Friday, August 28, 2015

Mom Life: The Unedited Version


There are many, many woman who have it together.
Their children eat well balanced meals. Mine eat paper. 
They wear underwear on the daily. Mine enjoy a nice breeze between their buttock. 
Their kids don’t solve sibling issues with WWE moves. Mine will be starring on the next episode of Wrestle Mania.
Mom Life: The Unedited Version
So here is a picture play by play of my morning. Because I’m keeping it real for all my soul sisters out there. Can I get an AMEN?!? Or  maybe just a hug. I'll take a hug. Please God someone hold me,
 
So it started out ok. Just two sisters fighting over toys that are developmentally appropriate for their little brother in a very small space. Totally typical.

 


Next we did some cleaning. Audrey cleaned the couch for me. She has such a selfless soul.
 

This was followed by art time. Here we are just arting away. And by arting I mean they were throwing crayons like they were college co-eds experiencing Mardi Gra for the first time.

 

Then we played outside. A good time was had by all. And by good time I mean there was bodily injury and poop was thrown.
 

Restroom break, for mom, AKA Audrey did a little reorganization in preparation for her move.
 
Did I mention we are moving in 2 days? Here is the extent of my packing. I did that tape job myself.
 

Lunch time. Mom wasn’t quick enough. Beggars cannot be choosers so kids made a snack of this toothpaste.
And don't ask how she earned those beads.
 

Gas man, gas.
 

 
It is five o clock somewhere. Not here. but somewhere. Please don't everyone bask in my beauty all at once. that would be overwhelming.
 
Please picture me saluting you while the song "I Will Survive" plays in the background.
Soldier on mommas, soldier on.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

ISO: A Highly Qualified Do Everything'er


Today as I was browsing my computer I came upon my resume from past days. Days where I showered. Days when I knew what was going on in the world. Days when I wasn’t confused by the clothing I see people wearing. Days where I didn’t have to double check if my pants were on backwards before I left the house. I had a moment of blankness where I literally could not fathom what I would put If I had to make a resume for this time in my life. And that made me a little sad. So, I do believe it is time we have some job clarification. This is for ALL my momma’s. My momma’s who do it all, my momma’s who sacrifice working out of the home and the momma’s who sacrifice working in the home. Because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how or where you do it. Motherhood is just that: sacrifice, with the most amazing return. Today I needed to give myself and all you other momma’s out there a little reminder of your job description. Because this can be thankless at times and often hard. So today momma I just want to remind you what exactly you really are:

You are a chef.

You are a fashion consultant.

A boo boo healer.

A shoulder to cry on.

A comedian.

You are a personal assistant.

A launderer of 5 loads of laundry a day.

You are a travel agent.

A Detective.

A giver of life.

You are the answer to every question, the comfort to every hurt.

You are the sun, whose planets revolve around you solely.

You are the 3am snuggle and glass of milk.

You are a bathroom assistant.

An organizer of all things.

The lost sock finder.

The sounding board.

You are their goodnight story and first morning snuggle.

You are human.

You are the playground monitor.

The rescuer.

The fun.

You are the teacher.

And ever the student.

You are important.

You are the tummy-ache healer.

You are the master transportation provider.

You are their adventure.

The stuffed animal doctor.

Pajama provider.

You are the story teller.

The drink refiller and snack provider.

The photographer and memory capturer.

The fort builder.

The life guard and referee.

You are holidays, birthdays, just because days.

You are a fighter and a survivor.

You are their sense of safety.

You are the tickle monster.

The darkness chaser.

You are a scientist.

The lead explorer.

The maid.

The GPS.

You matter.

You are a hair dresser.

A shoe locator.

You are a handyman.

You are belly laughs, silly songs, and make believe.

You are tea parties

And demolition derby.

You are their light, their comfort, their safe place.

You are the anchor.

And you hold.

You are beautiful. Just the way you are.

You are the chaser of monsters, and scary things exterminator.

You are tired.

And that is ok.

Because you are present. Every day.

You, momma. Not anyone else. Just little old you.

