MOMents

Yesterday as our family was sitting semi-reverently in church, my five-year-old son abruptly said, "What's that smell!?"  he leaned toward me, sniffed, then he backed away from  me and said loudly, "Mom, it's YOU!"  Yep, I actually wore perfume...it's been ages since I've done that.  And obviously he wasn't so impressed....  I'm pretty sure what others within ear-range were thinking.  Slightly embarrassing.  My husband whisper-chuckled.  I sighed.  My son had his nose turned up like he'd just smelled a skunk...at least until his sister stole his crayon box.  Ahhh....MOMents

~Me, the Blog Author, mother of Two

Monday's MOMent

Today I went to change T's diaper & quickly discovered that it was not a pretty one. As I was wrapping it up, I decided to wrap it tightly so that none of the poop would spill out as I went to throw it away. Bad idea...it only squeezed the poop out of the diaper all over my hand. I held the diaper with my soiled right hand as I tried to catch any extra spillage with my left hand. It continued to drip into my hand as I ran downstairs only to find that I had a child lock on my doorknob to the garage that my kids would not be able to assist me with. I asked my other son to help open the cupboard under the kitchen sink so that I could get an old grocery sack to put the diaper in, but of course it was childlocked & he couldn't open it. I was trying to pry the door open with my toes when my piano student knocked on the door. Crap. Of course J couldn't open the door for her because it had a cover on the doorknob as well. I ended up throwing the diaper in my kitchen garbage can (which I should have thought of in the first place), washed the filth off of my hands & proceeded on with my day as if nothing had even happened.

~Jackie, mother of 4

MOMents

Yesterday I found a baby spider in my kitchen.  Of course I squished it.  My son saw.  He was devastated that I would kill one of his beloved insects.  He said, "Mommy, you should have let it hunt for it's food."  I explained to him that the spider was in my house and I didn't want it creeping and crawling around my home.  A few minutes later he came up to me with a diplomatic solution, "Mommy, you should have let it get it's food and THEN killed it!" 

~Amy (me), Mother of two

MOMents

Angie, thanks for sending these...quite a while ago.....

*When my son was 3 he was really into learning his ABC's and numbers.  One day he was playing in his room, I was in my bedroom, and my husband was in the living room.  I heard him say, "B S T Y M..." and continue with a long list of letters.  Then after a short pause he called out, "Dad, is that how you spell TV?" 

*Another time at dinner he didn't want to eat, so I told him if he would just take 2 bites he could be finished.  He took the first bite and said, "One." Took another bite and said, "Two." Continued on and said, "Three."  Well, I wasn't about to stop him from eating his food if he was going to do it willingly, so I didn't say anything.  After he said, "Seven" he looked up at me, his chin started to quiver, his eyes filled with tears and he said, "Mom, I don't know how to count to two."  Both instances were so sweet and soooo funny. 

~Angie, mother of five

Monday's MOMents

* (They announced that our plane was being flown by Pilot "someone")
Camille: "Our plane is being flown by a pirate?" (with a look of utter shock and fear)

* Maddie: "No one knows everything except for me and Jesus."

~ Janelle, mother of three

(Thanks Janelle for so many funny and sweet sayings you're letting me use.  Reading your blog always brightens my day!!!)

Monday's Mail: CRIBS & MATTRESSES

A mother sent me an email asking about cribs and mattresses and would like your feedback.  Here are her questions:

"I need to buy a crib & mattress for my baby that's coming soon.  Seems simple enough, right?  Well, I once heard something to do about mattresses and risk of SIDS, so I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any type of mattress that may pose a problem or one that is especially good (but reasonably priced).  Or, can I just dismiss the concern altogether and buy the least expensive mattress out there?  Just wondering what you other moms have heard/may know.
Also, does anyone have a crib that you just love and would recommend?  The one I used with my first had a way you could adjust the height of the mattress, so when he was a newborn and there was no risk of him climbing or rolling out, I could leave it high so I didn't have to bend so far over the railing to lay him down.  Then we just lowered it as he got older.  I really liked that feature, but have not really noticed it on newer models."

