Mom Moment - "what you are doing matters"

I just had one of those "Mom Moments", you know the ones that melt your heart and tell you what you are doing matters.

Francesco fell earlier today on his bike and hurt his left abdomen by landing on the handle bars, ouch! He will have a bruise and he is sore but otherwise okay, thanks to his helmet. I of course came to his rescue, and did all the things a mom would do, from kissing it, to rubbing it, to just reassuring him he was okay. Then at dinner he complained because his pants were irritating the sore spot. I offered to get his PJ's on after dinner to help with the discomfort . So, once we got his jammies on I asked him if he was okay and he said yes. I then said, "see jammies make it all better!" He says to me, "actually, you make it all better!"

I literally was at a lost for words, and for those of you who know me know that is rare. My mouth dropped, my heart burst and I had that moment. I had that, "what you are doing matters" moment. Loved it!

I had to put this down so as to A) share and B) have it to come back to when I need it (when he is about 15 - LOL).

And, just because a post seems unfinished without a photo, here are my two boys that have taken me on this great adventure of motherhood and I couldn't have asked for any better!

Mass

I decided to start taking Francesco to mass with me on Sunday's. I know he is not sure what it's all about but he knows what a prayer is an the sign of the cross (it's a start).



I was really proud of how well he behaved even though he was done with the novelty of it by the time the priest was saying the gospel. What cracked me up was his willingness to sign along even though he didn't know the words. He even held the missal and followed along with the readings.

Before mass started I let him take a few shot with the camera. I love that they are from his point of view.


This one is my favorite:

4 In July!

It has happened, it is here. My "4 in July" year old is finally 4. I don't know who was more excited, him or I.

It takes my breath away to think he will be five next year. I even got him to agree to not get any older but I doubt he can hold up his end of the bargain.


I will never forget the day these beautiful eyes first looked at me like he had always known me.


I am so proud of the little boy he has become. I love his imagination and his compassion for others, especially his little brother. I love the natural leader his is and the self confidence he has.


If I could, I would freeze him at this age. Nothing beat picking him up after lunch to take him to the gift shop and the cafe for a soda and an ice cream. One on one time is sparse so I cherish every moment. The best part was he did not want to sit in a chair by himself in the cafe, he wanted to sit in my lap (I know I will miss that).


He teaches me to be a better person everyday and I never knew my heart could go walking around outside my body. He gave me the hardest and the most rewarding job and I couldn't do it without him.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I love you!

I am that Mom!

Have you ever been "that Mom"? I seem to always be "that Mom" these days.

Case in point:
During a recent visit to the Pediatrician. Nicolo had just turn two and not really talking that much but has a few small words. I get asked how much television he watches. I of course under embellished quite a bit and fudge my answer to something that sounded reasonable. While I was pretending to add up the minutes a day in my head, my oldest child is asking me to help him with a video game and the youngest...who doesn't say much is yelling "SpongeBob Square Pant" as clear as day.

Mind you they have only seen the show 3-4 times by this point (that has changed).

So my 2 year old who does not talk can say SpongeBob and I just said he hardly watches any T.V., I am "that Mom".

Another:

My husband was suppose to pick the boys up from daycare one day but was running really late. I did not have car seats for them but I could at least pick them up. I thought they could just play and run around out front while we waited. I pick them up and as we leave it starts to rain (my luck). So we pile in the car, turn on the radio and proceed to jam to the Beastie Boys. I'm talking head banging, music blaring, jumping in your seat jamming. I look up and see another parent walk by the car as we are in the midst of jamming and I get "the look". You know it, the "what in Gods name are you people doing?” look. Even funnier was that we were still jamming when she had gotten her children and was strapping them into the car; I still got "the look".
I bet when she sees me and thinks, "She that weird Mom that was jumping around in the car with her kids that one day." Yep, that me!

Another:

I went to pick up Francesco from school and in his cubby was a SpongeBob watch he got as a treasure box prize for getting his stickers all the way across on his chart. The other children start to tell me some facts about the show. On little girl tells me SpongeBob is a sponge, and she is right. Another child tells me Patrick lives under a rock, again correct. I ask "what is Patrick?" and one little boy say, a starfish, excellent. Then the little boy asks me, "What is Squidward?" I think I have my SpongeBob cast of characters pretty down packed so I say, "a squid." The little kid says to me, no he not he's an octopus. Now here is the kicker, I the grown-up precede on the say to the 4 year, "no he's not, hence the name Squidward." He of course argues with me and I stand my ground.

I am "that Mom", the one who argues with someone else's 4 year old about the species of a cartoon character.