Give yourself a high five because you, my friend, are amazing.

 

Fill that out on your next resume k?

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Time my Toddler Took a Car Ride Sans Underwear

Every time you add a child to the mix things tend to get a little hairy. We welcomed our third bundle of poop producing joy into the world 4 days ago, and by welcomed I mean there was a lot of screaming, crying, and begging to double people’s pay if they could provide me with some pain relief.

I now have a child who recently turned 3, a 20 month old with a vindictive streak the size of Texas, and a newborn who probably doesn’t stand a solid chance. He will be cross dressing by 6 months with the help of his sisters.

 

Chaos is an understatement.

So to all my dear friends and people who hardly know me, but would like to participate in my slow mental demise: This is how it is going.

Today has been a day of highs and lows. There were tears. There was laughter. Some mild nudity and some moderate violence. However, I would like to focus more on this evening.

I laid all the kids clothes out for after bath. After the two toddlers did their best impressions of flopping dead fish with strong futures that involve making millions on some sort of water dispersal system they ran into the living room to get dressed. Audrey took this time to let us, the neighbors, and possibly the gas station attendant a block away know that she thought the decision to not allow her to sit on her brother was an unfair one by thrashing around on the floor for a good five minutes. While trying to determine if she was just unhappy or experiencing some sort of seizure Meara took the opportunity to hide her underwear.

Why, you ask, would she hide her underwear? Why not is a better question?

So, after we got Audrey calmed down, Andrew and I took a few minutes to hold ourselves and cry. We then put Meara’s nightgown on and requested she please relocate her panties for us. After explaining she enjoyed a good breeze we once again held ourselves and cried some more and then got distracted again.

At this point I’ve moved on to bathe the baby.

Audrey seize this time to:

1.    Break my powder and disperse it like it is fairy dust. Trust me kid if that was fairy dust I wouldn’t have to be hiding in the bathroom eating oreos twice a day.

2.    Take a large bite out of my deodorant. That is one way to both curb your appetite, as well as let everyone know what you thought about tonight’s dinner.

3.    Draw all over herself with my lip stain.

Did you know that actually does in fact stain?!

That is a lovely shade of coral you have dyed your eyebrows and butt Audrey. Really lovely.

At this point my husband is on his knees saying 3 Hail Mary’s in both English and Spanish (we need to cover all our bases here) and doing the sign of the cross at any child’s approach. He decides the best thing to do is put the 2 girls in the car and drive to Mexico and drop them off. After some debate I manage to convince him that isn’t the best option and instead maybe to just start with a drive around the block.

This leaves me alone with my newborn who after watching his sister’s ridiculousness for 4 days is currently considering looking into adoption.

About 3 minutes after they’ve left I got a phone call from Andrew. He passes along this direct quote from Meara:

 

“Dad I really need some panties on, but its ok!”

 

Yes, you read that correctly.

In the mass chaos that is our life we had forgotten that the oldest had stashed her panties (just in case there was one day a panty shortage) and had instead had been going commando during this time. I’ve never taken a car ride with everything free to the breezes, but if you are wondering what it is like just ask my 3 year old. She has some experience.

There are a lot of parents out there who have it all together. They have lovely children, who are unaware that chicken nuggets are in fact a food group, and wear underwear during all forms of travel.

We are not those parents.

I had this exact same facial expression when I heard too Sullivan. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Walk A Mile In My Shoes


A Day in the Life of a Toddler: As Told by Audrey Murphy
( A small excerpt of time and struggles of a 19 month old)

6:30 am: Wake up. Notice once again there is no one in your room waiting to greet the day with you while providing a full buffet of food. Service here is terrible. Must call grandma. Or CPS.

6:32 am: Occupy yourself by disassembling the window blinds.

6:33 am: You seem to have somehow tied yourself up in said blinds. You heard the neighbor kids have pottery barn blinds. I bet their blinds wouldn’t dissemble so easily. Make note to talk to mother about quality products for yours truly.

6:34: Gently request your mother’s presence in your room. When that doesn’t work try out your new Xena Warrior Princess cry.

