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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes (Part 2)

Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We just returned late last night from a wonderful five days in Mobile with our families. There was a lot of eating, sleeping, and movie watching, and even I occasionally got to do those things.

A lot of things have happened in the past week. Big, BIG changes. Two things first: No, I am  not pregnant. Get that thought out of your head. Every news is not preggo news. And believe me, you will know when it is. I feel the hormones will seep straight from my fingers into my written word, and you'll know. Secondly, I'm not ready to talk about what happened. "What?!" you say? "Why did you even bring it up, then?"

Excellent question. Worry not, I WILL talk about it, and soon. But here's the deal - I find myself very suddenly a stay-at-home-mom. That's where I am, that's where I might be for a while, and that's what I'm talking about today.

Normally at this time, I would have dropped off ladybug an hour and a half ago at her lovely daycare, and I would be typing away at my desk computer, probably looking at underwriting. Yet today, I am sitting in my pink and polka dot bathrobe, and writing what I like to write, while V sits in her highchair close to me, dropping cheerios on the floor and laughing as Pug does her duty at quickly scarfing them up.

Life is good. And terrifying at the same time. Sure, I've had entire days with V by myself many times, but this new adventure seems different. We have a lot to handle today - unpacking her loot of Christmas presents, dropping by her daycare to gather her things and painfully tell them we won't be needing (or able to afford) their services anymore, and grocery shopping so I actually have something to feed her while she is in my care all day.

Not to mention we have to make sure we take care of the really important stuff - budgeting, bills and Obamacare. That's right - I got the pleasure of signing up for the much anticipated new private insurance on Monday to ensure that V and I had coverage as of Jan 1. Honestly, the most painful part of it was the price tag. If you need health insurance, you might as well check out the site. As much as the country protests it, (myself included), the healthcare reform is happening, and you might need to take advantage.

All of these things aside, I'm actually excited about the days to come. I know, I know - I've always been a  champion for the working mom - and believe me, I haven't given up. But sitting here next to my gorgeous girl, whose hair is more and more starting to resemble this Jim Carey character every morning -


I have to think to how much happier I'll be spending my days with my favorite play mate. So wish me luck, everyone! And any tips on how to keep my adult sanity while I go from conversations about the benefits of cash values in permanent life insurance to endless episodes of Curious George will be much appreciated. 

Happy Thursday, everyone! Have a wonderful day with whomever you are having to spend it with. 

Love,
Dominique 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A Clueless Mom's Ultimate Christmas Jam List

So. Many. Emotions.

For Car-jamming while gift shopping:

Christmas in Hollis - Run. D.M.C
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Last Christmas - Wham
The Chipmunk Song - Alvin and the Chipmunks
Jingle Bell Rock - Brenda Lee
Santa Claus is coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band
I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Jackson Five
What Christmas Means to Me - Stevie Wonder

For opening presents:

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayla Peevey
Do They Know it's Christmastime - Band Aid
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Here Comes Santa Claus - Gene Autry
Little St. Nick - Beach Boys
Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

For looking at Christmas Lights:

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
Happy Christmas - John Lennon
Christmas Song - Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
O Holy Night - Christina Aguilera
Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
Baby it's Cold Outside - Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer
Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters

For Karaoke:

All I want for Christmas is you - Mariah Carey
We need a little Christmas - Johnny Mathis
Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
Grandma Gor runover by a reindeer - Elmo and  Patsy
Please come home for Christmas - The Eagles
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Same Old Lange Syne - Dan Fogelberg

For putting up the tree:

The entire Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack - Vince Guaraldi Trio

And I'm sure there are many, many more, but that's my definitive list.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Dominique





Thursday, December 12, 2013

Wait a minute - There's a "Great Santa Claus Debate?"

Hello there. I know I wrote yesterday, but man has this been bugging me.

I grew up, and still reside in, a conservative state. Christian and country music rule a lot of the airwaves, and there are probably be more churches than Starbucks in any given city. We are Southern, we are Sacred, and we are traditional.

However, even growing up in a devout Catholic family, there was never a question of whether Santa Claus was comin' to our house. He was sure to be there, every Christmas Eve, leaving American Girl Dolls, socks and sweaters beneath our Christmas tree.

And never once did I associate Santa Claus with taking away the true meaning of Christmas. In fact, I loved and still love Christmas mass at my home church. Even though I am no longer an active Catholic, the dimmed lights, candles, and powerful hymns of joy still bring me to a state of awe and fill my heart with a feeling of love, and goodwill towards men.

Which is why it's so disturbing to me to see that so many parents are pulling away from the secular side of the holidays, particularly the practice of Santa Claus. Maybe it's because I did grow up learning of the saints, but didn't St. Nick first originate with Saint Nicholas, a bishop, devout christian, and giver of gifts? In fact,  many cultures around the world celebrate Santa on his feast day - December 6th, in honor of his memory and devotion to God.

Santa isn't about taking the focus away from the birth of Jesus. Santa is magic - a tangible figure that promotes moral behavior, and the practice of bestowing tokens of love for those around us. What could possibly be so wrong about that? Doesn't the golden rule teach us that we should "Do unto others as we would have them do unto us?"

In my mind, anything or person who can help a child follow the path of ethical decisions is a welcome thing.

Now I know what some of you are thinking - shouldn't we be teaching our children that Jesus is the best example of how live a good life? In short, yes. But children are children, and many of them aren't capable of understand the concepts of sacrifice.

And so we have Santa. With his jolly attitude, and historically christian background, to show them that Christmas is a time of happiness and joy, and helping others to feel the same.

So as I was taught, I will teach my children about the birth of the Savior, as well as the magic of Santa Claus. Hey, I may even change my lazy position of the elf on the shelf and participate in that. Because I want Christmas to be as magical as possible for my daughter, just as it is for me to do this day.

