Ain’t it the truth

August 1, 2012August 1, 2012Leave a comment

Ok, this week has been a rough one (and it’s only Wednesday!). I am still thinking of the carefree days in Michigan last week. Mario detests the thought of heading back to daycare (I would too since he gets to play on the computer, play soccer and wrestle David all day) and wails every night we tell him he needs to head back. Maria wants to move out on her own and be a grown up already. I am overloaded at work due to our week vacation (where I truly ignored emails and work in order to have a “vacation”). And it’s that time of month. Yeah, do you feel my pain?!

So, I pulled up my all time favorite cartoon to give me a boost mid-day.

Ahh, much-needed laughter….

Downtown Cincy

July 31, 2012July 31, 20121 Comment

There are certain things about Cincy I miss. A friend posted this video of artists in downtown Cincinnati, and it made me nostalgic for my hometown. Columbus’ downtown has no where near the history and richness.

I remember taking Maria and Mario down to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Cincy this year and the awe in their eyes at the stadiums and fountain and skyscrapers. They were intrigued with stories of me sitting in old Riverfront Coliseum rooting the Reds on and heading to the garage after the game to gather autographs. They were amazed when I told them I used to take a bus downtown and go to the library (they asked if it had vending machines like ours). Their favorite thing was Fountain Square and throwing pennies into the fountain.

I wish we could have been there to watch and dance with those uplifting artists.

Missin’ you

July 16, 2012July 16, 2012Leave a comment

Damn, I miss my boy. I miss his “MOM” squeal when I walk through the door. I miss him barreling at me with full speed only to place a most gentle kiss on my cheek. I miss him performing his way too sexy for a four year old dance moves all over the family room. I miss him asking me how my day was at work. I miss his magnificent smile when he draws a “F” for me. I miss carrying him upstairs with his arms wrapped tightly around my neck and his cheek against mine. I miss him begging for me to read just one more book to him. I miss evening kisses.

And all of this missing after just one night away from him. And after that same night wherein I told Jon it will be nice to have just one kid to deal with for a couple of days.

And then, within 24 hours. I can feel this longing to have him back home with me. Now, that is not to say that I want to give up my night of relaxation and freedom to not have to wrestle every 15 minutes. I just can’t get over how I miss him so quickly. It must be love….

We are lucky to have Jon’s parents so close and so willing and able to take Mario (and Maria) for a few days. As much as I miss him (and Ri when she’s gone) I know it’s a much-needed break on my end to be able to recharge and get my mind and body rested. Mothers and fathers need that respite. I have always felt that the best gift to a mom or dad is time away from their children…it is only through that distance that your appreciation and fondness for your kids grows deeper. And after three days away from Mario, I appreciate his insanity and rough housing and welcome it back into our way-too-quiet home.

“Mom, like you are so totally embarrassing!”

July 9, 2012July 9, 20122 Comments

Everything I do embarrasses my daughter… Everything.

I picked Maria up at a friend’s house on Sunday morning. I ran over to her friend’s house pushing her bike alongside of me so she could bike home. She likes to do that sometimes and sometimes she just wants the car so I took a gamble. I lost.

First, when I walked in the door, she gave me an absolute repulsed look. I was sweaty. Her worst pet peeve. She hates sweat and she jettisons to the other side of the room when I walk in after a run. Second, she flipped out when I told her I brought her bike. Flipped out. She started pointing her finger and demanding I get the car. When I gave her “the eye”, she still continued her tirade. She even continued after I warned her that she’d be punished. I then flipped out and took her into the other room to give her a tongue lashing. She began crying hysterically as I pulled her outside. She stood next to me as I pushed her bike on to the sidewalk and let it all out.

“Mom, I am embarrassed to ride my bike in a dress. It’s so embarrassing. I don’t want to do it.”

My heart ached. I felt sick. My girl is so concerned about things I don’t think twice about. I explained to her that she needed to tell me that she was embarrassed and talk to me about her concerns instead of being sassy and confrontational. I hugged her and let her go inside while I went home and got the car. I chose to do that because I truly believed that she was seriously distraught at the thought of riding a bike in her dress. I could understand that a reasonable person would be distressed about riding in a dress even though I could care less about it. I wanted to respect her feelings but also have her respect her relationship with me.

