Teach Me How to Mommy

Kelly has shared with us before .  She's a super teacher mommy.  She'll tell you about a breast and bottle feeding journey below.  Whether \feeding came easy for you or not, it's more about the worries that come along with being a mom and the lengths you'll go to fix any issue.  Ultimately, moms know best right? Right?????? As an educator we always talk about how early intervention makes all the difference in the world for children. But how early is early??? Gus and I struggled from day 1 with breast feeding, and taking the bottle wasn't much easier. The bottle ended in both of us covered in half of the milk. As he sucked and slurped and garbled and squeaked, the milk would pour out of the sides of his mouth. I was blistered and cut and defeated. I joined a breast feeding support group which was amazing. All of the moms and the lactation consultant had great ideas, but it all came down to one thing, something didn't seem right. Gus had an undisco...

Well it's here.  The end of April Vacation.  Now it's a sprint to the end of the school year. I took a much needed break from most of my social media this break. No blog, minimal Facebook, minimal Instagram, and NO Fit bit, and best of all.... no stress. I took less pictures than I ever have before, I didn't do my hair (I haven't seen a straightener in 10 days), and my makeup bag has stayed largely untouched. and... my house is cleaner than it has ever been! I say all of this because I am having MAY-JOR "Don't make me go" feelings tonight. Which is legitimately my biggest pet peeve.  I'm annoying myself... I actually deleted this paragraph twice already... haha... I have worked in other jobs where the hours and time off is much more constrictive.  I've seen parents doing hard core MATH just to see if they could take a vacation.  I have an awesome job, with awesome people, and awesome students.  I also get an insane amount of time with m...

A group of students were hysterically laughing today while I was tinkering with something in the front of the room.  I got that sinking feeling it was about me.  It usually isn't, so I tried not to stress..I shrugged it off and pretended I didn't hear it. But today it was. I left the price tag on my pants.  Damn!  One boy (dare I say gentleman) told me quite nicely.  I took it like a champ.  Giggled with them and said, "Ugh they're new...at least you couldn't tell the size, haha." (Breathe, hide red face, you've got this, so cool, winning, you're winning, shit, shit, shit). Two lies there : 1) They are not new.  I have worn them at least a dozen times.  That means that they've been washed at least half a dozen times??  That means that maybe they have been laughing at me for weeks. Shit. 2) You could see the size, but I dare not share.  There are some things I just don't want to teach. *In other news of complete delusion one ...

The vacation I (and teachers and students) worked so hard for is quickly coming to a close.  This week has been equal parts fulfilling and trying .  After the whole family recovered from the stomach bug and the weather decided to catch up to normal it has been wonderful.  No more puke, brings on a lot less whining and my kids are beginning to act like themselves.  There was a point (Tuesday afternoon) that I thought, how will I do this all summer?  Literally, how could this possibly work?  Why have I heard "Mommy hold me" 10000000000000000000000 times before 10 am rolled around?  Why have I cleaned the same area 10000000000000000000000 times only to see it worse the next time?  Turns out half of that is just normal behavior (at least for my kids).  But also, we were all still sick, exhausted and cranky.  It was pouring rain and still cold and we were just getting our appetites back.  I was going to throw in the towel that day ...

My sister has posted before and I love sharing her thoughts with you all.  She is a trauma therapist and she gives to others more than herself.  For this post she gives some advice and some scary as all hell stats.  I learned a lot reading it and feel better about how to talk to Lucy about things.  Read and share, please! There is a scary mommy post that has been popping up in my news feed again lately.  It's an old post, but it's making the rounds again.  The jist of the post is a mom writing about her and her husband’s decision to not allow their young children to go on sleepovers.  She goes on to say that they have some exceptions for trusted family members, but when it comes to friend’s houses, particularly friends who they don't even know with parents they never even met, their children are not going for a sleepover.  She says that at such a young age her children are too vulnerable and can't be trusted yet to know and understand appropri...

Celebrating with vacation cookies! I remember a couple of weeks ago thinking how will I ever get to April break?  The grading had piled up, my students were pushing every button and well there wasn't a break in sight.  Being a working mom of two toddlers means lots of giggles, crafts, toys and snuggles.  It also means endless days, lots of negotiations, and way too many games of hide and go seek (I am always the seeker).  Well, here I am.  Ahead of me I have nine days of no bell schedules, no daycare drop-offs and no grading and planning. What I do have is stay-at-home mom status:  I'll still be waking up at 6, it will still be a struggle to get a bathroom break and relaxing will be relegated to the 9pm hour (or never). I can't wait! *Update - woke up at 5:30 this morning to a crib full of hot dog puke and a sad, sad boy.  It makes only perfect sense that my kids get sick on the very first day of vacation.  Why ruin a perfect record o...

What are those? Those are the bags under my eyes because my mini me woke up at 3am today.  FOR THE DAY. Here I am... writing my post...looking so put together... looking so well rested... looking so much like a super mom!  Check out Colin watching Pooh....   Happy Friday! My regular Friday order of Sushi should be here any minute!  # REALLIFE What are those?? Those are the same pants I wore yesterday... because there aren't enough hours in the week to do the amount of laundry I have...  I was just hoping you wouldn't notice (or would be polite enough not to say anything). What are those??? Those are my split ends!  No I didn't get my hair cut.. in fact, I have only had my hair cut only twice since I became pregnant with Colin... TWO YEARS AGO.  What are THOSE???? Those are my new workout clothes....  oh and I didn't find out until AFTER I was doing a full on lunge and squat-fest at the gym that they are ...

Lucy turns three today.  I am feeling all those cliches - time has flown, she's so big, feels like yesterday she was born... But mostly I just feel like I now have a little girl and not a toddler.  So yes, it feels like yesterday that I rocked Lucy to sleep, breastfed her, held her hand while she learned to walk and now those things are a blur in the past.  Things have changed.  They've changed in lovely, incalculable ways, but they certainly have changed. Now, my daughter asks "why?"  Not just in response to when I say no, but to real questions - why is he sad Mommy? Why is it snowing if it's spring?  Why, why, why.... She also sings songs from the radio instead of just toddler songs.  I love when she sings Taylor Swift.  Hearing her sing Justin Bieber is equal parts cute and scary. She picks her own outfits and dresses herself.  She asserts her independence at all times (especially when it's inconvenient for me). She starts pre-sc...

Came across this article while wasting time perusing Facebook.  I don't click on a lot of articles (who has the time), but this one seemed worth a minute. Moms night out. Amy and I often talk about the worries and guilt that we experience as full-time working moms.  A lot of it stems from lack of time with our kids.  We have to go to work everyday, so there are numerous hours EVERY DAY that we miss out on.  I once calculated all the hours in a year that I miss.  I don't remember the number, but let's just say it made me sob.  How could I possibly be a good mom if I am not present?  Ok, I'll stop complaining and feeling bad for myself.  I have made some peace with it since (that's a lie..I worry about it all the time). If I give all that I have to my children and all that's left to my husband and all that's left to my job and all that's left of that to my family, and then the little bit that is left for me then what is left for friends? ...