Date Night!

Date Night Selfie

Alex has had my pretty much unshared attention for most of his days. Since he was born, Jenna has spent the day at daycare and now she has camp til 4:30.  But his nights have almost always been shared, and by shared I mean he gets the sh** end of the stick.  By the time I pick up Jenna, I want to hear about her day and spend time with her and being that Alex has me all day, Jenna tends to win the attention in the afternoon/evening hours.

But the other night, I had a night alone with my little man.  Mike was away on business and Jenna had a 'big girl sleepover' at Grandma and Papa's.  This left me with Alex...He woke up from his nap and for the first time we weren't running to go pick  his sister up.  We got to just hang out and play without any distractions.  We had dinner together and he got to take a long bath without the company of his big sister.  He got to pick out his books before bed (Jenna usually has an opinion about what we read to him) and he got some extra snuggles before bed, instead of some rushed kisses as we prep Jenna for her long, drawn out bedtime routine.

It was nice...it was quiet...and best of all? My night responsibilities ended at 7:00...a good two hours earlier than normal. Best.date.ever.

I'll tell you who's NOT a rockstar.

"No matter how minor the procedure is, it's always major when it's your kid" True words said by my pediatrician at Jenna's pre-op appointment.

Jenna had a minor procedure done about a couple of weeks ago. She's totally fine and Mike and I survived but I am just now able to write about it.  In my 4+ years of being a parent, it was one of the hardest days for us. Watching our baby put on a hospital gown and receive general anesthesia f-ing sucked (to put it mildly).

Now my little girl? She's a rock star. Handled the whole day amazingly well. From understanding that she wasn't allowed to eat until after it was over (which was hard for her since she's a 'wake up and eat' kid) to 'blowing up the green balloon' with a mask on (the gas to put her to sleep) to coming to after the procedure by simply saying "Mommy, I'm soooo hungry."

Me? Not a rock star. Only one of us was allowed into the operating room with her. And even though I knew I would be the more emotional one, I needed to feel somewhat in control so I went in. I wanted  needed to be with her. Upon walking into the cold, sterile OR, everyone, from the nurses to the anesthesiologists to the surgeon were wonderful.  I laid Jenna down on the table and held her hands while they all talked to her...cheered her on...comforted her:
"Blow up the balloon honey!"
"You're doing a great job!"
"That's it! Watch the balloon get bigger!"
"Keep it up - you're awesome"
"I know it's smelly, but you can do it!"

Me? I just held her hands as the tears streamed down my face. I could.not.speak. At some point someone put a hand on my shoulder and said, "She's sleeping, give her a kiss" and walked me out.

It felt like I was watching her for hours, but it was really only a minute or two. I found Mike in the waiting room and lost it. I felt (and still feel) awful that she couldn't hear my voice comforting her, but the words just wouldn't come.

Luckily, those professionals were amazing (and comforting) and all she remembers is the stinky gas (apparently it smells really bad).  She's one tough cookie.


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Princess Problems

We're having some princess problems over here. My daughter is OBSESSED with princesses - now I can (kind of) deal with the movies and princess toys. But she takes it to the next level...she insists on wearing a "princess dress" (which is really any dress) every.single.day.  This drives me INSANE.

skirts are ok too!

First of all, I am the furthest thing from a girly-girl ever. My idea of an outfit is jeans, t-shirt, and flip flops with my hair in a messy pony tail. I refused to wear frilly underwear as a kid and in every school picture I'm wearing sweat pants.  (When I asked my mom about this, she said I refused to wear dresses - karma's a bitch!)

 But J has taken it to another level - the biggest insult she can give another little girl is "you are NOT a princess!" And she'll tell you this if you're not wearing a dress. I don't know where she got this from...but it's too a point where she says she's not a princess if she's not wearing a dress. At school, she had a full on meltdown when they had to change her clothes and all they had were pants. 
 This kind of breaks my heart. I want her to feel like a 'princess' no matter what she's wearing.  And we try to enforce this when she's playing soccer (and can't wear a dress) by saying how she's still a princess even in her soccer jersey. And when she has swim - obviously, she's a swimming princess.
Are we doing major psychological self-esteem damage here? Is this just a princess phase? Will she ever wear pants again? Are there any princesses that wear pants?
My husband makes fun of me, he thinks this is "my" issue - not hers. My response to him?
"You are NOT a prince!"