As I ran home, I held back my tears. I grew sadder and sadder about the incident with Ri. It reminded me of my rough times with my mom when I was a teenager. But I was a teenager! She’s only 7. God help me. I also realized that I was PMS and very emotional so I tried to keep it all in perspective. Jon was a dear and picked Ri up for me. When she came home she ran upstairs and hugged me. We both apologized. I hope we can continue such easy forgiveness in the future.

We met my mom at Ikea early in the afternoon and I told her about my run-in with Maria. I sympathized with how much it must have hurt her to have me act so sassy and rude to her when I was younger (never fails that your behavior comes back to you). Maria heard me and commented “Mom, I was just helping you see how your mom felt.” She is a piece of work. I gave her a nuggie for that one.

This morning I packed her lunch for her first day of horse camp. I wrote “Maria loves horses” on her brown bag and showed it to her.

“Mom, really? That is so embarrassing!”

Yep, I might as well saddle up on the embarrassment front because it’s not going away anytime soon.

One Big Sweat Gland

June 16, 2012Leave a comment

I am really disliking this heat. I can’t stand that I walk outside for two minutes and my armpits look like someone poured a glass of water on them. I can only live in black and white shirts in the summer because I sweat so badly that any other shirt is noticeably drenched.

My doctor tells me that I sweat so heavily because my body is so efficient in releasing sweat from all the work outs I do. It almost makes me want to stop working out. Jon calls me his “one big sweat gland.” How endearing. Maria and Mario both back away into the corner when I approach them after being outside and yell “get away, you are too sweaty!”

I have tried the anti-sweat super deodorants but they don’t do a thing. My super-sweat overpowers every time. I guess it could be worse – I could…. Nah, it’s pretty bad. I hate being frozen every time I walk up to the coffee shop because I have sweated so much that the AC feels like ice crystals on my body.

All of this leads up to my sweat experience this afternoon. Jon’s niece, Sherri brought her kids over today while she and her hubby went to a charity golf outing. We decided to go to the pool. Of course, a normal human being would have loaded the kids in the car and headed to the pool. But, alas, I have never been normal (thanks dad and mom and Meg). Maria wanted to ride her bike. Emi wanted to ride mine. Eli wanted to ride mine, too, but she is not quite tall enough. Mario wanted to ride his since Jon fixed the seat and he can actually move pretty quickly. So, we packed up all the towels and goggles into the stroller and set off with Eli walking with me and the rest of the crew biking.

Surprisingly, Mario biked the entire way and Eli walked with me the entire way. The soccer camp she went to last week got her in shape (she even ran with me when Mario got too far ahead). Emi and Maria biked ahead of us – it’s nice having Emi with Maria because she makes her stop at each side street and look both ways – good influence!).

We stayed at the pool for an hour or so but Mario got tired and cold so we decided to head back sooner than we had planned. Mario, because he was tired and cold, did not want to ride his bike. Eli did not want to walk. Thank god Maria and Emi still wanted to ride their bikes. So, I put Mario on one side of the double stroller and Eli on the other and threw Mario’s bike over the two of them. How the stroller tires did not burst, I will never know. We walked a half mile, which included a hill near the end of our walk that took me ten minutes to climb. When we reached the house, I looked like I had just jumped into the pool. Drenched in sweat. Eli and Emi were speechless; Maria scolded me to take a shower; and Mario told me I needed to stop sweating. Oh, the love. Jon just looked at me like I was insane in the membrane.

“Why didn’t you drive?” he asked as I walked in the house. Now that would be a way too normal thing to do, and he knew that before even asking me. His term of “one big sweat gland” for me actually is endearing – he secretly loves it, I know. Or, I guess it is more accurate to say he secretly endures it because there is no other choice. My body is efficient, that’s all I gotta say.

