Things that you can lie to your kids about:

• Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and any other mythical creature that you can hold over them to bribe good behavior.
• What may or may not be in the wine glass (mommy juice)
• Watching the "news" while you are really watching a R-rated movie
• What is or is not in the spaghetti sauce

Any others? What do people lie to their kids about?

Hmmm.....

I leave for Boulder, CO next Friday. Although I am very excited, I am also very nervous. My husband will be alone with both boys for 3 full days straight. Not that I don't trust him with my kids - however, C still doesn't sleep well and hubby has been losing patience with our older one B quite a bit now. So I feel a lot of mommy guilt for leaving them, and leaving him alone with them. Despite needing a break, I will miss them terribly.

However, my husband leaves me alone with the kids on a regular basis. Twice he was traveling for work, and once he was gone an entire weekend for a bachelor party. But of course, everyone asks him how HE will manage with me gone. I'm like - wait a moment here! It's ok for the dads to take off and travel, but not for the moms to travel? Actually, as I type this, my husband is not here. I got both children fed, bathed and put to bed all by my lonesome. I also managed to pack the bags for tomorrow, start a load of laundry and straighten up around the place a bit. When I come back after this trip - I fully expect the house to be a wreck and the excuse to be "I was taking care of 2 kids".

It just goes to show despite how far we have come in terms of equality - there is still a long way to go.

If You Pump Them, Milk Will Come

So C is almost 6 months old. I told myself from the beginning that I would make it to 6 months breastfeeding. I had to start supplementing with formula about a month ago - I wasn't able to pump enough at work to fill the bottles throughout the day, so he gets one bottle of formula at daycare.

Here I am with the 6 month deadline looming. Two months ago I was looking forward to that day where I could pack the pump away and let the good times roll. Now that I am less than 2 weeks away from my self-imposed deadline, I am also second guessing myself. So the pump will be staying out for a while longer - until he decides to give up the nursing or he gets teeth, whichever comes first.

This too shall pass

Weekday nights are a bit of struggle right now. I get home around 5 or so and if I am lucky, C has fallen asleep on the ride home. I let B watch a show while I run around like crazy to get the bottles washed, re-filled for the next day, mail put away, changed out of work clothes, load of laundry started, dishwasher emptied, dinner started. Typically about halfway through this fire drill C wakes up and starts screaming his head off.

It seems as though since I've gone back to work C has decided the time that he is with me I have to be the baby taxi. Put him in his exersaucer. He screams. Put him on his playmat. He screams. Carried around by mommy? Happy as a lark. We have reached that conundrum where he wants to move on his own, but he won't get a chance to work on it if he never lets me put him down. And I've tried the trick of putting him down and letting him fuss. Yeah. . doesn't work. He'll scream his head off until I pick him up again.

Adding to my frustration is that my DH has been working late for a few weeks now. He strolls in about 6:30/6:45 as I am struggling to get B to eat, C to eat his cereal, dishes put away and the boys bathed and in bed so I can enjoy an hour of adult time before I pass out from exhaustion.

I know that one day this will be far behind us. But right now, I'm just tired. . .

This too shall pass

Weekday nights are a bit of struggle right now. I get home around 5 or so and if I am lucky, C has fallen asleep on the ride home. I let B watch a show while I run around like crazy to get the bottles washed, re-filled for the next day, mail put away, changed out of work clothes, load of laundry started, dishwasher emptied, dinner started. Typically about halfway through this fire drill C wakes up and starts screaming his head off.

It seems as though since I've gone back to work C has decided the time that he is with me I have to be the baby taxi. Put him in his exersaucer. He screams. Put him on his playmat. He screams. Carried around by mommy? Happy as a lark. We have reached that conundrum where he wants to move on his own, but he won't get a chance to work on it if he never lets me put him down. And I've tried the trick of putting him down and letting him fuss. Yeah. . doesn't work. He'll scream his head off until I pick him up again.

Adding to my frustration is that my DH has been working late for a few weeks now. He strolls in about 6:30/6:45 as I am struggling to get B to eat, C to eat his cereal, dishes put away and the boys bathed and in bed so I can enjoy an hour of adult time before I pass out from exhaustion.

I know that one day this will be far behind us. But right now, I'm just tired. . .

The little things you can't forget about. . .

B and I ran into some neighbors while walking down our street this weekend. They hadn't seen B in about 6 months (winters are long in our area) and they were having a great time talking to him and asking questions. The wife asked "So, do you have a lot of girlfriends?"

To which my 3 year old solemnly replied. "No, just my mommy."

Sniff. . .

Parenthood - the new competitive sport

It's a primary topic of conversation among parents. It doesn't matter - old or new parents - it's all the same. Typically it starts of with "Has your kid done x, y, z?"

To which you either proudly reply "He was doing x at 2 months, y at 3 months and z at 3 1/2."

"Yeah, mine was doing it all at 2 months."

Hmmm. So as if childhood wasn't stressful enough, we are going to have to force our children to compete before most of them can even say the word? Let's face it folks, kids do their own things in their own time. There is a wide range of normal behavior, and even if a baby doesn't meet one milestone, it doesn't mean that he or she is suffering from a developmental delay. Delays are only diagnosed when a child is CONSISTENTLY behind in several different areas. And just because they may be behind doesn't mean that they won't catch up either.

So take it from someone who is a pro at driving herself crazy. Let it go. If something were wrong with your little one, your gut would tell you. Otherwise, don't try to force them to grow up faster than they already will. These months are precious, and you can't get them back once they are gone.