls are hovering around me like dogs begging for scraps, I will whip out the cards, let Gia pick out three activity cards (choice is important for them!) and stomp the stale minutes away.

I would love to hear ideas or suggestions! Oh and before I forget to tell you, I was joking about the allowance/dinner situation.

But, he still does consider the soup/sandwich night a trucker’s delight. I tell him I’ve never seen an unhappy trucker before- they always smile at me and honk their horn as I pass them by…well that was when I was ten…when I was lifting my arm and fake honking- remember doing that? Anyway, the point is it’s a hot meal and he should not complain because you never know what’s lurking in my soup….Anyone who has seen Orange is the New Black knows what I’m talking about!

Running

On January 24, 2014 By JillIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This morning, I turned into the Target parking lot and saw a mom friend. I steered the car toward her, rolled down my window, and said, “Hey, what’s up? I’m just here picking up a few things.” I was actually there to purchase a set of plastic drinking cups in all the same color. Getting tired of the repeated argument about which color cup one of the girls or their friends get to use.

My mom friend says to me, “Use your time wisely.” I said, “yes,” and laughed. “See you tomorrow at dance class.”

All day long this phrase danced in my head. Use your time wisely, hmm, where have I heard this before – oh right- in school, from a teacher’s mouth, after she doled out her lengthy exam complete with multiple blue books for the essay part.

Exams, schools, teachers, grades…those were stressful times, full of pressure and angst, competing for the A or the right school to get into….

And now here I am feeling this way at 9 A.M. in the morning headed into Target. Actually, I felt relatively calm at this point- until she uttered those words to me. This mom was right! I do feel like these days are races against the clock. Racing to get everyone ready, racing to sweep up crumbs before the next round of food remnants lands on the floor, wiping yogurt off of faces before someone runs into the living room to smear it on the couch, hurrying to pick up toys before the next succession of plastic fruits or sweet shop items line up on the fireplace, jolting upstairs before the little one throws tampons and razors into the toilet bowl ( this actually happened and we had to get a plumber to unclog our toilet – thanks Rocco – also did I mention that I don’t have anything childproofed in my house!) My dear mother said children need to learn the word no.

Apparently, I am not fast enough to be flying all over the house squashing situations with a firm no.

To be perfectly honest, my Mom has seen some of the antics of little one and has since rescinded her “no need to childproof” stance. But I still never lock a single cabinet- I’m such a glutton for punishment. Perhaps I thrive on the daily mysteries of what she will get herself into…We have already seen so so much destruction but that’s for another post!

Back to the marathon… I am often found racing up stairs before the little one knows and screams for me, racing to get the milk in the sippy as fast as I can to stop the whining, hurling myself into the bathroom and onto the toilet before someone tries to wipe me themselves – yup- they sure love to help me with everything, even making sure my hoo ha is clean – rushing to clean the bathroom before a play date, hightailing it to music, dance, and gymnastics class, and much to the chagrin of my husband, sprinting to bedroom so I can just lie in my bed- I don’t even need to go to sleep, just feeling a firm mattress beneath my back is pure joy.

My mind is constantly whirling and worrying – am I doing enough for these girls? Am I teaching them enough, am I providing a stimulating environment? Do they feel loved and nurtured? Are they happy and having enough fun? Are they in the right preschool with the right amount of days? Are they eating enough protein, brushing their teeth enough- gosh, I forgot to give them their vitamins again! Are they going to suffer with some nutritional deficiency?

Being a Mom is truly a scary role when you think about it. We are almost solely responsible for their …everything!

Phew, I seriously feel muscles in my neck tightening up just writing this post. Perhaps I should just go with the advice a friend once told me, “As I see it,” she said with a shrug, “Everyone’s going to need therapy, especially my kids, so don’t sweat it.”

Maybe she’s right… but for now I’m going to try my best, and knowing me, probably keep up this frenetic pace, and do my best to keep them off the therapists couch.