Tag: motherhood

Sweet Sweet Sleep

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Last week, out of the blue, Baylor started waking up at 4:50am. I was woken up out of a deep sleep by a very loud voice shouting “MOMMY!!! AWAKE!!!!” over the baby monitor. I promptly turned the monitor down a bit and attempted to go back to sleep, praying that she would do the same. No luck.

This has gone on for the last two weeks. Bay wakes up, attempts to wake us up and then we all spend an hour + trying to get back to sleep. It’s made for some amazing melt downs (from each of us) and some extra super dark circles under my eyes.

I stomped into Bay’s room one morning, tired and crabby. I was sure I couldn’t take the forced, early mornings anymore when the sweet face standing in the crib proclaimed “Mommy. Teeth. Hurt.” I asked her which tooth and she pointed to the new white molar stabbing through her gum. My heart broke. Her early mornings were obviously coming from painful new teeth causing her not to be able to sleep – or get back to sleep.

Suddenly the early mornings didn’t seem so bad and getting her to feel better became the priority. With some extra nap time and a little Tylenol, she is finally sleeping a little later. Not like 8am sleeping, but you know, a mom can dream.

Um. Yeah.

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I sat down and got half way through a post before I decided it was utter crap. It was all about how I’ve got a few too many irons in the fire and was actually quite funny….and yet began to sound a bit stupid by the time I got to the 12 thing on the list.

So instead, I decided to just come clean; life is busy. A good busy, but I’m short on time AND material so I’m sorry, but I’ve got nothing worth reading. It’s a terrible excuse, but a true one. I promise funny and entertaining posts are a comin’. Promise!

Interest in Pinterest

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My friend Kristin turned me on to a website called Pinterest. I consider myself a pretty hip, happening and tech savvy person – and yet Pinterest baffled me. What the hell is it? How do I make it work? And why do I need to use it?

I decided to get an account, mostly so I could see what my friends were doing. They all post beautiful pictures that either they have taken or have found on the web somewhere. Again, I was left feeling left out. At one point in my life I would troll the internet looking for pretty things and fun ideas while chained to my desk during a conference call – but that ship has sailed. I barely get a check in on Facebook and fire off emails before it’s time to actually get to work, pick up the munchkin or get an errand run.

I met with the creators of Scottsdale Moms Blog last week and I am happy to say that I will be their DIY/Craft/Home project contributor starting in October! I was energized after our meeting and started to make a list of the things I wanted to write about and research to be done. I began Googling as fast as my fingers would type crafts, Halloween, kids crafts, easy crafts, no mess crafts, etc. I was bookmarking all the lovely ideas – but later when I was trying to find a picture again, I was stumped and guessing at each of the random bookmark titles to find what I was looking for…and then it hit me, Pinterest! How silly of me to over look such a useful tool…and just like that, I got it. Pinterest. I can take the picture from each of the sites I’ve bookmarked (better known as pinning) and put them on to a board (also fancy for category I create) and they will all be in one place!

So I spent a good hour going through all of the things I’ve felt were important enough to bookmark: books, recipes, pictures, craft ideas, home improvement ideas, funny blog posts. You name it, it was in my bookmarks. I created new boards on Pinterest and then sorted out all of the little Easter Eggs of ideas. And the result was a beautifully organized and visual account of all the things I think are worth hanging on to. Fun craft ideas for Halloween? Noted. Delicious recipe ideas? Pinned. Great books and blogs? Done. All of it right there and best of all, now friends and readers can see my ideas too. You can also steal them and pin them to your boards if you love them.

Check it out: http://www.pinterest.com

Search for me under Beth Wand

See what you think of what I’ve done and look around a little at what other are doing. I guarantee you’ll find something you like or worst case scenario, it will be a fun way to waste a few minutes. Happy Pinning!

Rain Rain….

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You know what is great? When it finally, finally rains. Like a good, soaking rain.

 

You know what is not great? When all of your clean bedding was air drying on the patio. Including the down pillows. And you don’t remember until they have all been soaked by the awesome rain.

 

Laundry? FAIL.

What I Learned on Vacation

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We spent the holiday weekend in Coronado, CA. We’ve take a trip there, long or short, every year since I can remember. It’s our happy place and it’s so much fun to get to share it with Baylor.

We met my mom, sister Ali and her husband Gary (or Jerry as he was known for most of the trip) and my step sister Nancy and her kiddos Blaise and Madi. It was a big group with high expectations for doing as little as possible. Which we did quite well.

Our first day on the beach, we pulled our wagon full of toys, boards, towels and snacks to the perfect piece of sandy paradise. We ran out into the water, caught a few waves, threw the football and then settled in for some gossip magazine reading. I kept waiting for B to run over to me and demand a new activity, snack or some other form of entertainment, but it never came. I watched her and Madi contently dig in the sand. They dug, poured, washed, filled and held the sand. All while silently enjoying each other’s company.

It occurred to me that not only does Bay really love Madi, but the reason she was so content to just play was because it was just play. No one was asking her what color the shovel was. Or how many buckets had sand in them or if the water was hot or cold. There was no overt learning going on, it was just quiet play. I realized that had I been sitting there, I would have been making it a teaching moment – and not that that is a bad thing, but sometimes we just need to sit and dig.