My "Obsessions"

C'mon...look at the cuteness!

Here's the thing about having a second baby...for us, our family feels complete.  Some people have that feeling after one kid, some not until four kids, but for us, it's two.  Our magic number is four.  We feel like things are even - we can do man-on-man defense, there's an equal ratio of adults to children, and in our family, girls vs boys is an even matchup.

That being said, I am completely obsessed with my son.  On a side note - I don't get "obsessed" with anything (or anyone for that matter) - I actually hate the word "obsessed" and think it's dumb when people use it, but for the first time, I really feel this way about another person.  This little man is just so freaking cute, there are times when I literally just can't take it! I find myself so much more patient with all things "baby".  Even those middle of the night feedings, whether they  last for 20 minutes on a good night and on a bad night...well...we all know how those nights go. I find that I'm "enjoying" his babyhood much more than I did with my big girl. There's a whole slew of reasons for this "obsession" I suppose.  First, this is and always will be my baby.  And maybe he'll be spoiled (although I hope not), but I'm the baby of my family and I think I turned out ok. Second, he's my little guy.  I feel like there's this bond between mommies and their sons.  Maybe it's because I know one day he's going to marry someone and I'm going to be the proverbial "mother-in-law" so I guess I'll take all the love he's giving me now.  Third, he doesn't talk back to me...yet.

My beautiful big girl!

 The other thing that surprised me when I had a second child was how much  more I'm enjoying her now that there's a baby to compare her to.  I mean she is so independent.  I tell her to get ready to leave and she's able to put on her clothes, socks, shoes and jacket and is at the door waiting for me!  She's able to get snacks out of her cabinet and ice cream out of the freezer, by herself.  She puts her dishes in the sink, can eat by herself...I mean the list goes on and on. She's ridiculously amazing.  Now, for the sake of transparency, she is far from the perfect toddler.  She puts up a fight for lots of things that I think are ridiculous, and has definitely been dragged out of the park kicking and screaming (literally) but I still appreciate all that she can and does do.

For the first time since becoming a parent 3+ years ago, I feel like I am really, truly enjoying both of them for all that they can do and all the potential that they both have.

My Girl Wants to Potty All the Time!

Starting solids...sleep training...moving to a big girl bed....potty training...just some of the major transitions in the past 2 and half years of my daughter's life.  Each has been difficult and each has had its moments of pride and joy.

This past week it was Potty Training time.  Why I chose this weekend? I don't know.  But I read about and asked every person possible about the 3 day potty training boot camp and felt like I was ready.  I wasn't. Just like sleep training is not for everyone and certainly not for the weak at heart, neither is this type of potty training.  But I really just wanted to get it over with quickly and with as little pain as possible.

On the first day, upon wakeup it was undies only. No diapers. God I miss diapers. I rinsed out more undies than I can count and was more frustrated than I've felt in a long time.  But we were done with diapers and that was that.  I had to stick with it. She went pee pee when prompted, never unprompted and had many accidents (some minutes after going on the potty - which was soooo frustrating).  I gave her a Skittle when she went on the potty - but she could take it or leave it - which I guess is a good thing. Day 1 sucked. period. Stuck in the house on a beautiful day with a kid pissing all over the place. awesome. I called my friend (who did this with her son) and asked her why she didn't warn me how horrible it was.  But we survived.  Barely.

It was that night hat I told Mike that I am taking FULL CREDIT for this achievement (once it actually happens) and that he is responsible for potty training baby #2 (he agreed).  Because honestly, I can't do this again and I'm writing it here so I remember that I don't have to do it again. (Funny Mike side note: in the morning, I was in the bathroom and I hear "Daddy pee pee. Pee pee Daddy." So I'm waiting to hear the running footsteps.  And you know what I hear? Nothing.  Mike did nothing. Really? UGH! I have to teach kid how to go on the potty and the other kid how to take a child to the potty!)

