Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Why I love being a Mommy....

I recently read a MOPS newsletter, and the author had been encouraged, after a discouraging day, to make a list about why she loved being a mommy. I thought that was a great idea, so here is my list:
  • Snuggling
  • Toddler smoochies
  • Giggles and smiles
  • Reading books
  • Having an excuse to play at the playground
  • Seeing the world through new eyes
  • New insights into God's love, patience and grace
  • The sounds of my husband and son laughing and playing together
  • Newfound discipline and self-sacrifice
  • Built in activity during otherwise uncomfortable gatherings! :)
  • Pushing myself to be more social and more active
  • Seemingly miraculous powers to heal and to comfort
  • Cool toys to play with
  • The joy of blowing bubbles during bath and play time

Friday, June 23, 2006

Stay At Home Mom Site

I found an interesting ad for a SAHM website at a library I was visiting last week. I took the little tear-off strip, and brought it home to check it out. Now I'm going to share it with you.

The site I saw was for Stay At Home Moms to meet up with others in their area, but there are other groups, based on interest. So if you're looking for scrapbooking or web design groups in your area you might like to check it out too.

I found and joined four groups in our area. Even though I haven't met any of the women personally, I've been able to browse the area message boards. So far I have found tips on maternity consignment shops, fun places to bring kids, and the local going rates for babysitters. Pretty cool. Wish I knew about this a year ago!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Scrambling at McDonald's

Yesterday we decided, as a treat, to hit the local McDonald's for dinner. It's got a GREAT play area that is about two stories tall, with shelf-like platforms for climbing, little plastic tunnels, net tunnels and a two-story high corkscrew slide. We had never gone in before and DH thought DS would really enjoy it. DS was very excited, but there were a lot of "big kids" there, scrambling around, playing hide and seek, being loud and just enjoying themselves.

DS started scrambling up the "shelves" and quickly staggered back down in tears. He was totally intimidated!! Poor kid. And this was the start of our "dinner", so what's a parent to do? No amount of cajoling could get DS into the action. Of course, just ignoring the big play area was out of the question. Whose idea were these things? Are eating greasy food and playing in tight spaces really a good idea?

Well, being the compassionate mom that she is, SheWhoIs18WeeksPregnant thought that if she just went up once, that would reassure DS and he would be able to continue on without her. LOL!! Yeah, that's funny! Let me tell ya, those little tunnels are NOT made for blossoming bellies. Surprise, surprise. And yet, knowing this I continued to go up another 5 times over the course of our time there.

On the bright side, you can see that my back is in much better shape! I believe it just passed the ultimate test.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Keeping an eye on eBay

I need to stop going on rants and saving them as drafts. In my head, I've posted a blog, but as I look back at the dates I actually posted something, I realize I haven't posted in a week!! Too sad!

Well, our paper recently put a local lady on the front page because she was selling the right to change her last name on eBay. Must have been a slow news day. You can read the story yourself if you're interested, but the gist of it was that she is auctioning off her last name for a starting bid of $25,000!

Part of me is impressed by her creativity and her desire to supplement her husband's salary, while staying home with the kids. The other part of me is amazed at someone being so willing to hand over control of something so personal as her name!! I'm not sure I could ever do that. (Kind of reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoebe changed her married name to Princess Consuela Banna Hammock!)

Anyway, I guess I have eBay on the brain, because I've been watching quite a few items this week. After all this devouring of all things related to potty training, I started looking online for deals on training pants. Yep!! No Huggies or Pampers Pull-up pants for us. I've tried them. They haven't worked for our little guy. They just keep him too dry. Although, I see that Huggies just came out with a "cool alert" pull-up that I just might try to get the ball rolling or for when we are travelling.

I was just over at MommyLife and Barb Curtis seemed to know I had eBay on the brain and sent me here to hear the eBay song by Weird Al Yankovic. :) I've always loved that man, and I actually saw a bit of myself in this song, so it gave me a good chuckle!