Rockin’ My Roles

Every mother wears multiple hats every day.  I know that by noon I’ve often played the role of wife, mother, cook, housekeeper, nurse, mediator, and taxi driver.  And that seems to be a slow day!  So this week I’m going to highlight my successes in the many different hats that I’ve been wearing.

1.  While wearing my Matron of Honor hat, I hosted (with a lot of support and help from my mother!) a very successful “Breakfast with the Bride” this past weekend.  We showered Elizabeth with gifts, enjoyed some delicious food, and had a very pleasant morning.  The hall looked great, the favors and decorations were complete at a reasonable hour on Friday night and everything went off with seemingly no hitches.

2.  My Housekeeper hat has been hanging by the wayside (mostly because of my need to wear the Matron of Honor hat).  So Sunday morning, even though we woke up a little later than normal for mass, I ran downstairs and started a load of laundry.  I also managed to get the kitchen cleaned and the supplies from the shower put away on Sunday.  The beginning of this week has been cleaning other rooms, additional laundry, and organizing closets.  I’m feeling better about the state of my house, but also know that I have people coming over on Friday so I have a long way to go before they arrive at 10AM.

3.  While I haven’t done a whole lot with my Bridesmaid hat on (yes, that’s right – I’m a Matron of Honor in 5 weeks and a Bridesmaid in 5 months), I did manage to get measured for my dress this week.  It’s ordered, so I now I just need to find some shoes for this occasion.  I’m significantly less “frilly and fashion-y” than the remaining bridesmaids, so I’m thinking I may have to buck up and wear heels for this gig.  *sigh*  Maybe I can find something that won’t kill my feet?

4. My Mommy hat never really comes off, but I have tried to be a little more diligent about embracing it in it’s entirety recently.  The last few days I’ve been trying to save computer time for when Nathan is napping and John is at school.  We’ve watched a little less TV and spent a little more time in the playroom and outside (weather permitting).  And I’ve tried to be more proactive about encouraging the toddlers underfoot to be helpers in projects even though I know it will result in said project taking 12x longer and being 100x messier. Case in point: Tuesday morning’s spilled milk all over the kitchen floor (and Nathan) when the boys got to put their own lids on their sippy cups. 

Yay for a super successful week!  As a bonus – I even got to the gym this week.  I’m hanging in there.  How are you doing?  Check out Sherry’s blog, Chocolate for Your Brain, for great musings and a chance to link up your successes too!

Hold My Hand, Brother!

Everyone told me that having kids close together allows for the children to be great friends.  Growing up together, possibly playing on the same sports teams, attending the same schools, and so on and so forth.  I truly believe this!  My boys play side-by-side all the time (occasionally playing together).  I enjoy watching them be playmates.

Perhaps the best part of mommy-hood is when those little “melt your heart” moments pop up throughout a given day or week.  Let me share some that are currently popping up on a regular basis in our house.

Hold My Hand, Brother!

When my boys are forced to do something they find unpleasant they yell, “hold my hand, brother!”  For John, these unpleasant moments currently include trimming his toenails and cleaning of wounds.  Nathan, on the other hand, finds dirty diaper changes and chiropractic visits cause for calling for his brother.  Bottom line – what mommy would melt when they hear their little one call out through sobs, “hold my hand, brother!”

I Need Kisses!

When the school bus pulls into the neighborhood four days a week, Nathan shouts to John, “I need kisses!”  And four days a week, John gleefully fulfills his little brother’s request.  With his backpack on, John runs over and plants two or three kisses on Nathan’s cheek or forehead.  Then as John turns to head down the driveway Nathan inevitably requests “more kisses, brother!”  *sigh*  John always turns around a provides one last smothering of love before offering mommy his kisses and hopping on the bus. 

Springtime Fun!

We’ll I missed a Happy Easter post so this one will have to suffice….

We had a wonderful and Blessed Easter weekend.  A low key celebration with friends on Saturday led into a great Easter Sunday with family.  The weather was perfect, the yard was in (decent) shape, and the boys were relatively well-behaved considering the amount of sugar that was consumed in 24 hours!

So what successes did we fit in around this fabulous Easter celebration?  Let me tell you….

1.  I made a much needed trip to some stores in order to buy supplies for Lizzy’s wedding shower.  We’ll be doing a “Breakfast with the Bride” in a few weeks and I finally realized that the decorations and favors weren’t going to buy themselves.  Now – do you think the decorations and favor will construct themselves?  If not you can assume that will be a success for next week….

2.  We’ve started the process for securing John private speech therapy for the summer months.  It’s a tedious process of navigating insurance, completing speech evaluations and figuring our schedules.  Not easy, but ultimately worth it.  I’m excited for John.  He’s making loads of progress at school right now and since the ball is rolling we don’t want to slow it down over the summer. 

3.  Our summer seems to be filling up pretty quickly.  It amazes me how fast summer flies by every year, but I’m sure it’s because the weather is great and everyone wants to get out and do something.  So we have several weekends filled already complete with weddings, friends in town, vacations and trips.  Let’s hope we have a few weekends to lounge around the house and enjoy just our small family too!

4.  We’re working at not yelling so much in our house.  We’ve realized that when John was smaller we rarely yelled or used the word “no”.  Instead we tried to redirect and talk in hushed tones unless there was serious danger.  As a result, John knows that “no means no”.  He has only had a few full-blown tantrums in his life.  Nathan on the other hand has not had such diligent parents.  We use “no” regularly, often cave after having said it, and tend to shout our orders instead of redirecting to more appropriate behavior.  Nathan is much better at tantrums and yells WAY more than his older brother.  It’s a work in progress….but work is progress in this case!

Head to Sherry’s blog, Chocolate for Your Brain, and share your successes too!

It’s Baseball Season!

Yay!  I love baseball season!  With it comes warmer weather, an excuse to dine on appetizers and snacks in place of dinner and a reason(?) to drink ice cold beer.   

For the record – the above mentioned season has nothing to do with my small successes this week.  I’m just excited that I can now spend the majority of my evenings cheering on the St. Louis Cardinals in the upcoming months.

Successes for the week include:

1.  Deep cleaning the van.  That means I threw away all the random trash, took all the miscellaneous toys back in the house, vacuumed the floorboards and mats, and wiped down the consoles.  Seriously – it amazes me how dirty a van can get so quickly!  And I like to think I’m pretty good about doing a weekly quick clean in there….

2.  After thinking about (and partially dreading) sending an email to 40 women for nearly 4 days.  I did it.  I knew that the email would elicit some heated comments and was sure to stoke a few fires.  I wasn’t looking forward to the aftermath so I was avoiding sending the email.  But the time came when it was necessary to bit the bullet and suprisingly, most of the comments were pretty gentle.  I still had a few people who were wound tight, but in less that 24 hours the chaos seemed to subside.  (Unfortunately, I know that the next month will result in some additional chaos – but I’m ready to embrace it.)

3.  We’ve had people over on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  Success here:  the house has been presentable enough to have people over on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Now I’m not saying it’s perfect.  But as my friend says, “It’s clean enough to be safe and dirty enough to be lived in”  That works for me!

4.  When we thought John broke his elbow earlier this week I didn’t entirely lose my cool.  Yes, I was freaked out.  Yes, hubby and I argued over what the appropriate course of action was on several occasions.  Yes, I was stressed out and starting taking my ulcer medicine again.  But, in the end, there was no noticeable fracture.  So John ended up in a sling for 4 days with a diagnosis of soft tissue damage and a sprained elbow.

Head over to Chocolate for Your Brain to share your successes with the blogger world.