Go-Go Mommy

Time to Beg for Fitness Torture!

Okay, so I'm entering the Citymama Wii Fit contest and I only have 10 mintues to do so, so this is going to be brief - which is saying a lot coming from me!

Here goes:

Most of you know I had 5 months of bedrest with Sweet Pea (aka dear daughter #2). Well, fast forward 16 months and I'm still trying to lose the last 10, make that 15 lbs that supposedly comes off when your done breastfeeding. Well, I'm mostly done (darn that nighttime routine!) so while I'm still waiting for those last few pounds to come off I realized that they probably wont magically fall off and glom onto someone else (preferably the many 40ish in-shape actresses I see on tv) so I thought I would do an "assist" and actually sign up with Stroller Strides to work out.

Here's the funny part. I've never in my life been a runner so what the bleepity-bleep was I thinking? I took my "city-sidewalk-only" jogging stroller and tried to push Poppy (4years) and the aforementioned Sweet Pea along with the other moms as we made our circuit around the park.

"The embarassing part?"; you ask. That would be when Poppy started to unbuckle herself and get out of the "moving" (barely) vehicle and announce "Mommy, I want to go faster so I'm going to run too." And then she was off. Off like the wind. Off like the girl who is living somewhere inside me (again, 15 lbs lighter AND in shape) and left me in her dust - literally. In fact. she glommed onto one of the moms at the head of the pack and stayed with that mom until the end of the session (yes, she is very social).

Maybe she wanted to pretend that was her mom who was in shape and could actually run, yah think? Anywho, apparently I NEED A WII FIT!

My Pre-Mother's Day Anxiety Attack

I'm sitting here not knowing what to do and almost literally "wringing my hands". No, tiny droplets of glistening dots are not forming above my upper lip and around my hairline because I live in Florida and it's 85 degrees with 110% humidity. And no, it's not because I forgot to pay the Comcast bill and I'm afraid that my DVR will be cut off from recording this week's American Idol shows (besides, I've forgotten to pay before and the only thing that happens is that I get double the bill the next month - no worries).

Give up? Okay, I'll tell you. It's because apparently Mother's Day has visited our household a week early and I was not prepared for it. Well, I know it's not officially Mother's Day at the Go-Go Mommy household because I didn't get breakfast in bed (which was my request for this year) and I didn't get any homemade cards from Poppy and Sweet Pea. But it feels like Mother's Day because this morning KB put all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher (and there was a pile from last night that I just didn't get to) and took the girls to the park so I could "have some alone time."

Oh I enjoyed about the first twenty minutes or so of it. I decided to be lazy and lie on the couch with a cozy blanket and watch an old black and white Dorsey Brothers movie that was playing while I knitted my Mother's Day gift for my mommy. Then, I started getting restless so I thought that I'd better get up so I would have time for a shower followed by a pampering bath before everyone got home.

Things were going along well, I got to shower in peace without someone coming in wanting something to drink, needing to brush teeth, etc. And then I lazily settled into the warm bath water with thoughts of putting on my new hip outfit (courtesy of a Heritage 1981 shopping spree I recently treated myself to for spring/summer clothes), and lovingly slicing bananas and strawberries for KB and the girls so we could have a quick snack before heading out to our Farmers Market.

Ahhh. My world was perfect - just the right amount of time to myself to catch my breath and then get back on my white charger so I can save my family from their hunger. I was out of the bath and ready to dry my hair when the phone rang. The voice on the other end says; "Hey hon, it's me. I just got your car washed and we're heading to the park now so I hope you're getting your rest."

"What?! You're just going to the park now?" I answered. And that's when things started to crumble. "You mean I'm not going to see all of you bounding in the door soon as I'm slicing fruit and doing my best "Mrs. Cleaver" imitation?"; "You mean you were able to take my car to have it washed and cleaned from top to bottom with two little ones running around (a feat which I have yet to accomplish)?" I wanted to say all these things and more but I simply felt my lips moving as the words "Great. I'll see you guys after the park." involuntarily escaped from my mouth.