Day 2 was so much better.  She went whenever she was prompted. (never not prompted) But get this - no accidents! We even left the house (twice!).  Once to take a walk and buy ingredients for some Yum Yum Brownie Muffins (we used yams instead of pumpkin - delish!) and once to buy some fruit.  Toward the end of the day, we even went to our local pool (in swim diapers - not ready for that yet!) and had a nice end to our day. I felt like the tide was turning and maybe yesterday wasn't a huge waste of time.

Day 3 and 4 were weekend days- in retrospect, this was probably not the best weekend to start potty boot camp, because we were upstate for the day on Saturday and Sunday was Mike's triathlon.  But Saturday was ok.  Definitely some setbacks (read:accidents) but nothing horrible.  She did a great job considering we were far from home in a new place.  The issue was that she wasn't pooping.  She was telling me she had to poop, but it wasn't happening.  There were tears (hers and mine) but we stuck with it.  My thinking was that I was still putting her in diapers at night, giving her ample time to poop in there if she needed to.  But she didn't.
Then Sunday, I made the decision to stay home instead of rooting Mike on in the city to get J back on potty track.  I'm glad I did.  She had no accidents and went consistently and pooped (finally!).  She even stayed dry at Grandma and Poppa's house.

Monday, she went to school and when I picked her up....she was still in the same outfit!!! No accidents all day or at home. Success!!

I''m not saying my kid is fully potty trained. But I'm feeling pretty damn good about myself right now (oh, and of course I'm super proud of J for being such a big girl!)

What has my life come to?

This is what my DVR looks like on any given day: 

Yup - only 2% full and only with ridiculous kids shows....

Please tell me that your DVRs are just as pathetic!!

To photoshop or not to photoshop

You know, I always find it weird when a simple comment that someone makes to you in passing sticks with you for a really long time.
This is the comment (almost verbatim) a friend of mine made to me almost a year ago after emailing me pictures of our kids out together: "I hope you don't mind, but I photoshopped the mark on J's face so you would have a nice picture."

You what?!?

You photoshopped my kid's face?!? Why would you do that? I don't even remember this "mark" on her face but I'm sure it was one of many since she's a kid and an active one at that...

And so that I would have a "nice picture"?? Umm now I have an incorrect picture of my kid because now I will always remember that there was a mark on her face that someone felt was so offensive that it had to be edited out.

J at her 2nd birthday with a rash on her face

(not edited!) A reminder that she's allergic to penicillin!

Just curious what other parents out there do...do you edit? or leave your kid as-is??

Viva la Mexico!

Tomorrow will be the beginning of our longest time away from our little girl.  We have a wedding in Mexico and decided months ago to make a mini-vacation out of it.  We'll be gone from Thursday (probably before she wakes) until Monday (hopefully back so we can do dinner and bedtime with her).

We've left her with grandparents a couple of times...we went to Vegas (twice) and had a couple of overnight trips as well.

But this feels different.  We'll be out of the country.  I don't know if our cell phones will work everywhere. Wifi is limited.  So this time, we won't be in constant contact with her. Instead, it will probably be more of a 'touch base' in the morning kind of thing. It's also the first time other people will be getting her ready and taking her to school in the morning.  We're trying to keep her schedule as close to normal as possible.  And I have to somehow resist the urge to write out every.little.thing we do for her on a daily basis to leave for the grandparents.

Don't get me wrong, I am so looking forward to this trip...we've had a rough couple of months and can use some time away to just be Melissa and Mike, Husband and Wife.

So I guess we'll put our complete (and well deserved) trust in her wonderful grandparents and know that we're going to come back being a better Mommy and Daddy.

Night from Hell

I had the night from hell Thursday night...and you know what sucks about this night? It started off so peaceful and relaxing and then went to shit.

Hubby was away on business (in my mind this means he's sleeping comfortably in a kings sized bed with no responsibilities to anyone but himself) and I actually got J to bed at the normal hour of 7:15 (she's been giving us some going to bed issues so this was great).  I call Mike and he says how great it is that we can both get a good night's sleep (obviously his guilt talking) and to enjoy the down time. KISS OF DEATH people!

Here's how my night played out....

