Robin's Chicks

Nudge The Nest & Pray They Fly

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A Few Hours of Maternal Bliss

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Aubrey(4) and Emma(2) just had their first spend the night party…away from home. For almost an EN-TIRE 24 hours, it was just me and sweet baby Sadie. I had thoughts, in complete sentences. I went to the bathroom, without anyone telling me how to wipe. I ate 3 meals without anybody asking for a bite or touching my food. I took a bath without anyone pounding on the door and screaming, “MOMMA, I NEEEEED YOU!” I went to sleep when Sadie did and didn’t have to play musical beds for 2 hours after she was asleep. I woke up and went for a walk and didn’t have to stop to examine every rock and blade of grass.

Emma did her potty tricks in someone else’s floor. They went to sleep in someone else’s bed. (And no, I will NOT give you my friend’s name. I know how you think…and you’re not going to steal away my new BFF so that she’ll take YOUR kids for 24 hours!)
They were ALMOST gone long enough for me to miss them!

Gettin’ My Fitness On

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Trying to get back in shape after having a baby isn’t near as fun as it sounds; especially when you have to go through the whole rigmarole of packing everything your kids may possibly need or want for the hour you will be at the gym. You also get the pleasure of discussing every grunt and/or nuance your kids might have and interpret these communications to a nursery worker who can’t quit texting her boyfriend long enough to pay attention anyway.

The first time I went to the gym here in Mt Pleasant I took Emma, then around 18 months, to the nursery. I hopped on the treadmill and started to run…ok, jog. I was 5 miles into my run…(FINE) 1 mile, and the nursery worker came out to tell me that Emma had a dirty diaper.

“Her diaper bag has her name on it,” I said as I gasped for the extra oxygen I needed to keep my pace and talk.

“Oh, we don’t change diapers.”

I was almost flung across the cardio room, I stopped so abruptly on the treadmill.

“I’m sorry. What?”

“We’re not supposed to change diapers.”

I had to get off the treadmill to change my child’s diaper. My child, who had just stopped crying from the first time I had left the room. She clung to my leg and screamed as I tried unsuccessfully to extricate myself to finish my run.

What exactly are these people getting paid for, I wondered. Shouldn’t they change the sign from “Childcare” to “We’re Just Going to Make Sure No One Dies While You are Exercising?”

For this and many other reasons, I have purchased hand weights and an exercise ball to exercise at home when it’s too much trouble to leave the house. I prefer to go to the gym, I need someone yelling at me to work harder. Left to my own devices, I would stop at the first beads of sweat, pat myself on the back, say “good workout,” and head to the juice bar.

This morning I got the weights out and started to workout, Aubrey(4) and Emma(2) jumped right in with me. As we started doing sit-ups, Aubrey said, “Look Momma, it’s easier if you do this,” and propped her elbows up on the floor under her. I laughed and said, “Yes, but that’s cheating. You can’t use your hands.” Aubrey glanced at me then put her hands under her head just like I was doing. After about 2 more crunches Aubrey said, “Momma, this hurts my tummy. Can we stop now?” She is DEFINITELY my child.

Emma stopped doing crunches long enough to grab her waffle, stuff it in her mouth and resume crunching on the floor while chewing. A multi-tasker, Mommy is SO proud.

Hide-n-Seek

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We are smack dab in the middle of a game of hide and seek. Yes, even as I type, my kids are scrambling around the house trying to find someplace to hide. Aubrey ran out of the room and yelled: Hurry Momma! Count to 2!
Me: 1…2.
Aubrey: Oh, oh, wait. Count to 3!

Does Your Child Have a Hearing Problem?

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I went to the library yesterday to stock up on children’s books for Spring Break. While I was there I grabbed a handful of different free parenting magazines, to do a little research for my own writing projects.

This morning while flipping through one of them I saw an ad that read, “Does your child have difficulty following oral directions?” Of course, it immediately caught my eye.

“Why yes,” I thought, “they do!”

Upon further inspection of the advertisement I realized that it was for children with actual HEARING problems and not, as I had hoped, a self-help class on how to make your children listen to you. What a tease.

Be the Mommy

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As mothers, sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the “doing” of motherhood that we miss opportunities to simply “be” the Mommy. The piles of dishes, laundry, bills and dirty diapers can be overwhelming and at times so distracting that it is hard to even focus on what your child is saying because we are mentally going through the checklist of everything still left to do.

Time flies, literally, and we can never get back the moments we have with our children, regardless of their ages. Make a concerted effort to savor every word, every slobbery kiss and yes, every temper tantrum. Soon enough we will all be looking back and saying, “I remember when…”

Today, I am going to “be” the Mommy. I will make pancakes, build forts, play with play-doh, play hide and seek in the house and read as many books as my children will sit still for…I won’t even paraphrase or pretend pages get stuck together so I can do laundry. The laundry will still be there even when they aren’t.

Aubrey Said

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Emma (2) and Sadie (3 mos) were still napping. I had already started cooking dinner and was waiting for water to boil so I sat down at the computer to get some work/writing done.

I was clacking away on my laptop, Aubrey(4) walked through the room and said, “That dinner’s not going to cook by itself, you know.”

As I started laughing, she walked out of the room, looked over her shoulder and said, “You’re not right. You’re just a little bit wrong, you know.”

Pee Patrol

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All the places I’ve cleaned up pee today,

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(and it’s not even lunch time):
1. My bed. Yes, I am potty trained and so is my husband.
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2. Aubrey’s bed.
3. Aubrey’s floor.
4. The garage floor.

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5. The bathroom floor.
We don’t have pets (like I have the time or energy to deal with that,) but my house smells like we’re breeding cats. I’m beginning to think that a litter box might be a worthy investment.

Post lunch update: (I know you’ve just been sitting at work wondering, “Has that crazy woman’s child quit peeing everywhere?) No, as a matter of fact, she hasn’t.

6. The hallway.

I wouldn’t walk barefoot in my house if I were you.

Pre-dinner update:
7. The ottoman.
8. The floor in front of the ottoman.
9. My chair.
10. My own feet.

I am beginning to think that taking up the flooring and replacing it with kitty litter would be my best option. They had to have talked about this at their meeting this morning.

Pre-Bedtime Update: (The Next Day)
Emma capped off the day by taking a load off in her bedroom floor. Literally. It wasn’t funny.
I really wouldn’t touch anything or sit anywhere when you come to my house unless it smells like bleach.

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