Then come to find out:
Squidward Q. Tentacles (Rodger Bumpass) is SpongeBob and Patrick's effete cephalopod neighbor. His species is ambiguous, and has been referred to as both a squid and an octopus by the series' creators.

Last but not least:

My boys love to race, they live to run and they run to live. Everyday after school we race from the sidewalk to the van. We pick a starting point, we say ready, set, go and we are off. I do this if I am in flats or heels, with their daycare bag on my shoulder and sometimes with Nicolo on my hip. I never win, but I am okay with that. The other day this backfired a bit because as we were taking off to race another child was coming out of the building with his father (this was another little boy from Francesco's class). We start to run and he decides to join the race to his car but runs away from his father as the father is yelling at him to stop and not go toward the street.

Disclaimer: we were racing on the sidewalk and never race toward the street, the other child starting running but not the same direction we were going.

Oh course the father starts to run toward the kid who appeared to be heading toward the street (which is actually the parking lot) and he did not look happy. Then he shot me a look like, "why are you doing that?"

Now I'm "that Mom" that races her kids and causes uncontrolled behaviors in others outside the daycare. BTW- we still race, I just try to make sure there are no other children nearby when we do.

Best Shot Monday:Life is looking pretty Happy!

Tracey wrote: What have you been reminded of lately? How is life looking in your world?
Great questions, and this picture answers both those questions.

1. I am reminded that my, 4 in July year old, is turning into a preschooler. Yes, I said it preschooler. He won't say he is 3, or even 3 1/2 or 3 3/4, no he is 4 in July.
2. Life is looking pretty happy. I asked him to draw me a face and he asked, "happy or sad?". I of course picked happy. Then I talked him through the other body parts but never once did I touch the pen. He drew this all himself and I had to show his father and hung it on the fridge.

I had that Mom moment when your child reaches a milestone right before your eyes. I know drawing a person is some sort of milestone, but for me this picture is more so a piece of him at the age of "4 in July" I can hold onto forever.

These Hands

These hands cracked the eggs.
These hands put the ingredients in the mixer.
These hands help me frost and sugar the cupcakes.
These hands carried the cupcakes into school.



These hands hug me every night... and that... is all I need!

Baa Woon

Baa Woon; translation = Balloon . Nicolo is going through his language explosion and one of his newest words in balloon. Francesco came home with 2 balloons the other day after an afternoon out with daddy. They played with those balloons for hours. They wanted to take them to bed but with the strings attached I protested and did not allow it.

The next morning the were almost completely deflates and would not "fly". They still wanted them but appeared a little disappointed at the lack of aerial height they maintained. I decided to run out on my "lunch hour" and pick up 2 new balloons from the party store around the corner from my work.




2 balloons = $1.30
2 balloon weights = $.50
Hearing my baby say Baa Woon a million times = priceless!

Three

Can someone please tell me where the past 3 years went? Yesterday Francesco turned 3 but it feels like yesterday I was looking at the + sign on the pregnancy test.

I remember sitting in the rocking chair, in the nursery the night I went into labor. I saw stars every 2 mins on the way to the hospital and cried tears of joy the moment I saw his beautiful face.

Since that day there has not been one dull moment of my life, literally. Francesco is energetic and that energy is 24/7. Ask anyone who knows him and they will confirm that statement. I didn't not know that you can actually survive 3 years without getting a full night sleep (LOL)!

I remember the day he first smiled, I thought to myself, "is there anything better?" Why yes, yes there is...the first time they laugh. It was my husband who made him laugh and we spent the rest of the day trying to make him laugh just because it was cute. I also remember sitting at home with him on a day off from work when he first sat by himself, he was wearing a "I Love Mom" shirt and I took about 100 picture of him. Crawling came soon after and then the day my life really changed for good...walking. He walked on Father Day, 2007 and he never looked back or stopped moving.

Then came the issue of talking. He wasn't much of an early talker. He was a doer and he made his needs known without any words at all. Even as he moved into Nursery One at school I was worried because his verbal skills were lacking. I said a few prayers that he would talk soon and I got what I asked for and then some. What's that saying..."Careful what you wish for!" Let's just say, I am no longer worried about his verbal skills and at time I wish he would give his voice box a little rest.

Gross motor skills were never and issue and I foresee some extreme sports in our future. He is fearless when it comes to physical abilities and he loves to go fast. Fast on the big wheel, fast in the power wheels, fast down the slide. He climbs all over my furniture and creates a mosh-pit with the cushions of the couch. We have been fortunate we have only had one set of stitches so far.

