Monday, October 31, 2011

A picture is worth a thousand words

I recently came across this photo of our first child as an infant.
Mom of the year ...

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Barely hanging on

We went out to dinner last night and were watching the UNC football game on the big screen TVs at the restaurant.  I was trying to pay attention to the game, while at the same time managing the chaos of dinner with 2 small children.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my daughter was practically lying on the table.  However, I decided not to fight the battle of asking her to sit on her bottom since at least she seemed entertained at the time.  Then she started screaming.  That was when I realized why she was lying on the table.  Her feet were dangling with nothing beneath them as she had apparently pushed her chair away from the table.  I quickly gathered her up and replaced her chair at the table.  I gave up on watching the game.
Mom of the year ...

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Miscommunication

In the hospital, I have been trained as a "coach" of a teamwork program emphasizing the importance of communication.  One of the central tenets is "closed-loop" communication or "repeat-backs" of doses to avoid errors.  When you ask for a medication during an emergency situation, the person giving the medicine is supposed to verbally confirm that they heard the order and are giving the stated dose.  Perhaps I should employ these strategies within my household.
Yesterday, I had 2 messages on my phone from the daycare and one from my mother.  Apparently our almost 1 year old son wasn't feeling well.  He had eaten his breakfast as usual but then 4 watery poops and 3 outfits later, the daycare was concerned.  My husband picked him up at the usual time and when I got home, we both noted how well he looked.  It seemed odd that he hadn't had any more poops since the morning.  Last week, I had consulted my nutritionist friend in the PICU about our son's poor growth and she recommended a teaspoon of butter in his rice cereal each morning to help him gain weight.  I started it over the weekend and instructed my husband to do the same.  Yesterday was the first day back to school and the first day my husband was in charge of adding the butter to the rice cereal.  I suppose I should have asked for a "repeat-back" since my husband proceeded to add a full tablespoon of butter and gave our son a good colon-cleansing.
Mom of the year ...

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Getting my attention

I will admit it ... I am easily distracted.  I've always told my mom that if I were growing up now, someone would have labeled me as ADHD.  When I'm spending time with my kids, I try to stay engaged, but quite honestly, my mind has a tendency to wander.
The other night before bedtime, my husband was reading books while I lay on the floor zoning out.  I heard my daughter talking but apparently I wasn't "listening."  All of a sudden, my daughter grabbed my face between her hands, turned it to look her in the eyes, and said "Mommy, look at me, listen to me ... I - NEED - SOME - WATER!  Ok?  I need some water."  She can be a bit demanding but I guess she had already asked "nicely" a few times.
Mom of the year ...

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Popping a squat

Potty training is one of the more difficult tasks of parenthood, or so I am told.  My daughter likes to dress herself and quickly discovered the enjoyment of picking out underwear to accessorize her outfits.  We did very little work to train her.  However, there are always bumps along the way.  One major bump that has come up twice is what to do when you have no access to a potty.
We were at a park this weekend with no potties in sight.  Leaving the park was not an option to consider since that would have resulted in a major meltdown and a child who would then refuse to potty.  I believe there are certain skills every female should learn but would have likely deferred instruction on "popping a squat" until later in her development.  However, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Fortunately there was no one else at the park to judge my choices as a parent, except my husband who captured the moment on film.  Unfortunately, my daughter's aim wasn't straight down.  We had made the critical decision to remove her pants, underwear, and shoes prior to squatting which paid off, as there was urine streaming down her leg.
Mom of the year ...

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A Quiz: Do you deserve the "Mom of the Year" Award?

I appreciate all the feedback I've received about this blog.  It seems as though many of you can relate to being a "mom of the year."  So I've put together a little quiz to see how you measure up.  Feel free to share your score in the comments section.  Dads can participate too - either on your wife's behalf or to see if you should be named "dad of the year."

