I have a very thoughtful post that I'm working on but it's not quite ready. We've been really busy lately and I haven't been posting as much as I'd like, so I thought I'd post this little ditty for you.
Over the past week or so Gia has been on a kick to use the potty all by herself. We can't help her do any of it. She's not so great at getting her pants up or down, nor is she great at wiping...but I guess she's gotta learn sometime.
So last week we were eating dinner and she said she had to go potty. "Mommy. All by myself."
So off she went. About 5 minutes later she still wasn't back, despite repeated attempts by both me and her dad to get her to finish up and come back.
We could hear her singing songs to herself and just being silly in there. Then we heard raspberries. You know when you make funny noises with your mouth? Those kind of raspberries. Well that quickly turned into full-on spitting sounds.
I gave Jon the eye and he went to go fetch our girl from the potty. On the way there he mumbled, "She's acting like a friggin animal".
Now, before you get upset that my husband was calling my daughter an animal, let me explain. This is our thing. We tease her often that she's not acting like a good girl--that she's being a little animal. She knows it's a joke and she understands that acting like an animal is not the correct way to act. He doesn't usually insert the word friggin in there, but hey, it was in the middle of dinner and he was probbaly a little frustrated.
So off he goes to get Gia off the potty. As he's helping her finish up she goes, "I'm a friggin animal!" in this chipper, cheerful, adorable happy voice.
I seriously lost it. I was laughing so hard I was crying and Jon was speechless. Gia loved that we thought it was funny, so of course she kept repeating it. (This is the first time she's ever repeated anything bad we've said. In general we don't swear often at all, but there are times when we slip and she's yet to repeat any of it, which just made this even funnier for us.)
A few minutes later, we were all back at the dinner table and Gia was still stuck on being a "friggin animal". All we had to do was ask what she was and she'd say it.
So....here you go. See for yourself. I hope you find it as funny (and priceless) as we all do!
Last week I went to a playdate with 3 of my very best girlfriends. We all got married around the same time and had our first babies just months apart. (Alli recently had baby number 2, Little Louie.) The 4 of us don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, but when we do, it's like no time at all has passed. I'm so lucky to have these ladies in my life.
Clockwise, starting with biggest picture: The 4 of us (me, Vanessa,
Steph & Alli), Gia fell asleep at the play date, the girls (Gia and
Gianna loved baby Louie, me gettting some Louie snuggle time, Gia eating
a bagel and watching tv, Adrianna loving Louie
I recently found a blog and I fell in love with it. Well, actually, I re-found it. Last week I was reading one of the blogs I check out regularly and I was looking at the list of that blogger's favorite blogs. Lo and behold I was taken to this woman's blog. It said "If you're new, Start Here". So clicked the 'Start Here' link and I was taken to The Post. The Post -- aka the most popular post on the blog -- is the beautifully written birth story of the blogger's second daughter. I quickly realized that I'd read it before and, for some reason, I didn't bookmark it at the time even though I distinctly remember being moved by it the first time I read it. It seemed so fitting to me that I found this post again now -- when I'm just starting my journey as a blogger and trying to figure out the direction I want to take this ship, err...blog.
So back to my new found internet love. This woman's birth story is gut wrenching and beautiful and sad and joyous and truthful and honest. It's perfection to me. I wish I could write like this woman. I wish I could express my emotions in words the way she does.
I spent the next few days reading every post from the birth of her daughter (who just turned three) up to the present. In addition to being a gifted writer, she's also a really talented photographer, a crafting genius, and the photos of her children are just gorgeous. (If I didn't love her blog so much I might hate her.)
When something is really important to me, or when it's hitting a nerve, I need a few days to process things before I can put my finger on why exactly it's hitting a nerve. It doesn't matter if we're talking about something positive or negative -- I need time to think through things. So naturally it took me a little bit to figure out why, exactly, this blog hit home right now.
By the time I was finished reading nearly the whole blog, I had a much clearer sense of why I love this woman's blog so much. On the surface we don't have much in common, other than that we're both moms. She lives in Florida. She has 2 young daughters (one with special needs), 2 teenaged stepsons and a brand new baby boy. She doesn't work. Her style is eclectic and funky. Me? I live in suburban New York, have just Gia, I teach part time and while I love that funky eclectic style, I cannot pull it off. I'm much more matchy-matchy--Ann Taylor meets Banana Republic. But, here's the big thing: our philosophies on life are really similar. She chooses joy every day. She finds happiness in the small things. She knows that the small things are actually big things. She believes in making everyday life special. And ya know what? That's exactly what I think too.
That's not to say that things are always peachy around here. I have a two year old so I think it's safe to say that's impossible. But, I recognize how very blessed I am, and choose to be happy about this beautiful life I have. When Gia eats an entire bowl of Halloween candy before 9 am, I could rant and rave and worry about her not eating lunch. But I choose to laugh at it instead. (Bad example. Any way you slice it, that's just hilarious.) When Gia won't go down for a nap even though I know she's exhausted, of course I get frustrated. But most of the time I take a deep breath and try a different tactic. After all, she's a little person just trying to navigate through world and she needs my help. I try really hard not to focus on the negative. It doesn't always happen, but I really try.
The other amazing thing about this blog is that it's so beautifully written. It's pushing me to do even better things here, on my blog. I've always loved writing and, as I've mentioned before, this blog has been such an awesome creative outlet for me. Through Kelle's blog I've realized that while I definitely want to continue to write about my life and all the fun/silly/crazy things we do, I also want to dig a little deeper. There's more to the story, to my story and I want to explore it and share it.
So before I end this, it's time for a little confession. As I was in the midst of reading the blog and trying to figure out why Kelle's ideas resonated so much, I saw this meme somewhere (Facebook, I think). And that's what really sped up the thinking process for me. This is how I feel about life. I'll leave you with this little tidbit and challenge you to think about your philosophies. What are your beliefs about life and about motherhood?
And one more thing...what blogs do you regularly follow? I'm always looking for a new one to read!