6:35 am: Just call me Queen Xena for the day, thank you very much.

7:00 am: Crawl into high chair. Sample the stale cereal provided to you by your former incubator.

7:03am: Request a proper breakfast and for your mother to put on a bra. Gravity must be heavier in the kitchen: That or she misplaced her dignity last week with your favorite sippy cup. Get it together woman.

7:05am: Polish off mandarin oranges and cereal. Sample the pop tart provided. Opt to rub pop tart in your hair instead. Attempt to admire your loveliness in the oven reflection. Unfortunately, your mother hasn’t cleaned the oven since 2012 so a proper visage cannot be seen.

7:10am: Request a new mother.

7:15am: The other child who never leaves is awake. Some refer to her as your sister. You are not convinced. Take “sister’s” stuffed elephant. Throw it on the ground while she cries. Stomp on it. Walk away. Allow one backwards glance and small smirk.

7:30 Physical altercation with your DNA sharer ensues.

7:35am: Xena wins again.

8:05am: Other children begin to arrive-wait to reserve judgement on this.

8:10am: Shove 15 pieces of cereal down your diaper.

9:30am: No one offers you a piggy bag ride. You opt to ride the dog.

11am: Begin to feel peckish. Eat the stashed cereal, some crackers, and 3 pieces of toilet paper.

11:45am: Lunchtime. Eat 28 chicken nuggets and nothing else.

12pm: “nap time”

12pm: Opt out of nap time.

12:30pm: Let mom know you’ve skipped nap by making sounds similar to a dying yeti. When she doesn’t immediately come retrieve you from your den of torture reach over to your dresser.

 Yeah that dresser she wasn’t smart enough to move out of your arms reach. About to have her third kid and still a rookie. Some people.

12:35pm: Speaking of third kid. BAD IDEA. I'll address this with you later but really doesn’t work for me. In order to work through this middle child syndrome pull the clothes out from all the drawers on top of you. Destruction is the best therapy.

12:37pm: Xena cry

12:40 When your giver of life finally decides to spring you, increase noise volume. You know there are other kids in this house who made the mistake of sleeping during nap time. Fools. Good thing they have you to assist them in rectifying that mistake.

12:45 Ok mom’s sweating. Things are getting good. Mission is accomplished. Yep, she got the snacks. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. Rookie.

12:47pm:  Dump all the Scooby snacks out on the bed. Roll around in them.

1:00 pm: Get one squashed in between your toes

1:01m: Cry. Eat that snack first. It cannot be trusted.

1:05pm: Gather the rest of the snacks in your fist. Wave the fist at your mother. Laugh when she appears frightened. Rookie. Shove all ten on the snacks in your mouth.

1:10 pm: Fall over, snacking has overcome you for a short second. Sit up immediately when your mother runs over to make sure you aren’t choking. She really should run faster. And loose 10lbs.

2:00pm: Rejoin your fellow toddlers. Let them know you missed them by pooping.

2:10 pm: build a block tower

2:12pm: When mom doesn’t immediately take note of how brilliantly you’re playing chuck a block at her head. Laugh.

2:14 pm: Time out, also known as mother’s futile attempt to “discipline”. Make note to “discipline” her at a later time. You know very well she has a bag of Cheetos stashed in the washing machine, so her hypocritical sermons of sharing will fall on deaf ears. Deaf ears and dirty diapers. Time out ends in 3…2…..1…..

2:15 pm: Poop

2:16pm:  Diaper change, which you would think she would be faster at by this point. I swear good service is so hard to find. Stick your hands in your own poop to encourage her to move things along.

2:22pm: Poop again. Alligator roll while she attempts to change you. Once you’ve secured your freedom, grab the dirty diaper and run. Pause only for half a second to appreciate the feeling of air flow between your cheeks. And not the cute ones on your face. Carry on.

2:23pm: She should really get a gym membership or just stop crying. She would have more air supply and probably be fast enough to catch you.

2:30pm: Xena down! Diaper removed from possession.