*As you answer her questions, please leave a comment or email me so I can post your answers.

*Do you have any questions of your own that you'd like to have other mom's answer?  If so, let me know and I'll include it soon.

Monday's Mailbox: The Survey Results

Life As Mom Survey--Here's what you said:

1. How many children do you have at home?
   1- 30.4%
   2- 39.1%
   3- 17.4%
   4- 8.7%
   5+ 4.3%

2.  What do you enjoy most about this blog? 
(I know the percentages here don't add up to 100.  You could answer more than one.)
   Monday MOMents- 33.3%
   Tuesdays Tips & Tidbits- 28.6%
   Wednesday's Words & Wonders- 19%
   Thursday Things to Do- 76%
   Friday Favorites-  23.8%

3.  How often do you check this blog?
   1/week- 30.4%
   2/week- 17.4%
   3/week- 8.7%
   4-7/week- 26.1%
   All the time...- 17.4%
   Uh...what blog? 0%  (phew, I'd be worried if anyone selected this one!)

4.  This best describes how I feel about being a mom:
   I LOVE it EVERY day!- 13.0%
   I love it most of the time-  65.2%
   I am okay with being a mom- 4.3%
   I feel inadequate being a mom- 8.7%
   I am unhappy most of the time with myself or my kids- 8.7%
   Not applicable...I'm not a mother-  0%

5.  I usually get _____ hours of sleep a night
   less than 3- 0%
   4-5 hours- 26.1%
   6-8 hours- 73.9%
   9+ hours- 0%

6.  How many people are in your support system?  (this means, the people you feel comfortable to call to COME help you if you're having a hard day, are sick yourself, or didn't sleep because you were up all night with a crying baby, etc.)
   None- 13.0%
   1 or 2-  34.8%
   3 or 4- 39.1%
   5-10- 8.7%
   10+- 4.3%

7.  What limits your ability to do the things you want to do with your child/children?  (generally, not just today)
   money- 39.1%
   distance- 4.3%
   transportation- 4.3%
   health- 4.3%
   lack of help/support- 8.7%
   I don't feel like I'm limited in what I can do with my kids- 17.4%
   other- 21.7%  (I'm curious about the "other" reasons...that's a big percentage)

The other questions were:
1.  This is my favorite thing about being a mom......
2.  This is the hardest thing for me about being a mom....
3.  I'd like more posts about......

These questions that were open ended will all be talked about sooner than later in this blog.  A lot of moms said that the simple things about motherhood are their favorite things.  That's good.  Simple things happen most often!  There was a lot of frustration or distress about discipline issues and keeping our tempers under control, as well as questions about babies to teenagers.  And many of you asked for more food and activity ideas.  (that's why Friday's now include Foods, and I'm trying to give ideas of things to do with kids in more posts than just Thursday's Things to Do.) 

Every answer to these questions gave me a million ideas of things to address...and each one will be.  Though some I'll have to do more research for so it'll take a little longer.  Please keep giving me suggestions, or asking questions.... Just shoot me an email or post a comment. 

Thanks for all your help with doing this survey!  You've given me great insight in how to fit this blog to YOU!!!

Monday's MOMent

When my son was 3 and our daughter was about 2 months old, I had a busy morning and had not had a chance to shower. So I put Elizabeth in her carrier and placed her on the bathroom floor and I got toys for Josh to play with and told him to stay in the bathroom so I would know where he was. I got into the shower and as I was showering I could see and hear him playing. But soon I realized he was not in the bathroom. I got out of the shower and quickly dried off and put a robe on. I could hear voices out in the living room. One was Josh and one was an adult male. I was very worried and hurried out into the living room to find my son talking to the UPS man. Josh turned to me and there he stood with 2 tampons, one in each hand and was happily talking to the UPS man. I never could look the UPS man in the face when he came to deliver boxes to our home.

~Valarie, mother of three, grandmother of one

Monday's MOMents

As we were driving the other day, Katey said to us, "I want to be a vegetarian and a cow girl when I grow up." I said "do you mean a veterinarian?" She said "Yes, I want to be a vegetarian and a cowgirl." We were cracking up.

