Randoms.

Random things I have had to say today...

1.) It's ''row, row, row your boat" not "row, row, row your butt."
2.) Get your dirty feet out of the cookies.
3.) Don't put your finger in your brothers nose, it bothers him.
4.) No you can't wake up, you never went to sleep.
5.) No your eating 'crab' not 'crap.'

Parenthood...and housewives.

I think when your child turns 3, you finally become a parent. It sounds silly doesn't it? When your child is an infant you are their 'care-taker,' but you really aren't their parent. When your child is old enough to argue about choice of sock color, oreos vs. pancakes for breakfast, why somersaults next to the fireplace sound like a good idea, or why they feel the need to make you carry their 35 lb body around Wal-Mart, that is the point when I believe you become a parent. At that very point in time, when you are standing in the kitchen arguing with some one less than a quarter your age and half your size, is the point when the term 'parent' can effectively be used to describe yourself. When you feel yourself about ready to pull your hair out, because 'pink socks don't go with black cowboy boots,' or when your head is going to explode, because you've broken up your 5th fight over cheez-its during the day...pat yourself on the back. Congratulations, you've made it to 'parenthood.'

Completely separate topic...Derrick told me today that i'm a great mother, wife, sister, daughter, etc...but i'm not a great 'housewife.' Duh. I'm not great at cleaning. I'm not even going to sit here and say i'm good at it. I do it to get it done. I hate it and I think playing with my kids is much more important. That being said, I looked up 'housewife' in wikipedia (I know you all think i'm crazy) just to see what kind of insight it offered... I pulled a fun paragraph out, to defend my point-of-view.

''Similarly, there is considerable variation in the stay-at-home mom's attitude towards domestic work not related to caring for children. Some may embrace a traditional role of housewife, cooking and cleaning in addition to caring for children. Others see their primary role as that of child-care providers, supporting their children's physical, intellectual, and emotional development while sharing or outsourcing other aspects of home care.''

So, what wikipedia is trying to tell me is that I am not the only stay at home mother who doesn't like to clean. Thank you again wikipedia. All i'm saying is that I can pick up teddy grahams until the cows come home, but eventually they find their way back into the living room and on the couch, and in the clothes hamper, and in bed, and in the underwear drawer, and in the linen closet, and even on top of the t.v. Teddy grahams just have a funny way of knowing where they aren't supposed to go. I think if I didn't have children, my house would be spotless or at least it wouldn't have a dusting of cinnamon sugar everywhere you turn. Again, this is the price you pay for those little giggles and silly dance parties.

Good News/Bad News/No News?

So, just got back from the pulmonologist. She informed me I don't have sleep apnea or narcolepsy...duh. She did however say from my sleep study I seem to be clinically sleep deprived. Really? I have two toddlers, I routinely wake up 2-7 times a night to take care of them and YOU are informing ME that I'm sleep deprived. Get outta here...No way?! Silly doctor. She is such a sweet woman, but she is in her mid/late 30's and is single without children. She just doesn't understand... She informed me that I needed to get more sleep, start taking routine daily naps, watch my caffeine intake, and she put me on a medicine to help me feel less sleepy during the day. I hate to tell her, but Derrick wakes up at 5 am to go to work. I can't honestly make him wake up with the kids all night long and then head off for work at the crack of dawn. On his days off he does get up with the kids, but I can't sleep when he is up with them. I'm constantly wondering if he is doing everything right. Lord knows he is, but I'm apparently just that anal when it comes to the kids. The naps just aren't going to happen. I can't lay down in the middle of the day and be expected to wake back up in a decent mood only 45 minutes later. That's crazy talk. I drink almost no caffeine everyday, so that instruction is not going to be hard. We will just have to see how this medicine works out.

It's just funny to me how much work kids are. Mothers literally hand over their bodies to their children the day they become pregnant. You find yourself sleeping when your children sleep, eating when your children eat, working when your children are playing. All of those silly books tell you to get your children on a routine, but I'm fairly sure I just put myself on my children's routine. I'm sure that most mothers have done the same.

To my doctor...

Dear Sweet Dr. Annie Nawab,

Your wonderful, don't get me wrong, but I think your a little delusional. Mothers don't get to sleep when they want to sleep, we don't get to eat when we want to eat, we do nothing on our own regard. That is what makes us mothers. I will bring my children in for my 3 month follow-up with you, and you can kindly try to explain to them why mommy needs sleep. If you could convey to them that sleep loss causes things such as: weight gain, irritability, memory loss, or increased blood pressure, I would greatly appreciate it. I think those things will really hit home with a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Maybe you could tell them a story about how Santa got too stressed out, lost a lot of sleep, forgot about Christmas, found out he was gaining weight from diabetes and got so irritated that his blood pressure shot through the roof and he suffered a heart attack and keeled over and died. If you think that's a little too rough, you can change it up a bit, but I really think that will do the trick.