3:45pm: Note the lack of sensory table in the room. Remedy this problem by playing in the toilet water. Shove half a roll of toilet paper, 4 cotton balls, and your diaper into the toilet. Leave quickly. It is more fun to let them discover your handiwork at a later time.

4:05pm: Eat crayons.

4:30pm: Dads home. Cry while pointing at mom.

Friday, July 24, 2015

28 years



What does 28 look like to me?

28 looks like scattered sippy cups,
Cereal on the floor
It looks like nearing 38 weeks of pregnancy, my third baby in 4 years.
Night lights, blocks, a house that shows the signs of so many children, and a mom who never quite keeps up.
Who probably won’t ever keep up,

But tries.

It is wrinkled t shirts and yoga pants
unwashed hair, and tired eyes.
It looks like morning snuggles, toddler shrieks.
Whispered I love you’s
And shouts of NO.
Tickle fights,
And make believe.
It’s fierce pride in the little people you’ve created
But also heartbreak in every year and milestone as they grow.
It is princess parties
And mud puddles.

It isn’t perfect.

 It’s always messy.

And I won't take a second of it for granted.

 

 

Monday, July 20, 2015

the INCIDENT


We had an Incident this morning. You know it has to be serious when it ends up in bold on my blog. This place is a 3 ring circus and let me tell you, I am not in any way, shape, or form the ring leader. Side show freak? Maybe. The title of ringleaders goes to the hooligans that used to hang out in my uterus and their buddies that come over to egg them on, err I mean show support.

Back to the Incident.

For those of you who do not know, I run an in home day care. This basically means I am clinically insane. No, I kid. I’ve never been to the clinic so no official diagnosis.

My sweet angel babies have completely and totally used this situation to their advantage. Mom’s not looking? Sweet. Shove a cracker in the DVD player. Mom’s changing someone else’s diaper? That’s rude. She should only change mine. I should probably take mine off and poop on the couch to keep her in line.

Anyways, part of my job is potty training. I have a very sweet little girl and we are in the trenches right now. Men have been lost. The battle still rages. I may smell like urine. By may, I mean I do. So, it is time for us to visit the potty together again. I clear the living room of all weapons of mass destruction (such as but not limited to: toy brooms, large balls, and fruit snacks), lock both baby gates TIGHTLY and off we go.  This little girl and I spend about 5 minutes in the bathroom. We have an in depth discussion about life, loss, play dough, and Callioux. Unfortunately no pee.

We return to the living room. I do a head count. Anyone with a day care or who just has a bunch of kids knows about head counts. You do them constantly. No soldier left behind. I count 2 heads missing. I’ll let you guess which 2 heads.

As I have previously mentioned, my children know how to work the day care system. I have bought multiple gates. Meara hasn’t met a gate she cannot outsmart. It appears she and Audrey felt the call of the wild. So now I’m in reconnaissance to find my escaped children. I find Meara in her room with the door shut. This has never happened in day care history. Meara doesn’t leave the group. Torment them? Yes. Willingly vacate. No. Alarm bells should be going off at this point, but ignorance is bliss. The search continues for the smaller of my hooligans.

I find her. Oh do I find her. She has shut herself in the other bathroom. Located a cup I have literally never seen. Where is this cup from? Did she stash it in her diaper and travel with it during the escape? Has she been fashioning it out of diaper wipes and cracker particles during nap time to use at the most opportune moment? We will never know. What I do know is Audrey took that cup and bailed out the ENTIRE toilet bowl of water.

Every

Last

Drop

I’m going to repeat this. Audrey bailed out the entire toilet bowl of water onto the floor and was doing her very best impression of a piece of frying bacon rolling around in it. Because she didn’t want me to be sad about the lack of water in the toilet bowl she went ahead and filled it with toilet paper. Because the toilet bowl was lonely empty. And no one likes a lonely toilet.

Of course I very calmly tell her this wasn’t very nice and ask her to leave the room. When that doesn’t work I have my own bacon frying seizure and stick her in my room to clean up. After the Incident is taken care of I go to my bedroom to grab Audrey.