I hung up the phone and felt my heart beginning to race... where do I begin? Do I go back to working on my knitting? Do I start my birthday project for my sister, "G", who is getting a decorated felted purse that needs to be finished this month? (No one tell her please. She's not on the internet so if she finds out about it I'll know someone blabbed!) Do I get on-line and check my email or write a scathingly snarky blog about mommybloggers who are too attached to their kids? THAT'S IT! I'll be able to write a post about my near miss with an anxiety attack.

What is wrong with me?! Can I be pulled back from the world of Martha Stewart Living? Do I even want to be saved?

These questions, and more, are going through my head as I write this post and then, TA DA, salvation came to me. Not as some cataclysmic realization that I could be using this time to practice my 10 minutes of mindfullness a la Maria Shriver (although that is a good option). Instead, it came in the form of a ringing telephone with KB on the line saying; "Honey, we're here at the park but it's pretty cold and windy so I don't think we'll be here long. We'll see you in about 15 minutes."

Yeah! Mama's back in business! And yippee! I just heard the "beep" of the horn as KB locked the car and Poppy and Sweet Pea are now running up our long walkway to see me! (Ahh, a hug from them is like manna from heaven.)

Look's like it's time for me to go cut up those strawberries and bananas! BTW, I'll be ready for the real Mother's Day next week, KB, I promise!

Original version posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

I Got "The Nod!"

I just found out that Amy Sleep from Graco's Blog chose my post on "Banana peels and other ways to lose "cool points"." to receive Graco's "Monthly Nod" for February.

Yipee! My first major award as a blogger! Thank you Amy & Graco!

My 30 days: 24 (Happy Birthday to Me.)

Yes! I made it another year! And being older and, of course, another year wiser - I opted for the "birthday flower" instead of plain old birthday cake. What 'cha think?

This morning's birthday memories:
I got a beautiful, retro-looking Tiffany bracelet from KB and the girls.

Sweet Pea and Poppy are again at opposite ends of the kiddie spectrum. Sweet Pea still has no idea why today is different from any other day, and Poppy cried this morning and told me I upset her because it was still her birthday since she hasn't had her friends over yet. (Poppy's party got postponed this weekend due to the lovely cough and cold virus that has been making it's second round in our household this winter.) She did, however, apologize at lunch for being "nasty" this morning and not wishing me a "Happy Birthday". How could you not love this kid?!

My mother shared a new story with me about when I was a baby. My brother, D, who is 4 years older fed me some salami when I was still a very little baby. Apparently my mother saw me gnawing at something in my mouth and found it. D told my mom; "I gave her salami because she was crying and hungry." If it's good enough for a 4 year old, why not the baby?

More memories to be made today...

Confessions of a (Dis)Organized Cleaner

I am the person who loves making lists. I am the person who gets so excited about school supplies - even though it's been a few years (ahem) since I have been in school - that I still saunter down store aisles in the fall, inhale the smell of paper, and check out the latest binders, pens, etc. and treat myself to something new. I am the person who gravitates to stationary stores and specialty paper displays, looking for that new journel or calendar that is calling my name. (And yes, I tried all the electronic gizmos but there is just something so homey about having books filled with my print and notes of my life - ironic since I'm now a blog addict!)

I guess that's why I found my special "cleaning" skills lie not in doing the actual cleaning around the house. Rather, I'm the person who is among the ranks of many brilliant moms who clean before the cleaning people come to the house! When I look around at what I have to do before tomorrow, it could, admittedly, get a bit overwhelming but I've decided that this is simply the way I work. Maybe because I now approach it armed with a "to do" list:

-clean overflow laundry and put away
-make sure there are clean towels & sheets to put out
-wash dishes, pots, and pans
-go through the last 2 weeks of mail & shred/recycle/file
-pick up the pile of clothes & luggage that mysteriously accumulates
next to my husband's side of the bed
-put shoes away that have been scattered throughout the house
-etc., etc: you know the drill

So, as I finally get the kiddies off to bed and prepare to wear myself out so I can get everyone out of the house before they arrive at 8:45am (and with a toddler and infant you know that's sometimes asking a lot), I calmly reassure myself that this is what I was meant to do - surface cleaning with my beloved list. So tell me, what's on your list and am I forgetting anything on mine?

