Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Pirate Party? I so got this.
Two posts? Whaaat?! I'm officially doing better than last time. I'm so awesome. I did have to bribe myself with lunch, like I don't get any until I write this. But that's normal, right? I should have bribed myself with something better, ah well, lesson learned. On to the post!
So we had a little party on Saturday...just about 35 people, including about 15 kids. Excessive for a 3-year-old you say? I say...yeah, you're probably right. It was a lot of pirate madness. You know how you plan for weeks, or months in some cases, and you feel like you know exactly how it's gonna go down? You have everything planned out so there's no downtime, no room for chaos. And then the party starts and suddenly it's like you threw it together that day. No one knows what's going on, the kids have their own ideas of what's going to happen at this party...and sadly, it's not what YOU had planned. "Excuse me, you don't like these awesome cardboard pirate hats I ordered?? How do you expect to be a pirate without a hat?!" And maybe you learn that the party you planned for a 3-year-old was better suited for 5-6 year olds. That was me in a nutshell. More lessons learned. But it really was fun and I've been told it was not quite as chaotic as it seemed to me. Really? Kinda unbelievable, but if you say so. Let me just add that there were unintentional soakings, near-fatal baseball bat swinging and some punch that I tasted after the party that was PURE sugar. No signs of chaos there.
I still prefer the home party to the have-it-somewhere party. More work for me, but hopefully more memories for him.
I leave you with a picture of the birthday boy. Not because no post is complete without a picture, but because I think he's adorable and I want you to look at him.
Oh and one more lesson learned. Don't rent a lens to take awesome pictures of the party when you're the one that has to run the party. Unless you have more than one head and two arms.
So we had a little party on Saturday...just about 35 people, including about 15 kids. Excessive for a 3-year-old you say? I say...yeah, you're probably right. It was a lot of pirate madness. You know how you plan for weeks, or months in some cases, and you feel like you know exactly how it's gonna go down? You have everything planned out so there's no downtime, no room for chaos. And then the party starts and suddenly it's like you threw it together that day. No one knows what's going on, the kids have their own ideas of what's going to happen at this party...and sadly, it's not what YOU had planned. "Excuse me, you don't like these awesome cardboard pirate hats I ordered?? How do you expect to be a pirate without a hat?!" And maybe you learn that the party you planned for a 3-year-old was better suited for 5-6 year olds. That was me in a nutshell. More lessons learned. But it really was fun and I've been told it was not quite as chaotic as it seemed to me. Really? Kinda unbelievable, but if you say so. Let me just add that there were unintentional soakings, near-fatal baseball bat swinging and some punch that I tasted after the party that was PURE sugar. No signs of chaos there.
I still prefer the home party to the have-it-somewhere party. More work for me, but hopefully more memories for him.
I leave you with a picture of the birthday boy. Not because no post is complete without a picture, but because I think he's adorable and I want you to look at him.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
I'm Bringing Blogging Back...Yeah!
Wow, two years since my last post. And there were only two posts? Why did I even start a blog? Peer pressure, I'm sure. Darn you, peers! So now I'm at that place where so much has happened that I don't even know where to start. Uhhhh. Hmmmmm. You know what I'm talking about. That moment when you realize that you have so much to do that you don't know where to start, so you just stare at everything? Then you decide that you can just start it later. I know you know. Don't deny it. In fact, I actually decided to start this blog up again while NOT doing all the things that need to be done before *D's party this weekend. For those that don't know (I know that's no one at this point, but I have to plan ahead for the throngs of people who will be reading my blog within months...what?), D is my soon-to-be 3 year old. Do you know how hard it is to plan a pirate party?? Well it's hard. Did you know there are about a million things you could do for a pirate party? Well there are. So I know you're saying, "Q, what's the problem? Sounds like you have lots of options." Well I'm a Libra! That's the problem! I can't make decisions to save my life! Too many options is a bad thing. Very bad. Yep, getting overwhelmed just thinking about it. Let's talk about something else.
