This past weekend we celebrated Stephanie's second Easter. What a difference from last year, when she was just 2.5 months old. I remember being so frazzled on Easter morning, trying to exchange Easter baskets with Dan and get ready to leave the house for dinner while simultaneously caring for an infant. It was the first time I had really left the house with the baby for something of importance, and the task just seemed so daunting.
This year, I was up an hour before everyone else, and relished "hiding" cheerio and M&M filled plastic eggs around our living room. When Stephanie woke, she ran into the living room and delighted in finding the eggs. She would run around and pick them up while we encouraged her to put them in her little bucket. She had been playing with the eggs during the weeks leading up to Easter, but these rattled, and that intrigued her. She finally managed to open one, and started to eagerly munch on the cheerios. Then she came across an M&M and was in her glory. From that point on, every time she opened an egg, she would feverishly dig the M&Ms out from the pile of cheerios. She also enjoyed looking through her Easter basket and playing with the little toys the Easter Bunny left her.
Dan went out and bought us Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (bagels for he and I, munchkins for Stephanie), and after that we put her down for an early nap. When she woke, I dressed her in the most adorable purple and green flowered dress with matching sweater. We then left for my sister's house, where Easter dinner was being served. We were surrounded by family, and had a wonderful time. Jen had organzied an egg hunt for Stephanie and Marie-Therese, and it was adorable to watch them hunt eggs. By 7:00 though, I was exhausted. I think the combination of holiday excitement, chasing a toddler, and being pregnant really got to me. But it was one of those happy exhausted feelings, and I went to bed that night content and satisfied that we had a wonderful, family-filled holiday to celebrated the miracle of the risen Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Stay at home vs. Working
I am a huge supporter and believer in the importance of stay at home moms. In another post, I'll explain why, and why it was the right choice for me. However, this post is about that always heated argument, who has the harder job: SAHMs or WMs. My opinion is that they are both equally challenging, and they both offer unique benefits.
I would never put down a working mom, or belittle the challenges that arise from the work/home-life balance. I nanny for a wonderful working mom, and I admire the balance that she has created in her life. However, her job allows her some freedoms and benefits that my job as a SAHM does not. For instance, she gets child-free time alone in the car. I know a lot of working moms use this time to conference call, but they get to do that without little ones yelling, fighting, or screaming in the backseat. And they have the option to end the call and have some moments of peace. I never get quiet in the car in the middle of the day, to be alone with my thoughts or listen to non child friendly music. Secondly, when she finishes work, or on her lunch break, she can run to the mall/grocery store/target etc., by herself. (If her job hours and daycare/nanny hours allow.) That is HUGE! That means no little person to take in and out of a carseat and cart, nobody to entertain/keep from tantruming in the middle of the store, and nobody to argue with on whether or not certain items should be bought. Again, I never run errands in the middle of the day with this kind of freedom. Working moms also get lunch and or coffee breaks. Or they get to go on business lunches where, yes, they are working. But they aren't also picking up thrown food from the floor, ensuring that their child isn't screaming in public, changing a dirty diaper in the middle of a meal, and cutting pieces of meat into miniscule pieces. Lastly, I think the biggest thing is that these moms are not home all day. That means that they are not picking up the same toys and books from the floor a million times, trying to constantly think of ways to entertain their child, aren't preparing and cleaning up from two snacks and a lunch during the day, aren't cleaning up potty accidents, dirty diapers, crumbs, etc etc. When they get home, their house is in the same state that they left it in that morning.
Now, that isn't to say that there aren't parts of my job that are easier than a working moms. The most important being that I get to be with my children all day, every day. This is a major blessing for me, because I get to be their primary care-taker. I get to witness each and every milestone, and serve as my child's first teacher. I get to do fun activities with my children every day, even if that just means giving a bath and splashing with toys in the middle of the day. This eliminates the mother guilt that often arises when working moms worry that they aren't giving their children enough of their time and attention. I also get to use nap time to clean the house. (When I'm done preparing and eating my own lunch, because I never have time to do that when my daughter is awake!) When my child is sick, I don't have to worry about calling out sick from work and juggling meetings. If it's been a long night, I can spend the morning working in my jammies. These are all things that wouldn't be possible if I had a job outside of the home, or even if I was a work from home mom with a job other than mothering and caring for the home.
I think the purpose of this post is to highlight the unique benefits and challenges that are part of each job. They are both important, and it isn't fair of either type of mom to put down the other. What bothers me the most is when I hear "Oh, I have it so much worse than *insert opposite job of speaker.* Because it's simpply not true, and those moms are just looking for attention. We are all mothers, plain and simple. We all work, even us stay-home moms!!
I would never put down a working mom, or belittle the challenges that arise from the work/home-life balance. I nanny for a wonderful working mom, and I admire the balance that she has created in her life. However, her job allows her some freedoms and benefits that my job as a SAHM does not. For instance, she gets child-free time alone in the car. I know a lot of working moms use this time to conference call, but they get to do that without little ones yelling, fighting, or screaming in the backseat. And they have the option to end the call and have some moments of peace. I never get quiet in the car in the middle of the day, to be alone with my thoughts or listen to non child friendly music. Secondly, when she finishes work, or on her lunch break, she can run to the mall/grocery store/target etc., by herself. (If her job hours and daycare/nanny hours allow.) That is HUGE! That means no little person to take in and out of a carseat and cart, nobody to entertain/keep from tantruming in the middle of the store, and nobody to argue with on whether or not certain items should be bought. Again, I never run errands in the middle of the day with this kind of freedom. Working moms also get lunch and or coffee breaks. Or they get to go on business lunches where, yes, they are working. But they aren't also picking up thrown food from the floor, ensuring that their child isn't screaming in public, changing a dirty diaper in the middle of a meal, and cutting pieces of meat into miniscule pieces. Lastly, I think the biggest thing is that these moms are not home all day. That means that they are not picking up the same toys and books from the floor a million times, trying to constantly think of ways to entertain their child, aren't preparing and cleaning up from two snacks and a lunch during the day, aren't cleaning up potty accidents, dirty diapers, crumbs, etc etc. When they get home, their house is in the same state that they left it in that morning.