9:15 - Wailing coming from sleeping toddler's room.  I go in and get her back to sleep
9:45 - More wailing...ok - I'll go right in...just have to pee...THUD! (I do not have a font size big enough for this thud). I freak the fuck out.  I run into J's room and she's on the floor.  She climbed out of her crib!! She's on the floor on all fours. I am scared shitless.  Seriously. I know most kids do this, but I have never heard anyone say that the thud is ridiculous and I can't stop my mind from wandering to all those "she could've..." places.  Seriously, I'm not a religious person, but there's a god somewhere watching over little children. 
10 - 10:15 - Call hubs in hysterics and I think hang up on him cause he's no help.  Call mom who kinda laughs at how "advanced" J is - she's only 18 months after all. 

Now here's where the fun part start

10:30 - 12:30 - I tried everyone of my mommy tricks to get her back to bed:
Rocking her - FAIL!
Milk - FAIL!
Dancing - FAIL!
In bed with me - FAIL!
Back in the crib - BIG ASS FAIL!
TV  - FAIL!

Finally after TWO hours of this insanity, I gave up - I laid down on our living room floor, left the TV on and closed my eyes.  At some point, she did too, because the next thing I remember is being woken up at 6 am with "Mommy milk Mommy milk" 

Now I am so freaking tired and just finished my Buy Buy Baby list which now includes a Crib Tent and a Toddler Bed (we'll see how either one of those works out!).

Fitting It All In

I took a break from blogging that last week or so because I was just too damn overwhelmed with life to even think about getting some coherent thoughts together and write them.
I'm back at work, teaching 27 third graders and in one simple word, I was tired.  I stayed home for a year and a half and trust me when I say I was tired then, but now it's pure exhaustion. 

I am a believer in the fact that there is no break for any mom - working or stay at home.  But right now I'm just figuring out how to do a quick switch from teacher to mommy without getting burnt out at either one of my 'jobs.'

I'm in the third week of school right now and it's starting to get better...and I took this week to do some stuff for me.  Wednesday night I went out with my girlfriends, Friday night I went to my first book club meeting (which was filled with lots of wine) and Saturday night, we had a double date while J slept at my parent's house.  Maybe it was because I was so busy and didn't have time to think about my triedness or maybe because J was back to sleeping well (now that she was feeling better), but I felt a bit more human this week. 

So now we're back to the question of fitting it all in - work time, mommy time, family time, and me time....

Oh the Guilt...

So I'm back at work this week setting up my classroom so it's all ready for the kids next week...and the guilt has started to set in.  It's weird because this whole month Jenna's been in daycare and I've been...well, enjoying myself - going to the beach, meeting friends for lunch, relaxing poolside...and honestly haven't felt guilty for one second.  But I head into work for the past two days and the guilt has been a little overwhelming. 

The only thing I can think of is that no matter where I was while she was in daycare this past month, if she needed me, I could be there in an instant, noone and nothing else needed me.  But now, I need to set up my classroom, I need to be prepared, I need to do my best.  One of my friends said to me today while I was stressing about what bulletin board should go where (which anyone who's a teacher knows, is kind of a big deal), "So you're still an A+ huh? I thought motherhood would chill you out a little."  It stung a little.  And then I got over it. Because I pride myself in being an A+.  I don't know how to do things half-ass.  Which is why I'm feeling the guilt.  Because now, in my life, something's gotta give.  And it's going to have to be my job.  I'm going to have to be the picture of efficiency.  And I'm going to have to make sure I put my daughter first and whatever doesn't get done at work one day, will get done the next.  She's more important. period.

When Did I Become the Expert?

This morning I got to be the "experienced" one...the mommy who already dealt with dropping her daughter off at daycare for the first time...the mommy who had the guilt/anxiety/excitement of the child's first day....the mommy who had knots in her stomach worrying about whether my daughter would be happy, if the kids would like her, if the teacher would love her....the mommy who was nervous about her napping on a cot for 2 hours....

My friend dropped her daughter off this morning to the same classroom that I have been dropping Jenna off to for the past month.  We had breakfast together after our uneventful (thank god) drop offs. 

