A mothers word....

You know how moms always say "I just hope you have a kid just like you" and it's always such a threat, but you never think it'll happen.

When I was growing up, I was a big time baby alive fan. Mom thought they were the most hideous looking baby dolls and I totally loved them. After I grew up, kids didn't appear to be in my future, so it didn't look like she'd ever get her threatening wish.  But mom and I enjoyed each other and were best friends.  We went to a rummage sale together and she caught sight of a Baby Alive and picked it up and said "is this what I think it is?". I had to laugh hysterically, because she was so right, it was completely horrible looking and yes, it was a baby alive doll.

She spent a quarter and got it for me and told me not to complain about it being ugly, if I loved it so much as a child to have so many, I needed to suffer thru her buying me one as an adult and how I should be glad I didn't have a kid that was so nuts over such an ugly baby doll.

In all fairness, they are cuter now. I showed mom a pic in a catalog before she died, but she didn't agree with that.

Today, Princess discovered the joys of thrift store shopping and got 3 baby dolls with her allowance. 2 were Baby Alives. Between mine, the one Santa brought her and these 2, she now has 4 Baby Alives.

Guess Mom got her wish, and YES, she's totally like me in a zillion other ways too.

The one on the left is the 1970's version that I had that mom spent a quarter to get me. The middle ones are the ones from the past 10 or so years and the one on the far right, the R Santa brought to 'lil miss for Christmas. 

How they've evolved, but they are silly dolls. I totally LOVE the new one though <3

Attachment Exercises

We started our first attachment session this past week, using the Marshak theory.  The first session we did some attachment exercises with no intervention and just videotaped. Next week before we do session two, we watch the tape and hear the critic of how it looked from the attachment therapist perspective.

Some of the things were a little silly, others I could definitely see why they'd work.

I wanted to share here:

• feed each other
• comb each others hair
• put hats on each other
• play with squeaky toys together
• teach your child something new she doesn't already know
• leave the room for 1 minute and come back
• pretend to read each others palm

At the end of the session, we were asked our favorite and least favorite exercises (both of us and our daughter).  All three of us said leaving the room was the least favorite.  Kiddo said feeding each other and playing with squeaky toys was favorite. DH said playing with squeaky toys was favorite. I said combing each others hair and reading each others palm was favorite.

Can't wait to see what's next to come.

Mornings are such a bear.....

I'm not a morning person anyway and now we're 6 weeks in to having kiddo here and my having to wake up even earlier.  I remain calm, but she's not a morning person either, nor my husband.

Needless to say, it makes for interesting mornings. Between baths and breakfasts...

Getting her out of the tub this morning and out the door on time this morning was a chore and a half. The Disney Princesses on her bath wash and shampoo came to life this morning in the bathroom and kept her otherwise occupied and running late.

On top of that, this morning kiddo was refusing to eat breakfast after I got up early to fix her favorite--scrambled egg with Mexican cheese dip on it.  Anything is better with cheese, right?!

I was getting annoyed and trying not to transfer that emotion to her, I've been sick a week and kiddo not eating her favorite breakfast? Really? She said she'd just eat at school.  Ummmm, I've been packing lunches because she hates school food?!  We made a deal then and there with daddys intervention. Thank God for his clear head because mine is still foggy.  No more fixing breakfasts!! We'll let her have breakfast at school and sleep in about 15 minutes later in the morning, giving us more time to get ourselves together and her more sleep.  I'm so glad we got this settled before my leave is over.....I go back to work February 11.

Now, if Ms Picky would just start eating lunch at school, no more packing, heehee!!

Daddy hung the moon though, he got her cheesesticks at the grocery store yesterday, so all her worries were that she had a cheesestick for lunch because "Mommy is trying to kill me and didn't pack a cheesestick yesterday".  Ummmm, because she ate them all as snacks.

But her nighttime snack issue is a story for another day....could use some input there to help her manage that process.

I love this kid though, have I said that?!  I know mom is in Heaven laughing though, she got her wish, I got a kid JUST like me.

Settling In....

Haven't come in lately because we've been so busy with the "new baby" aka 11 year old daughter.

She's only been here 6 weeks. Some days it feels like just yesterday with the excitement and other times it feels like she's been here her entire life. She fits our family like a glove.

Yes, there is always growing pains, but well worth it. We're all learning each other, adapting well and loving our new family together.

I love how open she is and how much like a smaller child she still is sometimes. I know it's because of her past, but what I'm impressed with is her willingness to go back to that time and have a "re-do". 

Just playing with a child tells you so much about that child and this little angel is heavensent and has a heart of gold.

Only 2 more weeks of leave for me before I go back to work. Dreading it, we've loved this bonding time together and I could easily become a stay at home mom.

If only we would win the lottery so I could stay home and be here for my baby every day when she gets home from school.

(incidentially, now that she has a family to count on, she says she's not leaving us and when she's 40, she'll just move in next door and adopt kids and have a farm)

A New Year, A New Me!

Ahhhhh, a New Year to give us a New Hope. On the midst of reviewing the prior year and realizing there is only one goal that I even came close to hitting, I’m still optimistic for success going forward. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Let’s make it better in 2013 and focus.

…..SQUIRREL!!!

Found our kiddo in 2012 and looking forward to making a great life together in 2013 and forward.... a new me is me being "mommy". Yesterday I dropped by the office and one of my team members said I'm just glowing and that mommyhood seems to be agreeing with me. I tend to agree. I'm amazed at how NOT stressed I am over the job while I'm on leave. I've found a new identity!!

While we have great hopes, we don’t always take action into fulfilling those wishes. So, 2013….bring it on….let’s work on the controllables! Let’s make those wishes action based.
2013 resolutions:

• Daily focus on attachment parenting, continue to learn on attachment parenting through training, reading and following Last Mom Blog, but most importantly experience with our Princess
• Payoff 2 bills….switching jobs in 2011 to take care of our daughter and have plenty of family time really played havoc on the budget, need to get this in control so we don’t feel broke all the time and so we can budget for tons of family activities easily.
• Lead by example at home and work—with a new daughter in the home, it’s important to teach her, love her and show her. Love her unconditionally and help her build on her trust in us over the course of the year and realize she can count on us for the long haul.
• Spend 10-15 minutes a day on housekeeping so it doesn’t get behind and so we’re not cutting into family time to do mundane housekeeping chores
• Get out of the rut and work on new things to do as a family together, not just “eating out”. December was full of fun activities and we made the most of it. Just because it’s not Christmas doesn’t mean we can’t find fun things to do January-November.
• Start a college savings and a normal savings for lil Miss after her adoption is final and teach her money management
• Regular charitable donations in an area of passion (ie, kids)
• Eat healthier (adding veggies to dinner), become more active and see results through a 2 size reduction in 2013
• BE POSITIVE!! AND BE A GREAT ROLE MODEL FOR OTHERS!

My family, colleagues and friends deserve to have the very best of me, not second rate material