Like anything in life motherhood has me in a continuous state of learning. Not only do I grow as mother like my children do but as a person as well. Recently, I noticed something about myself and as a mother that I didn't like.I've started to judge. I hate that. I hate when other mothers and women do it in general. It's an easy trap to fall into, I will admit. Get a pack of women together and the judging begins before we even realize it. We judge how we dress, raise kids, keep house, have relationships with significant others, the list could go on and on. It serves no purpose most of the time. I think that under the guise of trying to learn how to understand each other better we enter into the dangerous judging zone. At least that is what I was telling myself a bit too often.She lets her … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday H!
It's H's birthday today. I wish there was a way to surprise him with an in-person birthday wish but that is a bit hard to do when he is in Hawaii for work. I wonder if paradise is just that when you are there without friends or family and you are in a hotel room last designed when Eisenhower was in office. So today H here are my wishes for you-If the Nats play today, I hope they win. (Hey, I can't be checkin' baseball schedules. I've got a blog empire to run and three kids to mold.)You find at least one meal on that island that is memorable in a Diners, Drive-in's and Dive sort of way. No Kitchen Nightmare type establishments today. Rock Star comes on the hotel room TV for you.That you know just how much we love you and miss you and can't wait for you to come home. It's been a long two … [Read more...]
Driving Your Car Into a River Does Not Make You Crazy
Lashanda Armstrong drove her four kids into the Hudson river last week, drowning herself and all but one child. Andrea Yates killed her children by drowning them in the bathtub. She thought they were possessed by demons. Banita Jacks killed her daughters last year and then lived for months with their decomposing bodies in her home. Are these women mentally disturbed or is something else going on?As I listened to 'Tell Me More', during my car ride down south, I was riveted by the topic that we women, mothers mainly, need to open up more and speak out about these feelings that are sometimes so dark and towards our children.http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=Going beyond two rounds of postpartum depression I can fully admit to having moments where as a mother I just wanted to run for the hills. Where I … [Read more...]
Overheards- Toddlers with Knives
Scene: The dinner table. TD, The Comedian, H and myself are seated and The Fifth Element is on the floor playing with toys while we eat.H: "We don't hold knives over babies!" He says to The Comedian who is swinging her table knife* over the top of The Fifth Element's head as she plays down below. Especially not at the dinner table. It's just bad manners.*All knives used in the making of this post were dull and void. No babies were actually harmed in the making of this post. … [Read more...]
The Fifth Element- Month 7
Oh, how are we already here. Sitting up, eating food, drooling like a pro and sporting a new tooth. It's too much, too fast. My baby (wail...) The Label as my neighbor likes to call her at seven months. … [Read more...]
What No One Tells You About Parenting
I don't know what I thought it would be when we decided to take TD to a psychiatrist. At first, I was just relieved that we would have someone to talk to about the tantrums and massive highs and lows. Then, I became totally freaked out that they would say it was all about our horrific parenting (those free rangers man, you just can't let them breed!) and suddenly we would be watched constantly because why on earth else would these terrible tantrums be happening?! Deep breaths. Breathe, Vicky. Just breathe. Instead I found a tall thin, kind-faced man who spoke in a happy voice that reminded me a lot of TD's own pediatrician. It eased my fears and enabled me to take those deep breaths and feel that while last week we might have been at the bottom of a mountain looking up, today we … [Read more...]
Marriage Can Be Fucking Hard- Part II
H asked me this question recently, "Does it always have to be this hard? Will it ever get easier?" I took him to mean our life as a whole and hopefully not just our marriage or parenting because man, once you put those two together it is just downright exhausting. They say the Army is the toughest job you will ever love but the dude who made up that slogan was clearly single and childless.I believe it will get easier but not for a long time. When you are an overachieving couple who travel for work and you throw three kids under five into the mix and a dog that loves to just drop "nuggets" all willy nilly onto the floor whenever she feels like it, life is not just a bit busy it is downright spastic. Coordinating a family schedule is like creating strategic war … [Read more...]
Five. No Jive.
When TD was little she went nuts for the Elmo video, "Five. No Jive!" That seems like eons ago. Today, my oldest girl, my first baby turns five. When you were my little bean. I've been going through photos this week, looking over our past few years and seeing how she has changed and yet stayed the same. Those same big eyes looked up at me as a baby that exude an excited charm today. As a toddler her blond hair took its sweet time growing in and now look.You are tying your shoes, getting your own snacks, getting ready to ride the big yellow bus to kindergarten next year and already asking me if it is possible to be a "sweets maker", dancer, paleontologist, mommy, a writer and be just like me. You melt my heart. You make me smile with your funny words … [Read more...]
Life in the Weeds
I keep thinking back to this saying I used to hear when I waited tables back in the day, "I'm in the weeds." Truly, it runs through my brain on a continuous loop more and more. The addition of a third child factored with a two-year old and more has put me over a barrel.I look at my kitchen windows and see that only one blind has been pulled up to reveal the outside world. It is at a haphazard angle and crooked while the remaining windows are still drawn shut. I think to myself, "Yup, that about sums up my week. My life, as of late. Half-assed. Haphazard and askew." My shit is all apart. Take the fact that the kitchen sink clogged the other night. Just before we were headed out the door for the Disney on Ice spectacular the damn thing … [Read more...]
Disney on Ice- Pure Bliss
They say "Go Big or Go Home." Well, I believe that sometimes you just have to go "Princess!" Full on Disney on Ice- Princess Wishes.Backstage in the Coach's Club before the big show. Crowns, Princesses and cookies galore!The Comedian meets her favorite princess, Belle and gets a hug. Pure bliss.For dicount ticket prices for the DC Metro area show, visit here! … [Read more...]