The LONGEST Trip Ever: Part 2

 Day 2: 

We spent the weekend with my sister and her family in Viriginia and then were headed out for day 2 in the car-this one was LONG-it was 8-9 hours down to Georgia.  And leaving was particularly hard for my little ones b/c they LOVE their cousins and were sad we weren’t going to see them again for 6 months!

With renewed confidence, I got every sugary snack, bribe, and sticker I could find, stacked it on the passenger seat and was sure, with lessons learned from the previous driving day, I was much more prepared now.  I know, a sad delusion, but when you’re facing that much time in the car with 2 little kids, reality escapes you-it’s about whatever lie you must tell yourself to survive.  They’re toddlers, if they sense weakness, it’s all over-they will have you crying in a corner in 10 minutes.  No, my kids aren’t particularly naughty or wild, but if you have little kids, you know what I’m talking about.  They study us, find our weaknesses, and then wait for the optimum moment to exploit said weakness to reach their ultimate goal: GETTING THEIR WAY!

So, with visions of parenting and driving grandeur, we were once again on our way.  This time we made it about 1 hour before our first dilemma.  We were driving through the mountains and it started to rain-no big deal, I’ve driven in rain plenty of times, but for some reason, my normally cheerful 2 year old, Annie, decided that the rain was scary, awful, and worth screaming about.

 Normally I just power through the useless cry.  You mommies know what I mean, you just tune it out.  It’s a gift we have, but about 15 minutes into this “the rain is going to kill me” scream of terror, she figure out I was ignoring her.  What’s a toddler to do?! Well, this toddler started grabbing everything she could find and throwing it at the back of my head.

 Now, my husband and I are NOT athletic people AT ALL.  In fact, it’s laughable how awesome we look when playing any sport.  BUT for some reason, little Annie is amazingly accurate with her throwing of random objects.  Perhaps we got an athletic one-a skill I am more than willing to encourage, just not at the moment when I driving 70 mph in the rain, on the mountain roads. 

Once again, 1 hour into the trip and I’ve admitted defeat.  There is nowhere to pull over and we’re in the middle of nowhere with no exits, so I the next thing I do is just plain shameful.  I start grabbing her ammunition-the bags of cookies, tiny toddler shoes, stuffed animals, which are now hitting me in the face and accumulating in my lap and begin throwing them back at her.  BUT like I said before, I have no athletic acumen, which means I’m now just creating mass chaos in the backseat with toys, food, and anything else I can find flying in every direction.  Not my proudest mommy moment.

 All of a sudden both of the kids start laughing hysterically and start yelling, “This is so fun, Mommy” “I LOVE this fun throwing game”….. So somehow in my moment of shameful mommy behavior, my kids still managed to have fun. The rain stopped and  after about 3 minutes, they got bored with the game and went back to simply watching their movie. 

I’m not going to win any “Mommy of the year” awards for that, but thankfully the next 7 hours went by great and we made it to Georgia with my sanity relatively intact and my girls still thinking this is part of some super fun vacation.  That’s the great thing about kids-if they want to have fun, they will. I could learn a thing or two from them about a positive attitude and finding fun in the simple, silly, random things in life!

The LONGEST Trip Ever-Part 1

I recently drove 22 hours, 38 minutes, and 56 seconds (over 3 days) in the car SOLO with my 2 kids-2 years old and 4 years old.  I have been trying to figure out how to capture the magic and wonder of this experience on paper, so here goes nothing…..

My husband is the USAF and got picked up for a 6 month job in Tampa, Florida-they wouldn’t pay to move us since it’s only temporary, instead, we are in a fully furnished apartment-I know, sounds rough right?! Well, this is the pay-off for the aforementioned car trip!

Now, how did I end up on this long haul from Maryland to Tampa solo, you may ask. Well, my family had committed to hosting a foreign exchange student from Spain for the summer, but that was before we knew my husband had to be in Florida the first week in July.  So he left and the 3 kids and I stayed in Maryland until mid-August when our student went home. 

