My Mommy Confessions

Before you have a child, everyone has an idealistic view of how they will raise their perfect little angel.  Well, the minute you get that angel home and he screams the entire first night, all of your so called rules go right out the window.  And if they don't, and you are the mother that makes her own baby food, never yells at your child and keeps them entertained for hours on end without the use of any electronic devices - more power to you.  Here are my mommy confessions, that my childless self would have cringed at.

1) We feed B-Man processed food:  

Now that Bryce is eating anything and everything, it is impossible to keep up with his appetite.  We try to make a healthy dinner most nights, but there are those inevitable nights where we just haven't made it to the grocery store, don't have time to cook or just plain don't feel like it.  So guess what Bryce eats, boxed mac and cheese, frozen pancakes or waffles, frozen pizza or (gasp) frozen chicken nuggets.  Now we do try to buy the ones with low salt, no hormones, organic, etc...but its still processed food.

2) He doesn't always eat what we eat:

Did your mother ever say to you, "you eat what we eat or you don't eat at all"?  I can't ever actually remember my mom saying that, but they say it on sitcoms, so some mothers must have said it.  This saying obviously can't apply to toddlers, right?  Maybe I will say it to Bryce when he is 10, but right now, if he isn't digging what we made for dinner, guess what, I pop in a frozen pizza and let him go to town.  Because if he doesn't eat what we eat, and doesn't eat anything, that just means we are going to be waking up with a very hungry boy at 2am.  And I like my sleep.

3) We let him watch TV:

Some pediatrics association somewhere out there has said kids under 2 shouldn't watch TV.  Well that is impossible.  Besides the fact that it keeps his attention and keeps him out of trouble for like 15 minutes, he also laughs his head off at it, and its too darn cute not to let him watch it once in awhile. Even if it means that I go to work in the mornings with the Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirate, Henry Hugglemonster (insert other Disney show here) theme song in my head.  We have even gone so far as to letting him watch it on a DVD player in the car for longer trips (like to Costco ha ha), because guess what - then he doesn't scream his head off to get out of the car seat.  We even bring the IPad to restaurants and let him watch it when he gets fussy.  Judge away young couple next to us, but your welcome cause now you don't have to sit next to a whining toddler.  

4) We let Bryce's naps times dictate our schedule?
If you ask me to do something during Bryce's nap time, that involves bringing him with me.  I will say no.  Naps are essential in making this little guy happy.  I find this one funny, because childless Kelly, really didn't think much would change schedule wise.  Now I find myself calling friends saying, "Yeah I know we were supposed to meet at 1:30, but Bryce is still sleeping...how about 2?" And then a half hour later call back and say, "He's still sleeping, I am NOT waking him up. How about 3?"  Ha ha.  Your good friends will understand, whether or not they have children.  The saying is true - you NEVER wake a sleeping baby/child (unless, maybe, you are sleep training because they have their days and nights mixed up).  And its inevitable, that he will take a 3 hour nap on the day you had plans, when normally he never sleeps past 1:00.  I was bad at being on time before kids.  Now - forget it :)

I know there are many more that I have.  What are your mommy confessions?

    

What is the Mystery Mouse-ke Tool? The suspense is killing me



What's for lunch?  Chicken Nuggets Please :)

Pizza Is My Favorite Food!



What Becoming a Mother Has Taught Me About Friendship

They say there are events in your life that will make you realize who your true friends are; the loss of a loved one who was taken far too soon; an accident that leaves you depending on others to care for you; a divorce, or maybe something less monumental.  For me it was becoming a mother.  I have to say the change in many of my friendships was one of the biggest surprises of motherhood, both good and bad.

I was once told that when complaining or arguing about something that you are supposed to "make a positive sandwich".  You know the bread are the positives and the inside is the negative.  So that I don't dwell about the on about the less than happy moments, I'll be eating a positive sandwich during this post.

The first few weeks after having Bryce were some of the hardest of my life.  I like the term that my sister-in-law uses for this phase, "The Baby Fog". While you are in the baby fog, you have no concept of what is gong on outside of you and your little one's world.  You are consumed with how long its been between feedings, learning and teaching your baby how to breast feed, waking up in the middle of the night for everything from feedings, to comforting the baby, to just making sure he is breathing.  You have your days and nights completely mixed up and you feel somewhat insane.  Not too mention what your body is going through (but that isn't what this post is about - your welcome).   

The people that come to your aide during this time, do it completely unselfishly and without any gain.  First, there is your husband.  Rob took care of everything that I wasn't consumed with.  And I love him for it.  However, I also expected it from him because he's my husband and the baby's father, that is his role, right.  Then there are the grandparents, who are amazing. They bring you food, watch the baby once in a while during the day so you can nap, help with chores, take care of the dog while you are in the hospital, but again you kind of expected it (especially if you have the type of parents that we do) because they are your parents and you are still their baby and they want to take care of you.  And they remember how you are feeling - even if they went through it 30 years ago.  

But what surprised me more were the people who stepped up during this time that I didn't really expect.  That friend who is also a mom and completely understands what you are going through, so she takes the time to bake or send you food, without expecting to visit for 2 hours.  Or your sister-in-law who has three kids of her own but took the time to bring you dinner one of your first nights home and she answers your calls and texts all hours of the day and night when you have questions about breast feeding.  Or your childhood friend, who no matter how far apart you live makes an effort to be there for you for all of your life events.  

Then there are also those moments that you have when people you never thought would, let you down.   Those people that you needed to rely on and showed you no support.  The ones that question your parenting decisions or limit interactions to likes on pictures of your new baby on FaceBook.  The ones that you used to stay up all night in college with having "deep" conversations, that you called every time you needed a good cry, that you thought would be your closest confidante forever, but made absolutely no effort to be there during the biggest time in your life.  The ones that you tried to call when you were having a melt down and didn't pick up or never even returned a call.  Never made an effort to meet the newest most important person in your life.  

The other piece of bread - Thank you to all those people in my life who did everything and more than I ever could have expected.  Thank you to those childless friends of mine, that even though they couldn't personally relate to my experience, still wanted to hear all about it, get to know my son, and showed me that they are true friends.  Those people who will reschedule plans with me, the day of, multiple times because B-Man has slept too long, or is fussy, or needs a nap.  Instead of the ones who just say, "I would never let my child dictate my schedule," or "I will never be that kind of parent." Those friends that will take long walks with me on the days that he will only nap in the stroller. Those friends who see something in a store that they think Bryce will like and surprise him.  The friend that already has a Christmas gift for him in 2014, even though there is no reason she has to buy him a gift at all.  

You all know who you are!