He amazes me his memory and now that I know he can recall so much it makes the not listening even harder to take. I love when we read books for bed and I will stop before the last sentence or word on a page and he recites it for me. The first time I realized he had memorized a book we were reading a "Cars" book. The books states, "Nothing would stop McQueen,"...and he said, "not even Chick Hicks and his mean tricks!" I was astonished. Then I realized he had the whole book memorized.

He is very affectionate and knows how to use it. If he know he is in trouble or if he is STALLING he will ask for "a hug" or I get, "Mommy, you my friend?" It so hard to stay angry at him when he wants to know if I am his friend and then wants a hug. Watch out girls, he will probably use that again when he is older.

He love to help and I find that the more jobs I give him the better. It's his job to put the lunches in the refrigerators at school. That give me time to settle his brother. He also is getting much better at cracking eggs when he helps me bake or make breakfast. We only eat a few shells now. He will help me carry stuff into school, especially if the stuff is cupcakes or donuts. He love to push his brother in the stroller and really does a great job. He no longer runs him into the walls now that he is tall enough to hold the handles and see where he is going. He will also help me put the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and he has to keep telling me that the clothes are wet. He tells me like it's information that need to know (this is one of those...you got to be there things, I am not good at describing).

He's got a few quirky behaviors that I chalk up to his "personality". He does not like thing on his hands, he insist on a napkin instead of a plate to put his snack on, his blanket has to be laid out across the bed and up to his armpits and Cesco bear has to be a the head of the bed above the pillow. I'm thinking a little OCD, we shall see. He also has a lot of my "high strung" personality. When he asks for something he expects either an immediate action or immediate response. That I am certain he gets from me. My mother said enough "I hope to God you get one just like you!" that it actually happened. We butt heads the most because we are so much alike {which also means he incredibly smart :-)}

I think my friend Chelle said it best... "He is my greatest achievement. He created me as a mom, he is my first, he has captured my heart."

Happy Birthday Francesco, thank you for making me your Mom. I love you!

I didn't get much chance over the weekend to take pictures, being the hostess (with the mostess) take so much time that I fell short on my picture taking duties.

Good Job Mommy

The other night I was reading a book to Francesco. We were reading by flashlight, one of his new potty prizes, when the light hit my wedding ring as I turned the page. He asked me what it was, I said "That's Mommy's wedding ring." He then started to examine it closely with the flashlight. I then point out to him that the top ring was my engagement ring, that Daddy gave Mommy when he asked her to marry him. The bottom ring was the wedding band that Daddy gave Mommy when she said, "I do."
He looked up at me, shined the flashlight in my face and said, "Good job Mommy, good job."

As I kissed him on the forehead when I went to leave the room, I thought to myself, "Good job Mommy, good job!"

Of course I can't write a post without a picture. I just love pictures of my boys at play, something about this one really appealed to me so I am sharing.
I hope you all have a good weekend!

And so it begins...

potty training!

I had decides that I was going to wait until after Francesco second birthday to start the whole potty training ordeal. That sort of got nixed by school. The class he is in now, most of the kids are 3 years old, some are already potty trained and others are in the process. Francesco is the same size as the other kids but he is the youngest in the class. I had my reservations about him moving to the older class but I was reassured that they would not expect him to be potty trained nor expect him to act like a 3 year old.

So far all is going well. One thing they do is take the whole class to the potty together. They let him sit on the potty and try but there is no pressure to actually go. I have also gotten him a potty chair at home that he likes to sit on an read.

Last Sunday (Father's Day) I went to change him after his breakfast and realized he was dry, I figured he would be going any minute. I don't know what possessed me but I sat him on the potty and we read a book. He made a face and them he looked down. I had him stand up and low and behold he pee peed on the potty. I made such a big deal out of it and he was so happy. We even woke daddy up to tell him.

So we decided to make it a routine to sit on the potty after breakfast. We have had mixed success. One day he goes, one day he doesn't, one day he even poops. We praise him when he goes and tell him good try when he doesn't, no pressure.

This morning he sit there after breakfast and nothing. So we got dressed and started to pack up for the day. He then started to grunt...a sure sign he has to go. So I take him in to the bathroom and sit him on the potty. In the rush of things I forgot to attach the little splash guard the come with it for little boys.

Let's just say that as soon as I cleaned up the bathroom floor I myself required a shower. He ended up going on the potty and again we gave him huge praise. I on the other hand need to get with the program and keep the splash guard attached.

Why is it that when the baby spits up he gets it all over me and not a drop on himself and when the splash guard isn't attached Francesco some how manages to pee all over me and not get a drop of it on himself?

Motherhood, gotta love, gotta take a shower!

Snack Time

I still have to blog and post pictures about Bubbie's 1st Birthday but I want to tell you about the snack we shared today.