~ Becky, mother of three

Corbyn:  "Mommy, I am sorry you married a monkey instead of a daddy."
~Heather, mother of three

I have a three month old son, almost 4 months that made my day today by just smiling at me and cooing while I was feeding him a bottle.  Lately he has been trying to hold the bottle and often times gets me frustrated as he bats it away resists putting it in his mouth.  But today I just took the moment in stride and smiled back at him.  I love my little boy and these are definitely moments to just sit back and smile. 

 ~Meccenzie, mother of one

Monday's MOMent

My son Grant was 5 weeks old at the time. We decided we would venture out to a restaurant with Grandpa. This was the first attempt at eating out since Grant was born. And when we pulled into the parking lot Grant needed his diaper changed so I figured I would change it really quickly in the car and meet my husband and father-in-law inside as soon as I was finished. This was my first attempt at changing a diaper in the car and we were headed to a wedding reception as soon as dinner was finished. So here I am with Grant on my lap trying to get the wipes and clean diaper ready for a quick change. I was close to successful until I realized I was trying to put the diaper on backward... silly me. So I took the diaper off and right at that moment a stream starts shooting up. So I think to myself... "Quick get the diaper on". With Grant looking at me in surprise with a new wetness on his face he didn't expect and my skirt all wet I suddenly realize I tried to put the diaper on backward... AGAIN. So quickly I turned the diaper around and FINALLY got it right the third time. Now I was just trying to convince myself that no one would notice the very unique dark pattern on my skirt. So instead of worrying what anyone else would think I just decided to rock it the best I could. So funny and definitely a story I will never forget.

~Kristy, Mother of one

I love the MOMents you've sent so far, and would love more.  Remember to email me at mommymailbox@gmail.com or post a comment and I'll save it for a MOMent post in the near future.

Monday's MOMents: The 1st Batch

To get started, I'll add one from myself so you know I'm really a mother too....

         I told my son he was handsome. He said, "No...... I'm cute. I'm handsome on Sunday." I always attempt to comb his hair on Sunday....I can't say much about the other six days of the week. I guess cute means  his hair isn't combed, handsome is when it is combed.  How funny!

~Amy, mother of one

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I took the kids to Costco the other day because the kids were driving me nuts. I had a coupon for diapers so that was my excuse for going. As we were leaving I told them we needed to go get diapers and because they were driving me nuts. Once at the store my 4 year old said, "Now mommy we need diapers and what else?" I said, "That is all." She then said, "But you said there was another reason for coming." I said, "Because you kids were driving me nuts?" 4 Year old, "Oh, that's right." ...Ah, MoMents!!!

~Karen, mother of three

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From my 5 year old:
                       "I can't talk nicely, my voice won't let me."
                                                   ~Janelle, mother of three

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Thank you for sharing a few MOMents over the past few days.  I'd love to hear more about your funny and wonderful times as a mother.  If you'd like to share, please comment here or email me at mommymailbox@gmail.com.  Please include your first name, if you are a mother, grandmother, aunt, etc. and # of children.

I hope these brightened your day!

Explaining MOMents & Mail

Each Monday will be our day of MOMents and the Mommy Mailbox. 

So, what is a MOMent?  A MOMent is one of those special 'mom moments' in life that you hope to never forget (...or are embarrassing and wish you could forget).  You know, the ones that make you laugh until you cry, appreciate the simple joys of a child, and feel grateful that you are a mother.  MOMents spice up the mundane parts of motherhood.

The Mailbox will be for submitting your own MOMents so I can include and post them to lighten everyone's day and help us all remember how wonderful it is to be a mother.  We will also have fun surveys, Q&A's, and occasional opportunities for prizes. 

To help out with the MOMents and Mailbox:
*Please post a comment or email me at mommymailbox@gmail.com 
*Include your first name, if you are a mother, grandmother, aunt, etc. & # of children

I look forward to hearing from you!!!