She has found the only source of water in the room. A cup next to my bed, and is currently doing her best impression of either the pope during an important mass, or possible a priest during an exorcism. Literally flinging it everywhere while walking around. You know, because staying in one spot wouldn’t be an effective water dispersal system.

At this point I’ve totally given up. I return to the living room where everyone else, whose parents have managed to raise their children correctly, unlike me, are playing nicely.

Except for my potty trainer. Who is standing in a puddle of her own urine that rivals the amount of water needed to fill the Grand Canyon. At this point all this liquid is personally calling me, so I decide to regroup in the bathroom. I need to either cry or pee, or a combination of the two.

Since my children are criminals in training Meara loves fake tattoos. Her dad tatted us all up last night. We look extremely classy. He put one on my stomach but since I’m huge I couldn’t see it. I hadn’t had time to actually look at myself in the mirror but I decided during this pee and mental sanity break to check it out. What did he give me?  A cute butterfly maybe? Or sweet puppy. No. No he did not.  

 

Yeah, that’s a squirrel.

About being clinically insane. Like I said, no official diagnosis yet.

Signing out,

Mom of the Year.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Therapy: My Gift to You


This evening as I started to make myself a lovely kale and spinach smoothie I discovered I didn’t actually have any spinach, kale, or an actual smoothie maker. However unfortunate this discovery was, one must power on in the face of adversity, so I sent my husband off to get the next best thing (chocolate milk shake from McDonalds). After the snack debacle was rectified I paused to reflect on my day. It involved a lot of screaming. And crying. And then the kids woke up.

Ha, I kid (kind of, these ankles would make you cry too).

Instead of feeling terrible about this I have decided to find the positive. The silver lining here is much like supporting small businesses my children will keep therapist in Kansas employed for years to come! Basically, I am single handedly turning the tide in the recession over here. You are welcome America!

 25 Reasons my kids need therapy:

1.       The underwear they peed in when they did NOT have to go to the bathroom is wet

2.       Santa isn’t coming today

3.       He isn’t coming tomorrow either.

4.       Oh, and neither is grandma.

5.       Boys do not have vaginas. Meara used to think I could fix everything, now that I cannot fix her father her innocence is basically shattered.

6.       I went in the kitchen and didn’t return with a 4 course meal.

7.       Baby gates

8.       The water was wet during bath time

9.       I could not properly identify all the different food types that made up Meara’s last bowel movement as it floated in the toilet.

10.   Speaking of toilet. Ours is white, not pink.

11.   Chewing on all household chords has been strictly forbidden

12.   So is riding on the vacuum. Basically I no longer go by “mom”. My new name is actually “kill Joy”

13.   Speaking of riding, I wouldn’t let them ride the dog

14.   I incorrectly sang the song “Old McDonald”. He didn’t have a sheep. He will never have a sheep. Do NOT mention a sheep.

15.   I did not turn into oncoming traffic when driving, even though I was directly order to “GO THIS WAY” by the tiny 3 year old dictator in the back seat

16.   I took a bite of her snack. This is the snack she didn’t want to see, eat, smell, look at, or be in the same room as.

17.   Didn’t let the youngest toddler suck on her dirty diaper

18.   There is more than 1 toddler in this house

19.   I told Meara about dance class and didn’t immediately take her. Dance class starts in September.

20.   It isn’t September

21.   Napping inside the fireplace isn’t allowed.

22.   The block tower fell down.

23.   Her sister looked at her. Twice.

24.   I didn’t look at her while she did a front roll for the 8 hundred millionth time

25.   She front rolled into the couch. My bad.

So, to all the therapist out there. You are welcome. I plan on keeping you in business for many years to come. And after you’ve fixed all the ways I’ve undoubtedly traumatized my children for life go ahead and sign me up for a membership. Do they do therapy memberships? I think I would be more likely to get a therapy membership at this point than a gym one. I don’t think I am medically cleared to approach a stair stepper until I really address the post-traumatic stress motherhood has caused me. And then after that I will need to address the current traumatic stress….