After 7 weeks alone with 3 kids I thought I could handle pretty much anything, but NOTHING prepared me for the car trip, NOTHING!

Day 1:

I’m optimistic, and also feeling like I could conquer the world b/c I managed to put the top carrier on the car, pack everything, and get the house ready all on my own.  I didn’t realize my proud victorious attitude would only last the first 40 mins of this 22 hour trip!

I got the kids loaded up, cued up the DVD player in the back seat, set the GPS and off we went.  We made it about 20 miles before I started to realize this may be the biggest mistake of my life. 

We live north of Washington DC-if you have ever driven there, you feel my pain right now, if you haven’t, let me help you get an idea what it’s like.  Imagine locking yourself in a small room with 10 screaming toddlers for 2 hours while trying to write the most important term paper in your life-that's what driving in DC does to your nerves!

So we get to DC, and I expected some traffic, but it was 10am, so I thought I'd planned it pretty well to miss most of the various rush hours-NOT even close! We found lanes of traffic being diverted to the shoulder for construction.  Of course, I’m still feeling like I got this, so I pump up the radio, and prepare to sit for a while, and what should happen next? I hear from the back seat, “Mom, I have to go potty” come out of the mouth of my 4 year old, Natalie.  I am sure she doesn’t have to go, after all, she went right before we left and we’ve only been in the car for about 30 minutes.  I tell her to hold it and turn the radio back up. 

About 5 minutes later (and still in the same place we were before) she yells, “MOOOOOMMMMM, I REALLY HAVE TO GO!” at this point, even if I wanted to take care of this situation, I can’t.  The nearest exit is about 3 miles up and we’ve gone literally about 15 feet in the past 20 minutes-at this rate I could walk to Tampa faster. This time I’m a little more creative in my response, “Well, we could go in the bushes over there if you REALLY REALLY have to, but there’s no nice potty for a long time” She quickly says, “I can hold it” and I am once again feeling triumphant. 

Fast Forward a meager 10 miles in 2 hours, and we’re still just getting outside of DC.  Natalie once again requests to use the bathroom.  It’s been a while, so I figure she probably really does have to go and I’m starting to see the infamous potty squirm, so I look for an exit.  I find one, and hop off the freeway in search of any place with a bathroom. 

I am not super familiar with DC-when we go there to sightsee we usually just take the train and when we do drive, it’s just passing through on the way to see family in Virginia, so I have NO IDEA where we are, but it’s starting to look scary.  Not like, oh, “that store is a Walmart not a Target”, more like, if  “I make eye contact with that dude standing on the corner, I may get shot!” 

So after only 3 hours in the car, we’re lost, my kid has to pee, and we all may die-I believe it was at that moment I fully realized I was in a little over my head.  Yep, 3 hours in the car solo with my kids and I was waving the white flag. 

Funny thing about those situations, nothing magical happens when you admit defeat, there is no fairy godmother who rescues you, no choreographed musical number doesn’t begin to play to lighten the mood, and a kiss from Prince Charming won’t help clean up the pee now in my back seat. 

SO-I call foul on all those fairy tales, musicals, and chick flicks.  I love them as much as the next girl, but geeze, talk about a false sense of reality.  Just when I’m doubting I can do the next 4 days and 19+ hours in the car, my sweet little 2-year-old starts singing “Jesus Loves Me”  When she finishes she says (in broken words that only momma can understand) I WUUUV you, Mommy-Thissss fuuuun Twip! 

I love how in life’s moments of defeats God uses our children to remind us what’s really important.  So, I put on my big girl pants, decided it didn’t matter if the car smelled disgusting, and onward we went.  We made it the next 3 hours with lots of snacks, happy singing, and Elmo!

Victory (well sorta) for me! The only problem: I had to do this AGAIN TOMORROW and the next day AND the day after that…..

Another Yellow Day!