I got to tell my friend how freaking happy Jenna is at her school...how when I say "we're going to school" in the morning, she runs to the door....how she runs into the classroom with a smile on her face, turns back blows me a kiss and keeps going....how when I pick her up there's a little part of me that thinks she's slightly disappointed that she has to leave this great place....how Jenna's teacher reminds me of myself when I was that young and working in daycare....how she's such a caring, loving teacher...how Jenna has learned SO MUCH there.

This breakfast was good for my friend (I hope) and just has good for me.  It reinforced what a good decision this was for my family.  Jenna's so happy and I don't have to worry about her and can deal with my own "back to school" jitters!!

Heart Melting

When you have a child, you have all these hope for them (or at least I do) and I guess this may sound silly, but I want people to like Jenna.  I'd like her to be popular, not Mean Girls or Gossip Girl kind of popular, but where people like her and want to hang out with her. 

This all came to mind this morning, when I dropped her off at daycare.  She walked into the room (no longer crying, I might add) and the four little kids who were there all looked at her and said "Jenna's Here!!"

My heart melted. They like her. They really like her.

Every Couple Has Their 'Dance'

I've been thinking a lot about my job as a SAHM and how it will change when I head back to work and the roles my husband and I have chosen in our marriage.  Key word here for us is chosen.

Every couple has their what I like to call their own dance. The things that you do as a couple that may or may not work or be for everyone else.  With Mike and I it's kind of interesting because we both lived on our own before even meeting each other.  We both paid bills, maintained apartments, had jobs, cooked and had indpendent lives for close to ten years before moving in together.  We are both capable of taking care of things. So for me, I got to "give him" the chores that I didn't like doing and he got to "give me" the things he didn't like doing.  For one thing, Mike's in charge of the bills and money (which sometimes means that I have to explain what the $50 withdrawal was - but at the end of that day, I hate doing bills and he does them well). And I am in charge of the cooking around here. I like to cook and truthfully, I'm good at it.  Compromise. We compromise on tons of things around here - that's what marriage is, right?

Choosing to stay at home this past year and half made me feel at times like a 1950's housewife with a husband-provider who came home to dinner on the table.  But the difference for me is that I chose this and am lucky to have been able to choose this life.  It also helped me to know on those nights where I just couldn't deal, I had a husband who would throw his work hat off and put the dad hat on the second he walked in the door to help put Jenna to bed or cook dinner for us and give me some alone time. When it comes to Jenna, we really are 50/50 as much as possible.  I jokingly say that when Mike is around my "off duty" light goes on.

Now that she's a toddler, she chooses who puts her to bed at night (some nights it's me and some night's it's Daddy).  We tell her it's time for night night and she typically clings to one of us.  And if there's only one of us there, then it's not a problem. I think this back and forth is partly because we've always split up her "routine" things, even when she was an infant.  I remember when she was still waking to eat at midnight and 4 am - He took the 12 and I took the 4. It worked for us. It may not work for everyone.  Now if she wakes up during the night (which isn't too often thank god), we jokingly wait each other out in bed and inevitably one of us caves in to go take care of her. I think it's kind of funny (maybe because I usually end up waiting him out and get to stay in bed).

So I guess for us, some of our roles have been very traditional and other stuff has just been what works for us. It may probably will change when I go back to work next month but we'll make those changes as needed.  It'll always be a work in progress.  Some may say that I'm crazy for cooking dinner every night or not having my own bank account or that I shouldn't make him get up at night because he's working. But it's our business, our marriage and our dance.

Oh Boy!

I know you feel a little bad for me, so do me a favor and give me a click click

here....Thanks!

just what i needed to hear

You know those people who always know the right thing to say at the right time. I am so freaking lucky because I actually have a few of those people in my life. I have a whole lot of stuff going on right now and Ive been feeling a little stresed and emotional about it all. You can read about some of it here and some other stuff is just not for the blogosphere...

After a kind of rough going day dealing with all the issues surrounding Jenna and daycare, and my guilt and her happiness...I open my email and I get this amazing note from one of those people in my life.  It doesn't really matter who she is, but she reads this and I hope she smiles when she does, because it made my day.  It's exactly what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. 

