Woes of Motherhood

I love being a mommy. I really do. I talk about it all day, everyday. My children are my life and I would have nothing without them. However, there are those days... Moms, you know what I am talking about. I decided to be brave and share some of my confessions with you. I want you to read this with a light heart. I am writing it from a place of love, humor, and a hint of sarcasm. If you question whether or not I truly love my motherhood role, you really don't know me. That being said... I continue :)

Callie slept in our bed last night and Craig went to work early. It's just me and the kids today. We were up late last night and I was hoping the kids would sleep until at least 7! Well, I won the sleep lotto and they didn't wake up until 9:30! I don't remember the last time I slept until 9:30! This day has to be perfect now, right? I spent the morning playing with Callie and Tanner, listening to her sing Taylor Swift songs, and him say "Dadadadadada" over and over. Thanks, rub it in. I put him down for a nap and figured that it would be a perfect time to finally take a shower. It was just past noon. Moms, you know showers can be VERY hard to come by, so I seized the opportunity. I thought about locking the door. I always think about locking the door. Maybe I could have 10 minutes of "Shower Peace" if I just lock the door. Eh, didn't happen. Not only did I not lock the door, I brought the baby monitor in (yes he's almost one and we still use it. He has a quiet cry people!) so I could hear if he woke up. Got through my shampoo, no problems. Rinsing, great, still no Callie. Then she came up. I hear "MOM! MOM!" thinking something happened. She comes in with an apple. Yes, an apple. She wants me to cut it. Right now.  So I got out and cut her apple and finished my shower. Just kidding. I hope you didn't really think that I would do that. I told her to go downstairs and I would be down in a minute! Duh! So she only came up about four more times while I showered as quickly possible.

Sometimes, I have an audience when I shower. No. Really. She refuses to just let me take a shower. Here's an example of what my showering conditions can be like at any given time.




Ms. Callie and her "class"

 She actually came in for a band-aid for Alice because baby Lilly bit her. She just decided to stay. Great.

So a shower is just one of the things we mothers sacrifice. Maybe I'll learn to lock the door one day... you are right... probably not.

How about those long car rides? We live about an hour and a half from our hometown. So we go for an almost two hour car ride every so often. Most of the time, the kids sleep and that's awesome. That is, until I have to go to the bathroom. I can hold it. I can hold it. I am NOT waking up and taking a baby (at the time) and Callie into a rest stop so I can go potty. How would it even work? Logistical nightmare. I can hold it. Try to think about something else. Turn up Celine Dion and just sing and enjoy yourself. I can hold it. I notice the diaper bag next to me and I have about an hour left until I get home. The thought of pulling over and peeing in a diaper did cross my mind. I'm not gonna lie. Did I do it? Heck no. That would be gross, but it did cross my mind. This is the kind of insanity that motherhood can drive you to. Don't even lie, you've been there.

Even writing this blog. I can't do it in peace unless I want to stay up late. Which, I don't. She's kicking me as I type.

And then three minutes later, Tanner is pulling on the laptop cords. Yup. And just for the record, I am not neglecting my children. Craig is sitting right beside me. Refer to my blog on the Male Brain for what I think about that. http://satodd9281.blogspot.com/2010/12/male-brain.html

Meal time? Forget about it. We sit down for dinner, and Ms. High Maintenance kicks in. I mean, really kicks in. "Mommy I need a napkin. Mommy wipe my hands. Mommy can I be done? Count with me Mommy, how many more bites?" And so on. Tanner's new favorite thing to do is beat on his tray on the highchair so hard that his food flies off. He thinks that's hilarious. I kind of do, too! Until I have to clean it up!

How can you get mad at this face??

Yes, I love motherhood. Like I said before, if you know me, you know it's the most important thing in my life. But it helps to make light of the more challenging times and I am so thankful for my children and my husband. There are a million upsides for every downside. I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Whew!

Wow, what a Christmas week! It has been pretty crazy in the Todd family the last week. We had Christmas Eve with my sister, Darci, and her husband, Marcus, and their son, Dreu. It was pretty relaxed and fun, we had Ranch Chicken and Potatoes. Very yummy.

Stockings, anyone? P.S. I didn't tell her to do this.
She came up with this one on her own....

Tanner was over it. Callie was showing off her "Rapunzel" hair extension.

Santa visited us Saturday morning. Callie finally got her Taylor Swift doll, and I can tell you now, a few days later, she plays that song nonstop! But, she loves it. Tanner didn't have a lot of interest in opening presents!

Why did I buy her any other presents??

