Update Posted at 03:02 PM on March 29, 2009
Monday morning virtual escape
prepregnancy size
sunshine
polka dot flats
sleep
self-made skirt
chunky bracelet
lunch in the city
with lincoln
calm kids
peace of mind
amen
Evolution of a mother
Overheard at this house...
Me: Come here. Come HERE. HERE. No, OVER HERE. OVER HERE. No, not yet, quite....COME. HERE.
(As seen here: No one says it like Bill C.)
***
Me: Look at me. Look at me. LOOK. LOOK AT MAMA. LOOK AT MAMA's FACE! No, not there, UP, UP HERE. LOOK AT MAMA!!! Where is my face???
***
Me: You will not call me, you will not bang on the door, you will not stomp up the stairs. You will be quiet.
Kid: But...
Me: NO. You will not call me and will not come in here. Unless there is fire or someone is bleeding, you will not come get me!
***
Me (at different times of the day): Ivan, stop stealing candy! Nikola, stop eating the dog food! Digby, stop eating the baby's poop!
Posted at 12:02 PM on March 20, 2009 | Comments (2)Beauty is on the inside, right? It must.
We bought a new computer and apart from being literally all bright and shiny, it also has this nice application where it rotates photos from your folders in a little window on the right side of the desktop. That way as you are clicking away you can walk down memory lane (I hate this phrase, actually) as random pictures from your past pop up in the corner of your eye. Most of the time this is fun, except the other day when I ended up clicking through a set of photos from 2004 and realized how much younger I looked. A lot younger and smoother and generally more awake. It's not so much that I have a problem with being older, but here I am, 33 and my skin already seems to have turned a permanent palette of gray, my hair is soon following suit in strands and my puffy eyelids are about to completely cover my eyelashes. Or so it seems.
I'm thinking I'm doing something wrong, but all the possible causes I come up with seem to have been unavoidable. First, time passed, nothing to be done there. Second, I had three kids - not really something I regret. Third, kids did not sleep and consequently messed up my sleeping. Also, they behaved like kids and stressed the heck out of me. I guess the challenge is to work hard at what is important in life but at the same time maintain the appearance as if it all just came to you effortlessly. I don't know how to do that. I'm assuming I have joined all the other loser mothers, who "by taking care of their kids have forgotten to take care of themselves". This is another phrase that can drive me up the wall. It's not like I have forgotten. I have plenty of ideas. I've just been waiting for my schedule to free up. Any day now...
A few months ago I watched Jennifer Aniston, who just turned forty, tell Oprah that she looks so good for her age because "You know, I take care of myself (she elaborated: eating right, yoga, running...)." Wild applause followed. I don't want to look like a movie star, but it would be nice to see an old looking thirty-year-old, whose droopy and tired face is blown up on the big screen on the Oprah show and when she asks "How do you get to look this way?" she could say "Well, you know, I take care of OTHER PEOPLE. (and then elaborate: eating leftovers, not sleeping nearly enough, living with toddlers...)" And THEN hear wild applause, maybe even get an Oprah hug instead of audience sympathy and a make-over.
Until then maybe I just need to change strategies, you know, if this "isn't working for me". I'll just tell my baby to not wake me before 7 am and the older ones to reduce stubbornness by about 50% and increase cooperation by 35%. I'm willing to do this step-by-step. We'll negotiate our needs. Mommy has to take care of herself or she'll look 80 before she is 50. I'm sure my kids will understand. They seem like the reasonable type...
Posted at 10:27 AM on March 03, 2009 | Comments (7)