I actually spent most of the past two days away from the computer other than answering some email and reading a blog or two, and from someone who usually has a very hard time being away from her laptop for more than a couple of hours at a time, I have to tell you that it was a good break. Not that I would want to do that ALL the time, but once in awhile is nice. :)
So we had a great weekend and accomplished a lot…. (Read on …)
Mike has an entire day and night off and it’s a Friday. This is a very rare occurrence since he usually works in some capacity seven days a week. This morning I’ll drop them off at the railroad park and go to my hair appointment. After that, we are going to find cabinet hardware because I’m really tired of breaking my nails every time I open a drawer.
This evening Little Girl will go hang out with her godfamily while Mike and I go to dinner and a movie or whatever we decide to do and then we’ll pick her up, come home and hope we don’t fall asleep too soon. *ahem*
I’m going to enjoy spending a day with my family and try and ignore the computer as much as possible today. I doubt I’ll update again today, but you never know. If not, then there will probably be a post or two this weekend.
In the meantime, I hope all of you have a great weekend!
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My husband has a very rare Friday night off this week, so we are going to go on a “date”. We’re thinking of seeing a movie, but there’s nothing that I am dying to see. If it was next weekend – no contest, we’d see X-Men 3. But no such luck. We could also go miniature golfing since we haven’t done that in a long time. Or maybe something else. So, help me out. Tell me which movie you think we should see. Or give us an idea of something to do since our darling daughter will be spending a few hours with Grandma. 1. Take the Lead Check out the Auto Link and visit the new Thursday Thirteen website. Please only leave your link if you’ve done a Thursday Thirteen. And leave a comment too to make me feel good. :) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! |
Three people left = three songs…one picked by the singer, one picked by Clive Davis and one picked by one of the judges. I love this week! (Read on …)
So here I was all settled in prepared for no rain until July or so and asking Theresa and Buffi to send me some of their rain. And what happens? We have a freak mid-May monsoon-like thunderstorm duststorm dropping buckets of rain all over the Valley. But without the nasty humidity we have in July and August. Go figure.
So I haven’t weighed in on the whole Britney Spears is a terrible mother debate (is it really a debate when most people are saying the same thing?), because honestly who among us has not made a huge gaffe with our child? The whole paparazzi coming toward her and her driving off with the baby in her lap really didn’t make me think she was a terrible mother. I mean put yourself in a similar position – say you’re sitting in your car waiting for your hubby to come out of the store and you are playing with your baby in your lap and all of a sudden you see a bunch of gang members coming toward your car. I’m thinking you wouldn’t take the time to get the baby back in the car seat – you’d just get the hell out of dodge as soon as your passenger got back and pull over later to put the baby in the car seat once you felt safe. Yes, I know paparazzi are not gang members, but you know what? None of us have to live with photographers constantly breathing down our necks, so we can’t really say that we would not feel threatened in the same situation. I’m just saying.
The latest news is that she was driving down the road in a convertible with the top down and her 8 month old son riding in a front facing car seat in the back. Oh and she had curlers in her hair. Don’t forget that part. Okay, not the smartest parenting choice there. But as I said above, who hasn’t made a stupid mistake? Mine was putting the baby in the car at the grocery store but not buckling her in thinking I would do it after I put the groceries in the car and then realizing I totally forgot to buckle her in until we were almost home. Oh and there was that time she tumbled off the bed and I caught her by her leg so she didn’t hit her head too hard. If you’ve never done something stupid, count yourself lucky because you are in the minority. We all make mistakes. Luckily for most of us, we don’t have to live our lives in front of the lens of a camera for all the world to see.
But you know what upset me more than Britney’s parenting mistakes (and remember she is still only a human being)? What upset me is all the comments I saw on the sites that reported the story. The recommendation is that all children under one year of age AND under 20 pounds ride in rear-facing position. Then when they are over a year AND over 20 pounds you can turn them around, although I think they’ve upped the recommendation to 30 or 40 pounds now. Regardless, most of the comments I read said one year OR 20 pounds. And there were a lot of comments. Hundreds. And it upset me that that many people are that uneducated about car seat recommendations. It upset me more that most of the people who made these comments claimed to be parents of kids who ride in car seats. How on earth should we expect Britney Spears to know the rules if that many “regular people” parents don’t know the rules? If nothing else, I hope Britney’s mistake teaches the world the truth about how kids should be riding in car seats.
/off the soapbox
It’s very interesting to me to watch what words Little Girl learns to say first. She learns words that mean something to her and words that she hears all the time. The little girl that Marlene watches says “gotta go” because that’s something Marlene says all the time.
As for Little Girl? She says thank you, good girl (to the dog), pretty baby and her latest? When she wants something we are holding onto and won’t let her have? Let go! Only she mostly drops the “let” and just yells “GO!” at us as she tugs at whatever we have that she wants. She also has this very stern look on her face. *cough* No idea where she got that from. *cough*
Do you remember any cute phrases your babies picked up as they were learning to talk? And did you ever smack yourself on the head for saying that phrase all the time? ;-)
It was an interesting weekend to say the least and a lot of stuff happened. So I’ll try to hit the highlights…
Saturday
• Mike took Little Girl over to his parents house to hang out with his mom and his brother and his niece who is three. They were gone probably around 6 hours and it’s the longest I’ve ever been in the house without her since she came home from the hospital. It was kind of weird. I kept thinking I had to be quiet because she was napping and then I would remember that she wasn’t here and make more noise just because I could.