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to South Sioux for our Christmas! We were planning on staying one night and being back in Omaha the next day. We find out just as we were leaving for Grammy's that Craig's grandma had passed away. The visitation was on Monday, the funeral Tuesday. So, we stayed the couple of extra days. We saw lots of family and friends that we hadn't seen for a while so that was really nice. Opening gifts in a room full of Todd's is... well... chaotic? Can't find the right word. If you are a Todd, or know a Todd, you know what I mean : )

Yummy!

We had Christmas at my mom's and then my dad's on Sunday afternoon. All and all we had a great time and it was an awesome Christmas for the kids!

After the funeral on Tuesday, later that night, we went out to eat with some family at Perkins. We had fun, and it turns out it was Kids Eat Free night so that was an added bonus!! We went to the hotel some family members were staying at to swim afterwards! Then... the scariest moment of my mommy life happened.

Callie was in the pool with her daddy. He was helping a young family member swim and Callie was waiting for him on the stairs. She was on the bottom step and getting excited because daddy was swimming towards her and it was her turn next! She started jumping a little and you know how water kind of carries you... well it carried her off of the stair and right into the pool where she couldn't reach the bottom. I was holding Tanner and sitting in a chair watching her when this happened. (Wearing heels, no less.) I jumped up and ran for the pool, and just as I was about to jump in, Tanner and all, Craig got to her. It really was so scary. I am thankful that we were both paying attention but it's an image I won't soon forget, if ever. Seeing her head under the water and her tiny arms trying to paddle. Ugh. I am glad it ended okay. And I was happy to get her out of the pool. My search for swimming lessons start TODAY.

We had kind of a roller coaster of a holiday.  We had 4 Christmases, one funeral, one near drowning, lots of cookies, lots of kisses, some stress, and lots of fun. Here's to hoping next Christmas is a little less eventful!

Are you REAAAADDDDYYYY?

Christmas is almost here. Now it's actually appropriate timing for some Christmas blogs! Yay! Are you ready yet? Have your shopping and wrapping done? For those of you who do, have you baked? Did your kids sit on Santa's jolly lap? Me... well. As excited as I was a month ago, the excitement hasn't garnered much motivation. Today I am going to finish my shopping. Tonight I am going to start wrapping. I have started making my goodies. But all the progress I made was diminished since Craig was off yesterday. He ate most of the goodies I made. But hey, that's what they are there for, right?

To start my festive weekend, I took Callie and her friend Leah to Village Pointe. It's an outdoor mall here that has a movie theatre. They were playing, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Which is, by the way, one of my favorite holiday movies. If you know me, you know I love a plan and HATE to be late. So I planned to be there at 8:30. Movie began at 9:00. I was expecting a huge line and a ginormous crowd. We got there, parked easily, walked right in, and were the FIRST people in the theatre. We were "those" people. Embarrassing.

When we walked by the concession stand, Callie wanted popcorn. A) She doesn't even like popcorn B) It was 8:30 am who gives their kid popcorn at 8:30 am?

Being the first ones in the theatre we sat there for a while and then a lot of people started filtering in. Complaining that they couldn't get 4 seats together. Glad we came early:) People who sat in front of us had... popcorn. People beside us had... popcorn. The girls wanted..... POPCORN! No way was I going to give up our seats so we could go get popcorn. I gave them a granola bar I had in my purse and it seemed to do the trick.

So a radio personality came out and welcomed us, and then an elf, and then some "Who's" from Whoville. Everything was going awesome. Santa came out. The girls were so excited, their eyes were just sparkling.

The movie started and the Who's kind of danced along with the movie (which was cute, but somewhat annoying. I really just wanted to watch the movie.)

Then the part of the Grinch came on. And then the "real" Grinch came out. And then all h-e-double hockey sticks broke out.

Tears. Tons of tears. Whimpering, screaming, and two little girls crawling up as close as they possibly could to me. A little boy nearby took notice of my two scaredy cats and he decided he should be scared too. Before I know it every child around us is screaming in fear. Again, I just wanted to watch the movie. So the entire movie, these people were acting out. Again, ANNOYING. Even more so now that Callie and Leah are looking everywhere but the movie screen, anxious about the Grinch coming too close to them.

See the FEAR in Callie's eyes??

I finally got them settled down, and we tried to enjoy the rest of the movie. After the movie, we sat on Santa's lap. Well, not we, Callie and Leah did. It was a fun experience all in all.

Do you ever feel a little CRAZY?

Okay, maybe a lot crazy. I do. Really, I'm not joking.