I was concerned about you when I read your blog from yesterday. I know this is a very difficult time for you and there is nothing anyone can say or do to make you feel better. However, coming from someone who did the same thing and survived (not without tears) I can tell you that everything is going to be fine. Once you see how much fun she is having and how tired she is at the end of the day from all the fun and exciting activiites you will begin to feel better. You will also start to cherish the time you spend with her over the weekends even more and if you still have trouble you also know that you have a pretty terrific support system to help YOU deal with this transition (Jenna will be fine).


I so hope I can make other people feel better after a rough patch like she did for me.

Our New Reality

We checked out Jenna's daycare this week. Although I had been there before for the tour and information and filled out all the paperwork, today was the finalization of everything.  We saw the room that she will be in, the kids that will be in her class, and her teachers.  She even got to hang out for storytime with her soon-to-be BFFs! She did great.  Mike and I stood watching her while she listened to the teacher read a story.  When she got a little antsy, it was the teacher who calmed her down. 

Honestly, I wanted to run and grab her when she got a little upset, and it took all my will power not to.  I can't believe she starts in two weeks.  Next week, we go in together and spend an hour or so on one or two days.  Then August 2nd, I drop her off. Period. I'll start be leaving her there for a few hours a day, working up to a full day by the second week. 

I'm having some mommy guilt about starting her in August when I technically don't go back to work until the very end of the month.  And I'm sure many will judge me for taking this time to transition.  But I'm okay with this decision.  I have been away from work for what will be 18 months.  I need time to get my head around it and get my shit together.  This is near impossible to do while watching a toddler.  And I really feel like the more "ready" I feel for work, the better and easier all this will be.  I also want to be around if they need me to come get her or if she gets sick. I won't be able to do that once I'm back at work (my mom will have to do that for us).  I think know she's going to be happy there - so many kids, so many toys, and all the furniture is her height! At the same time I know it's going to be very bittersweet for me. 

Guest Post: Evolution of the Playgroup

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this guest post from Harm over at Baby To Go.  I've been asking her to post for me for a long time now, and she finally stopped traveling for long enough to write something for me.  She's out of her usual comfort zone (traveling with baby/toddler in tow) and writing about us...not her and I (although we're in here) us as in moms and our relationships with each other.

I would call Harm one of my best mommy friends, but in truth she's just one of my best friends.  I am lucky to have met her and so happy that our kids are growing up together.  She is a big reason why I am not looking forward to going back to work.  Okay, enough about my love for her - check out what she has to say about our playgroups and leave her some comments!!

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Parallel Play: The evolution of the playgroup

When my son was 5 weeks old, I ventured out to a new mom meet-up in our neighborhood. I was looking for some adults to talk to, and something to do. I never though I would meet so many great friends, with kids around the same age as C. That is how I met Melissa & Jenna.

Out of this weekly meet-up grew our little playgroup. We would meet weekly, at a rotating hostess’ apartment. The hostess would provide lunch, and we would sit around and chat while our babies lay on blankets and stared at each other. These playdates would last for 3 or 4 hours. Kids would nap if they were tired. They would eat, maybe play with some new toys… who knew how blissful this really was?

C dressed up for his 1st play date, June '09

Last fall we began to take classes together and in good weather, groups went for long walks in the neighborhood or out to lunch. As winter turned to spring, our group became a little more informal, meeting mainly at the local playgrounds and sometimes the park for a picnic. Enjoying the emerging nice weather after the snowy winter months.


But about three months ago, when my son started walking, any attempt to “socialize” with another mom & child, became not so fun. Picture me chasing after my son, with broken bits of adult conversation in between. In the past few months, play dates have been on hiatus, and maybe it’s just the warmer weather, but at the same time, now that the children are rambunctious toddlers, it’s hard to have 5 or 6 (or more!) kids running around an apartment. Meeting another mom for a stroll, or coffee (so fun and easy when they are little infants) is impossible. Even a trip to the zoo or children’s museum, each mom is running after their lil’one… usually in opposite directions!

There is also the nap factor. Most of the kids we know are in the 16-20 month range. And their naps are at different times, different lengths. Some kids have to be home to nap, some kids are more flexible with their nap schedules. So it makes even finding a time of day to get together quite tough.


