#Momfirst -- Rhyming Rant

I know I will get heat for this but I had to write about it before I exploded.

 

I ventured out to a local play place with my cabin fever littles. I quickly noticed the diverse group of parents who had the same idea. Everyone parents differently, I get that. No two parents are the same. HOWEVER...there is no excuse for completely ignoring your children when they crave your attention. I am not saying don't take time for yourself or getting the break that you need. The following situation was painfully clear that a child was nothing but a bother. That other things were taking priority when there were definite problems that needed to be addressed by his parent.

 

#RANT

To the mom over there, with the wavy hair and the cell phone glued to her face...
The one with the kid with the terrible grin who currently has my kid locked in a wrestling pin...
I am trying not to loose my s**t as it is My Kid, that your kid continues to hit!
I get that it's winter and it obvious that your kid desires to be a sprinter but here is not the place!
I know I am possessive however this toddler play area for your 9 year old is a little excessive!!!!
I get it's winter break and you would rather be on a cruise or at the lake...
Yet while you sit on your phone and flirt, my other kid just got hurt!
Now this momma bear, with the undone hair, is ready to go toe to toe with your 9 year old!

 

I am trying not to judge you, I am also trying not to scream, as your kid terrorizes my 2 year old team!
I get that your life may not be what you dreamed, but I am sure you are more blessed than you seem.
Your little boy wants your attention, not a Facebook mention!
He is yelling YOUR name as he runs past those shaking their heads in shame.

Everyone knows it's hard-- we all have at least one s**t card, but I can assure you this kid isn't it!
Please see what he needs!

It's NOT the best new Beats, a new pair of sneaks or an afternoon with all these pint sized peeps!

 

I know there is a ton of snow, but hanging with these kids won't help him socially grow!

Take him somewhere with kids who breathe the same height of air!

 

Now before you go saying that he "might have a label" or "really isn't able" - there is no excuse that covers sitting at a table and ignoring him!
You are a mom, you are his calm.
Please look in his eyes and stop telling yourself lies -- he needs you more than you realize!

Put down the phone before your kid is grown --- or you may really be left all alone!

 

I clearly can't rhythm but this was written just after bedtime, where I sat and read until my littles finally rested their weary heads! I am beat, I am tired, my everything hurts from trying to keep up with the demand of my two biggest fans.

I understand that my way is not everyone's way to play...

but the parenting game never ends, there are no roles written in pen. Just care and be there!

You have to push through, that's what mothers do!

All I ask is to show the love the your kids need! They should never have to plead!

#momfirst

DIY: Something is leaking under the kitchen sink!

It's Valentine's morning...I have just been sweetly woken up by my special men individually walking in and each handing me a single rose. As I bask in this adorable act of love and appreciation, my warm fuzzy feeling is broken by the sound of chaos from the kitchen. Why wouldn't the well planned morning of V-day be the perfect time for the kitchen sink to be leaking and flooding the kitchen?!?!

Not to fear - mom is here! (and thankfully so is coffee!)

Instead of revving up the Kitchen-aid, I have the hub's throw something together and I grab my plumbing kit and get to work!

 

So...what are we dealing with?

Our house has older plumbing, so I figured it had to be one of the connections. I had recently attempted to replace our dishwasher (more on that later). When I shut off the water under the sink it was clear that one of the shut offs was not working and water was still flowing. I made a novice mistake, more like I have 30 minutes to do this lest use excessive force to get the job done faster. At the time I could hear my mothers voice telling me not to use tools but, again, I had 30 minutes to do the project (I was racing up against a Sunday night bedtime routine).

PROBLEM: Because I had recently forced the water to shut off I ended up breaking the seal just below the shut off valve.

 

SOLUTION: Replace both the hot water shutoff valves!

 

Step 1: Shut off main water supply to stop the water from going every where.
Step 2: Identify what you will need to replace. Even though some of my plumbing doesn't look new and could be replace with some shiny new stuff. I say NO! If it's not broke don't fix it! < That is when real problems arise.
Step 3: Take pictures so that when you are at the store you can show that picture to the person helping you. A "whoojiggy" is so much easier for an associate to find with a picture!
Step 4: Head to the store! (it's currently FREEZING in Central New York so outside was the last place I wanted to be heading that day!)
Step 5: Get your stuff and get home to the fun!
Step 6: Grab you tools -- for my project I needed two...

 

Step 7: Get started! Remove the old valves.
TIP: while removing your valves it is very important to make sure that you are not moving any other pipes or connections. I uses one wrench to secure the connections in place and the other to loosen the faulty valve.

*Add a helper if you need an extra hand! Mine just added cuteness!

 

Step 8: Tape off the newly exposed pipe threads with your plumbers tape.
Step 9: Begin to hand tighten your new valves into place.
Step 10: Use your crescent wrench to tighten the connects (1/4 turn at a time - be sure not to over tighten!).
Step 11: Turn the main water supply back on. FINGERS crossed for no leaks!
Step 12: Turn all your faucets on to open the lines and move any air out of the lines.
STEP 13: Bask in your DIY glory!

In the words of the Gtwins - "Tada! I phixxed it!"

 

 

 

Labor time: 15 mins

 

Total time: 1 hour (due to the quick run to the store!)

 

 

 



 

 

 

Truth of Parenthood

When I used to dream of parenthood I would think of lighthearted, feel good moments that I would share with my children and husband. Ya know, the ones on tv with the music and the right lighting that brings you almost to the point where you are crying tears of joy because it is just that beautiful! Everyone is smiling and the world is perfect.