Now, that isn't to say that there aren't parts of my job that are easier than a working moms. The most important being that I get to be with my children all day, every day. This is a major blessing for me, because I get to be their primary care-taker. I get to witness each and every milestone, and serve as my child's first teacher. I get to do fun activities with my children every day, even if that just means giving a bath and splashing with toys in the middle of the day. This eliminates the mother guilt that often arises when working moms worry that they aren't giving their children enough of their time and attention. I also get to use nap time to clean the house. (When I'm done preparing and eating my own lunch, because I never have time to do that when my daughter is awake!) When my child is sick, I don't have to worry about calling out sick from work and juggling meetings. If it's been a long night, I can spend the morning working in my jammies. These are all things that wouldn't be possible if I had a job outside of the home, or even if I was a work from home mom with a job other than mothering and caring for the home.
I think the purpose of this post is to highlight the unique benefits and challenges that are part of each job. They are both important, and it isn't fair of either type of mom to put down the other. What bothers me the most is when I hear "Oh, I have it so much worse than *insert opposite job of speaker.* Because it's simpply not true, and those moms are just looking for attention. We are all mothers, plain and simple. We all work, even us stay-home moms!!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Baby Visit
We went to the Dr last Thursday for a baby checkup, and were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time! We were so happy, because with Stephanie, the Dr couldn't pick it up the first time, and we had to go for an emergency ultrasound. It was a very scary hour while we waited for it, so I was quite happy to avoid that this time. My blood pressure was wonderful, which is also good news. With my first pregnancy, I had gestational hypertension, which was the reason for my induction. I'm hoping to go into labor naturally this time. I feel strongly about wanting to experience that. However, if for some reason my blood pressure spikes, and it winds up being necessary, I would absolutely agree to an induction for the sake of the baby. Keeping my fingers crossed that that doesn't happen! My weight is also good, up 2 pounds from the last appointment, making it a total of 6 pounds so far this pregnancy. Not too bad, considering I'm 15 weeks. Last bit of checkup news is that I scheduled my anatomical ultrasound for May 12th! We'll be able to find out the gender at that point. I have no strong feelings either way right now. At first I was sure it was a boy, then after the first ultrasound I was sure it was a girl. Now I think it could go either way. I can't wait to find out!
Other than that excitement, we havn't been up to much. Easter is this Sunday, so i've been busily preparing for that. We took Stephanie for her first Easter Egg hunt this past Saturday. It was at our church, and she participated in it with her cousin, Marie-Therese. They each enjoyed picking up a few eggs, and then at the end they each sacrificed one to earn a raffle ticket. (They were raffling off 4 stuffed animals.) And wouldn't you know, both of them ended up winning!! Marie-Therese brought home a giant stuffed chick, and Stephanie a giant bunny. That afternoon we took Stephanie to the mall to meet the Easter Bunny and she loved him! There was nobody in line ahead of us, and as soon as she saw him, she went running towards him yelling "woof woof!" (In her mind, all animals are dogs at this point.) She sat on his lap and we got a great smiling picture. We're excited for egg dying tomorrow with Marie-Therese and their friend Kayla, and another egg hunt this Saturday with Stephanie's friend Emma. Then it's the big day! Until then, I will be finishing all my last minute holiday preparations as well as the usual household and toddler daily activities.
Other than that excitement, we havn't been up to much. Easter is this Sunday, so i've been busily preparing for that. We took Stephanie for her first Easter Egg hunt this past Saturday. It was at our church, and she participated in it with her cousin, Marie-Therese. They each enjoyed picking up a few eggs, and then at the end they each sacrificed one to earn a raffle ticket. (They were raffling off 4 stuffed animals.) And wouldn't you know, both of them ended up winning!! Marie-Therese brought home a giant stuffed chick, and Stephanie a giant bunny. That afternoon we took Stephanie to the mall to meet the Easter Bunny and she loved him! There was nobody in line ahead of us, and as soon as she saw him, she went running towards him yelling "woof woof!" (In her mind, all animals are dogs at this point.) She sat on his lap and we got a great smiling picture. We're excited for egg dying tomorrow with Marie-Therese and their friend Kayla, and another egg hunt this Saturday with Stephanie's friend Emma. Then it's the big day! Until then, I will be finishing all my last minute holiday preparations as well as the usual household and toddler daily activities.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Sick, Sick, Sick
It's been awhile since i've written, because our house has been full of sickness. First, Stephanie came down with a cold. She had a fever one day, and by the next was just miserable. Runny nose, fever, etc. She seemed to get better after three days, but then relapsed. We took her to the pediatrician, who said she had developed a secondary infection, and gave her a shot of antibiotic. (I'm sure you can imagine how much she loved that.) He also told us to give her cough medicine to help her sleep at night. By this time, Dan had also come down with a cold. The next day, I felt it coming on, and got progressively worse as the week wore on. By yesterday, I was so miserable that I went to the Dr. He prescribed me an antibiotic that is safe to take while pregnant. Now, we are hopefully all on the road to recovery! Thank goodness, because Easter is coming up soon, and I have done absolutely nothing to prepare for it. I'm actually very disappointed that I don't have my Easter decorations up yet. Maybe we'll feel up to digging them out and putting them up this afternoon. We'll see!
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