My 4 year old, Natalie, is going to preschool for the first time this year. I am so excited for her! She is growing, thriving, and really loves school (let’s hope she still feels this way come middle school, right?!) Every day the teacher puts a smiley face on the calendar in each student’s folder.  At the end of the week, if they have all 5 days of green smiley faces they get to choose from the treasure box.  It’s nothing big, just small toys, stickers, etc.  but it’s the idea that they were great all week and get rewarded.  Natalie has been in school for 7 weeks now and has NEVER had a yellow day….Until yesterday!

I got there to pick her up and when she came out to greet me she had a look of defeat on her face-when I asked her what was wrong she explained that she had a “yellow” day because she didn’t listen to her teacher well enough.  I tried not to smile-afterall, selfishly, as a mom, it’s secretly gratifying to know that your kids defy other people too, it’s not just me. I then explained that if she got another “yellow” day she would have a punishment at home in addition to losing the treasure box privilege at school.  She tells me she’s so sorry and so on. 

Then I went to pick her up today. She immediately says, “I had another yellow day”….Really?! Another one?!

She explained that her friend was being mean and told her (I’m quoting Natalie directly here) “She said my outfit wasn’t fabulous, but it is fabulous b/c I’m fabulous, she told me I was ugly too, so I just hit her b/c she was lying b/c I am fabulous, I am fabulous!". My first instinct was to laugh-not b/c I think it’s funny she hit her friend, but b/c she used fabulous about a million times in that sentence and she thought it was justified b/c She IS fabulous-it’s a fact, Duh!

I explained that she can’t hit people just b/c they are being mean, you know the whole good mommy thing, no hitting, blah, blah, blah.  And then I let her know that since she got another yellow day she would have consequences at home-which would be she would go to bed without a bedtime story tonight.  Bedtime came and she did OK without a story, but when we were saying prayers she asked that God would help her friend see that she is indeed fabulous like he made her.

As a mom, I’m upset she hit her friend, that’s not ever the right response.  As a woman, I’m even more sad that at 4 years old girls are telling each other they are ugly-I know that kids will be kids and my daughters will have to learn to keep out the bad or disregard the “mean girls” that are always going to be there, but that doesn’t make it OK.

 In our world today how do we raise our children to be kind, but truthful; sensitive, but sensible; strong, but sympathetic?

 I think the answer is that we pray a lot, we punish the wrong, and we make sure our children know their value is not based on what others tell them they believe is true, but rather it is based on what God says is true.   He made each one of us fabulous.  She may not be as fabulous as someone else in the world’s eyes, but according to God, she is fabulous and she should always stand up for herself in that way (just not by hitting!) 

So here we go, into the world of outside influences and Natalie not being with me all day every day.  I’m excited about this new phase in parenting. I know that I’m going to grow as a person, and I’m not always going to have the right answer, or an answer at all, but I know that if I trust God, He will give me the words that my sweet Natalie needs to pick her up and keep her strong when this world is knocking her down.

Mr. Truffle's victory walk

I have to preface this story with the fact that I'm not a morning person.  When I say that, I don't mean I'm simply overly cranky in the morning, or just don't like getting up, I mean there is something wrong with my brain-I just can't function before 9am-we like to call it being "Morningly Challenged".  If you need someone to be on their A game at midnight, I'm you're girl, if you want someone to teach that 7am class, you better look for someone else b/c at 7am I can't even spell my own name!

So, knowing that I'm "morningly challenged" My husband takes Natalie to school most days, but Tuesdays are my turn.  Well, today is Tuesday, so that means I have to be up and functioning with both kiddos in the car and ready to go by 7:30am! Not a major feat for most of you, but quite a challenge for me.  Luckily my sweet Natalie is always up, dressed, and ready to go to school before our alarm even sounds b/c she just loves school (and is blessed to be a morning person like her daddy!).

I get up, put on whatever clothes I can find and go to wake up Annie (my 2 year old) she's like me-mornings are not her friend and she LOVES her sleep! I didn't even bother to get her dressed or shoes before we all shuffled out the door.

