Real Mums

This is a shout out to all the REAL mums out there. I'm talking about the mums who are honest about motherhood and about their children. I am so lucky to have many mummy friends who fall into this category but I know that is not the case for everybody.

I have met the competitive mothers. The ones who were right pack to their pre-pregnancy weight within days of their baby's birth. They are the same mums who bragged about their babies sleeping through the night by 3 months and are talking (full sentences, of course) before a year. In my humble opinion they are the mothers that lie! I can't get my hear around what these women are getting out of these.....half truths...?....These women are making others feel bad about not only themselves but other children as well.......

Oh shit, I digress. This post is NOT about the competitive mums or any other type of mums. This is about the real mums. I love having mummy friends that I can be real with. Mums that say they are tired. Mums who, when I visit their house, it looks similar to my own. I don't mean by design or decoration here. I mean there are toys out and maybe some stuff on the floor or some dishes in the sink. These mums are open and honest about their children and themselves. I don't mean self-deprecating just truthful. They don't make you feel bad about yourself as a mother (or wife for that matter). They are supportive and encouraging. These mums make you feel normal. Motherhood is hard, why deny that?

We mothers all need to realize that nobody (except maybe for ourself) expects us to be perfect. Admitting it's hard work will make you realize you are not alone. It takes a stronger person to ask for help then to suffer through it alone. I know I can ask any of my mummy (and non-mummy) friends and they will help me out in a second. If you can't say that is true for you, you may want to reevaluate your friendships. You don't need to compete. There is no such thing as a perfect mother. You can only be the best you can be and believe me, your children will love you just as you are.

So to all the mums out there who admit their tired, that parenting is hard work and that sometimes they need "me" time. Who say their kids aren't perfect but they are perfect for me....

THANK-YOU!!

Worst Idea EVER!

Well it seems that I am raising a little boy who is part human and all monkey. At 18 months old we had to put him into a toddler bed because he could climb out of his crib. It isn't going well to say the least.

Every nap and at bedtime I come upstairs and sit by his bed so that he doesn't just hop down and run to the door to call me. I tried leaving the room and he just screams until naptime is over or until I go to bed, either way that doesn't work. So now I'm that parent sitting on the floor of my child's room until he is sleeping. Don't worry I know this is an awful habit to start but what are my other options? I figure it this way, if

sitting by his bed gets him to fall asleep in his own bed for now I can break this habit down the road.

Today however, this doesn't seem to be working. I am sitting here and he is just playing in his crib beside me. I've tried leaving the room but that didn't help either. Why is my son a monster? Honestly, every time I hear anybody talk about how well their child(ren) sleep, I am so jealous and think, "I hope your next child never sleeps". Awful, right? I don't want to begrudge other people their wonderful, sleepy babies....I just want mine to sleep......please?!

Until the day T starts to sleep well (that day will come, won't it?) I just remind myself that one day he will be a teenager and want to sleep all the time and it will be my turn to wake/keep him up. I am really looking forward to that day.

Must Get More Organized

I love organization! I love files and sticky tabs and clips and folders and anything else that helps me be organized.......Well I did. In that magical time I call BT (before T) when I had time to be organized. I was a teacher in my former life so organization was key. Now I can't even manage to print pictures never mind actually get them into albums or frames. You can see my former skills in action when I do laundry. I fold and sort clothes according to who then belong to, what they are (i.e. shirt, pants, etc.) and what order they go on. Sounds crazy but it does make getting T dressed much easier.

Today T and I spend 2+ hours at our local Starbucks uploading pictures to be printed. I can't believe it took so long. Poor baby was so patient waiting for me to finish....Good thing they have food there to keep him entertained. But all this adds up to the fact that I will soon have a massive pile of pictures to sort and put away. Wish me luck people.

Does anybody out there really manage to have kids and stay organized or it more a fake it 'til you make it kind of thing? Am I being unrealistic that I will be on top of things again one day? I don't see how it's going to get any easier as we are talking of more kids (yes plural) but it seems like it's only going to be more and more necessary.

Any tips? or are al the organized mums keeping that to themselves........

Terrible Twos already?!

Well I've always said T thinks he is older then he really is, so why does it surprise me that we have hit the terrible twos early? Full on with temper tantrums and all. We have already had more then one full on melt downs today and it's only 1;30. Oh help me people. The worst part of it might be dealing with it in public. I don't mind the people looking on, it's that T hams it up when other people are around. He loves an audience.

No wait.....the worst part is definitely all the "no" and the "mine" I hear all day. Everything I ask him is "no" whether he means it or not.

me: "T you want a cookie"

T: "no....cookie, please"

I give him the cooking and then it's, "mine!"

All day this is what I hear, "no, no, no, no........" It's a good thing he is still super cute because otherwise I may have a baby for sale (just kidding, by the way). It's too bad he is still too young to bribe him with Santa threats.

Will this tooth just come already!?!...

Another Friday night and I've been in bed with T since 8:00. R is out with his friends, and most of me is happy for him, the other part of me is a bit jealous and a bit lonely. I can't remember how long this bout of teething has been going on for but it feels like forever! I miss our old routine of putting T to bed and then spending some grown-up time together. I mean we were together for years just the two of us. Now don't get me wrong, I would happily spend ever night cuddled up snug with the bug, I do miss R and our time together too.

So now we wait for the teeth (yes plural) to make their big appearance and then we can get T back on schedule and in his own bed. Although I think that sounds much easier then it's actually going to be, seeing as T now thinks our bed is his bed. I will say, "bedtime" or "go night-night" and he goes to our nice, big, cozy king size bed. If you now ask him where his bed is, he'll point to ours and say, "there". Right now I think this is funny but I know soon it will just be a lot of tears. All I can say is, thank god it's a king size bed.

I don't know how other people, with kids have beds smaller then a king. How do you all fit in there? I joke with R saying a smaller be is just uncivilized but part of me believes that. If we had a smaller bed R would have been sleeping on the couch during this ordeal. I know he manages to sleep through 99% of the times T wakes up but it would be even worst if I knew he was sound asleep downstairs while I was waking up 3, 4, 5, even 6 times a night. I would have been a cranky bunny.

I feel like this post has been a lot of complaining and for that I am sorry....I blame the tooth and the lack of sleep. Hopefully the next one will be more upbeat.

That's all this mamma says for now....