Best Regards,

Magen Balmas

Boobies!

Ladies, ladies, ladies...

It is breast cancer awareness month. Everyone needs to start doing their self exams. Are you saying, "well i'm too young." If you are, shut up. Your not too young. Check your boobies! lmao. I only bring this up, because about 2 weeks ago I found a lump in my breast. After diagnostic mammo and ultrasound, the lump was classified as benign. I met with a surgeon yesterday and he gave me the option of follow-up visits every 3 months to better ascertain how fast the lump is growing and changing, or surgery to have the lump removed. I chose option number one...I need to add volume to my breasts, not take it away. haha. I am very lucky! It could've been worse. I never did my self exams and the lump measures 1 cm x 3cm...that's a decent size lump...see how careless I sound now? So ladies, please start doing your self exams. 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer, those odds are not very promising.

http://breastcancer.about.com/od/risk/tp/bse_illustrated.htm

One, Two.......THREE?!

So, Addi will be 3 next Monday... There is something about 3 that is scary. Maybe, it's the fact that she will be 2 years away from kindergarten or maybe I'm finally coming to the conclusion that she isn't a baby anymore. I never thought I would be like this. You know, so emotionally distraught about my 'baby' growing up. I had a couple biology courses before I became pregnant, so I understood that she would age like any other human being, but I just wasn't prepared. She is turning into a little girl. A small child with her own ideals and aspirations.

Addi is really very funny. She is a pint-sized, emotionally uncontrollable, clumsy, aggressive, little lady that is either eerily quiet or unnervingly loud. She is me, in a much smaller package. Addi's favorite shape is a circle, her favorite color is red, her favorite number is 3 (go figure), and her favorite word is 'no' (ok, so I made that part up, but she says it so much that it might as well be her favorite word). She is the most argumentative child I have ever met, and she always prefers to complete tasks by herself (unless of course, the task is cleaning her room). She is a goofball with a very silly laugh and the best jokes around. She is coming into her own, but I don't know if I am ready to let her grow up yet.

It's funny how well-rounded children are by the age of 3. They know exactly what they want and how to get it. They know what they stand for, and are completely unashamed of anything that pertains to 'them.' What happens throughout the rest of our lives that disrupts this unapologetic, all-knowing idea of ourselves?

If only we could all be as confident in ourselves now, as we were at the age of 3.

Emotionally drained!

Both of the kids are sick. They've been sick for over a week now. If you don't have kids, or your child has never been sick (which is unlikely), let me tell you it is so frustrating. I can't even describe how frustrating it can be, but I will try. It would be like waking up late and your only clean pair of jeans don't really fit, because you're bloated. So you squeeze into those jeans, then stumble to the living room and stub your toe on the couch, because you couldn't see your foot underneath your new muffin-top. When your finally dressed, you run out of the house late, and forget to grab your keys and lock yourself out of your house. So you call a locksmith, pay $35 to unlock your door. You grab your keys, jump into your car only to find that your car is on empty. Run to the gas station and your debit card has a giant scratch down the magnetic strip and now it's not working. The bank isn't open on Sunday's, so what are you going to now. Your thinking I would run home and have a meltdown, right?! Well it's just not that easy when you have kids. You contemplate locking them in their bedrooms, but the neighbors would hear them screaming to get out. That would make future neighbor-to-neighbor conversations a bit awkward. lol. Oh, but seriously i'm drained. Damn near empty. You can't really discipline sick children like you would healthy children, because you understand that they are sick and they can't communicate what is wrong with them. It's difficult. So for every mom that has lived through seasonal colds, the flu, teething, and every other ailment known to pediatricians, I tip my hat to you. It's definately not easy being emotionally defeated by someone half your size, but you have managed to cope and better days are ahead...

Names

I believe in researching your childs name before their birth...that being said, I should've let Derrick know about that before he named Conner.

Derrick (origin Germanic)-meaning, ruler of the people.

Magen (origin Hebrew)-meaning, shield.

Addison (origin Old English)-meaning, (son) of Adam.

Conner (origin Irish)-meaning, hound-lover.

Lmao. Moral of story...do appropriate research. I wanted to name him Liam, but that suggestion was quickly vetoed. Oh well, it could always be worse.