We were doing OK on time-we were going to make it just fine, but then we hit traffic, of course! I found a way around, but now we weren't OK on time, we were going to be late.  I HATE being late! Natalie hates being late too, so she's starting to worry b/c we've been in the car too long and she doesn't want to miss anything.

We pull into the parking lot with literally 3 minutes to spare and I rush to get the kids out of the car.  Annie is still not really awake, but Natalie is rushing and ready to go.  I punch in the numeric code to open the front gate of the school and notice that Mr. Truffles, the school's goat, is there to greet us.  That's not uncommon-he's a sweet little white goat with a fun beard that is so great with the kids. I guess now would be a good time to mention she goes to a school that doubles as a ranch, so the kids get to ride horses, pet, and feed all kinds of animals (including Mr. Truffles the resident goat).

We say good morning to Mr. Truffles and the normally subdued goat darts out the front gate that I am holding open for Natalie to walk through.  I immediately start yelling, "Mr. Truffles, come back here" He is now in a full on sprint running through the parking lot.  I too am now in a full on sprint (with my pajama clad bare footed 2 year old on my hip) trying to catch this crazy old man goat before he makes it to the road.  Natalie is also hot on my heels yelling, "Mr. Truffles, come back, I love you, don't go away". 

I catch him just in time for the entire 4 year old preschool class to come out and see what the commotion is all about.  I grab Mr. Truffles and walk him back to the gate (yes, with my 2 year old still on my hip).  It was a glorious moment-kids cheering and clapping at Mr. Truffles triumphant return-and I would have enjoyed the victory if I hadn't been totally embarrassed by the fact that every person who works at my daughter's school was now watching as I took this walk of shame to return the wayward goat I allowed to escape.  What's worse,  according to the school's director, Mr. Trufles has NEVER even attempted to escape for anyone in the 8 years they've had him at the school-EVER, never, Really, Mr. Truffles, on my drop off day, you get bold?!

I only get to drop my daughter off at school 2 days week, so I just had to make sure I made it count, yea, let's go with that story and all be glad that Mr. Truffles is now back in the loving arms of his 30  preschoolers :)

Back to the Crazy!!

So, I have been out of the game for a while-

Imagine that-having 2 small kids, moving to a new place for 6 months, and hosting a foreign exchange student kept me busy, but now I'm back and here to share with you my various mommy-ing adventures, triumphs, failures, and just plain crazy moments.  Maybe together we can all laugh, learn about ourselves and somehow make it through this crazy journey that is Motherhood!!

OK, now that I'm back, I should catch you up! We are currently living in a temporary apt in Tampa, Florida b/c the military has my husband working down here for a while, but not long enough for us to actually move for real-that means we left our house, friends, and dogs in Maryland, but only for a short time (about 6 months). 

Now, enough "business" here is a funny story from my summer.  A little background: My family hosted a 13 year old girl from Spain for 8 weeks this summer. She lived with us and we took her to do all kinds of cool stuff in our area. 

We got up and got ourselves ready to go swimming at a friend's house.  Laura (our foreign exchange student) had her swim bag and since she's 13, I figured, she's got this, I mean her parents did send her here all summer, surely she is capable of packing her own swim bag, right?! Well, that is partially true...We got there and I changed my little ones (2 and 4) into their suits, and got myself ready to have a cool dip. 

We get poolside and I look over at my friend's 11 year old son who looks like he's just seen a ghost-he's mortified, curious, elated, and ashamed all in the same look-those of you with teen/pre-teen boys know the look I'm talking about! I turn around to see what he's looking at behind me-it's Laura in the smallest string bikini I've ever seen in my life.

I'm no prude, but at that moment I'm tempted to get a band-aid from my purse b/c I seriously believe it would cover more than what she's wearing.  Given she's been at our house for all of 3 days, I'm not really sure what to do about this-afterall, my largest parenting dilemma to date is my four-year-old hitting her little sister-I haven't gotten to the "My Teenager is dressing like a stripper in public" chapter of my mommy-ing (and now I know I am going to absolutely HATE that stage!)

