Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Random Thoughts From A Rambling Mother

I have so many thoughts and ideas written down on little post it notes all over the house that I thought I would sit down and compile them in a long and rambly but fun to read post.

*I had a fabulous week of running last week. If you know me at all, that is a statement I bet you thought you'd never hear. I have never really liked running - did it a little bit in high for the cross country team one year - but never really enjoyed it or was good at it. In fact, the girl who ran alongside us also ran for Special Olympics and she ended up placing before me in every race. Again, never really my thing. BUT, when I met David he was an avid runner - loved it and was good at it. Through the years I kind of just picked it up as a way of being able to do something he too enjoyed. Most recently, I keyed into the fact that running gains way more weight watchers points for the least amount of time at the gym. So I started. I started running .5 mile, slowly increasing through the weeks and now I'm up to about 5.3 miles. Nothing to write home about but definitely more than I ever thought I'd do - especially after having two kids. So the lesson to me is - I can truly accomplish something if I'm patient and work hard at it.

*Paloma ended up getting sick one night last week. I don't really think it was the flu because it was once isolated incident in the wee hours of the morning. We heard her stirring and went in to comfort on a couple of occasions. She was been waking frequently through the night and we're not sure if she's having bad dreams or continuing to have breathing problems. BUT, anyways, we heard her again cry out and Dave got up to comfort and I asked that he hold back and see if she could "cry it out." Bad mothering mistake since her whimpers quickly turned to shrieks and before I know it she was standing in her doorway with vomit in her hair, on her bed, smeared on her door, in her hand.... Are you seeing the visual. I walked into her room with a handful of vomit that she put in my hand. Ugh! My poor baby. We cleaned her up and placed her on a mattress in our room. She continues to talk about her she had "momit" in her hair. Luckily it was an isolated event.

*I, as posted previously, had my first real experience of Pinching Your Pennies/Double Coupon Shopping. Totally feeling domesticated at this point. But man, being a bargain shopper is a lot of work and requires some serious organization. I had such a good experience on Sun, that I decided to turn around an make one more round yesterday -except that I had the children with me. Not exactly my smartest move - but I still managed to get some great deals.

*Dave and I are battling with Mattea right now. She has entered a very defiant/disobedient stage that is driving us nuts! For anyone out there who has experienced it and has ideas how to end it - send along my way. Mattea is usually a really well disciplined little girl but lately she has just lost all control over her thoughts and emotions. In fact, one night at the grocery store, Dave had to pull her off me - kicking and screaming - and "administer" a good ole spanking in the men's bathroom. The look on the guy's face after leaving the bathroom while all this was going on was priceless. I just stood outside and acknowledged "she's mine." Very challenging and frustrating.

*Mattea moments:
~"Mom, let's play Costco." Ok honey, sounds like a lot of fun to me.
~As Paloma is throwing a big fit over sharing the beloved toy cash register, I hear Mattea scream out "You crabby old girl." When the shoe fits - wear it.

*I shared an amazing moment with Mattea last week. Had been struggling all day with her tantrums and behavior but was rejuvenated during nap time. Mattea woke up and stumbled into my room while I was folding laundry. She simply said to me "I will help you." I graciously accepted and Mattea began helping me fold towels. We started making silly faces and silly noises and before long Mattea was giggling up a storm and laughing at absolutely nothing funny. It then escalated into an all out "towel fight" with all of the freshly laundered towels we had just folded. Who cares though - it was fun and the sound of her giggles still can be heard in my mind. A very special time for both of us.

Well, to be quite honest, I must wrap things up. I'd love to go on but I've been intermittently working on this all morning and now I'm scheduled to be at work in just over an hour so....

Here's hoping you had a wonderful and memorable week...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Heather,

Just wanted to let you know you are not alone! Mattea sounds a lot like Hannah. Give it time, this too shall pass. You and Dave are great parents! Hang in there!

The Fengs

MerrandaVK said...

H,
OK. when are you finding time to run?? HELP ME!!! It is below zero out. The nearest gym is 30+ minutes away, and If I even TRY to get on the treadmill during the day it transmits tantrum frequencies to my children...

Oh, and I just packed a wooden spoon in my own diaper bag. Thanks for the inspiration, NOT that any of my children would ever need it :)

LOVe you. You are an awesome blogger, my friend.

Emily said...

yeah for running! good for you!
I hope things with Mattea get better!

Kim said...

The towel fight sounds like fun! Glad the two of you had some time to play--that's when children learn the most!