Supporting you in motherhood, one little blog post at a time
My voice rang clear as we zipped along the street towards home. Seconds earlier I had declared, “This song is my jam.”
There is nothing more cringe-worthy than a parent stating that any song is their jam.
It’s kind of why I had to say it. It’s kind of true that saying songs are my jam is kind of my jam because my boys think it’s weird.
But, on this day, I didn’t let that stop me. On this day, I really did wanna dance with somebody.
Maybe even somebody who loves me.
He’s actually been home since last week. I just haven’t had time to write about it.
We officially survived our three weeks of separation and Full Speed enjoyed his experience away so much, he wants to do it again next summer.
However, we all agree, having him home and being together has been awesome.
There’s one particular guy that is extra happy his big brother is home. He had grown mighty tired of doing all of his chores (which are pretty nominal in the grand scheme) and Full Speed’s, too.
It got to a point when I asked him to do something, he wouldn’t exactly say ‘no’, but would feign being hard of hearing. Unfortunately for him, his dimples gave him away.
Every.
Single.
Time.
For instance:
“T.Puzzle, please take the trash out.”
Total silence.
Then, slowly, his dimples would cave-in the corners of his cheeks and mischief would dance across his eyes.
He had to take the trash out anyway.
Welcome Home, Full Speed!
Now, go take the trash out.
Love, Mom
I don’t know about you, but the fact that baseball season has commenced has brought a spring to my step and a joy to my soul. I can’t explain it, I think it has to do with my genetic code or how I was raised on WGN, but when I’m watching baseball, the world feels right to me. If I am lucky enough to watch it in person, well then, it’s just next level awesome. Throw in hanging with my three guys and honestly life could not get any better at Marlins Park in the heart of Miami, but then, it did! It totally did!
As the first inning of game two of the four game series of Marlins vs. Cubs got under way, Mad Dog exited our row in search of a soft pretzel. Being opening weekend, there still were some kinks with customer service, so I knew he would be gone for a while. This didn’t faze me because I was at a baseball game! Life was good! Then, out of the corner of my eye, who strolls on in and sits right in front of me?
Theo Epstein!
RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
I can’t really explain it to a non-baseball fan, but as the President of Cubs Baseball Operations, Theo literally transformed the Cubs into World Series Champions.
Click below to learn more about this legend of baseball statistics and trades:
Naturally, I about fell out of my seat. I was absolutely frantic. I couldn’t communicate to Full Speed that Theo was sitting in front of us. I didn’t want Theo to hear me talking about him because he WAS RIGHT THERE! And, then, Mad Dog took FOREVER to get back from the pretzel situation and this whole time I WAS DYING inside from excitement.
Eventually, Mad Dog returned and I had finally communicated to Full Speed who was in front of us. I had him write a note to Mad Dog on a score card we had so again, I wouldn’t have to say Theo’s name out loud. From there at about inning 5, Mad Dog politely asked Theo to take a picture with me. I was so excited that’s why I look like a big cheeseball, and weirdly, Theo looks unaffected.
Still, the picture is awesome! It kind of is more awesome because Theo looks so ‘overjoyed’.
It is totally going to be this year’s Christmas card.
And wouldn’t you know, this game ended up going 17 innings!
The boys turned on us at about inning 13. They were so MAD.
At about inning sixteen, I started to maybe wonder if it was time to call it, but I had to stay. I mean, I couldn’t leave my new best friend alone to shoulder the fate of our team.
Sadly, we lost.
Theo’s face says it all:
It doesn’t matter, once a World Series Champion, always a World Series Champion!
Go Cubs!
In addition to cleaning out my closets, I have been cleaning up my blog. I have a newly updated About page which you can read here:
I went through my first year of posts to edit the boys’ names. I originally referred to them as Frick and Frack. These were the nicknames my mom gave them when they were very little. You could see how this could become confusing to a reader so I went back through and updated their names to Full Speed and T.Puzzle. There are a lot of posts in that first year that made me laugh out loud and made my heart swell with love. There are touching posts, posts about the loss of my mother and posts about how Mad Dog is always right (not really!) and as a married couple we never fight (no comment!). There are some posts I read through where I cringed and broke out in a cold sweat. It was like I was right back in it. Reliving those vivid details of some of the epic power struggles I endured with my boys (especially T.Puzzle at the onset of his terrible threes) was not for the faint of heart. After reading these I fully understand why I never felt compelled to expand my brood. However, I am deeply grateful for the two that I have. One of the biggest takeaways in terms of my parenting abilities is NEVER ASK ME HOW TO POTTY TRAIN! I failed repeatedly and miserably not once but twice. There was a point in time that I wondered if I should buy stock in Pull-Ups as I was fairly certain my boys would be wearing them FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! Again, I could not do that again. Two is my absolute limit. I heard the Pull-Ups people were really bummed to hear that.
There were some stand-out posts and there were some where I was clearly phoning it in. However, there was one in particular that floored me. It is the one I wrote on the year anniversary of Writes for All Mommies’ inception date. Here is my favorite passage from it:
I think the biggest change for me has been coming to terms with motherhood. I think sometimes when we are unhappy with who we are, we blame our choices and our circumstances. I will admit, especially in the newborn years, I struggled with my all-consuming role as a mother. I thought that maybe if I had made some different choices, like continuing to work or if I was somehow parenting better, I would feel happier. Turns out, it wasn’t my boys or motherhood, it was me. It doesn’t matter what I accomplish outside of motherhood that determines my value, it is ultimately up to me to determine that. Whether I become a world-famous author or if all I manage is to raise two, well-adjusted boys, my value remains constant. I get that now.
Truth is timeless. That is for sure.
You can read the post in its entirety here:
From this I would like to take it one step further. What if I actually don’t have to do a thing to prove my value? What if our value is actually tied to who we are and not what we do? Is it possible my value was already locked down before I even decided to have kids or pour my heart out on my laptop keyboard?
I now know this is not only possible, it is absolute truth.
It’s true for all of us.
Sending love to you all.
1. Champagne mojitos are still the way to go. Trust me, I tried every variety known to man such as frozen, straight up, fruit flavored and what have you. The golden (and delicious!) standard of the original Royal Carribean champagne mojito cannot be beat.
2. Getting your hair braided in Coco Cay, Bahamas is just as much fun today as having it done in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico when Mad Dog and I got engaged eight years ago.
3. When you are a Mom who rarely gets time away from her kids, something as simple as walking down a street with no Hotwheels, animal crackers or wipes in your purse, or better yet, absolutely no purse at all, is extremely liberating. It almost feels like your are breaking the natural laws of the world and it feels fantastic.
4. Sometimes, after a few hours have slipped by, you may find that you kinda of sorta miss the kids you left at home. This twingey guilt can be quickly remedied with another round of champagne mojitos (see Lesson 1).
5. This vacation helped solidify exactly how much Mad Dog must love me. He willingly posed for so many pictures, it is possible we may have set a ship record. For a man who greatly dislikes being photographed, he obviously loves the woman he is posing with. Thank you, Mad Dog!
6. This cruise was the best I have ever experienced. I have several theories as to why this is. The most likely being that if you have achieved a level of happiness and acceptance in the life that you are leaving behind for a few days, it only multiplies in a setting of rest and relaxation. And this time, I was more content than ever to return home and continue my adventures of motherhood.
It’s good to be home and even better to hug my boys.
Writes for all Mommies 