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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Reason #762 McMommy Rocks

She’s the reason I was brave enough to try my own hand at a blog.

She makes me laugh out loud and spit coffee at my computer with her never-ending humor and “this could only happen to McMommy stories”.

I think she may have found a way to make my recommitment to blogging actually take this time!

Yep, I’m here trying out Windows Live Writer because when McMommy says it’s good, it’s good.

Are my poor, pathetic, New England-winter tortured lips on the mend because of her love for this miracle product?

You betcha.

So, I’m already a believer.

Even though I am not sure if the hyperlinks above will actually work.

Even though I don’t see and have no clue how to get my cute signature on the bottom of this post.

Even though I’m a Google girl at heart and ALL of my pics are on Picasa and I have no idea how to easily get them here.

If McMommy says it’s good, if McMommy says it’s life-changing, then try, try again I will.

Thanks, McMommy. You’re the best (as long as this blog entry actually posts)!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Reveal Yourself!

A little birdie (ok Twitter) told me that today is National "De-Lurking" day.

What does that mean?

If you read my blog and have never done so before, it's time to reveal yourself!



OK, here's the thing. I do not need to see any naked pictures. It's actually way easier than that!

Just take a second to leave a comment and introduce yourself!

Some of the greatest friends I've met, I have yet to meet in real life. They're people I've met through this wonderful world called the Blogosphere (Bloggeritaville, Bloggywood), and people with whom I often chat more frequently than my real life friends!

On the flip side, I've actually had the chance to meet up with some of my bloggy friends and they are even more amazing in real life!

If you're reading my blog - thank you. You rock!

But if you're not commenting, I don't know you're there, and you just might be one of my long-lost BFFs! We might be missing out on some of the greatest bonding moments ever!

I love writing and being able to keep a digital record that someday my family can look back on and laugh at until we cry.

And if I can make you laugh a little along the way, well that's just the icing on the cupcake.

So now, I beg of you . . . de-lurk!!! I can't wait to meet you!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Misheard

For me, one of the greatest joys of being mommy to an almost five year old (you know, besides the joy of being her mommy) is listening to her say things she has picked up incorrectly, but make perfect sense to her as she's using them.

Example: "Mommy, wanna play train conductor? ON THE BOARD!!!"

It took me a while to decipher the "All Aboard!" translation.

You know those craft how-to segments on you'll always be Noggin to me Nick Jr.?

The ones that make you want to shoot whatever network exec thought it would be great to entice your child with images of Dora and Diego cupcakes that require half an hour rolling out and cutting taffy and fruit roll-ups just so, gathering and manipulating other random supplies to make cupcakes that will never end up looking like they do on TV and you your child will not have a quarter of the attention span to complete so you'll just end up handing over the tub of frosting and calling it a day?

Yeah, those.

The Mad Hatter is now begging to make Ni Hao Kai-lan hats. You know why? Because, and I quote, "they're so cute and there's no sewing on bolt."

What?

No sewing on bolt.


Thank goodness it's 2010 because I had to grab the remote and rewind live TV for that one.

Ri-ight. How did I miss that one? No sewing involved.

But, from what I can see, there is measuring, fabric glue, lots of colors of felt, lots of cutting of felt, and there's not a chance in hell my little fashionista is leaving the house in such an atrocity quite frankly, since this Mommy will likely be the one doing all the work, I'd actually prefer a project that does have sewing "on bolt." That, and I prefer the perfectly coordinated Corky ensembles that are one of the inherent obsessions perks of giving birth to a little girl. Kind of like patterned sweater tights - if you've got a daughter, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Seriously Noggin - uh Nick Jr. - could we just get back to the basics, like baking cookies, frosting them, and covering them with as many M&M's, sprinkles, and other goodies are humanly possible to cram onto a 2" radius while at the same time shoving an equal amount of said goodies down one's throat?

I don't want to look like an uncool mom.

That, and I'm not giving this up:



Thanks - appreciate it!

Friday, January 8, 2010

The Ultimate Ultimatum

As I type, it is not far from my mind that exactly one month from today, the Mad Hatter will be 5.

When did this happen? HOW did this happen?