• During the time they were gone, I baked a cake that my mom used to make in order to remind me of her, did some chores that I hadn’t been able to do because of my back pain, cleaned Little Girl’s room and put away her laundry without little grabby hands pulling everying out of the drawers and the basket faster than I could put them in, which actually doesn’t bother me, but the cleaning went much faster without it, and took a nice long shower. Then I just relaxed for awhile…took a nap, watched some tv, played on the laptop. Very relaxing.
• While they were gone, they went Mother’s Day shopping and I got this which was one of two things that I had asked for – the other being the Grey’s Anatomy first season DVD which I did not get because he couldn’t find it and that’s no biggie. I haven’t had a chance to use the footbath yet, but I’m looking forward to it!
• After Mike left for work, I fed Little Girl and then played with her for a little while. I was trying to get her to give me kisses, but she was being a headstrong toddler and not doing it. Finally, I played the sit with my eyes closed and lips puckered game that she likes to see if she would do it then. She didn’t. Instead she threw herself into my arms in a huge bear hug and stayed cuddled up with me for a very long time. Which was the best Mother’s Day gift I got all weekend. Maybe she missed me a little while she was out with Daddy. ;)
Sunday
• I was hoping to get to sleep until at least 8 even though I knew I couldn’t sleep in because Mike had worked out of town and didn’t get to bed until almost 5, but at 6:45 his cell phone rang and since he has been in snoring mode and got in so late and wanted to let me sleep he was sleeping on the sofa. The phone, however, was sleeping in the headboard of the bed and he hadn’t muted it. So, in order to keep it from waking LG up that early, I had to grab it and muffle the sound since I also didn’t want to actually answer it and wake her up by talking. But all of that woke me up enough that I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and did my internet rounds.
• At some point I took Mike the phone and told him it was church (caller ID) and that they had left a voice mail, but he was fairly incoherent and didn’t realize what I said until later when LG got up. When he heard his voice mail, he found out that the music director at church who covers all the Sunday morning masses was sick and he needed to go cover the 11 am mass for her. So the poor guy slept for about an hour longer and then drug himself out of bed at 9:45 after not even 5 hours sleep to get over to church by 10. While he was gone, I put LG in her crib to take a nap so I could take one. I did nap, but I’m not so sure about her. But she wasn’t crying so I just left her there playing so I could get some rest.
• After Mike came home from church, we made one of my mandatory twice-yearly visits to the cemetery (I always go on Mother’s Day and her birthday in December) to visit my mother’s grave. Now, I expect Mother’s Day at the cemetery to be busy, but what I don’t expect is to have a bunch of people a few hundred feet away from my mother’s grave camped out in their lawn chairs having a picnic and blasting obnoxious music in the cemetery. I know different cultures treat things differently, but I just found it all to be tacky, disrespectful and rude to other people who were trying to have peaceful visits with their departed loved ones. Needless to say, we didn’t stay too long because of that and because it was very warm outside. I rarely take flowers to my mom’s grave, but there are is a huge pine tree right next to her grave and there are always pinecones all over the ground that have fallen out of it, so I always gather four or five pinecones and leave them in a little row on her headstone as a little calling card saying that we were there. I like to think she smiles when I do that.
• We took the long way home, driving by the house I grew up in (now painted in horrible pink stucco) and the house Mike grew up in which was our house until we moved into this one (now painted a horrible peach pink color – what is with the pink paint? Ugh!). It was interesting seeing all the changes in the old neighborhoods since I rarely get down there anymore.
• For lunch, I decided we would have In ‘n Out Burger because Mike was too tired for a restaurant and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the toddler in a restaurant today either. We went through the drive-thru, but I could see all the little family units inside sitting at the tables. It seems that In ‘n Out is a popular place to take Mom on Mother’s Day. Don’t blame them – good burgers!
• I got three sweet Mother’s Day cards – one from my goddaughter The Princess, one from Mike and one from Little Girl. She is now able to “sign” cards herself and so they are even more treasured. :)
• We went to mass and Mike’s mom came to sit with LG while we were doing music. When she goes to Grandma’s house the first thing she does is reach for Grandma and say “clock” because she wants Grandma to make the clock play music for her (which of course she does). When she saw Grandma at church (and Grandma very rarely comes to our church), she said “clock!” and “woof!” because Grandma has a clock and a dog. I thought it was awesome because it means that she knows exactly who Grandma is no matter where she sees her. :)
• Little Girl was cracking everyone in the church up all through mass. She is not a cryer or a fusser. But she is a talker. And her words of the night were “papa”, “hieeee”, and “dat”. She’s also a squirmer and she wore Grandma out, but Grandma said she wasn’t bad at all. One of the ladies at the church who sometimes holds LG was mouthing to Rochelle asking her if she needed to go help with LG. Grandma did fine, but it really is nice to know there are people we can count on if we need to!
