The Dirty Laundry of a Mommy Blogger

Tags

Dirty Laundry, Kids, Life, modeling, Mommy, Mommy Blogger, Parenthood

Spit up, dishes, first grade homework, housework, diapers, dirty laundry… oh wait. Dirty Laundry. Dirty Laundry of a different kind. The Dirty Laundry of what I have fought not to be…. a “Mommy Blogger”. 

  Seriously. That’s the explanation I have for being absent from my writing for so long. I didn’t want to become a “Mommy Blogger”.  Not that being a “Mommy Blogger” is a bad thing, it just wasn’t my thing. Now don’t get me wrong, I have done plenty of writing about my kids and I love each and every one of them more than anything. I just feared that tag “Mommy Blogger”. Why? Because I’ve seen it happen again and again and again. A wonderfully entertaining, informative, opinationed womans blog goes to diaper rash the moment the hormones spill out her fingertips. 

Now before I go getting hate mail from the Mommy Bloggers, don’t throw the sticky sippy cups at me!  I’m on your side… I’m one of you! But I’m also on my side. Because guess what? Being a Mom is the best thing ever, it’s my “most favorite” job I’ve ever had! Alas with one child it’s easier to balance your life and their life than it is with multiple kids.  I have always been a “Mommy Blogger”, and very proud of my oldest daughter, but when every draft I started creating was focused soley on my children I realized quickly that my little spot on cyberspace wasn’t about to qualify for ads for diapers as opposed to thongs.

So yes, I am embracing the change. I challenge you to embrace it with me and to stick with me though this transformation. Yes, I will talk about my kids more. Yes, I will keep updates on my recent photoshoots “Mommy Model” and creative developments.  Yes, dust bunnies are my kryptonite. And yes, I will always have dirty laundry.  *wink*

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Adventures in Making Baby Food

Tags

Baby, Do It Yourself, Food, Frugal, Health, Home, Kids, Money, Nutrition, Parenthood, Saving

Today I found myself becoming one of those people.  I stood in the grocery store and was in one of my moods of calculating the cost of use of everything.  I’m always a careful grocery shopper, but as of late I’ve been seeking ways to cut corners even closer and inch just a little bit more out of the food budget. 

It takes money to feed kids.  We have kids, we don’t have a whole lotta money.  Since the wallet has gotten a bit thinner we have discovered there isn’t alotta difference between store brand and name brand foods.  In some ways the store brand or off brand is better than the name brand.  Believe it or not the stuff at the dollar stores is the same stuff at the grocery store. 

We have also discovered that sometimes it’s worth it to pay a few cents more to get a better quality product (especially if you have saved somewhere else on your list).  In the end the food goes into your body and you don’t need to eat junk.  For example, wheat spaghetti is more expensive but better for you than the typical “white” pasta.  It’s a few cents more but in the long run worth it.

It had been a long mental run though the grocery store.  I was longing to get home and off of my feet for a bit when I was rounding off the trip in the baby food asile.  Jars and cans of baby food stared at me from the shelves and I was so tempted to grab what I knew we needed for the next week and go.  Instead I picked up a jar and started reading the ingrediants, I repeated this a few times and found myself heading back into the frozen foods section.  A few bags of basic veggies and I was on my way home.

So I cooked the corn, green beans and carrots and struggled with my 30 year old blender.  I pureed the cooked veggies and poured them into ice cube trays, covered and stuck in the freezer.  Overall the process took about an hour.  Longer than what I would have liked but I look at it this way:

• I know exactly what is going into Michelle’s belly, and there are no addictives or perservatives.
• I have about three weeks worth of baby food made up for a fraction of the cost of buying it ready made.
• It was a fun activity to do with the help of Megan (5) who kept me company with all sorts of chatter.

We are enjoying introducing Michelle to foods.  She loves tasting different things and loves making a mess when she eats.  I am going to start doing some research into different veggies and fruits she can start eating.  We have been very lucky with Megan and she eats a wide variety of veggies and fruits, I hope Michelle is the same way.

So with pureed carrots on my shirt (I never said it was a non-messy process!) and a happy baby with green beans in her belly, I consider this adventure a success. 

Mini Assistant

Tags

career, Children, Kids, Life, Love, Parenthood, work

I am in love with my newly self-appointed assistant.  She refuses to stay in her defined space for an extended amount of time and feels the uncontrolable need to invade mine at every available opportunity.  My work processing time has slowed and I’m constantly scanning the area to make sure that my cell phone and beverages are well out of her reach.  Even as I type this, she is sitting in my lap gnawing her fingers, snuggling her little warm body into mine, and probably working on another wet diaper.  We don’t have coffee breaks in this house, we have diaper breaks.

I wouldn’t change it for the world.  Some say she’s spoiled in as much as she desires attention and being held.  I say “Bite Me”.

Coloring Models

Tags

Kids, Life, modeling, Parenthood

My girls had just done a “mini-photo” session in our living room / studio,  just for fun and for Megan to show off more of her dress-up clothes collection.  It was now bedtime and Megan and I were having our nightly chats with prayers before tucking her in bed. 

Megan has a very long list of thing she wants to be when she grows up.  A new thing gets added at least once a week.  So far we have:  Princess, Mommy, Artist, Model, Hannah Montana, Teacher, Ballerina, Gymnast, Nurse, Magician, Bride, Florist, just to name a few.

“Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a kid model and not an adult model.”

“Ok… why’s that?”

“Because adult models don’t color.”

Then it hit me… we hadn’t sat down and colored together for a few days.  We had played dolls and dress up, but we hadn’t colored together.  I had to supress the urge of going and grabbing her coloring books and crayons right then.  Sometimes it really stinks to be a grown up.

“Well Meggie, what makes you say that?”

“Because”

“Because why?”

“Because I wish we had colored more.”

I hated having to explain to her that clean clothes don’t magically appear in her closet, that food dosen’t cook itself, that her carpet didn’t stay magically clean.  I hugged her close and talked about how much she enjoys being able to come home after school on Mommy days and not having to take a nap at school every day.  How much I appreciate all of her help with her little sister. 

“You can do anything you want when  you grow up, if you want to be an artist you can.  If you want to be a model you can.  If you want to be a singer you can.”

“What about a Princess?”

“You are our Princess!”

“I need another tiara Mommy.”

I hated explaining that sometimes (more often than not lately) Mommy has been sick and not able to do as much as normal.  Before my eyes my toddler has grown into a tall little girl.  She makes her own bed and loves to color pictures for all of her people.  She understands that Mommy works when she can and that sometimes also means she gets to play in front of the camera too.  Her maturity when it comes to Michelle is amazing, she loves to talk to her and hear stories about when she was a baby.

“How about I make some extra special time for us to color together tomorrow?”

“Sure! So we can both be models and color!”

“Anything you want Princess Megan.”

You know you are a Mom when…

Tags

Clothing, Friends, Life, Parenthood, Photoshoot

So during the photoshoot the other day with Morgan and Steve, I had laid my head down on Morgans shoulder.   She was wearing a black sweater, and I had Wite-Out face powder on my face.  So after we got the shot, I noticed a minor smudge on her sweater.  Without second thought I licked my fingertip and proceeded to quickly remove the smudge when she turned around and asked laughing: 

“Did you just Mommy my sweater?”

 *laughs*