So even though I “interact” with other moms (I haven’t morphed into a hermit, and btw, my kid has no nap schedule) I miss my mommy-friends and our get-togethers. I guess with everything baby-related, this is just a phase. You probably could coin it the parallel play phase. And I’m talking about the parents here, not the kids. As the kids grow, and become more self-sufficient, I’m hoping the play dates will evolve to where we moms can sit back on the couch, have a glass of vino, laugh about our husbands, while the kids play together.


At what age does that happen?

A Weekend Just for Us

This past weekend was really nice. For the first time in a really long while, we had absolutely no plans! This is a major thing for us because we're always running around and it was great to slow it down and do some local things, hang out and chill.

Since we're working on this whole one-nap a day thing.  We got up and got out Saturday morning.  They were announcing rain for most of the day, so we figured we'd take advantage of the good weather and hang at our local playground.  I love it there. We spend lots of time there and Jenna just loves it. Between the swings, the slides, the jungle gyms, she's one happy little girl. Had some brunch with my parents. Went to the local farmer's market (which is new in town) and bought some stuff for Mike for his NY Triathlon which is next Sunday.  Saw my brother for a little bit and just stayed close to home.  It was nice to have nowhere that we had to be. 

Sunday Mike took Jenna for a run (god how I love that jogging stroller!) and then we went to our playground which had an imagination playground.  It was super cool because although it's our same old playground, it had a bunch of new things to do for the day.  Then we went and got our free slurpies at 7-11...my first slurpie EVER.  (honestly, not so great, but my hubby loved it).  Went home for naptime and then ventured to a different playground in the afternoon.

This is the thing about this weekend - we didn't do anything too exciting or crazy, but the three of us got to spend a lot of time together doing stuff as a family.  Sometimes when we're running around, making all sorts of plans, I feel like I didn't get to spend time with my husband or my daughter.  So this weekend it was nice to do just that.

I am so Not Mom of the Year

When I saw this contest going on from the ladies at Life Without Pink and the Momologist, I had to join in on the fun.  Over the last almost 16 months, I have had countless moments where I've said "Well I guess I'm not winning the mommy of the year award!"








It's all in good fun, but when I started thinking about specific instances where I was certainly not mom of the year - the few that came to mind quick all had to do with Jenna falling - from high and low.  I'm laughing writing this, but really, it's kinda not funny.  But I guess since I know she's okay, I'm allowed to laugh about it...

First the low...
At two weeks old (she was super little) we had her in bed with us.  God we were just trying to get some sleep and at that point the only way she would sleep was on our chest.  Well that's where she was, and I must of been completely sleep deprived, because I forgot she was there and rolled over and she dropped off my chest from the bed onto the floor.  Panic insued. Pediatrician called and visited.  She was/is fine.  I didn't tell anyone about this for months because I was afraid they would say I wasn't a good mommy. 

Now the middle...
You thought the bed was high...umm no...Jenna's fallen from higher.  Right around her first birthday, we went with some friends to the Long Island Children's Museum.  Great place for kids of all ages.  Well, they have this toddler room where the kids can run around and climb on things.  In the room they had this awesome real life motorcycle. I really wanted to get Jenna up there (you know where this is going right?!?)
Well we got this adorable picture first....

And then she went falling off the motorcyle.  You see my arm on the right, well she fell left, and what you don't see in the picture is some small steps next to the bike (so kids can walk up to it).  Yeah she fell off, bounced down the steps and landed with a thud.  I swear  I was watching her - I have proof - my hand is holding her!! But she fell, this time from pretty high up.

 

And the high...

If you're a reader of my blog (and you should be if you're not already), you know this story.  It was a few months ago, and we were staying at our friend's HOUSE.  We live in an apartment.  I thought Mike had her, he thought I had her. Well the stairs had her.  All we heard {he was in the bathroom, I was in the bedroom} was a thud and screaming. Jenna fell down a pretty substantial flight of stairs.  Thing is, I have no idea if she walked down a few and then slid down the rest, or if she slid on her butt, or if she flipped down them...it's probably better off.  Cause either way, she fell down a flight of stairs. It was a holy shit moment if there ever was one. 

 

Thank god our kid is tough because she's taken some good falls.  It's not that we don't watch her, it's just that I'm not mom of the year!

Join in the fun! Why should you get the Not Mom of the Year Award??