Teach Me How to Mommy

It's been forever since I last dated.  Well, actually to be honest since Jerry and I have been together for nearly 15 years, it feels like forever, it just actually isn't.  But yet here I am again.  Putting secret notes in mailboxes and texting before an in-person meeting. That's right, I'm dating.  Well, play-dating that is.  I am making my first attempts at expanding my friend circle - through my kids. See there's this little girl from school that Lucy always talks about.  I see her when I get Lucy, but never her mom.  That's the thing about going to a daycare center, you don't always get those family bonds that are so natural at home daycares.  Anyways, on a whim I decided to reach out.  In Lucy's valentines I added an extra note in her friend's bag.  It read:  Hi, I'm Lucy's mom and Lucy loves your daughter.  Want to do a playdate? So right, I suppose it's on the verge of creepy, but before I could second guess...

This week (or at least the start of it) I found myself slightly less busy than other weeks. For me, this meant one day away from school at a training and days when I took my lunch period to spring clean my classroom and make phone calls for the kids (as opposed to scarfing down food and grading).  I was still up way too late and technically it was a 5 day work week (haven't had that in awhile), but the pace was just a bit slower. I guess anything is less chaotic when compared to Christmas. I started to feel a bit more "together" and less frazzled, which lead to a decision I don't usually make.  When I make it to Thursday I always breathe a breath of fresh air.  It's the last daycare day of the week and on Friday my mother-in law comes to us and spoils the kids.   So when one of my students asked me if I could watch him perform at the "open mic spoken word" show after school I said yes.  I always leave as soon as I can (which is always later than I w...

Fresh off a fantastic weekend with beautiful friends (new and old).  We were gone for less than 48 hours, but I felt like I was on a different planet.  Sure we were in Cape Cod and not Mars, but it felt like a brief stop in time (or during many moments a flashback to my "old" life). These are my top 5 reasons why it is still ok for a 32 year old to go to a bachelorette party and really (REALLY) let loose. 1.   We went to the beach all day, which isn't a rarity for me, BUT it was with adults only.  I was able to relax and do the beach how I used to.  Instead of sand castles and umbrella time, I swam in the waves, had a beach drink and tried to nap.     I read more of my book than collect shells (but I still did both). 2.  I didn't drive the entire weekend. No car seat buckles and no kiddie snacks, no mediating and no toddler tunes.  Better yet, no pressure (safety, caution).  I left that to others.  Mostly to Meg for driving ...

Today I had just enough time to watch a grocery cart swiftly crash into my car.  Technically I had more than enough time to stop it.  In fact, it was kind of walking parallel to me, but then picked up speed and SMASH. The reason I couldn't stop it (even though it was bright green and headed for my shiny black car) was because I was holding 5 bags of groceries and two little people's hands. I went to the local grocery market so that the kids could both get their little carts and make a quick stop fun.  Ok fine, quick stops don't happen anymore, but they did have fun. I didn't want them bringing the carts in the parking lot, because that would be a disaster (both managed to tip them over in the store a total of three times). So I thought I could grab it all.  I didn't anticipate Lucy wanting to hold my left hand.  It was a really big deal to have the left hand - you know that one I had carefully balanced all the groceries on so I was frazzled when we walked ...

Whew!  What a busy weekend! This is as centered as Colin gets... scribbling on the waiver forms.... And yes... that is a Nirvana shirt...  because he's cooler than I am, and that's what rock stars wear! Colleen and I kicked off our Saturday morning with a little Mommy & Me Yoga session!  Our recent guest poster Kelly (you can read her post  here , and check out her blog  here ) invited us to her one day only CT class!  Colleen and I both though, yesss!  Babies and Yoga, what could go wrong..... oh wait.. we don't have babies...  so instead we brought our Toddlers. The other mommies and their gorgeous babies looked ethereal, centered, calm..... They were bonding, Kelly was effortlessly guiding them, and they were all graceful enough to laugh with us (we think) at the crazy kids we brought along.  The other mothers had babies under 5 months old... when they get bigger they will fondly refer to those months as...

Sundays really can be fun - well, when you know you don't have to work tomorrow... Got the kids together for a play-date at Auntie Amy's house.  There was minimal fighting, no whining, no injuries and only one explosive near-tragic poop issue.  All in all, the world's best Sunday morning. For the record our husbands either went to church (Jerry) or went grocery shopping (Brian).  Put a feather in their cap because they killed it today too. Hoping everyone is enjoying today whether they work tomorrow or not! #ThankGodfor3dayweekends #Agoodday I swear they had fun - present mug shots not included.