Today's Words Of Glass

You know the one. We've all seen her. And if we are truthful, at some point, we've all been her (probably numerous times). You know what I'm talking about. The overly tired sleep deprived Mom with a million things on her to-do list pushing her very active, determined not to sit still or cooperate with today's activities, very inquisitive toddler. You can usually hear them before you see them.  And today, that Mom was me. Lil Man woke up at 4:30am today. And thankfully I did have 'pre-school' time today which was a nice break. I met a friend for a 4 mile run. Then I went to the local coffee house and worked for an hour and half. But because I made a bet with my husband ( What Did I Just Do? ), my Milky Way Latte was replaced with a plain green tea. And somehow that just wasn't as relaxing as my Milky Way Latte had been ;)  I picked up Lil Man from pre-school and went to the grocery store. I could tell that he had fun at school. But...

I know it seems like everyone (said with a groan) has a blog. And everyone (said with an even louder groan) is asking for a vote or like of some kind lately. But I belong to a site called Top Mommy Blogs . And if someone 'votes' for me by clicking the banner on my blog or in this post, my account gets a vote, which helps move up my 'rank' in the list of blogs. So if you could take a moment out of your very busy life to click a vote for me I'd greatly appreciate it. What do you get in return? A smile from me ;) I'd send you chocolate but chances are I'd eat it before I would ever get a chance to send it to you. Thank you! 

To me, one of the greatest joys of being a Mom so far is watching my child explore and experience things for the first time. Today was one of those days. We went to the 'pumpkin patch and corn maze'. We went last year, and he enjoyed himself. But he was still a little young to appreciate it all. But today we had a very enjoyable family afternoon picking pumpkins, riding rides, sliding down slides, playing with corn, and working our way through the corn maze.  And as I watched my Lil Man enjoy himself I couldn't help but think how blessed I am. And although he definitely knows how to push my buttons from time to time, he's truly a joy. And I'm amazed at how caring and thoughtful he is at such a young age. Here are a few pictures from our fun outing. This week we have a Halloween parade at school, and then trick-or-treat night. I'm hoping he has a great time like he did today. 

Fevers are scary... or at least they are to me .. especially when I'm inexperienced with dealing with them. After my 20 mile run on Saturday, I'd only been home about 20 minutes, when Lil Man started crying/whining and just wouldn't stop. After about an hour, I noticed his temp was a little over 99. I knew something was up. By night time he had a full blown temperature. At 1:30am it was the worst. He was in bed with me because his breathing was just too fast for my comfort level. He woke up screaming at 1:30am with a temp of close to 103, and it was too early give him any more meds to bring it down. I know this isn't 'major' for most people and experienced parents. But to us, it was pretty major - especially because he was just crying and we couldn't figure out 'what' was wrong. We got up and went to the couch where he wanted to watch one of his favorite shows. His fever came down some, and we literally (all 3 of us) laid on the couch watching ...

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know that Lil Man turned 2 in March. So this year the holidays are a little more exciting for him than last year since he’s a little older. And October brings us Halloween. And he's totally into candy. So this should be fun for him.  Also, picking out a costume was different this year than last. Last year, we didn't buy a costume. I know I know. But he still fit in the one that was too big from the year before, and we actually wound up letting him use it again.  So this year, he's getting a new costume. And since he's in pre-school, they will have a little parade. And of course he needed a costume for trick-or-treating.  Since we didn't get a costume last year, I really didn't know what I was getting into when I started looking. The costume that he had the last 2 years was given to us. So this is my first time shopping for a kid's Halloween costume. I was overwhelmed at all of the great options!  And ...

Unless you have walked step for step in someone else's shoes, unless you have experienced EVERY experience they have ever experienced, unless you have been subjected or not subjected to EVERY single circumstance in their life, then you don't have the right to judge what they are feeling. You don't have the right to say "Just relax. You need to chill. You worry too much. You are stressing over nothing." You don't have the right to pass judgement on what that individual is experiencing because quite frankly looking from the outside you don't know. You don't know what it feels like to be them in that very moment. You may think you do. You may have an 'idea', but the reality is you don't know. You don't know what brought them to this place. You don't know what decisions put them in this circumstance. And often times, those decisions were not their own but someone else's . If you don't want to listen to what they have to s...

It happened... things were going so well... except for the very first day when there were just a few tears because it was new, we haven't had ONE issue with this.. not one... except for today... Today it was raining and he wanted the umbrella. So I let him carry the umbrella, but he didn't want to put it 'down' when we got to the door. He refused to close it. But I tried my best to explain that we can't have an umbrella open inside, and we had to close it. He was satisfied (somewhat) with that as long as he got to carry it. Sigh... I tried to warn him "Mommy is going to go potty, but once we leave the bathroom, Mommy has to carry the umbrella. You can't take it with you to your room". NO MOMMY (oh yes, he is stringing 2 words together now. But it feels like some days those two words are No Mommy over and over and over). I distracted him and discretely ditched the umbrella behind a door at the school. Yes , I just said that I hid my umbrella behind ...

This post comes to you from a little coffee shop while Lil Man is at pre-school. I have been able to finish up some work, have a leisure cup of coffee, and a dessert while enjoying the beautiful fall weather we are having. I remember my anxiety about him going to school. I wasn't ready. I was afraid he wasn't ready. But I knew it was probably the best decision to put him in the 2's class instead of waiting until he was 3 even though I was nervous. One of the BEST.DECISIONS.EVER. It has been one of the best things that I could have done for him ( and me ). He has done great with the 'structure' of the class. When I took him to school last week, while we were driving he said "Play friends". I was like, yes honey, you are going to play with your friends. I'm so relieved that he is loving it. And for me, it's been a nice breath of fresh air. It's not a lot of time to get a lot accomplished, but it's been nice to work while he's at sch...