Scoring instructions:
If you've never done it, 0 points
If you've done it only once, 1 point
If you've done it multiple times, 2 points

1. While out and about with your kid(s) in the stroller, have you ever "parked" the stroller, turned around, and then realized your child was rolling away?
2. Have you ever hit "snooze" on your baby monitor (unintentionally of course)?
3. Have you ever slammed your child's head into the doorway while walking through holding him or her?
4. Have you ever given your child Motrin or Tylenol and sent him or her to daycare, hoping the medicine would prevent the school from calling you to come pick up your sick child?
5. Have you ever eaten the candy or cupcake that was intended for your child (i.e. at a party or Halloween) and used the excuse that you don't want your child to eat sweets?
6. Have you ever called your child by your dog's name?
7. Have you ever driven to work only to realize that your kid(s) are in the backseat of your car?
8. Have you ever taken your child somewhere without a change of clothes and ended up in only a diaper for the remainder of the day?
9. Has your child ever picked up your phone and, instead of pretending to talk on it, pretended to "check email?"
10. Have you ever wondered why your child was so fussy and then realized that you forgot a meal or snack and he or she was probably just hungry?

Friday, October 7, 2011

Meat lockers

On one of my many recent call nights, the temperature outside dropped into the 40s for the first time this season.  Our house has a thermostat on each floor with our master bedroom downstairs and the kids' rooms upstairs.  My husband was cold that night and decided to turn the heat on downstairs.  Naturally, the warm air rose to the 2nd floor where it triggered the AC to start cranking out cold air upstairs.  At some point in the middle of the night, our daughter started crying and asking for her blanket.  I guess that was when my husband went upstairs and realized that their rooms felt like meat lockers.  I married the guy and chose to start a family with him .... and thus, I am ...
Mom of the year ...

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I hate swings

I love going to the park with my children but I have decided that I hate the swings.  When I had one child, I thought swings were so cute and I loved pushing my daughter and watching her big smile.  Now, the swings only bring me strife.  Whenever we get to the park, all my daughter wants to do at first is swing.  This can be especially awkward when we are meeting friends at the park and we get stuck in the middle of a meltdown by the swings before we've even said hello. I have come up with a list of reasons why all swings should be dismantled and removed from parks.
1. There aren't enough swings for every child at the park and learning to wait your turn is still a lesson in progress for us.
2. I don't enjoy the judgemental looks of passers-by as my 2 1/2 year old screams bloody murder until someone finally pities me and removes their child from the occupied swing.
3. Once I put my daughter in the swing, my 10 month old son usually decides he really doesn't want to be held and screams until I put him down to crawl around.
4. Having a 10 month old crawling around the swings must not be a good idea ... I seem to get the same looks as above (see #2).
5. Even if my 10 month old manages to escape getting nailed by a child swinging, I'm always worried that some kid will run out in front of my own swinging child.  Then, I'd have to figure out how to apologize while still pushing my daughter, who would most certainly not want to stop swinging at that point, and watching my son, who would still be crawling in front of swinging missiles.
Mom of the year ...

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Jogging stroller check-list

Since one of my few comments on this blog was a question about which jogging stroller to purchase, I thought I should address it publicly.  I'm quite flattered that at least one of you sees me as someone to come to for advice on mothering, since I am self-proclaimed "mom of the year."
As for what to look for in a jogging stroller, here is my lits of "must-haves" -
- Safe restraint system for days when your child does not want to be in the stroller and must be strapped in against his or her will
- Complete enclosure of the stroller for days when your child may think that launching toys and books out of the stroller is a fun game during your run
- A rain cover so you can go in any weather, despite the judging looks you may receive from other less active moms
- Big wheels so you can run fast and make it home quickly on days when your child does not enjoy being constrained and enclosed in the pouring rain
Hope that helps and please keep the questions coming!
Mom of the year ...

Adult supervision

Whenever we have some sort of family-friendly social event, my husband seems to find himself in the same situation he found himself in last night ... alone with multiple young children. I tend to be the more social of the two of us and will easily get caught up in conversation while my toddler starts to wander away. Last night, she was playing with several kids and each kid had a balloon. I guess I was supposed to be on toddler watch since my husband had the baby. I saw him take off running when he saw a few balloons leaving the restaurant. He mentioned something about our daughter so I figured he had things under control.  Turns out the kids went outside to play and by the time I got around to checking on him (about half an hour later) I realized he was the only adult amongst about 6 kids.
Mom of the year ...