Who does this remind you of...

For those of you who knew me, and my locks, pre-kids...look familiar?

1 year (can you believe it?!?)

It hardly seems like it, but I've been blogging for one year! Thanks to the faithful few who follow my ramblings and kiddo updates. I hope you continue to enjoy a post or two as much as I enjoy writing them. Here's to another year!

Alone time

I used to spend a TON of time alone with WA playing in his room. He got this VIP treatment until I was 8 months pregnant (and could no longer get up by myself!). Back in the day where it was 2 parents to 1 child, my hubby and I would often trade off weekend mornings and sleep in. WA, never a child who embraced sleep, would get up at about 6:30am. I'd go in and sit on the floor and play with him for hours. There would be days when I was exhausted and would half snooze/half play. As he grew older that trick didn't work as well. Anyway, I loved those mornings. With IA, I don't get much time like that. In a quite house, just she and I with sleepies in our eyes. This morning she treated us to a 5am wake up call. The hubby got up and attempted to rock her back to sleep, when that didn't work he brought her to our bed. From there she snuggled up with me for maybe 30 mins and started to get restless. I fended her off for 10 additional minutes before finally giving up just before 6. Since I was wide awake I decided to take her to her room to play. Alone. She and I. I really, really savored it. We got a solid hour of play, lotion application, dress up and books. If one has to get up before 6, playing with a cute little redhead is definitely the way to go.

life, death and baked lays

Last night I learned that a guy I went to school with was found dead next to a stream. Wow, that was a huge shocker. You just don't think about someone your age showing up mysteriously dead next to a body of water. Very shocking and somewhat mysterious, at this point, since the police aren't sure exactly what happened. He was a nice guy, loved by his family and successful in his professional life. He could have been me or you. Life is that fragile and death puts it in perspective. Still a bit in shock due to this news….

On life's lighter side…is there anything better than salt during PMS? No way! Today, I am all about Baked Lays. Thighs be damned!

A delight

I don't know why, but I absolutely LOVE witnessing IA's vocabulary expand. More so than when WA's was blossoming. Is it a simple case of little girl cuteness?

Loss of confidence

I used to feel like a fantastic mother. Recently, I've had a sense of failure. I'm not sure if it's two-kid fatigue, my faint feeling of depression, the difficulty of maintaining patience given the challenges we face with WA or if I just haven't adjusted to the way things are vs. the way I thought they would be. Either way this feeling really sucks and I hope it's primarily in my head. I'm not looking for sympathy, it's just good to get it off my chest. I think we, as Moms, don't talk about the negative nearly enough and it makes us more isolated when we attempt to deal.

Frat Boy

The other day WA's teacher pulled me aside to recount WA's day. I'm used to this, as we attempt to figure out his difficulties with the daycare environment chats like these have become commonplace. What I wasn't expecting was to hear about WA's two Jim Belushi-esq moves. During nap time, the pre-K room and WA's preschool room combine and "nap". This means that some kids sleep, some lay quietly and others, like my son, fidget. That day he took fidgeting to a whole new level. Apparently, in the middle of nap time, WA stood up and mooned the rest of the non-napping kids. After I cringed a bit, the teacher went on to tell me that she also found him attempting to stick his head in the toilet. What?? Fantastic. That night when I explained that we can't do those types of things and he told me "But Mommy, I was making a joke!" Oh man. I dare anyone to tell me that I do not have a future frat boy on my hands…