Anyway, I pull her aside and ask if her parents know she has this swimsuit.  She looks at me like I'm an alien, which is fine b/c that's about how I'm looking at her now too! She answers, "Yea, my dad made me buy a top for this suit since in the United States you don't go topless like I usually do in Spain"........I was speechless before, but SERIOUSLY?! What do you say to that?!

I know that the days when my own daughters will want THAT swimsuit will come all to soon, and Laura is a sweet girl from a different culture with no idea what she was doing to our innocent little American preteen boys!

After that compelling response, I just told her to get in the pool-admitting defeat, but as time went on we were able to talk about modesty, why it's important, and how us American's are just not open about sex, etc.  I learned a lot from Laura, not just about cultural differences, but about how I feel about modesty too.  Let's just say, I am hoping my girls will be the ones at the pool who agree to wear the turtleneck, but I'm guessing I won't be that lucky!

It's enough to make this momma crazy!

I won't be buying any Stamps Today!

Ok, so a few months ago I had to go to the Post Office, no big deal, just another stop on our long list of errands for the day....or so I thought.

I got my Natalie (my 3 year old) out of the car and Annie (my 1 year old) had fallen asleep, so I grabbed her carseat/carrier and off we went.  I was expertly balancing the heavy car seat with my sleeping little one, my stack of packages, my purse and Natalie's hand, only to get inside to find a line...a LONG line.

We wait patiently until there is only one person in front and all of a sudden Natalie THROWS UP all over the floor-I immediately scold her b/c she wasn't sick, she has this annoying habit of sucking on her fingers when she gets bored (kids do such gross things) and she gagged herself.  She starts crying and the rest of the people in the Post office just look at me like I'm a terrible mother, not the first time I've gotten those looks, so no harm there.  The worker behind the counter then brings out a mop and bucket and hands it to me-at first I didn't know what to do, but he made it clear HE wasn't going to clean it up, so I grabbed the mop and in the process I dropped all my packages (yes, into the puke on the floor), at this point I'm totally mortified, but I put down the car carrier and proceed to mop up my daughter's puke while she stands in the corner crying, my packages are soaking in puke, and the man behind the counter acts annoyed that it's taking me so long b/c there are people waiting to be served behind me.

After cleaning up the mess and mailing my soggy packages, we went back to the car and everything was just fine, just like that, I guess that's just the life of a mom-one minute you're standing in puke trying to make it all work and the next second your three year old is asking for you to sing a song as you drive to the next stop on the list.  Needless to say, I now schedule all packages to be picked up at my house, so I don't have to practice my janitorial skills just to buy some stamps!

Here we go...

So I guess I've finally given into the pressure to start a blog about my life....I know there are about a million+ people who write about their lives every day, but I thought this would be a fun way to create a tangible journey story for my life and my kids :)

So let's start with the basics, for those of you who don't know, I love God with all my heart and truly believe he is with me always! I'm the wife of an Air Force Captain and mother of 2 sweet little girls (Natalie is 3 and Annie is 1).  My family currently lives in Maryland, but as with most military families, it's temporary, or maybe not, who knows, it's always up to Uncle Sam-in the last 6 years of our marriage we've live in Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Maryland!

So this blog is just going to be about my life experiences.  I like to think that some pretty strange, funny, and weird things happen  in my life-I always hear the phrase: "I've never seen that before" or "I've never heard of that"or my favorite "That never happens"....but somehow it DOES happen to me and my family, but never in the "WOOOHOOO, We won the lottery" kinda way, more in the "Oh, that broke for no reason" kinda way :) We call it the Curse of the Irish, since my Dad's family is Irish, that came to be our silly catch phrase! This is not to say I will be complaining, but more jesting at the crazy things that happen and hopefully you'll be able to laugh with me or at me in some cases too :)