Thursday, June 28, 2007

A Helping Hand

Today I went to Costco ...just to get some soy milk and diaper wipes...and browse the book section. I left with 4 workbooks, 2 story books and 1 for me... PLUS... a cartload full of fish, fruit, fruitabu and weinhard's root beer ....(just under 300.00 - yipee!)

As I was maneuvering my items from the cart to the conveyer belt ... a woman and her 10-12 year old son come over and ask if they can help me. They noticed I was twisting a lot with Melia in the Baby Bjorn. I told her it was my ab workout...

That one simple act... made me happy all day. As I was leaving I wished I had their name/phone so I could drop off a thank you gift. There have been countless times I'm pushing Kalea in the card and Melia in the Bjorn ...and I have to lift cartons of stuff into the cart...without smooshing Melia...that I wish... some helpful person would materialize. Today someone did.

I'll be watching out for other ladies like me... when I shop alone or... when I'm not carrying a joey around.

Today at Lunch

I had time for one thing today at lunch. I could either bathe my 3 month old son, or eat a piece of pie.

I CHOSE PIE.

What would you choose?

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I scrubbed poop out of carpet today. Not just a little, a lot, and over a wide surface area.

I am a freaking awesome mommy today.

Unabashedly Bad Mommy

Today Jooj got into the clothes hamper and layered herself in all of our dirty underwear. And I didn't stop her because she was quiet and I was tired. And then, for dinner, I threw her some tortilla chips and some fruit snacks. And I could have read her a book, but I turned on Elmo instead. And then, when I was hiding in the bathroom, I should have demonstrated the potty mechanics, or at least read the book on adoption issues that has been sitting in there for months, but I locked the door and re-memorized an old Entertainment Weekly instead.

And it is only Tuesday. She is going to be a little match girl by Friday evening.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

95% grody, 50% boring, 80% patience and 100% inspiration

Yes, I know, motherhood is nobility. It is a higher calling. It places a woman closer to God. But the expression of these ideas only comes about 5% of the time. The remainder of the job is filled with things that a noble would never do.

Like changing stinky pants.

And waking up to the phrase "Mami! Mocos en mi nose! Wipeee!"

95% of our existence is grody.
And mundane.
And seemingly futile.

So today let's talk about the little things that go along with motherhood. What is your favorite part of the daily grind? Not the heartwarming moments, not the part that makes you say "Yes! I am doing it!" The parts that don't even register most days.

For me, it is nail trimming. I love trimming the little nails. (Even though I have to do it every few days because I keep feeding the Jooj, so she keeps growing.)

I love to clip her nails because when we brought our daughter home (well, to ~J's house, so my home away from home) I felt confident that I would be able to do all of the things required to keep her alive and ticking. Except for trimming the nails. All I knew was that everyone told me about how scary and tricky it was, and that I would eventually make my darling bundle bleed from her tiny fingers. I asked everyone to show me how to do it, but the timing was never there. So, at the point of Jooj turning into Howard Hughes, I geared up, read the book, and took a breath. And I did it. No blood! And it was the biggest affirmation for me--I could do this, the mothering thing, on my own. And I remember that every single time we do the mani/pedi shuffle.