DATE ARCHIVES : June 2013

I Love Mommy!

Okay, so there are a few first words and phrases that can get a parent a little misty. “I love (fill in the blank of said parent) is one of them. Last week, my little one said “I love Mommy” for the first time. It would have been fantastic on any given day, but she decided to say it on a day that really sucked for me. I didn’t expect her to say it then because I’ve been trying to get her to say “I love you” for weeks now and get “I…u”. Love just seems to be a hard word for little kids to get out. But, at that particular moment she managed to get it out. She’s only said it one more time since then, but I don’t care. She said it and that’s all that counts.

I’m sharing this not only because it was great, but because I think it’s funny how kids know what you need at just the right time without knowing it. Does that make any sense? See, I was a good mommy all day long on the day I got my first “I love Mommy”, but was highly aggravated under the surface and tried not to let it show. It was just a domino effect of crappy things that made me want to drink a bottle of wine at the end of the day, although I didn’t. So, hearing those three little words really meant the world to me that day. I clapped and cried, of course. My daughter knew she did something good that night because we were all excited, but she still has no idea just how much it meant.

I think kids have a sixth sense on these type of things because it’s not the first time this has happened. There’s been other times when my older daughter has said or done something just when I needed it. Of course she didn’t know it at the time. That’s what  made it all the more special. We always hear about a mother’s intuition, but I truly think kids have it too. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Potty Pride

As a mom, so many little things are big things. First steps, first words, and of course, first pee pee in the potty. But, it’s also hard to be there for each and every milestone because kids always tend to do things when we are not around. It’s just the way it is. With my first daughter, I caught the first step (at least as far as I know). I think I was around for the first word…of course it was “Daddy”. But, I remember missing the first potty encounter.

She did it at mother-in-law’s house. I remember my husband calling me at work and telling me. I also remember being upset that I missed it. Imagine, being upset over pee in a potty! Just paint a big “L” on my forehead. These are the things that happen when you become a mother, I guess. I actually got a little misty as I told a co-worker. He giggled a little, but said he understood. I felt so horrible that I missed a milestone! She could care less, I’m sure. But, to me it was a big deal.

Fast forward a couple of years…I’m making eggs in the kitchen, the girls are playing in the living room. My little one strips down to her birthday suit…her sister makes sure I know about it. She runs around naked. I’m trying to finish cooking the damn eggs so I can put a diaper on her. The eggs are done. She’s standing in the hallway…naked.

“Let’s get a diaper on you,” I say. “Pee, pee,” she says. I immediately look down at the floor, assuming I now have a puddle to clean up. Nope, dry floor. “Pee, pee!” she tells me again. So, I carry her and put her on the potty. I figure it’s worth a try. Trickle, Trickle…score! We have our first pee pee in the potty! I clapped for her and made a big deal like we just hit the lotto. She was happy too, clapping and smiling on the toilet. Her older sister came in and was clapping for her too. I was there for this one. Score one for mom!

Like I said, this may sound silly to some, but I was so happy I was around for this milestone. As a stay-at-home/work-at-home mom, you sometimes only have a bag of dirty diapers and a perfectly colored picture of Elmo to show at the end of the day. You often ask yourself what you did all day. The house is still a mess, the same amount of money is in the bank. You feel like you have nothing to show for the day, although deep down you know you did a hell of a lot. So, days like this when I can be around to catch a milestone, mean a lot. I’ll take this one to the memory bank.

Father’s Day Dilemma

So, Father’s Day is just a couple of days away and I have yet to buy anything for my husband (sorry honey!). Don’t get me wrong, I have asked him if there’s anything in particular he may want. He said nothing. But, I’m not sure if it’s a “nothing” nothing or a “nothing” something if you know what I mean. I usually say nothing and mean it, but always get something anyway. I don’t want Sunday to roll around and have him look for something that isn’t around. Ugh. Sigh.

What do you buy Dad for Father’s Day? All the ads tell me Dad wants some new tools, a tie, and some cologne. Those are such snoozer gifts and so predictable. I usually like to think out of the box, but I just can’t come up with anything really good this year. It’s so annoying. Ugh. Sigh.

We don’t even know what we’re doing that day. I asked if he wanted to go anywhere special or have me make anything special. He said he wants to play it by ear. Hmmm. That doesn’t leave me much to go on. Ugh. Sigh.

I know some guys who actually take Father’s Day to go golfing or fishing…alone. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Father’s Day? You wouldn’t get to celebrate the day if you didn’t have a kid, so shouldn’t you at least spend it with the family? Maybe it’s just me. Although, I know my husband is probably going to ask the kids to let him just relax. Too bad the chances of that happening are about as likely as us winning the lottery. Ugh. Sigh.

Seeing that we are just a few days out, I think I may just see where the wind takes us.
Although I haven’t bought anything yet and don’t have any dinner reservations, I know that whatever we do will end up being perfect. He already has the three best ladies in the world, right? That’s gotta be better than some ugly tie or power drill, right? I’ve gotta think so. To all the Dads out there, Happy Father’s Day! To all the ladies out there, what are you doing? Maybe I can piggyback an idea from you!

No Vacation from Motherhood

Vacation: noun, a scheduled period during which activity is suspended. That’s the definition from Webster’s dictionary. Vacation with kids: noun, a scheduled period of time where you will get no rest and if you think you were going to, you were an idiot. That’s my definition from the dictionary of Kristina. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I just returned from a vacation with my children. I don’t know if it was the warmer air or what, but at times, they seemed like someone switched out my kids and gave me some creatures from the planet Cling-On and Whine All the Time.

Before you think I had some horrible vacation, I honestly didn’t. It was a good time. But, let’s just say there were some trying times that I really wasn’t expecting. For the most part my girls are pretty good at home, even my little rowdy one is usually okay, although some would tend to disagree. But, during our week at the beach, they did things they usually don’t, which got really annoying.

For one, the defiance of the nap proved to be public enemy number one. My older daughter refused to nap after a busy morning at the beach. Therefore, by the time dinner rolled around, her whine-atude was amped up and she wanted to be attached at my hip, my leg, my arm…you get the picture. Just take a damn nap! That’s all she had to do. But no, she had to prove she was some type of non-sleeping superhero. Epic fail.

As for the little babe, she napped, but was still a terror. At times, she was even worse after a nap. I just don’t get it. She would wake up with such a bad attitude that I wanted to ship her back home. Her fearlessness also made me wish I had eyes behind my head. She became an expert in diving off furniture and even thought she could walk on water. She scared the bejesus out of me when she tried to walk to her father who was in the pool. Luckily he was right there to catch her.

Don’t even get me started on the ride home. My older daughter actually slept for most of the ride. She must have been tired from all those naps she didn’t take. But,my younger one needed a straight jacket and a bottle of Benadryl. She wanted no part of her car seat nor the wide variety of DVDs I brought along. Neither Dora, Caillou, nor Barney helped. So needless to say, it was the ride from hell.

After telling some of my vacation stories, someone told me I need to bring a “children’s helper” along next time. Yeah okay, are you going to pay for that? I didn’t think so. Someone else also told me it gets better. So I’m going to believe that for now. One thing I did learn was that there is never a vacation from motherhood. There’s always poop that will need to be cleaned, mouths that will need to be fed, boo boos that will need to be kissed, and fights that will need to be broken up. On the flip side, there will also always be bottles of wine to drink to help deal with all that! So, we’ll see what happens next year. Stay tuned!