So if you read my very first post then this next bit is kinda funny. I actually had another child! Whaaat?! It's true. He will be known as K from here on out. (I wonder how long it will be before I just say (type) their names? Anyone care to wager?) So K was born in June and he's pretty cool. You know how they say the second one is easier? I'm going to concur. Still didn't sail through that newborn stage but the infant stage is going swimmingly. More of a dog paddle than a butterfly stroke, but at least we're not drowning. I still worry about things (like I mentioned here) but definitely not as much. Or maybe just different stuff, I don't know. All I know is I got my first kid to the age of 3, so I'm feelin good about being able to do the same for kid #2.
I think I'm going to leave it at that for today. That felt good. I feel like that was the equivalent of doing a couple loads of laundry. Remember? So much to do that you just stare? I'm bringing it full circle, baby.
*Names have been shortened to first initials only...cause....well that's what everyone does.
UPDATE: I notice that there is only 1 previous post. That's even worse than I thought.
So if you read my very first post then this next bit is kinda funny. I actually had another child! Whaaat?! It's true. He will be known as K from here on out. (I wonder how long it will be before I just say (type) their names? Anyone care to wager?) So K was born in June and he's pretty cool. You know how they say the second one is easier? I'm going to concur. Still didn't sail through that newborn stage but the infant stage is going swimmingly. More of a dog paddle than a butterfly stroke, but at least we're not drowning. I still worry about things (like I mentioned here) but definitely not as much. Or maybe just different stuff, I don't know. All I know is I got my first kid to the age of 3, so I'm feelin good about being able to do the same for kid #2.
I think I'm going to leave it at that for today. That felt good. I feel like that was the equivalent of doing a couple loads of laundry. Remember? So much to do that you just stare? I'm bringing it full circle, baby.
*Names have been shortened to first initials only...cause....well that's what everyone does.
UPDATE: I notice that there is only 1 previous post. That's even worse than I thought.
Monday, August 17, 2009
How can I screw up my child? Let me count the ways.
So I thought I'd start this blog with something I've been thinking about lately. How is it that we are entrusted with these little humans whose lives we can destroy before they turn 1? There must be a million things we can do to screw them up very early on. "Don't forget to support their head!", "Is that bottle BPA free??", "How long has that formula been out, you know it can make him sick.", "You know you should keep them lying down as much as possible before they're 3 months old, it's better for their backs.", "Always wait until at least 6 months to give them cereal or else it might give them digestive problems." Not to mention the chemicals that we poison them with everyday by using household cleaners, the disposable diapers that will still be here long after we're all gone and the baby powder that can give them asthma. Not fair, you're tricking first-time parents into buying it, it's called baby powder! What are we even doing letting babies into this world? It's a death trap!
I've heard all these things and my son is only 9 months old. It's enough to drive you crazy. As if we don't already worry enough about what could happen to our kids, we also have to carry the guilt of the inevitable damage we'll do to them ourselves. And how is it that as mothers, we seem to carry the brunt of this guilt? My husband doesn't worry about if giving him sugar too early will give him a preference for sweets later on, he just thinks he'd probably appreciate some nice, cold Gatorade after a long walk. We get to worry about the bedtimes and the bedtime routine, the amount of reading they are getting in even if they won't look at the book for more than 30 seconds, what games will help them develop their motor skills correctly. Ok, I'm gonna be honest, I don't do those last 2. I always thought I would, but when he seems disinterested in something instead of pressing on I just say forget it, we'll try again another day. Is that the right thing to do? Probably not, and here's where the guilt comes in again. Am I giving him ADD by not making him concentrate on things like reading? Crap, I don't know, he's 9 months old! I'm sure I'll blame myself for any problem he has at any point in his life. Maybe that's what it means to be a parent. Great, so I'm going to have a guilt-ridden life from now on. Awesome.