Well...those moments happen and they are beautiful.  However,  no one told me (or should I say warned me) of the other moments that are sprinkled in between.

All my months of bed rest I searched endlessly for articles and books to help me see what parenting was really like. Sure, I would stumble upon a blog or article with a few statements that would give me a glimpse into my future, but nothing that really captured what changes were to come.

Now that I have become a mom I would like to shed some light on the untalked about changes that happen.

To start off operation #truthofparenthood here are some everyday phrases that take on a whole new meaning! (#phraseafterbabes)

• "Drinks with friends" now means water on the rocks with two shorties and their most plush friends!
• "It's a bath night" no longer means a relaxing soak with a book and wine...It means a full on splash fest that will leave you wiping down the ceiling while humming Rubber duckie..."dodo DU Dado!"
• "Mani, pedi night!" Is no loner a primping activity that gives you butterflies of excitement but a wrestling match that will leave one of you surrendering in tears!
• "A Night Out" is now a nerve wrecking event where you are checking your phone every 10 minutes to see if the choosen unlucky sole tasked with putting your kids to bed is calling or snap chatting a picture of them tied up in a closet with a caption of "#Failed! Please hurry home!"
• "Did you poop?" and "did you toot?" Will be said without even a flicker of a smile or snicker.
• "Alone time" is 20 mins in the bathroom sitting on the potty pursuing Facebook and checking out all the things you are missing in the world...so what if it sounds like they are going to take down the door...they are only 2, right?!?!?
• "Stooping to their level" is still a dreaded event but this time you are almost gaurenteed to get slapped in the face.
• "I'm jumping in the shower " which really means I am turning the shower on...sitting peacefully on the toilet and perusing social media for 15 mins then going to check emails, the weather and news. And when the spouse yells "are you ok in there" you respond with "yes, almost done!" And use it as a queue to now jump in the shower!
•  "I'll call you later" a complete lie! What it really means is that there is a.001% chance that I will call you later today. BUT there is a really good chance that I will call you in the next week. Reality it will be later this month. It's not that I don't care it's just that I care enough to not call you when my kids are screaming or in the middle of an epic meltdown.
• "It's right over there" now the default answer to any question as to where to find a missing item. Also a safe alternative to "you have lived here as long as I have and it's always been in the same %!#$* place!"

These are just a few of the phrases that have taken on a new life in my house! Children definitely change everything thing for the better...unless they have smuggled a crayon from the table; then that door was way better off before children!

 

Mommy's magic is only as good as her best assistants!

Well I was going to write about the Superbowl but we interrupt this regularly scheduled post to bring you late breaking events this evening form the Ghouse bathroom - a recently popular hotspot!

 

The boys are almost 29 months (aka 2.5 years old for those who hate months) so potty training has been on the radar. We started to slowly introduce the potty back when they turned 2 in September. With the move, O's surgery and all the sickness that we have survived in the last 2 months; potty training was tossed on the back burner! So now that they have been sickness free for all of 48 hours I decided to pull out our shiny new potty today and give it a whirl for ol' time sake! (more on potty preferences later)

 

Tonight is Monday, which means it is bath night and nail night why not throw in the potty and make it a paaarrrttty!

 

In our house bath time is loved! I have the routine down to a science...we walk in together I sit on the floor change each boy while the tub is filling they each take turns dumping their toys in while the other is getting undressed.  Tonight I decided to add an extra step -- the potty. So J goes first: I help him undress while O is filling the tub with toys. I talk to J about the potty and plop him down. He sits for .25 seconds and jumps up "all done". "no buddy, sit down and try to go pee pee on the potty". It was then I heard "mah, I pooped" I turned my head to discover the fully clothed O in the tub proudly declaring that he had pooped in his diaper; with his pants over it, now sitting in 6 inches of water! I am not sure if you all are aware of what happens to a diaper that has been submerged in water but....I will tell you that it is a magical process that quickly melts a diaper away with water faster then the wicked witch herself! (Google it!)

 

Behold a toddler who is wearing a hooded fleece, a long sleeve tee, sweatpants, socks and slippers; in the tub! I quickly pull him from this state and pull off everything but the sweat pants which thankfully have elastic cuffs. Now this is not my first bathroom rodeo so I jump up and grab a trash bag from the cabinet and proceed to place O in it up to the waist and pull his pants down and off into the garbage bag avoiding the gazillion beads flooding the bathroom floor! (#mommywin) I then lay O down on the floor and get him cleaned up just in time for J to get the whole peeing on command trick. From the angle it was hitting O's tummy I would say J mastered it!

Well...the first act was entertaining but we couldn't continue the show without a quick intermission sponsored by bleach!

Not to fear the tooth brush is here! While the scene change is happening in the tub I take this awesome opportunity to have them brush their teeth; a skill they have solely mastered!

 

So the rest of the bath was filled with fighting over trimming their nails and O getting even by peeing on J -- ya know, nothing too exciting! Once done they are met at the door by my husband who scoops them up and proceed to get them ready for bed while I clean the normally disasterous bathroom. Tonight was different. I had a sense of pride while cleaning. As I proudly lifted the lid on the potty seat to dump and clean the prized waste my glee was shattered with the sight of J's tooth brush face down...in the potty!

HAPPY MONDAY!!! Hope it's a dry one!