Bubbie was getting undone waiting for everyone to get home and for dinner to start. I decided to give him a little snack. I grabbed his snack cup that was filled with crackers. They were a little stale (been in the cup 2 days max), but they did the trick.

He was doing really well pulling the crackers out of the cup, having a good time. I asked him if Mommy could have a cracker and he pulled one out and put it in my mouth. He proceeded to feed himself more crackers. I again asked if Mommy could have one and he pulled the cracker he just put in his mouth out and put it in my mouth.

Now that's love!

Best stale crackers I ever ate.

I am really loving this Mommy stuff!

Launching Torpedo’s

Up until now all of Bubbie's baths have been pretty uneventful. Splashing, playing and drinking soapy water was the extent of them.

Just two days ago my father made a comment about babies and baths. Something about "Launching Torpedo's", it took me a minute or two but I realized he was talking about POOP!

Well, he must of had a talk with Bubbie about this. Yesterday I was giving him a nice long bath, were I was letting him play for a while before I got the soap out. Just as I was reaching for the baby wash this large brown "torpedo" came whizzing by. I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Then I realized there were numerous "torpedo's" just floating around.

I had to get him out, fish out the "torpedo's", clean all the toys and refill the tub. He sat on the floor of the bathroom just giggling away. I scrubbed him really good, I was afraid I might miss a spot were poop could have touched.

Let's just say he was the cleanest he has ever been after all that.

You know for sure your a Mom when you are fishing Poop out of a tub and not in the least grossed out.

Jammin'

A one hour commute can get a little monotonous. I usually pass the time listening to talk radio/news. Now that Bubbie make the commute with me things have changed. I have said before Thank God for car DVD player, but I do try to limit the amount of time he is mesmerized by the "boob tube" (to quote my father).

On the commute home today I decided to play a music CD and see if I could get him to sing (babble) along. We have the first season CD from Jack's Big Music Show, one of Mommy's Bubbie's favorites. So there we were singing along, after the second song I look back and Bubbie is sound a sleep.

I decided I was going to continue to jam along with the CD. So there I was jammin and singing along to the kid music CD (You know you have done it). I wasn't actually belting it out loud, I probably looked like I was to my other fellow commuters, but I was lip syncing (so I wouldn't wake the baby).

I actually sang along listened to the whole CD 1 1/2 times (it is a long commute). It was actually nice to listen to something other than the news for once. The CD is actually really good. My favorite songs are Grumpy and Under a Shady Tree .

Jam on!

My Heart

Bubbie took a late afternoon nap today so he was up much later than usual when I got home tonight. I decided that instead of doing laundry or ironing clothes for work tomorrow I would play with my Bubs.

I climbed into his play yard and we had a great time. I realized that he has learned so much recently. He knows that a ball bounces, he hits the drum with the stick, and he was pushing a truck.

I was in complete amazement. I don't think he knew all these things even 2 weeks ago. Just watching him play and learn reminded me of a quote I read:

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

~Elizabeth Stone

I just sat there and watched my heart playing with his toys.

Do I Smell???

A little background - Bubbie and I are sharing a room at present, staying with my parents, husband got new job and we are in a major transition.

I try every morning to get out of bed without waking him up. I do this for a number of reasons; 1. So I can go to the bathroom without holding a half asleep, crying, 25 lb, 10 month old (oh, how easy it would be if I were a guy, they can manage one handed) 2. So I can make a pot of coffee (I really don't see straight until the second cup) 3. So I can prepare his bottle without him in my arms and spilling the formula powder all over the counter as he bucks and kicks in protest of my slow bottle making skills 4. Last but not least ... I have this grand delusion that I will one day be able to get ready for work with him remaining asleep.

So every morning I slowing lower one leg at a time off the bed (a very old, squeaky bed), I stand up and freeze in position. After a moment passes ( which feels like forever since my bladder is ready to bust) I take the 3 step it takes to get to the door. Freeze....I slowly open the door (another squeaky object in my parent older home). Freeze....I listen, I hear him gently breathing across the room in blessed slumber. I make a break for it.

Two steps out the door (I swear two step I count every morning) whaa! Whaa! WHAA! He is up. What is it? Can he smell me leaving the room? I just don't know...I have perfected the quiet stealth movements and he still know the moment I leave. If I got up and didn't leave the room I don't think he would notice I was up. It's just when I set foot out of the room, he must has some form of MOMMY RADAR.

So we go through the routine together. He will be mortified one day when I tell him how I had to take him to the "potty" with me in the morning.

I thought it was just me but I read another mommy blog the other day and she mentioned having a baby on her lap while in the "potty".

I think that make me Officially a MOM.