I have to admit it took me many months to even begin to appreciate my little bundle of joy. Socially unacceptable, I know but it's the truth. For the first couple of months I would have given him to anyone that asked, ahh I would have given him to people who didn't ask, anything to get rid of him and get my old life back. And even though it may sound like it, he wasn't an unplanned pregnancy. We had been trying for over a year, we had decided to have a baby. I'm 29 and my husband is 36, we have been together for 10 years, we were ready. We weren't unprepared, or so I thought. You never realize how much you'll miss sleep once it's gone. I missed being able to just take a nap when I felt like it. I missed reading a whole book. I didn't like having so little control over my life. And for me, his cuteness was not making up for any of that. Add on top of that the fact that I felt HORRIBLE about feeling the way I did and it was a recipe for near disaster. I couldn't understand how mothers just automatically and immediately felt bonded to their newborns, because I certainly didn't. But all along I sure did dole out all the socially acceptable answers to "Don't you just love being a mother?" "Oh yes I do, it's the best job ever!" Nobody wants to hear, "Well actually I don't really like my newborn, if there was a return policy I'd happily use it."After a much needed prescription intervention (Hello Prozac, how are you? Please make me love my child) I started feeling more normal. I now know that MANY women feel the way I did, and I'm sure many women really do feel that immediate bond portrayed in movies (but part of me does still think they are fibbing just a bit).
I feel like I need to say at this point that I really do love my son, I would not return him (on most days) and he's becoming the best thing that's ever happened to me, you don't need to call DCF. And I guess all along I did actually love him but I mourned the loss of me. I mourned the loss of my freedom. And those emotions were overpowering everything else. Talk about selfish, geez.
Ok, so this post did not really contain the humor advertised to your right, but I needed to get the first post out there and I feel much better for it. And come to think about it, it doesn't really matter all that much because my mom is the only one reading this. Hi Mom.
I've heard all these things and my son is only 9 months old. It's enough to drive you crazy. As if we don't already worry enough about what could happen to our kids, we also have to carry the guilt of the inevitable damage we'll do to them ourselves. And how is it that as mothers, we seem to carry the brunt of this guilt? My husband doesn't worry about if giving him sugar too early will give him a preference for sweets later on, he just thinks he'd probably appreciate some nice, cold Gatorade after a long walk. We get to worry about the bedtimes and the bedtime routine, the amount of reading they are getting in even if they won't look at the book for more than 30 seconds, what games will help them develop their motor skills correctly. Ok, I'm gonna be honest, I don't do those last 2. I always thought I would, but when he seems disinterested in something instead of pressing on I just say forget it, we'll try again another day. Is that the right thing to do? Probably not, and here's where the guilt comes in again. Am I giving him ADD by not making him concentrate on things like reading? Crap, I don't know, he's 9 months old! I'm sure I'll blame myself for any problem he has at any point in his life. Maybe that's what it means to be a parent. Great, so I'm going to have a guilt-ridden life from now on. Awesome.
I have to admit it took me many months to even begin to appreciate my little bundle of joy. Socially unacceptable, I know but it's the truth. For the first couple of months I would have given him to anyone that asked, ahh I would have given him to people who didn't ask, anything to get rid of him and get my old life back. And even though it may sound like it, he wasn't an unplanned pregnancy. We had been trying for over a year, we had decided to have a baby. I'm 29 and my husband is 36, we have been together for 10 years, we were ready. We weren't unprepared, or so I thought. You never realize how much you'll miss sleep once it's gone. I missed being able to just take a nap when I felt like it. I missed reading a whole book. I didn't like having so little control over my life. And for me, his cuteness was not making up for any of that. Add on top of that the fact that I felt HORRIBLE about feeling the way I did and it was a recipe for near disaster. I couldn't understand how mothers just automatically and immediately felt bonded to their newborns, because I certainly didn't. But all along I sure did dole out all the socially acceptable answers to "Don't you just love being a mother?" "Oh yes I do, it's the best job ever!" Nobody wants to hear, "Well actually I don't really like my newborn, if there was a return policy I'd happily use it."After a much needed prescription intervention (Hello Prozac, how are you? Please make me love my child) I started feeling more normal. I now know that MANY women feel the way I did, and I'm sure many women really do feel that immediate bond portrayed in movies (but part of me does still think they are fibbing just a bit).
I feel like I need to say at this point that I really do love my son, I would not return him (on most days) and he's becoming the best thing that's ever happened to me, you don't need to call DCF. And I guess all along I did actually love him but I mourned the loss of me. I mourned the loss of my freedom. And those emotions were overpowering everything else. Talk about selfish, geez.
Ok, so this post did not really contain the humor advertised to your right, but I needed to get the first post out there and I feel much better for it. And come to think about it, it doesn't really matter all that much because my mom is the only one reading this. Hi Mom.
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