Readjusting

This past weekend we took a mini-trip. The main purpose was to attend the wedding of a good friend of ours, but we also managed to visit with the grandparents and great-grandparents and let them spend time with their grandchildren.

Bear spent some time in my grandmother's garden picking callalilies with my mom. She was fascinated with the insides of the flower.



Chipmunk spent his time lounging in my grandfather's favorite chair.



After a jam-packed weekend of visiting friends, attending a wedding, hanging out with grandparents on both sides of the family, we managed to get home.

It's always hard readjusting to being at home again. Nap times and feeding times are all out of synch and the kids are little bit more rebellious. Bear spent her time fighting nap time, so much so that she didn't nap at all, fell asleep early, woke up in the middle of the night from having a nightmare and then slept till 10 am the next morning. Chipmunk would sleep during wake time and was awake during sleep time and fed at odd times.



We also had to take him for his 2 month appointment the next morning (first set of shots!) so he spent the day fighting off his innoculations with a slight fever.

You see, there's always this time of readjustment after each trip we take. The longer we're on a trip, the longer it takes to readjust. I figure it takes about 2-3 days to readjust back to our home routine.

It's slowly getting there, but we're starting to slowly readjust...until we take another trip, that is.

Arm Exercise

The other day I was complaining to Matt that my arms were getting sore.

Today I weighed Chipmunk and the scale blinked 14 pounds at me.

Seriously, what is this kid eating?

Encounters

I was at one of my favorite stores today and after toting around two kids and returning the cart, I ran into one of my former students. He was an employee there and he was running around picking up the floating carts in the lot.

He actually approached me first and started to say, "Are you...", but I interrupted him with "Hey! How are you?!" I think he thought I wouldn't recognize him, but of course, I did.

I remember him being one of the students who would sit in my class with this serious glower on his face and I was sure he was just counting down the minutes till he could be free of the tortures of Biology.

But now, he had the biggest smile on his face and was talking to me about how things were going for him lately. He even asked me how I was doing.

It's just nice to see my students being grown ups rather than ridden with teenage angst.

Encounters like these happen all the time. I just happen to live close enough to where I taught that I happen to run into my former students quite often. So far I haven't had any encounters where the student cusses me out and tells me how I failed them. So far they've all been pleasant. I hope it stays that way.

Bear the Artist

Bear and I were coloring the other day. She picked up her purple crayon and started drawing. I asked her, "What are you drawing?"

"I color happy face!" Bear said with a smile.

Then she pointed to different parts of her drawing and pointed out the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the hair.

I was impressed. Can you see her happy face in her drawing?

Sometimes Being A Mom Sucks...

It always amazes me how some moms can get out of the house dressed up, hair done, make-up on and towing their spotless kids behind them. I feel happy if I brushed my teeth that morning.

Or I wonder how some moms have their home spotless, organized and pristine...dishes are clean and put away, toys are in their places, carpets are clean and dust free. I on the other hand usually find banana squished into my carpet, usually found accidentally with my bare foot.

So I wonder whether some moms just have it all together or they just hide it very well. I know for a fact that I don't have anything together, and trust me I can't hide it even if I tried.

A mother of three told me last weekend that I seemed like I was handling well being a mom of two. I told her, "Handling? I don't know. I don't know if it's handling well or just doing it because it has to be done." She nodded in agreement.

So I asked a mom of four how she does it...how she handles being home with four to care for. Her response (and I love the honesty) was that "usually when the youngest one cries, [she's] crying with her."

Ah. I see. Sometimes being a mom sucks. It's tough. It's rough. It sometimes makes you want to cry. Sometimes we just aren't at our best (or even close).

So why do we try so hard to make it seem like we've got it all together when we're really not? Is there really such thing as a "super mom?" If so, I'd like to meet her and see whether or not she actually gets any sleep. Meanwhile, I'm quite happy being "not-so-super" mom just trying to get through each day. I guess if I took the time to clean myself and my house up, I'd never get the time to spend hugging and enjoying the company of my kids. Here's to all you "not-so-super" moms out there...I think you're the best!