My daughter wants a Taylor Swift doll for Christmas. Not just any Taylor Swift doll, one that sings a song she likes. So, "You Belong With Me," "Our Song," or "Mine." We can only find "Teardrops On My Guitar" and "Love Story." My sister bought the "Love Story" one, just in case we can't find the others. They are out of stock everywhere. I always used to make fun of parents who went crazy over some silly toy for Christmas. That was BEFORE I had children, and BEFORE my daughter asks for it everyday. I am one of those crazy moms looking for this doll. Sending family members to look for this doll. I found it on Ebay but I am NOT willing to pay $40+ on it with shipping. It's 17.99 at Target if they ever get it in stock!

That's not even really a big reason why I feel crazy sometimes. Do other people make you think you are crazy?? My sister, Darci, is trying to convince me that I need to be medicated. I worry a lot. Every car trip, I think we are going to get in an accident, whenever we go to the mall I think about what I would do or where I would hide if someone had a gun, basically I have a fear of me and/or my kids/family ... I can't even say the "d" word. Let's say, going to heaven. On to a lighter note...

My son makes me feel like I am losing my mind sometimes. I KNOW I put him in bed with a pacifier, but it seems like the minute I leave the room, he's crying for one. And he does NOT sleep without it. I look around the bed, in between the bumper (yes, he has a bumper. and it's not even a breathable one, shame on me, move on) and the mattress. Nope. Today I decide to move the crib back b/c my stash of 10+ pacifiers is dwindling and they can't just disappear into thin air. Or can they?



Yup, 4 pacifiers.

 See, I knew I wasn't crazy!?


Well, he was screaming for a pacifier as I ran downstairs to grab the camera and then I just gave him one off the floor, so maybe I am? Or maybe I'm not going to get a "World's Greatest Mom" mug this year. Darn it. I could (and MIGHT!) do an entire blog based on why I lost out on "World's Greatest Mom" a looong time ago!



Don't worry, he was fine people!



Look at them! I feel like they have some secret I don't know about (here comes my paranoia). Like, they are working together to make me do/say insane things and then they laugh about it. It's like they are members of some secret club.

I guess it all depends on your definition of crazy. I don't think "normal" exists. I think that everyone's a little crazy sometimes. Recall my blog on Black Friday? Hello!? But that's what makes life so fun!

The Male Brain

I really just... don't get it. Part of me wishes that I did. Part of me... ignorance is bliss??

I don't want anyone to think that this post is ALL about my husband. It mostly is, but mainly just men in general. Griping to my girlfriends we all seem to say the same thing, right?

Well I decided to do some research. Okay, I googled it. So this is not scientific, but most websites said pretty much the same thing. If I were still in high school literature, I would site my sources. But I don't have to do that now. :)

I found this point interesting...

• Men are able to focus on narrow issues and block out unrelated information and distractions. Women naturally see everyday things from a broader, "big-picture" vantage point.

My translation to this, men block out important issues and get distracted. And by distracted I mean, TURN OFF THE TV WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU! And girlfriends will tell you, sometimes when you are talking to him you feel like saying, "Okay, what's the last sentence I just said..." JUST to be sure he was listening. If you are me, sometimes you actually say that. For real. And he doesn't always pass...

• Men are able to separate information, stimulus, emotions, relationships, etc. into separate compartments in their brains, while women tend to link everything together.

Agreed. Next.

• It is estimated to be only about 3 pounds, which is usually around 2 percent of your body’s weight. 

Okay this is good news for me! Tomorrow morning when I weigh myself, I will mentally subtract three pounds! Yes!

• On average women say 7,000 words per day. Men manage just over 2000.

This I also believe. My girlfriends and I have often had the chat of, "I wish he talked to me more, you know?" Girlfriends, you know it's true! And while we sit and chat about it, our word tally just rises!!

• Men use the right part of their amygdala instead of the left like women do, hence he may not remember details of important events as well as a woman can

So you mean this is why whenever someone asks us how old our son is he looks at me like a deer in headlights and then proceeds to argue with me about his age? Hmmm.. wait a minute, would you count birth as a detail of an important event? The day he was born is just a small detail, and I should be thankful that he knows he HAS a son? Or, maybe the important event was s-e-x (sorry still can't say it!) and the detail was his son? I don't know... maybe someone can fill me in?

Or maybe someone could fill me in, because I didn't find this in my research, why men have to be "told" to do things around the house? Really, you just stepped on five toys on your way to the couch. Tripping over them sounds like way more fun than bending all the way over to pick them up!

Enough googling the male brain for me. It just sounded like a male wrote those articles to give men excuses for their behavior! I could go straight to the source and talk to him about it, but men have a thinner cortex, thus they aren't very good at conversation.

