Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Sick and Wrong

We are a sick and wrong family. But we laugh a lot and have fun. We don’t argue much. We use a sense of humor to get through most things.

Remember those “this is your brain on drugs” commercials? I like to tell the kids, “this is your butt on crack.” Get it? Like a butt crack?

If that ain’t grounds for therapy, nothing is. I should probably pay for ½ of my kids’ therapy since I’m messing them up so badly with my crazy antics. God help anyone who marries into this family!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Hold Your Babies!!!

I read this book called “True Mom Confessions: Real Moms Get Real” and it’s helped me with some of my judgmental attitudes. Below is a quote from the book. There’s also a web site you can check out. Here’s my personal favorite … the best for last and all that.

“When my daughter was a newborn, an older cousin asked, ‘Do you ever just sit there and hold her while she’s sleeping and just watch her? All day?’ I sheepishly answered yes. She said, ‘It’s okay, you know. To just sit and watch them. I did it all the time. My house still hasn’t resumed complete order and there are still dishes in the sink.’ Her daughter was eleven at the time. It was probably the best advice I got. Now my daughter is two and sometimes I still just watch her. When she’s sleeping or playing or running outside, I just stop. And watch. There are still dishes in my sink, too.”

This is me and I get SICK of people (especially those close to me) asking me how I can stand to have my kid stuck on me while he/she sleeps.

And yet why can’t I ask THEM, “How can you stand to be so heartless as to not be able to comprehend why I would DESIRE to hold my own child? The housework and other meaningless crap will always be there, but your kid will not. Stop being such an ass and try to LEARN from me.”

Instead I say, "I was 30 when I had my first kid. I got all the 'me time' and partying out of the way in my twenties and now concentrate on my kids and my marriage."

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Reincarnation

I found this quote in a book Tresa loaned me, called “Only Love Is Real.”

And still her grief would not abate.
At last she bore another child, and great
Was the father’s joy; and loud his cry: “A Son!”
That day, to thus rejoice – he was the only one.
Dejected and wan the mother lay; her soul was numb …
Then suddenly she cried with anguish wild,
Her thoughts less on the new than on the absent child …
“My angel in his grave, and I not at his side!”
Speaking through the babe now held in her embrace
She hears again the well-known voice adored:
“Tis I, — but do not tell!” He gazes at her face.
Victor Hugo

I don’t care what my religious friends or family think about reincarnation. It’s comforting to me for many reasons, so I will continue to believe in it.

Many people I know wonder why I practice attachment parenting with my kids and sometimes spoil them so badly with nursing and bedsharing and homeschooling and attention. It’s because I lost a child to a bad miscarriage (at the hands of my abusive partner) when I was younger, and I like to believe that maybe that kid chose to come back to me because he or she knew I could take better care of him/her this time around.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Messed Up People Quotes

I read this book called “True Mom Confessions: Real Moms Get Real” and it’s helped me with some of my judgmental attitudes. The quotes from the book are almost done ... after a break tomorrow I'll do the final quote on Monday. There’s also a web site you can check out. Here ya go:

“I wish someone had told me that everyone is screwed up in one way or another, no matter how pulled together they look from the outside. And that those who don’t have any screws loose are very boring.”

And

“I think people who don’t ‘believe’ in ADHD, autism, or other psychological disorders are ignorant and judgmental. Just because you’re lucky enough not to have to deal with one of these challenges yourself doesn’t mean the disorders don’t exist … The icing on the cake? Those who pat themselves on the back about their superior parenting skills because their child ‘doesn’t behave like that’. Trust me, I am a GREAT mother. You would end up in tears in a heap on the floor if you had to parent my kid every day.”

Friday, August 7, 2009

Extra Weight Quotes

I read this book called “True Mom Confessions: Real Moms Get Real” and it’s helped me with some of my judgmental attitudes. Over the next few days I’ll throw you some quotes from the book. There’s also a web site you can check out. Here ya go:

“I secretly think I am beautiful. I have not lost the 25 pounds of pregnancy weight, but I put on my clothes over my curves, look in the mirror before leaving in the morning, and think I am stunningly gorgeous, tossing away any idea of losing weight. Then I get to the park and see all the skinny yuppie and hipster mothers and instantly feel fat. I wish I could hold on to that morning moment all the time.”

And

“I’m overweight. My stomach is covered with stretch marks and is saggy and squishy from recent weight loss. My boobs are saggy. My hips are disproportionately large. My thighs jiggle. My underarms wave way after I stop. And despite all this, I love my body and can’t understand why everyone always wants me to change it!”

And

“I am fat and glorious. I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise on either account. I make it all happen around here and I do it with style. My big ass is good at everything I need to do. That’s all I’m saying.”

This is totally how I feel at times (although I don’t call myself fat). I feel hot driving my minivan around with all those kids in the back that I gave birth to and nursed. Still, of course I’ll try to lose weight after the next baby comes because the less I weigh, the more energy I have to do stuff with my family. I think if I wasn’t married, though, I’d just leave my body alone and be extra curvy and enjoy my salads along with my cookie dough and my hiking along with my loafing.