The great stay at home debate

I have mixed feelings towards stay at home moms. Part of me is jealous that I don't have this option, but the other part of me is pretty sure that I would go bananas if I had to attempt to survive toddler antics all day every day.

The thing I definitely don't enjoy are the stay at home moms that judge working moms. There are plenty of mom blogs from these ladies who freely caste their judgment on us working moms. And I'm not saying that stay at home moms don't work hard...I get it, you clean and take care of kids all day long and yes, it's a job. But don't insinuate that working moms somehow care less about our kids or that we are not concerned with nurturing our young ones, in a lot of our cases, staying at home just was not in the hand we were dealt. Some of us even choose to work. It shows our children independence and hard work.

There was an incident a couple of weeks ago after church that sparked this post. I had noticed that a MOPS group was forming for the fall; however the group meets on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. After the church service, the group had a sign up table set up outside. I walked over and asked the lady tending to the table if they had ever considered an evening meeting time for working mothers. She looked at me like I had spoken some sort of evil and snorted "We did think about it once, but then we decided, well, you know - majority rules! I think there may be a group at other churches in the area."

Really?

I mean really?

I wanted to smack her.

Then I decided that wouldn't be very "Christianly" of me.

O, but I wanted to smack her.

So, we left and I played her remarks over and over in my mind. I went through feeling sorry for myself because I'm not part of the "majority". Then I went through the snotty phase of wanting to ask her if she intentionally married into money so that she could sit back and eat bon bons everyday.

I digress.

Kudos to all of the moms out there who are able to stay at home and raise their children.

And to those of us who work 50 hours a week, keep our homes in working order and still raise some pretty spectacular kids - hold your heads high and pat yourselves on the back for being able to do it all!

Wake Up with Sesame Street

Thank you Sesame Street for making me smile in the morning with this little ditty...

Farewell Olympics

Our home has been consumed by the Olympics for the past two weeks. Partially due to the fact that we are a sports family and by we I mean the three others that live with me. The other part is that we don't...now brace yourself...

We don't have cable.

Some other day, I'll post my opinions on having cable/satellite, but for now, back to the Olympics.

I have enjoyed watching the kids get excited about new sports and trying to mimic every world class performance. They have gone from wanting to be gymnasts to pro-volleyball players.

What I have not enjoyed, were the non stop Budweiser commercials. I recognize that somebody has to foot the bill, but they ran constantly. So much so, that when the commercials came on, the entire neighborhood could hear my kids belt out...

"This is BUZZ LIGHT YEAR, BUZZ LIGHT YEAR. This is BUZZ LIGHT YEAR, this is BEER"

Now, since neither A nor I are big drinkers, the kids have no idea what beer is. It's also nice that they have yet to come to me and ask why Buzz Light Year is continually getting hopped up on beer and folks are singing about it.

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y

There are certain elements of the kids being "babies" that I cherish and want to hold on to.

The cuddles.

The bedtime stories.

The being able to kiss it and make it better.

There is really only one thing that I have been desperate to get past.

Poo in the potty.

Baby Bear has struggled with this one for a LONG time. Quite frankly, it's disgusting. But FINALLY last night, he announced that it was "time".

He tried on the main floor toilet, and it wouldn't work. So I suggested the toilet in his bathroom. We made the trek up stairs. Again, it wouldn't work. Back down the stairs.

After I left to make a grocery run. It happened. And thank God for A's addiction to capturing everything in pictures, because these are hilarious...



This has been how I've felt over the past year of trying to get him to do this...



Sweet Success!

Building traditions

I think traditions are a big part of what make you a family. Whether your family includes you and a dog or you and your five kids, traditions are part of what make you unique. It is sort of like a long standing inside joke, not everyone will get it, but it always makes you smile.

When A and I were dating, we started our own little traditions. As we’ve grown our little family, we have continued to add to our list of traditions.

One of our family traditions is making the annual trek to the state fair. It’s very Midwestern and hick and country and every year I look forward to it.



When we lived in Minnesota, the state fair was a really big deal. Up there, it is not surrounded by the stigma associated with state fair. In fact, you are a little weird if you don’t have plans to go to the fair. We even made our trip to the fair when I was 8 months pregnant with Mooka. Grant it, I’m pretty sure I complained the entire time we were there and did not view the trip as part of any tradition, but rather my attempt to get that child out of me.

Living in Illinois, folks definitely have a different reaction when you mention going to the fair. That has not stopped us from continuing our little tradition. So, this past weekend we loaded up and headed off to enjoy the fair.

Some of the highlights included

Watching Dock Dogs



Learning how to "milk" a cow



Checking out the livestock



Countless goofy photo ops



Arts and crafts time at the 4-H display



And of course, the rides.



But the Pièce de résistance the Butter Cow...



We all had a great time. It was a really long day and I'm glad because the memory will last forever.

So go ahead, try it. Find something goofy that you think is fun and just go for it. You might just make your own tradition along the way.

New 'do

Last Friday, I was having a bad hair day, so I decided to whack off all of my hair. This is not an uncommon practice for me as I am in a perpetual cycle of grow hair out, cut hair off. The last time I chopped it all off, the kids were too young to notice. I knew it was coming so I had asked Mooka if she would mind if I cut my hair. She said, no mommy, I think it would look beautiful. So off I went to the salon to get my new 'do.

When I arrived to pick the kids up from school, I was met with the following reaction:

Mooka took one look and fell to the floor in tears.

Baby Bear got close, examined me for a while and then responded with "Mommy, you need to take a shower and get that hair off."

Just the reaction one wants to receive when making a drastic change to one's appearance. And with my last ounce of self-esteem, we loaded up the bus (as they have now lovingly renamed mini) and headed home.

Mooka didn't speak the entire ride home and Baby Bear just kept saying "Drive faster, you need to take a shower."

The weekend was a long one. Mooka has started to come around, although she's not shy about announcing to anyone who will listen how much she dislikes my hair. Baby Bear makes sure I know that I need to take a shower to "get that hair off."

There's nothing in the world like your own "Stacy and Clinton" to cheer you up in the morning.

Bed head

I had to take a picture this morning of the old baby bed, because yes, I'm getting rid of it. I couldn't resist these two bed head shots.