Project: Life Change - Get Ready!

Well everyone, I just thought I'd take a minute to let you know why my posts have become more sporadic than usual.

Not too much is out of the ordinary: KB, Sweet Pea, and I still have the cough from a case of "mild bronchitis" that first appeared in our household about 3 weeks ago. I'm cautiously optimistic that Poppy will continue to be the only healthy person in our house - after all, if she hasn't caught it by now she shouldn't catch it at all, right?! (I know, I probably just jinxed it.) KB is super busy at work (again nothing new there) - someone has to earn "the big bucks" so we can live in the beautiful but beyond costly Bay Area. And Poppy is still taking her music and ballet lessons.

What has changed? My personal goals for 2008 include moving from SAHM to WAHM/Mompreneur. Yes, I will actually be bringing one of my many business ideas into reality and I am so geeked! (Do people still say that?) Of course, at this early stage, I can't reveal any details but I must confess that this is definitely something that wouldn't be happening without the support (and hard work) of my wonderful mother-in-law who has lovingly "volunteered" to lend her incredible skills to this project.

As soon as I have more definite news I promise to share. Just wanted to let you know that most of my free time is now being spent on reading, researching, and preparing to begin my new business venture.

Hope to post more on this soon!

A Mom's Confession.

Okay, I admit it. For the past week I have been stuck in some sort of weird, masochistic, sleep-deprivation mode - and it's all my own doing!

I'm not sure where along the line my little evening routine of:
-dinner
-bathe Sweet Pea
-put Sweet Pea down between 6:30-7:30pm
-bathe Poppy
-read Poppy her 1 or 2 nightly stories plus 1 poem, prayers &
then "goodnight Poppy" by 8:30pm to 9:30pm
-do laundry (I've given up cleaning up dinner until the next am since
Sweet Pea is a light sleeper)
-spend next 2 hours, checking email, blogging, ordering groceries on line,
OR sending photos/video on line to relatives while watching
senseless (usually reality) tv
-make it to bed by 11:30pm.

Now, I find myself falling asleep with Poppy at about 9pm. Waking up 45 minutes to an hour later. Feeling "refreshed" enough to not only do 2 loads of laundry but then check email (which is beginning to multiply about as quickly as rabbits, and don't ask me how that happens as a SAHM, I thought I gave that up when I left the "adult work world"), see what's happening on about 3 of my other favorite blogs, send responses to those blogs, get through my 2 email accounts, AND THEN try to get some "recreational" reading done.

All the while I'm doing this, I'm looking at the computer tick-away the minutes, which quickly become hours, and before I know it, "bedtime" is 2:30 - 3:30am. I know the girls will be up at 6am (5am for Sweet Pea who I bring to our bed and coax back to sleep for another hour). What is going on here?! Am I stuck in some kind of "Twilight Zone" timewarp? And why am I writing this post at 2:40am anyway?

I must admit that I do have some excuses:
-it's actually QUIET in my house at this time of night
-the "rainy season" has started in California and I love to hear the rain on our roof & skylights
-Sweet Pea has been sick and waking up around 11pm then 4am (yes, I'm still breastfeeding
and, no, don't ask - I can't figure it out myself when this will all end but I hope it's soon)
-I'm actually trying to find time to follow one of my New Year's resolutions regarding
prayer/meditation and this appears to be the best time (I know - I'm stretching it with this one).

So all you parents out there who are sleep deprived or who have somehow put yourself on some type of yes-I-want-to-get-some-sleep-but-now-I-don't-know-how schedule. How did you get there and how did you/are you getting out? Please tell me there's hope for me!

HELP from a tired/rested/tired SAHM!

Parents will do anything for their kids.

My hubby and I were talking the other night about some of our fondest childhood memories. I guess living 3000 miles away from where we grew up makes one nostolgic at this time of year. Anyway, he mentioned that one of his favorite stories of my childhood is the story about my parents and their jeans. So here goes:

The background: I am the youngest of 10 (yes, I said 10) children. I grew up in a very loud household with 6 brothers, 3 sisters, 1 dog (and miscellaneous gerbils, fish, rabbits, etc. depending upon the year and how long each of these lasted), and 2 extremely loving and patient parents. My father and I are 40 years apart and my mother and I are 39 years apart in age.

