Tag: mommyhood

children, gratitude, happiness, kids, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Amazing Energy

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hard at work, or something like that

The energy disparity between me and my boys has always been quite extreme.  Since my wisdom tooth debacle and following slow recovery, this energy chasm has widened.

As I slowly walked the boys over to a friend’s house to see if she could come over to play, I was amazed by two things.  The first being that since it was my first time outside in almost two weeks, the air seemed lighter and the sky seemed brighter even though it was drizzly with rain.  The second, as my boys rocketed ahead of me at intense speed, was how much faster they move through life than me.  Even when I was small and filled with that natural energy little people possess, I always stuck close to my Mom and was extremely introverted and quiet.  An exciting day for me consisted of listening to my ‘Annie‘ movie soundtrack, doing arts and crafts and lots of time spent alone in my own imaginary, wonder-filled world.   My boys are so different.  They are outgoing, boisterous and love anything rough and tumble.

Today it didn’t matter to me.   Yes, I’m the lady in the neighborhood with the two wild boys.

And that is perfectly fine with me.

In fact, it’s kind of amazing.

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children, health, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self care (or lack thereof)

When Did That Happen?

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Sporting their new shaved head look. This was not sanctioned by Mom but it sure is easy to style.

You know that strange feeling that settles over you if you’ve ever been away from you kids for more than a day or two?  That somehow in the hours you weren’t with them they grew in ways imperceptible to world at large yet glaringly obvious to you.  I haven’t technically been away but I am very much out of the boys’ loop as I continue my lengthy wisdom teeth recovery.

They seem older somehow.  Even in the picture above they seem to resemble young men more than little boys.

When did that happen?

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Wisdom (Teeth)

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I didn’t want to have to write about this.   Since it has forced me to cease blogging for a week, it only seemed fair that I share some of what has been happening to me.  Please, bear with me, I am currently heavily medicated and I know not what I truly write or how bad my grammar are, I mean, is, I mean,… help me.

Here are some things I learned:

The best way to get your husband to VOLUNTARILY do laundry, housework and childcare, is to have a horribly painful, convoluted quadruple wisdom tooth extraction and then appear so pathetic, it’s the only right thing for him to do.  Thank you, Mad Dog.  You are a saint.  Yes, you can quote me on that but only until my pain meds run out.

That while I have lost some teeth, I did not lose my sarcasm.  For example, as I sat miserably in my doctor’s office yesterday needing to be seen earlier than planned because of my unmanaged pain, when he walked in the room and asked me, “How are you doing?”  these four responses popped into my drug-addled mind:

            “Great, that’s not pizza sauce seeping down my face, I’m not that big of a disaster.  That’s actual blood because I’m on a liquid only diet thanks to you.”

             “Super, this color of death on my cheeks is very becoming.”

             “I’m awesome, but you should see the other guy.’

              “Remember that pesky bone saw you used that kept waking me up out of general anethesia?  Give it to me and your arm and I will carve exactly how I am doing right into your body.”

Seriously, I’m not bitter at all and I owe it all to an increase in my pain meds.

Apparently, my extractions were pretty tough.  Something about the bottom two being so deeply impacted they were practically upside down and the top two being resistant to traditional methods thus, that pesky bone saw.

How can I turn this into a life lesson?

Well, it seems that my boys are adapting to all this quite well.  Their routine is completely unraveled and everyone but their Mom has been lending a hand to take care of them.   They are doing great.

This has been the best medicine for this Type A, perfectionist to be forced to let go of control and see that the world and her kids can get along fine without her. 

Okay, it hurts a little, too, but not as much as that damn bone saw. 

children, gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self care (or lack thereof), self-discovery

Find ‘Me’

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When Mad Dog travels, like he did over this past week, my life with the boys becomes slightly more adventurous.  Thankfully, lately, I have been appreciating these adventures more.  I also managed to miraculously schedule two dinners with friends (one I invited to the house after the boys were asleep) and a lunch with my mother-in-law.

I haven’t had that much social activity since the early nineties when children were a twinkle in my eye and my hair was taller than a full-grown palm tree.

It was rather strange.  While I was physically stretched to the max maintaining the family routine and meeting my social obligations this week, my spirit felt completely full. 

I’m learning that as my children grow and need me less,  I need to embrace this (as much as I can because it hurts ever so) and find myself a little more each day. 

That’s what friends and a fabulous mother-in-law are for.

children, gratitude, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery, Taekwondo

The Sparring Truth

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Now that T.Puzzle is a camoflauge belt, he technically is allowed to spar.  This means I am technically allowed to be completely neurotic about it.

the good ol' days when T.Puzzle was still a non-sparring yellow belt.

Oh, my denial runs deep.  I keep wishing and hoping that his sparring days are far, far in the future.

In class as I grabbed a seat another Mom asked me, “Has T.Puzzle sparred, yet?”

I went into this long explanation about how he has not, how I’m not ready for it, he’s too young, too timid and maybe Mad Dog can take him to a sparring class because I don’t want to see it.

I think a simple ‘no, he has not’ would have sufficed.

Needless to say, as soon as I’m done with my crazy little speech, the instructor approaches me and asks if  T.Puzzle has his sparring gear.

Today is the day.

Yikes!!

The more I thought about it the more I realized my concerns about T.Puzzle sparring had nothing to do with him.

I am associating this with him being grown-up.

Newsflash— he is growing up.

Sometimes knowledge like this is worse than a flying high kick to the head.

After it was over, it was all relatively harmless, and T.Puzzle shouted, ‘that was the most awesomest!’, I paused and tried to be grateful for how well he handled it. 

Me? 

I still have a ways to go yet.