• We got Chili’s takeout after mass and came home and ate dinner and watched the Survivor finale and fell asleep during the Reunion show (by the time we were actually watching the reunion show, it was almost midnight).
So, it wasn’t the most exciting Mother’s Day weekend and I was emotional at times thinking of my own mother, but really the important thing is that we were together, our little family. Tired, but happy.
If I am kind, it’s because my mother showed me by her actions how to be kind to others.
If I am polite, it’s because my mother taught me to say please and thank you.
If I am strong, it’s because my mother was strong and expected the same from me.
If I am talented, it’s because my mother told me I could do anything and was my biggest fan.
If I am patient, it’s because my mother was patient with me.
If I have a sense of humor, it’s because my mother laughed with me and not at me.
If I am diplomatic or tactful, it’s because my mother was gentle in her criticism of me.
If I can cook and sew, it’s because my mother took the time to teach me how.
If I have unconditional love for my daughter, it’s because my mother had unconditional love for me.
If I love to read and to learn and to discover, it’s because my mother instilled the love of learning in me.
If I am a good wife, it’s because I learned from my mother how to be one.
If I am a good mother, it’s because my mother was an amazing example of what a mother should be.
I could talk about mitochondrial DNA and genetics, but I won’t. All I will say is that even though my mother is gone, I see her and touch her every day, because I know that she is a part of Little Girl. I know that just as I have carried part of my grandchildren inside of me while I was pregnant, she did the same and so in some amazing molecular way, they have touched and known each other even before I knew either one of them.
I miss you Mom. Every single day.
And Little Girl, to you I say thank you for coming into my life and bringing me smiles and joy and giving me someone to pour into all the love my mother poured into me.
My mother often told me that she saw her mother in me and now I see my mother in my daughter…the circle of life.
There’s a ship out on the ocean
At the mercy of the sea
It’s been tossed about, lost and broken
Wandering aimlessly
And God somehow you know that ship is me
‘Cause there’s a lighthouse in the harbor
Shining faithfully
Pouring its light out across the water
For this sinking soul to see
That someone out there still believes in me
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I’m reaching out ’til we reach the circle’s end
When you come back to me again
There’s a moment we all come to
In our own time and our own space
Where all that we’ve done, we can undo
If our heart’s in the right place
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I’m reaching out ’til we reach the circle’s end
When you come back to me again
And again I see my yesterdays in front of me
Unfolding like a mystery
You’re changing all that is and used to be
On a prayer, in a song
I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on
Raining down, against the wind
I’m reaching out ’til we reach the circle’s end
When you come back to me again
When you come back to me again
Strange isn’t it? How we get so caught up in the lives of people we don’t actually know…how we read their stories and their struggles and whether we comment or not…we feel somehow that we know them…and in feeling that when we hear bad news we shed tears of sadness for them. I didn’t know her. I don’t think I ever actually commented on her blog. I just read her story and ached for what she wanted so badly and could not have. And now she is gone. My prayers are with her family and friends. Rest in peace CancerBaby.
As you know if you’ve read my blog this week, I’ve had some back pain which means I’ve gotten nothing done around the house including the grocery shopping…
Oh, that’s bad!
But Mike was able to go with me today to run errands so I wouldn’t have to lug the 28 pound toddler in and out of the car and push the shopping cart around and load the groceries in and out of the car…
Oh, that’s good!
But in order to accomplish these things, we had to drop Mike’s truck off to get a new tire and then drop him off on the way home to pick it up, and then he was planning to go get an oil change and then do a quick drywall patch for a client which meant he wasn’t coming home with me to unload the groceries…
Oh, that’s bad!
But, then as I was pulling onto our street, he called and told me that after he had stopped to get dog food, he realized he needed his tools so he would unload the groceries for me…
Oh, that’s good!
Of course, he has to work out of town tonight and tomorrow night so he won’t be getting home until 4 in the morning or so, which means I don’t get to sleep in on Mother’s day…
Oh, that’s bad!
But, he’s going to take Little Girl out shopping for Mother’s Day tomorrow and I’m going to get some much-needed time off while they do some father/daughter bonding…
Oh, that’s good!
Of course, the people that Little Girl usually sits with at church won’t be there on Sunday which could mean that she couldn’t come to church with me on Mother’s Day…
Oh, that’s bad!
But luckily, Mike’s mom agreed to come to church with us on Sunday night so she can be around her firstborn and her granddaughter and I can have my daughter at church with me on Mother’s Day…
Oh, that’s good!
So, I don’t know what Mother’s Day will be like, but I do know I’ll have my daughter with me and that’s the important thing!
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1. Kisses – lots and lots of them. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! Check out the Auto Link and visit the new Thursday Thirteen website. Please only leave your link if you’ve done a Thursday Thirteen. And leave a comment too to make me feel good. :) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! |
There’s always a shocker. Every year. America. I’m not breaking up with you, but WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????? (Read on …)
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