One Lovely Blog Award

June 13, 2012June 13, 20124 Comments

I began blogging to keep a history of the times (good and bad) with my two children, Maria and Mario. I began a diary when my first child, Maria, was born. I wrote in it nearly every day for a year and a half and then fairly frequently after that time until my second child was born, Mario. Then I fell into the insanity of newborn land with no sleep and lots of feeding – poopy diapers – feeding – poopy diapers. The diary ceased production. However, the times we had with the kids were better than ever and the things coming out of Maria’s and Mario’s mouths were too good not to document. There were some rough times, too, and the blog provided an outlet for me to vent (when my hubby was tired of listening!).

I bring up my reason for writing this blog because I am very humbled to have been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by an incredible blogger, Patty. I did not imagine my blog being noticed by fellow bloggers, and I appreciate Patty’s shout out to me. Patty is a mom who heads up the blog Discover and Devour. Patty writes about the trials and tribulations with her son who is fairly new to this world – born in 2011. She focuses on child development, particularly literacy and language. She has great book reviews and information on literacy. Check her out!

The Rules of Acceptance:

Thank the person/people who nominated you and link back to them in your post.
Share seven possibly unknown things about yourself.
Nominate fifteen or so bloggers you admire.
Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know and link back to them

Seven Things You May Not Know About Me:
1. I could not get enough of the Brady Bunch when I was little and would sob if I missed one episode.

2. I am addicted to running and listening to NPR.

3. I bike to work in a dress and gym shoes.

4. I adore UDF chocolate chip peanut butter ice cream with hot fudge topping, whipped cream and a cherry on top.

5. I could listen to Michael Jackson songs all day long (especially Off The Wall songs).

6. I love to see people smile.

7. I would love to meet Shirley MacLaine but may faint before I actually got to speak to her!

I nominate the following bloggers for the One Lovely Blog Award:

KeepMoving4wd

Ms. Jolly Blogger

Finding Red Fern

The Ordinary Adventures of Javier Antonio

Sunday stroller bliss

June 11, 2012June 11, 2012Leave a comment

Since Maria wouldn’t come home on Saturday night with me (no hard feelings, really – I loved listening to my own music and having an hour and a half of alone time!), I got to take a run with Mario in the stroller on Sunday morning.

I was able to crank out about 4 miles before we headed to Tim Horton’s for Sunday morning donuts. And it was another stroller ride where Mario never asked for the iPad but instead talked with his mama the entire time. Beautiful. We played the animal guessing game for most of the trip. He always guesses pig, frog, and monkey when he is guessing my animal because they are my favorite. He’s getting better about asking actual questions to figure out the contemplated animal after he runs through “mama’s favorite list.” He asks if they live in a jungle or farm, if they have fur, if they are fast. His animals I have to guess about are typically from Wild Kratts and obscure as can be. The honey badger, blue morpho butterfly, scorpion…. He’s so proud when I need help in guessing it.

The Wild Kratts show is a nice little educational tool that Grandma Ionno found. Mario gives me more insight into the animal planet from watching that show than I could find on my own (did you know the orangutan has sore arms from swinging and picks off aloe from trees to massage into his arms? Brilliant (both Mario and the orangutan))!

When we arrive at Tim Horton’s we are greeted by a flock of geese protective of their little ones. Mario jumped out of the stroller and began following them. He knows the wrath of the mama goose if he gets too close so he kept far enough away not to receive her treatment.

After the donut store we decided to head to the river to collect more rocks. The lack of rain created a rocky bank for Mario to step onto and the amount of mussels and clams amazed us. We could have been on Cape Cod (ok, I exaggerate a tad). We must have played on that bank for 45 minutes and it felt like 10. I love those times with Mario where we just chill – throwing rocks and staring at the water to wait to see a jumping fish. He does good for my need to be more calm.

On our way back to the stroller,a passing runner told us there was a turtle a few 100 feet back on the trail. We were all over it. We found “Cutie” (as Mario named it) off the trail soaked in mud. We caressed its shell but stayed away from its mouth to avoid a possible finger crunch.

On the way off the trail, we picked a few wildflowers to take home for Maggie’s party. I put them in the seat next to Mario in the stroller and he kept getting irked by the flowers falling on him. I said “flowers, you better stop falling on Mario, do you hear me?!” Mario loved that exchange and began to play the role of the flowers saying “we won’t listen to you” so that I would “have a talk with the flowers” again. This exchange lasted the entire way home.

