How to lose your mother-of-the-year status & Day 123. 242 Days Left.

Ok, I'm feeling like one bad mama today.

Last night we had one of those nights… you know, the nights when each kiddo takes a turn waking up- crying, inconsolably. I was exhausted this morning, when at 7am, Jackson, along with his bumble bee pillow pet, crawled into bed with Addison and me. He was up and ready to start the day. I was not. Addison was still soundly sleeping. I put him inbetween us, turned on PBS, rolled over and went back to sleep. A good hour later I pulled myself out of bed. He laid there quietly watching TV the entire time. Sweet kid. I made my way out to the kitchen to pour him a sippy cup of milk. The last of the milk.

About twenty minutes later, Addison crawls out of bed; "Mommy I am thirsty." Here is how I quickly lost my mother-of-the-year status… I ask what would you like? "Chocolate milk" she says. And there it is. As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew. I knew I had just made the biggest mistake any mother could make. Chocolate milk. Of course she wanted chocolate milk. Who runs out of milk and then asks their toddler (who loves chocolate milk in the morning) what they would like to drink? And that was it. With those four words, “what would you like”, I quickly became the world's worst mom. Now she is annoyed that Jackson got the last of the milk and is on the brink total meltdown.

So, I do the only sensible thing to calm her… I offer her caramel chocolate cake for breakfast with a side of carrot juice. Which, of course, quickly made up for this mama’s incompetence.
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Day 123
The Frog Princess

Mommy Confessions: How I maintain my Mother of the Year Status & Day 87. 278 Days Left.

Just a few of my not so perfect mommy moments...

1. I bribe Addison with chocolate, cookies, $1 toys and sometimes family… when I want her to do something like clean her room I will tell her she will get something above when she finishes and it has to be done correctly. So I keep these things in a secret place for when these "bribing times" arise.

(Note to readers: I DO NOT keep family stashed in a secret place~
they are NOT locked in a closet in my house. I simply tell Addison she will not be going to their houses or they will not be coming to ours.
Just thought I would clarify.)

2. I lie… really white lies but Addison does not know the difference. I am afraid of what I am teaching her… it is ok to lie. I tell her we will come back and get the toy or movie she wants to prevent a pint sized meltdown in the middle of a store. I need to stop this. Now!

3. When we are out running errands, at the mall or we are home and I am busy cleaning, I will give the kids sippy cups of milk so they “feel” full. This way I do not have to stop in the middle of what I am doing to feed them. I sometimes just need to get done without everything dragging on all day.

4. We are STILL co-sleeping. Not every night but a few times a week. And on those nights Addison comes into bed with us, if Jackson is still awake, I grab him. He has never been a co-sleeper but I love the comfort of them next to me so I force him to sleep in our bed.

I have come to realize, this is not good for me, not good for the hubby, not good for either of them, not good for our aching bodies and certainly not good for our marriage.


5. Most days, instead of doing the laundry or cleaning the house I surf the web. My favorite stops Zulily for sundresses for Addison and Gap for plaid shorts and Polo shirts for Jackson. I will also use this time to facebook, write a blog post or catch on my some of my favorite mama blogs.

Working on my Wifey of the Year status…

6. I truly do not want to send my kids to public school. This is a constant battle between the hubby and me.

7. I yell. I yell a lot. I yell loud. Many times, after being pushed too much by my two strong willed children and after being frustrated from a thousand times of telling them "No!" or "Stop doing that!" yelling seems all I can do to get my point across. It happens no matter how hard I try not to… before you point it out; apparently, I am not trying all that hard.

8. I feel isolated as a stay at home mom. Then the mommy guilt kicks in for feeling this way.

I hate mommy guilt… I feel it every second of the day.
I loved a post written by Cynthia at My life as Mom on this very subject: Not Guilty. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Do you have Mommy Guilt?

9. I read 15 books to both kids each day, I teach Addison a new spelling word each week (at three she is up to four letter words and spelling 10 different words), I taught her to count to 20 and how to recognize her letters and numbers and I still feel guilty because I feel as though I am not doing enough.

10. It really pisses me off when some moms say they are so tired and have no time for themselves, yet their kids are in school or daycare all week. Then there are the moms, after the work/school week, which ship their kids off to Grandma and Grandpa or just whoever will take them so they can go shopping, see a movie or eat out ALONE. Geesh, these moms really have no fucking clue.

What are your Mommy Confessions? I would love to hear them.
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Day 87
Easter Photos