So the next day we did just that. No talking. No fuss, just patted sand castles into place and washed them away with a watering can. All while just enjoying the sound of the waves.  Lesson learned: less talk and more play.


Scottsdale Moms Blog

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Today I am so excited to share with all of you an article I wrote for Scottsdale Moms Blog!

I met Joy (a co-creator of the site) a few weeks ago and noticed her email address was @scottsdalemomsblog. I asked her what the site was and if they took contributing writers. Several conversations, ideas and weeks later, my first article on nursery decorating is up! I’m hoping to write more kid related Do It Yourself articles for them too. Don’t worry, you can get your fill of snarky mommy stories in The Goon Room like always – this will just be for my creative, less sarcastic side!

If you are a local mom, be sure to subscribe to Scottsdale Moms Blog and also like them on FaceBook. They have amazing playdates, great giveaways and insightful articles, all new and fresh every day. Enjoy!

www.scottsdalemomsblog.com

It’s a Good Thing You’re Cute, Kid

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Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe she’s got a molar coming in. Maybe her new-found independence from preschool is being demonstrated at home. Maybe she’s just two but the munchkin is making me crazy this week!

This is an actual conversation that happened this week in the car:

“Baylor. Shoes. Off.”

“No, please leave your shoes on.”

“Shoes. Off. Now.”

“B, we’re almost to the store. Please leave your shoes on.”

minor meltdown and then reluctantly the shoes go back on.

“Yea!! Good listening!!”

“Shoes. Off. Again. Mommy.”

dirty look from the front seat…..

“Yea Baylor!!! I did it! Shoes! On!”

“I think you’re missing the point kid…”

 

That is a nice version of the battles and lessons of the week! If I say yes, she says no. If I say do it, she says no. If I say no, she says yes.  If she gets rewarded for listening well, then she does the bad behavior all over to get the reward. I either need her to move on to the next phase or for it to cool down so she can go out and, as my mom would say, blow the stink off….

Sweet Sweet Insanity

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I just finished The Help  and absolutely loved it. It was so well written, you could almost hear the characters speaking (not to be confused with the normal voices in my head). The part I liked the best was that the there was still story after the climax – I hate when you get to the best part of the book and poof! It’s over.

I noted a favorite line from the book:

“…it was like something cracked open inside of me, not unlike a watermelon, cool and soothing and sweet. I always thought insanity would be a dark, bitter feeling, but it is drenching and delicious if you really roll around in it.”

I read it aloud to PW – which got me thinking. Why do I like this phrase so much? Is it because it’s so different and so beautifully written? Or because I feel it’s so true?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the answer? Is that it really just depends on the day 😉

Momversation

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While at a Scottsdale Moms Blog playdate last week, I was standing in line to get a balloon animal for Baylor. Yes, I was standing in line, Baylor was running amok near the wild animal table. She pretends to like the animals, but really, she’s just there for the hand sanitizer. I had an eye on my wild woman and was chatting with my friend/neighbor and another mom who were also waiting in line.

After a few minutes, I stopped to let the ladies I was speaking with know that I was in fact listening to them, I just needed to keep both eyes on B so that she didn’t free the Chinchilla or something more creepy crawly from Jungle Jill. They both laughed and said “I haven’t had a conversation while looking at the person I was talking to since my oldest was born!”. It dawned on me – this was not a conversation, but a momversation.

A momverstaion is a conversation between two or more mothers that A. does not require eye contact with anyone but your kids B. is paused more than once to wipe a hand, pick up a crying kiddo or yell “stop with the hand sanitizer already!!” only to be picked right back up like nothing happened and C. can be had doing any kind of activity including nursing, feeding, changing a diaper, etc.

It is a skill that is honed among moms. It’s difficult to learn and requires much patience and practice. Especially when there is a severe drought of sleep in the household. But it is a necessity if one ever wants to have a meaningful conversation with a friend, husband or anyone for that matter. So next time you’re talking to a friend who is a mom and she does not look at you, just know that she is using her honed skill of multi tasking, or momversating.

The CarCart – Bain of my Existance

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What I want to know is this: who is the asshole who created the car cart at the grocery store?? Because this person should be forced to push this contraption around with them everywhere they go and see what a pain in the ass it is.

First of all, the placement of the car is not helpful. It’s low and in front of the basket which makes it impossible to A. steer and B. see where you’re going. Many an end of aisle display has been damaged by these beasts.

Second, because the actual car part is low to the ground, the kiddo is constantly hanging out a window or the windshield trying to get a better view. Or worse case, she decides it’s more fun to push the cart. Thus making what is already an annoying process, impossible.

Third, the damn things are always filthy. I even asked the manager at Safeway (who is on a first name basis with both Baylor and I because we’re there so much) if they could clean them. He says they sprayed them in bleach and scrubbed and they still look like a herd of pigs stomped through them.

I’ve had to resort to more and more elaborate lies to keep B out of them. The car is out of gas, it’s stuck, it’s broken, it’s only for big kids…the list goes on an on. And then there are days where the lies just don’t work and I give into the persistence. Only to end up pushing the cart with the help of my assistant – which turns a half hour trip into an hour plus. All the while cursing the car cart….