My story begins when I went off to elementary school and acquired a new best friend. She and I played together a little bit in first grade but I believe it was really second grade when we officially became inseparable. My friend was the oldest of two kids (just her and a brother 2 years younger.) It was great hanging out with her for a couple of reasons. First, she was close in age to myself (my closest sister is 10 years older so we were friends but in much different phases of life). And second, her mom was very young and hip.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved my mother but I started to realize that there were some basic differences between our parents. For one thing her parents called each other by their first names. My parents had long gotten into the habit of calling each other "mom" and "dad" - some old-world thing?! And for some reason, one day, the most important difference I attributed to the "younger" parent set was the fact that they wore jeans! It sounds so lame but I saw the jeans as some kind of symbol of the fact that hip/cool parents wore jeans - and what kid doesn't desparately want hip and cool parents when they are in second grade?!

After one of my playdates with my friend, I came home and went to my room in tears. When my mom came and asked me what was wrong, all I could get out between my sobs and tears was: "K's parents wear jeans but you and dad never wear them!" My mother, bless her heart, had spent 18 years doing the pregnancy shuffle with clothes and somewhere along the line settled on stretch polyester (hey, this was the early 70s) as her pant of choice (which she had in about every shade imaginable). My father, who I'm sure had a pair of jeans somewhere along the line, seemed to never run out of clean brown slacks (again I believe some kind of polyester).

I could hear my mother trying to hide her chuckles while she worked to soothe my hurt feelings. After all those kids, she knew better than to try to show me how unreasonable I was being over a piece of clothing.

Well you won't believe what happened. When I got home from school the next day, there was mom in the kitchen with a brand new pair of jeans on! As soon as I saw her my heart melted (pretty much like the Grinch's grew bigger) and it hit me that this just wasn't my mom. I ran up, threw my arms around her, and gave her the biggest bear-hug I could muster. I couldn't believe she would do that for me. And when my dad got home from work, she announced that his new pair of jeans was on their bed. He just smiled and I don't think I ever saw my father put them on - but they both had a pair of jeans, and I learned just how much I loved them, no matter what they wore!

Happy New Year & happy memories everyone!

It's Official - Here's my intro on Mommy Bloggers!

Hey everyone! I'm very excited to be a part of this awesome mommy blogging team. Here's my intro to "Mommy Bloggers". Just click here to link to the site.

Hooray for Scientific Research!

First came the study that "beautiful people are 36 per cent more likely to have a daughter than a son as their first-born child."  Now we learn that women with larger hips (and smaller waists) are more intelligent than women who have slimmer or rounder figures.  While I am focusing on the "large hip" part and not-so-much on the "small waist" part, I must say that I am liking these studies, and myself, more and more.

As a newer SAHM, it's easy to feel self-defeated when caring for your own appearance.  Don't get me wrong, I still get up, get showered, and go through my 5 minute make-up routine on most days - okay, after watching this maybe it's actually a 2-3 minute routine.  And because I have a 3.5 year old and a 1 year old, I feel this is an accomplishment in itself.  The hard part is finding the time (and energy) to actually work-out so I can accomplish the "smaller waist" part of the aforementioned study. 

Well, maybe I don't even care so much about the smaller waist.  I would just be happy to put off the "chicken arm" that's sneaking up on me.  Or tone down the bit of extra padding that is hanging on to the "larger hip" asset I seem to have acquired since my two girls were born. 

Either way, until I can get to it, I'll just have to rely on the fact that I had a girl as a first-born and my larger hips are here to stay!

You can also find me at Silicon Valley Moms Blog as JB.

Welcome to Mommybloggers

I'm so excited! I've just been invited to blog with another incredible group of women on Mommybloggers. I must say that I love to blog, I love to write, and I definitely love the opportunity to read about other incredible women. As a recovering overachiever, I am having the time of my life blogging and becoming a part of the cybersphere. In honor of this, I thought I would admit to my overachieving addiction, and how I'm taming the beast.