How can it be that my little girl, whose birth feels like it was yesterday, is going to be half a decade old???

And why is it that every year, right around this time, as we approach yet another birthday, I find myself wondering why she seems to be regressing in age instead of moving forward?

She amazes me all year long with her new skills and abilities, her newfound knowledge and independence, the things she seemingly couldn't do a week ago, yet today can do like a pro.

And then the last month of the year, it's as though something stops. And we start going backwards.

I start to sound like a broken record. "How old are you going to be?" She, in turn, inserts the appropriate answer, and I wonder aloud whether she's really going to be a year younger because that's how she's acting.

In my experience of motherhood, thing have only gotten ugly around here a few times. For almost 5 years of parenthood, I'd say that's not so bad.

Last night was ugly. With a capital U.G.L.Y.

She has been fighting bedtime. Calling us back with silly excuses. Coming out of her room repeatedly. Driving us out of our minds. At times it's endearing and I totally play right into it - seriously, could you look at this face and resist just one more kiss and hug because she loves you so very much?



So, back to last night. The behavior started during her bedtime routine. She was overly tired, which tends to rile her up. Her unusually obnoxious behavior managed to cost her both story and snuggle time (which is really also a punishment for me). This, as with most things, did not seem to phase my spirited little girl in the slightest.

She suffers from allergies and takes 3 medications daily to help her cough, which gets worse when she lies down at night. Most of the time it's legit, but lately she helps that cough along so she has additional reasons to come get a drink of water, reel one of us in for an extra snuggle, and generally milk these two weary parents who admittedly often give in because a) we know she's going to be our one and only and before we know it, the days of her actually begging us to snuggle for just one more song will be long gone, and b) it's often the path of least resistance.

Anyhow, I digress.

After a bout with a very bad wheezing cough that required breathing treatments every 4 hours for almost two weeks, we've been continuing to do breathing treatments at night to help minimize the coughing even more. Normally, she's a champ, but she was being completely uncooperative. Panting instead of breathing correctly, pulling away from the inhaler, you name it. After 2 warnings, I simply stopped what I was doing, told her that it was now her problem if her cough bothered her all night, kissed her goodnight, and left her room.

I was beyond put-a-fork-in-me done, so I told her I loved her, sweet dreams, and that I'd be closing her door (which we normally leave open a bit) so if she coughed too much, the noise wouldn't bother me.

Fast forward 20 seconds. If I were a betting girl and had the time, I'd have put money on something about what was coming next. Cue the hysteria. The 15+ times she came out of her room. The tantrums as she stood in one spot stomping her feet and demanding the breathing treatment. My repeatedly asking her in the same calm, monotone voice to please return to her room and get in her bed because I could and would not talk to her while she continued to behave this way.

And then the ultimate, as I sat at my computer, trying distract myself by reading about people's bra colors on Facebook and convince myself that this, too, would pass.

"Mommy, I need to tell you something important. If you want me to cry all night and get the spit-ups (yep, she's cried herself to point-vomit before, so we tend to remind her that she should calm down if she's having a fit of hysteria) then leave me alone. But if you don't, you'll take me back to bed, rock me, snuggle with me, and say 'I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, MH'."

Seriously, 4 and 11/12 - is she really intelligent enough to think through and communicate such an articulate ultimatum?

Damn straight.

I've know it for a long time but the denial is coming to an end - the first five years have been the ride of our lives, but we ain't seen nothin' yet!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Sunday morning learning . . .

Overheard in our kitchen:

MH: I wish I was an octopus so I could have 152 thousand (152 is her favorite number du jour) arms and legs!

Mommy: You know octopuses don't really have that many legs! Hey, how many sides does an octagon have?

MH: I don't know. Oh yeah, 8.

Mommy: So, octagon . . . octopus - how many legs does an octupus have?

MH: I don't know . . . eight.

Mommy: Right! Octo is latin (ok, not positive about that one, but I went with it) for eight. Get it, octagon, octopus - one has 8 sides, one has 8 legs.

Daddy: Oooohhhh, listen to Mommy getting all fancy this morning!

MH: OY! Oy, Oy, Oy!


Guess it's a good thing I didn't start with Octo-Mom.