Dallas Returns – Am I dreaming?

June 10, 2012Leave a comment

I loved Bobby Ewing from ages 7 to probably around 14. I would gather up my Cheese Doritos and bean bag and sit for a night of awesomeness. Dallas was sandwiched in between Dukes of Hazard and Falcon Crest. Yeah, Friday nights were in two words – the bomb.

Dallas is one of the few shows where I still remember certain episodes and nearly every actor’s name. I used to “play” Dallas with my best girlfriend (not quite sure how we “played” Dallas but I specifically remember running up to my bedroom and yelling “Let’s play Dallas!”). I had Patrick Duffy’s mug shot ironed onto my pastel purple t-shirt with the words “I love Bobby Ewing.” I remember wanting to be like Bobby’s wife, wasn’t Pam her name? I remember waking up some mornings having dreamt of meeting the Dallas crew and being asked by them to star in the show. Am I a freak, or what?!

So, with that background, you will see why I about had a heart attack when I read that Dallas is coming back on the air. I am heading to the grocery for that bag of Doritos and hauling up Maria’s bean bag to the family room. I can’t wait!

Pushing away

June 10, 2012Leave a comment

Maria refuses to come home. She has been in Cincinnati since Friday morning when Maggie drove her down. Just six months ago, she would have cried for her mama after one night. Now, she tells me to stay in Columbus and not come get her. I can see why – she is getting pedicures and manicures from Aunt Ann, time to babysit Gracie, trips to garage sales with Aunt Julie and Terrie, and attention from her grandma and all of her cousins and other aunts. Columbus cannot compete.

It is yet another step towards independence just like her desire to ride her bike up the street all by herself. I remember dreaming about this type of independence when she was two and a half-years old throwing her binky at me one minute and pulling on me to hold her the next. But now it doesn’t feel quite right. She seems too young to be moving in this direction. I want that two and a half-year old back even if I have to take a binky in the forehead.

Ahh, but in thinking harder about it, I guess I don’t. I guess I just want the affection back, and the desire to take refuge in my arms. Intellectually, I know that how she is acting is healthy and a sign of confidence. I remember reading an article a while back that talked about kids’ confidence levels. A study had shown that kids who feel comfortable holding their ground with their parents (e.g., parent wants to leave but kid says she doesn’t want to leave) are typically more self-confident because their parents have given them the opportunity to not be fearful in standing their ground (now, there obviously comes a point where this self-confidence leads to bratty and obnoxious behavior and I am sure the study went on to find those kids are now occupying positions in Congress). I think of this study when Maria acts this way to me, and chant in my head “I have made her a self-confident girl…I have made her a self-confident girl….”

I wonder if I will feel as strongly when Mario begins to push away? Or is it just a mother/daughter phenomena? I harbor dreams of Maria changing this world in some way that suits her – I’d love if her suit involves curing cancer, feeding the poor, saving the environment. But she can’t stay snuggled under her mother’s bosom and achieve any of those aforementioned feats or others. I have the same dreams for Mario and can only assume, since he is glued to my hip, that I will feel much the same way when he decides to unravel the tie that binds us. Maybe this process with Ri will lessen the sting a bit with Mario. Or maybe it will be a different set of feelings that onset with that little guy. I should have another couple of years before I find that out.

Waking happiness

June 5, 2012June 5, 2012Leave a comment

I woke up to a little hand laying on my head and a pair of sleepy blue eyes staring at me. I hesitantly got out of bed and tripped over a pair of five-pound weights. Ugh. Open your eyes, Mary.As I headed out for a run, I hoped not to wake the snoring Maria in her room.

When I got home, Mario gave me a kiss -peck goodbye and headed out with Jon to school. Jon told me he loved me. Maria laughed at my silly antics and rode her bike outside while waiting for Maggie.

I got ready for work – a task I had no desire to perform. I wanted to stay home and play with Ri and plant flowers and pick up Mario and chat with Jon.

But, alas, life is not perfect. So I continued on my task and headed to work knowing that I’d see my darlin’ crew in a mere eight hours.

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Category: Me