Have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy Thursday!

Love,
Dominique


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Lead by example...and then hide while you eat all of the candy.

As I sit here at 7:51am eating a slice of chocolate pie for breakfast, I have to wonder how I'm ever going to teach my child to not follow in a lot of my horrible examples.

The old saying, "Do as I say, not as I do." is basically just an older version of "Because I said so." Every child in the world knows that those four words hold more power but less substance than any other words uttered by parents around the world.

But we have to use them, and use them often. Knowing what is the right thing to do, and following it yourself are two different things. I know I shouldn't be eating this pie for breakfast, but I'm adult who makes my own choices, and it was in the break room. And it looked amazing. And I didn't bring anything else to eat.

So I justify it to myself, but if Violet ever wants to eat pie for breakfast, I would probably respond with a steadfast "I don't think so," and fix her something much healthier whether she likes it or not.

The fact is that parents are humans too. No matter how perfect we are in the eyes of our children, we are flawed, and we are weak, and we are going to make silly little mistakes and have to answer to our all-seeing children.

I, for one, am terrified of this. Eating sweets uncontrollably is only one of my indiscretions. I stay up too late sometimes. I put things off till the last minute. I won't shower for entire days on the weekends. I swear like a sailor when I'm truly angry or I am playing the wii (which, often, the two coincide), I eat Kraft macaroni and cheese for dinner more often than I should admit, and a vegetable rarely touches my lips.

But you know, not allowing your kids their every whim like we allow ourselves only makes it more special when we will allow it. I remember the feelings of joy I would get around the holidays when my mother would let me eat left over pie for breakfast, and we would sit at the table together, indulging in our unhealthy meal and I felt as if we were sharing a secret.

As much as I am my father's daughter, my sweet tooth is aaaalll my mom. It's one of the many things we've always had in common, and she's one of the few people who can truly understand my weakness for them. Particularly chocolate. Oh, how we love us some chocolate.

So those moments will always be precious to me because they were few and far between. I realize that the older my sweet V gets, the more I am going to have sacrifice a lot of my bad habits in order to teach her the right way to behave. But I can't promise I won't ever let her eat pie for breakfast, especially if it's just the two of us. I want her to know that silly little indulgences are ok every once in a while, and that mommy isn't perfect.

Well this chocolate confection isn't going to eat itself, so I better get back to it. Happy Wednesday!

Love,
Dominique

Busted!


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Letters to Santa...Clueless Mom Style

Dear Santa Claus,

How's it going? I bet you're pretty busy this time of year, so I appreciate the time you're taking reading this for me. Your workshop's pretty advanced, right? I assume so, since wooden rocking horses and rubber balls have been replaced by Ipads and smartphones under most children's trees these days.

Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me with a few things this year. See, I've got a 9 month old little girl, and she is the light of my life, but Santa, boy do I ever need some help. I'm including a list of things that you could consider bringing me this year, if you deem me as being a good girl. I've tried, Santa. I really have. I have only said excessive swear words inside my head, and I've only threatened to take pug to the glue factory once or twice. And I tried to add that it was only for a tour, as I felt bad about threatening it in the first place.

So, without further ado, here is my Christmas list:

1) An invisible "safety bubble" to put around my kid. She's not crawling yet, but she sure is mobile. Nothing will make you realize what a death trap your house is like part of your heart reaching for every bit of glass on the floor and amazingly quickly making her way towards the long basement stairs. I'm afraid if I baby proof the house instead of her, I'll be walking on bubble wrap well into her teenage years.

2) A baby chef. I don't care what I eat, Santa. I'm perfectly content with mac and cheese and Totinos pizzas for the rest of my years, but I want my baby to eat well. However, this is an issue as I don't know how to cook anything. Table foods are the scariest part of her development right now.

3)A personal speech coach. So far, the only words sweet V is saying these days are "mama," dada," and her personal favorite, "Uh oh." I still have no idea how to teach my kid how to talk. I also have a very real fear that she will assume that pug's voice is how normal people talk, seeing as Chris and I have entire conversations with our dog. I'm also concerned she'll start calling me "Boo."

4) A maid. For obvious reasons. Particularly one who loves washing bottles and cleaning bathrooms. And sweeping up pug tumbleweeds of fur. I'll still do all of the laundry. I have a fondness for folding onesies.

5) Something, ANYTHING, with buttons, that resembles the TV remote or my cell phone that is ok to get slobbered on, bitten, and thrown around. Because sweet girl seems to want nothing else.

6) Mary Poppins. I need a break every now and then, and I would love to catch a movie. I hear the new Hunger Games is pretty good.

7)A teleporter. I know, this one is a bit much, but Santa - the four hour drive to Mobile is B-O-R-I-N-G. And I miss my family. I would be willing to forgo Mary Poppins for this one, as my sweet mom and mother in law would be more than happy to let us catch the Hunger Games while they spend time with their granddaughter.

8)An endless formula fountain. Even though V will only be on formula for a little while longer, I could donate it someone else in need whenever we are finished with it. We use Simply Right Sensitive from Sam's Club. In case you were wondering.

9)A diaper genie that magically dispenses CLEAN diapers. Imagine the possibilities! Go green, Santa. Pop one dirty one in, and out comes a clean one. Yes, I know I could just use cloth diapers. But if you're going to suggest that, then I'm going to need the maid to help out more with laundry.

10) Just Dance 2014. For the Wii. I love to dance.

Gee, thanks Santa! You're the best. I realize that not all of these are possible, so if I had to choose, I would say priorities are Teleporter, safety bubble, baby chef and Just Dance 2014. I promise I'll be extra good for the next few weeks. Happy Tuesday!

Love,
Dominique