Motherhood

I got up this morning.

I got ready, ate breakfast, and started my day. As I finished cleaning the kitchen I heard the happy chatter of my little boy. I got him out of bed and stripped him down. The past few mornings he had wet all through his PJ's and bundler, so I put a load of laundry in.

My mom got up so she could play with the boy. He ate, played, and went down for a nap somewhat peacefully. I drove to the office to switch out cars. The husband, by habit, had taken his car to work. Unfortunately that is the car that had the car seat in it. I returned and the boy was waking up. We ate a cheese snack together.

We drove to a book store and then ate at Chick-Fil-A. When we were done I absentmindedly wiped the mandarin orange spittle, which had a hint of chicken smell, off of my arm. I looked in my arms, kissed the sweaty head of my sweet, little boy, and thought to myself, "So, this is what being a mom feels like."

Non- Controversial Book Plea

I found this article on Tulip Girls website and I thought it interesting. Now I love to read parenting books, but am a little burned out with all the scheduling suggestions and sleep books. I was just wondering if there are any books that some of my mom readers have out there that they would recommend for babies a year and above that aren't quite so controversial? Any good discipline books that don't recommend that you spank your kid for ever wrong-doing or go to the other extreme of letting the child run the family? I have "Bringing Up Boys", by James Dobson and my sister loaned me "The Wonder Weeks" so feel free to leave me comments/suggestions.

Our Routine

Before I had a baby I had an ideal routine (more of those pesky ideals). I somehow thought that having a baby would certainly change things, but I guess I didn't realize how much. Pre-baby outfits were cute with no spit up and I didn't change until I got home from work. Then I only changed into some comfy jeans. As I imagined it, my ideal post-baby routine included clean mom clothes. Clothes and outfits that I would wear on the weekends and not to work. I would also have clean hair and be able to put on some makeup and then dress the baby in cute fuzzy outfits and go out running errands and playing with other moms. I figured that me being highly structured that I could at least manage this simple task. Unfortunately things tend to slide. God knew that I had these ideals so I like to think that He gave me a colicky baby for 5 months to put me in a sleep deprived state of exhaustion so that the new routine is like heaven. I admit that I do have a new perspective. Here is an example.

The morning routine: I get up and nurse the baby and then give him his oatmeal. We have some pajama play time until the pumpkin gets cranky and tired. While he is sleeping, I take a shower and then fix my hair and carefully place bobby pins in the hair to keep it out of my face to apply some makeup (how much make-up I put on depends on the day). After the baby gets up we have an outing, eat lunch, play, and then another nap. The routine continues until bed/bath time with daddy. Throughout the day the baby spits up a lot. A whole lot. So insert frequent tee shirt changes. If I am at home I usually just leave a tee on until I start to smell like spit up and then change. (Leftover from the reflux and the doctor says it will get better, but I really feel that I will have to be cleaning up spit up until this kid goes to college).

Since the baby is taking more consistent naps he has been doing really well on the aforesaid outings. This week he has been especially good so I decided to try to go to the library for story hour. Today I decided that since I was going out in public I should put on some eye makeup and "dress up"a bit more. This just means I put on khakis and a nicer shirt rather than a puked-on tee. I was feeling good. I was clean, didn't smell, and was somewhat coordinated.

The baby got up from his nap, I fed him, and we were off. The library I had found was in the charming neighborhood across the street. Story time was a fun mixture of stories, songs, and was very interactive. The baby had so much fun with the songs and other kids. Afterward a few of us moms sat around and chatted while the babies played. I was feeling good. Like life was getting more bearable and I felt that maybe...perhaps...just maybe that life would return to some kind of normalcy after the 5 months of colicky lack of sleeping horror and dirty shirts.

I got some books to read and after story time the baby and I headed home to eat lunch. He ate his green beans and I ate my sandwich. He actually hates green beans and most of it got all over his jeans and sweat shirt. I changed him and got him down for his afternoon nap. Realizing that I probably had green beans all over me as well I went to change into another tee. As I walked into the bathroom I noticed that my hair looked a bit strange. Oh NO. Horror. I had left all the bobby pins in my hair.

Hum. A new perspective. A new routine. I now officially feel like a mom.

Maybe I life isn't quite back to normal. But then again...will it ever really be?

Plastic Crap and Sugar

I was walking down the cereal aisle at Kroger yesterday and noticed something strange. Right in the middle of the aisle there were shelves full of crap toys--plastic cars, rubber bands, yoyo's and other such plastic baubles that children (and sometime husbands) love. How long has the universe been out of sorts like this? Isn't the marketing of sugar coated cereal toward children in an effort to make them obese enough? If that is not all, some cruel marketer adds toys that can be easily accessed by these children? I don't usually buy cereal unless it is a big thing of oatmeal, and I usually get the oats in bulk so it has been awhile since I have been down the sugar infested aisle. I didn't see any moms down this aisle and now I am sure to avoid it. Especially when my child becomes more aware of his supermarket surroundings.
The marketer that thought of this is smirking.