All joking aside, I love my husband very much, I am very thankful for him. He's an awesome daddy, (which my research said can make his brain "better" by being a dad) and an awesome person. I love him with my whole heart. I just wish he had a female brain sometimes :)

Ten Guilty Pleasures...

Everyone has them, right? I know I have more than 10, but who am I to take up your entire day reading my blog? I know a lot of these are movies and songs, even the ones I should be embarrassed to love, but hey, that's why they are my guilty pleasures :)

10. This song speaks for itself...



9. Like a high school girl with a crush, I gotta have my lipgloss. I'm slightly addicted to Victoria's Secret lipgloss actually. My two favorite flavors...

8. Televison. It's a true waste of time but I can't help it. I don't watch a lot of reality shows, but there's one that I absolutely love, no matter how dorky it is. Not only am I going to share my favorite dancing couple from all of the seasons, I will share with you my favorite dance that I have ever seen on the show. Gives me chills everytime!



And my NON reality show that I am totally obsessed with. Brothers and Sisters. LOVE love it.

7. Romantic Comedies. For sure. A couple of my favorites would be....

Every morning I wake up, before I put on my makeup,
 I say a little prayer for you!

I hate how I don't hate you,
not even a little bit, not even at all.

A few more guilty pleasures movies of different categories:

6. I love to read fashion blogs. Am I the most fashionable person around, no, not quite. But I love to live vicariously through them and imagine if I had the money (and the body!) to be truly fashionable! Along with fashion blogs, I like fashion magazines!

5. Speaking of magazines, I am sad to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is reading "In Touch" and "Ok!" magazine. Moving on...

4. Goo Goo Dolls. Love every song. Can't help it. My favorite? "Name"



3. Facebook is a guilty pleasure that also borders on addiction. I love to see everyone's photos and status updates. And P.S. I've probably facebook stalked YOU at one point.

2. Let's just save a lot of time and youtube videos and say that anything 90's makes the list. 90's music like Ace of Base, Spicegirls, Train, and so on :)

1. My number one, all time guilty pleasure, I say it LOUD AND PROUD..... (this won't surprise a lot of you!)

When you grow up...

When you grow up, what do you want to be?



Hmm.. I can remember some answers I had when I was little. I wanted to be the President. I wanted to be the first woman President. Actually, me and my childhood friend, were going to take turns being President. I was going to be President for a year, and then she would take over for a year, then I would for a year, and so on. I have no idea how long we thought the Presidency lasted. We decided I would write the speeches, she would deliver them. We didn't talk much about anything else that we thought the President had to do, but we knew we could do it. I went through a period where I wanted to be a housekeeper, because I loved cleaning so much! Hahaha, that's funny. I thought at one point that maybe I should be lawyer, because I used to love arguing my point so much. I've mellowed out some since then. Maybe.

Today, what am I doing? I am a stay-at-home Mommy who has a small daycare in my home, and I can say that I love where I am. I love being able to spend time with my children. I love teaching them new things. I love that we have special friends who come and play with us all day. I love that my husband is so supportive of what I want to do. I am RIGHT where I want to be. What do I want to be when I grow up? Me. Simply put.

Having children in my home everyday really is a blessing. It's a rollercoaster sometimes, but fun. If you knew me when I was younger, you would think that I would never open my home to germs and boogers and vomit, right? Dirty diapers? No sweetie, not unless I am wearing rubber gloves. Now it doesn't bother me. Is it really bad that when I see Callie pick her nose, I secretly hope she DOES eat the booger so it's not on my furniture? Probably.  And if you just gagged in your mouth from reading that, don't worry, I was in your shoes once. But that's my point. Why do we have to decide "what" we want to be? And when do we have to decide by? Is there a "decide by date?"

Callie and her Papa

I actually ask my daughter frequently what she would like to be when she grows up. The answer I get the most? "A Princess!" She's also told me that when she gets older she wants to marry her Papa and wear a beautiful white dress. If she can find a man as good as her Papa, I hope she does marry him! I just asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up again, "Taylor Swift. Or like the girl who sings the only exception. (Paramore) And I will sing it. And my dad will be the drummer. And you will sing it with me. Not my Daddy. He's the drummer." Haha, oh Callie. Something tells me she could be an entertainer when she grows up!

Think about what you want to be when you grow up? I've always thought of it as a job. What career do I want to have. Now try thinking about who you want to be when you grow up? Is it the person you are today? Do you think you will want to be "that" in 5 or 10 years?