Whining from a stay at home mom

As I sit her on a Saturday afternoon while Meadow sleeps, I am feeling quite sorry for myself and figured I should just write about it and move on instead of sulking all day! I think it goes without mentioning that I absolutely LOVE being a 'stay at home' mom and would have it no other way. I use the term in quotes because while I do stay at home, I also run my own business and work a part time marketing job. These two combined are what make it possible for me to be at home, but are also what cause me the most conflict with my role as a stay at home mom.

I started feeling sorry for myself when I walked out to the never ending mound of laundry in the garage, and saw Mike, happy as a clam playing with his newest toy- a table saw. He is building all types of gadgets for the garage, storage bins etc. he has his music up loud, sports on the TV, and a delicious cocktail in his had(don't worry, it's after 10am!). He looks forward to the weekend to work on projects, root for his favorite teams, and just relax. I look forward to catching up on laundry, hoping to get to clean the office that I can barely work in, maybe getting to mop the kitchen floor, and finally clean our bathroom! Not to mention new research for my marketing job and catching up on paperwork for my business, planning events and workouts, oh and wait a minute...what about Meadow?

I wanted to stay at home to spend as much time with Meadow as possible, but that is happening less and less. She gets up close to 6 every morning, and I am not one to get up at 5 to get in an hour of work! After she goes to bed at 8, now that I am entering my third trimester I am so exhausted that I'm lucky to get the dishes done. I usually do all my work related calls etc. during Meadow's nap so that I can speak to adults on the phone without having to hush Meadow. So I find myself putting on the TV for Meadow so I can try to get caught up. PS- has anyone ever been to that magical place of caught up? I am beginning to wonder if it even exists!

Mike assures me that our moms went through the same thing, and Meadow is in no way being deprived and that she has an ideal childhood. And he tells me I need to learn to delegate responsibilities to him. He did say he might roll his eyes and complain a little bit but that's OK. And so we come to the final conflict of the stay at home mom: asking my working husband for help. In theory I would love it if my husband did the dishes every night, or better yet cleaned the bathroom, heck I would even settle for making the bed. Yet if I do walk in on him having to pick something up, I immediately feel guilty, obviously it has been there too long and is starting to get on his nerves, and isn't it my job to take care of the house?

Well, I am deciding today to get over them all. Meadow is a very bright little girl with more social skills than she knows what to do with, so clearly all the TV isn't rotting her brain yet! I am not going to believe that anyone lives the perfect life of having everything clean all the time, and if I just vow to get certain things done everyday, I can keep things manageable. And I will let Mike help me, and even tell him what he can do to make my life easier. He knows how hard I work and how much pressure I put on myself so he wants to help relieve that so I can be the happy wife and mother all the time! As long as I promise that some of the things I ask him to do need to be outside, and possibly involve the table saw!

As I preach to my moms in Stroller Strides all the time, the best thing you can do for your children is to take care of their mother. So for my first real New Year's Resolution I am going to give Meadow's mommy a break.

I'm So Proud of Me!

Last night we were enjoying quality time here at the Kraber House- Mom and Dad lying on the couch watching TV while Meadow danced around! She brought her foldable chair over to the couch and wanted to set it up on top of the couch. Mike asked her nicely to put the chair back where it belongs. We watched in awe as she walked it right over to the spot where it is kept, folded up and everything! Mike looked at her and said: "Great job Meadow, I am so proud of you!" To which Meadow got a huge grin on her face and replied: "Me Too!"

She finally did it...

Yesterday my girlfriend Natalie and her son Dayton were over for a play date for the kids while us moms worked. Natalie is the new owner of the Stroller Strides franchise in San Clemente so I am helping her with all the programs etc. So, it was getting close to nap time and I suggested we just put the kids in Meadow's room to sleep, Meadow in her crib and Dayton in his pack and play. What harm could that do? Natalie looked at me like I was nuts but went along with it anyway. I figured they might chat for a little bit but would soon tire out and fall right asleep.

Well, they were making noise for a few minutes and then it was quiet. Perfect! See Natalie, I told you it would be fine. We decided to walk back and check on them, since silence can also mean trouble in toddler land. We slowly opened the door and peeked in meadows crib, no Meadow! Then we quickly panned over and there was Meadow in her new playhouse entertaining Dayton as he stood in his bed. Meadow has never gotten out of her crib, which was actually surprising to Mike and I since she is a climber! I put her right back in to see if she just got lucky, and out she climbed in less than a second like she's been doing it for years!

We moved Dayton into the other room, and I had to put Meadow back in her crib 3 times supernanny style before she stayed put and went to sleep. I guess this is what life will be like when we move her into her toddler bed next month!

The good news, it seems that supernanny is on to something. When Meadow woke up from her nap she stayed in her crib and called for me to get her out. Then this morning I left her in there for about 20 minutes, she woke up at 5:55am, and she didn't try to get out. Granted this is only one day, but I'd like to pat my parenting skills on the back for keeping her in the crib. I'll let you know where I stand on this tomorrow!!!

Christmas Photos

Listening to my Walkman

Again Uncle Justin!

Meadow, Morgan and the horsies