I was just watching "The Amazing Race", okay it's more like the tv is on as white noise while I look through my latest recipie magazine. Anyway, I just heard someone from one of the teams say "____ and I are both overachievers, we don't like to lose." Oh yeah, I was the classic overacheiver from grade school through law school, I was always more involved than necessary. And as the youngest in a family of 10 kids, I hated to lose. Probably the crowning achievement came when I was pregnant with Poppy: KB and I went in for my check-up after my initial lab work. My wonderful OB knew me a bit too well and the first thing she said during that visit was: "Okay, you'll like this, your bloodtype is A+." And I said "YES!!" pumping my fist - only half jokingly.

But today, when I heard those words I began to think, oh yeah, I remember that feeling - it just seems like "competing to win" was another lifetime ago. Don't get me wrong, it still rears it's ugly head every now and then. When I'm playing Monopoly or poker, when I try to teach myself a new skill, or at it's worst, when KB and I get into a "disagreement" about something meaningless and I have to be the one who is "right." But for the most part, I think the "overachiever" in me is pretty much contained. After all, now that I'm a SAHM with a 3.5 year old and 1 year old, who has time to be an overacheiver? Right?

Well, wait a minute, I am rather proud that the other night I felt like I was a "Food Network" Chef as I made an awesome dinner:
Peppered filet mignon served on top of sauted garlic and red pepper spinach with buttered sweet potatoes and drizzed with a balsamic reduction. And come to think of it, I was pretty happy that I managed to get family photos of all of our guests at Sweet Pea's first birthday celebration, print them the next day, and then get them out with our "Thank You" cards in a record 2 days after the event. Oh, wait a minute, I just remembered that I actually found a cute kids project in one of my parenting magazines and when I took Poppy to her 3 year check-up, she proudly presented her doctor with a beautiful flower she painted and put together from a tube of toilet paper, tissue paper, wood skewer, and construction paper leaves complete with heartfelt message. We even made 2 more (sans leaves) for our own house (see above).

So maybe even though I have piles of laundry waiting in the wings, dishes that need to be taken out of the dishwasher, beds to make, and a general mess of toys and blankets strewn about, I can still hold my head high knowing that the overachiever in me may be more discreet but is definitely alive and kicking.

Girlfriend please... talk to me when you're 40!

So I'm not 40...yet. And I won't tell you exactly how many years I am away from 40 either but I do have some to go. Still, I am coming upon my own "nearing 40" revelation and I need help with an interesting dilemma.

Here's the situation: I'm going to a wedding right after the New Year. It doesn't seem so bad at first, I mean, Sweet Pea just turned a year so I've still got a few months to loose the last pesky 10 lbs. that have been hanging on. Also, I haven't been the best at working out to "tone" myself but there's still time, right?

The problem I have is that although I'm attending the wedding of my husband's good friend since high school and we're all around the same age, his fiance is not. She's younger, her friends are younger... much younger, actually much, much younger. Now, I'm the youngest in a big family so I've never really had to think about "looking old." After all, all of my brothers, sisters, and cousins, are all older. Therefore, as the youngest, I naturally go about my business without thinking about how old I look.

The shocking realization is that I now may have to eat crow and actually give more than a passing thought to the issue of "how I look." Back when my husband and I met (and believe me it was a while ago) at 19, I got on my soapbox quite often and "aging" was one of my favorite topics. I spoke about how women as they age put too much concern into their looks. That as we age, we should be proud of those "laugh lines" - after all, they show how much joy we have gotten out of life! That trips to the plastic surgeon or other doctors for "treatments" were totally unnecessary. Yada, yada, yada.

So now that I'll be surrounded by Gen Y, is it time for a "procedure" myself? Do I hear the muse of microdermabrasion calling? A quick chemical peal or dare I say - botox? (By the way I'm still really creeped out by botox: both wanting it and seeing the actual results on some women who should never have gotten it.)

I guess the question is: Do I want to go to the reception and hear "She looks great!" or "She looks great for her age."? After all, clothes and accessories only hide so much.

Ah, how easy it is when you're 19!

Cross-posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.