Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Let it Go.

     Today my little Rosebushes and I set out on an adventure.   We were headed to the library for a Pinkalicious Party.  If you're not familiar with Pinkalicious it's a series of children's books about a little girl who loves all things pink;  much like my Emma.  There was a promise of pink cotton candy at the end of the party so both kids were all in from the moment we left the house.  
     The real fun began as soon as we got in the car.  The Frozen Soundtrack was requested from the back seat passengers so I happily found it on the ipad and we were off.    If you read this blog often, or you know my kiddo, then you know that Emma is a true back seat singer.  She sings.  She dances.  She is super dramatic.  Now what you may not know is that she gets her car singing talent from me.  I am an absolute rock star in my vehicle worthy of winning Grammy or Tony Awards.  I have extreme stage fright though so I will NEVER EVER sing in public, NEVER.  Sadly most of the world will never know the depths of my talent.  Today we were doing a full scale mother/daughter performance in the car of "Let It Go".  Full voice, hand motions, awesome facial expressions,  the whole shebang.  We stopped at a red light just in time for the big finale so I could really get into it.  For those familiar with the song, "My power flurries through the air..."  The best part of the song!   Emma and I were AMAZING.  We gave our all. It was a magnificent performance.    I glanced back at Emma to congratulate her on a job well done and noticed that the car full of teenagers next to us were clapping and I'm not completely certain but one of them may have captured some of the performance on their cell phone.

Then I realized it...

I remembered that today was a beautiful day and we had been enjoying the cooler air with the sunroof open and the windows all the way down!  We had been at the light long enough for these four kids to enjoy a show that Idina Menzel herself would have been proud of.   I was horribly embarrassed but not Emma.  Emma stuck her hand out the window and waived.  She graciously took a small carseat restricted  bow and then the light turned green and our audience was gone.   As we continued on our way Emma said, "I really hope we made their day Mom."

I laughed told her that I am absolutely sure that they will never forget that awesome show.

The rest of our trip to the library was uneventful. When I asked Emma what her favorite part of the day was she said "When the people next to us in the car clapped for us.  We were stars!"  

My awful embarrassment was totally worth it because it made Emma's (and some random teenagers) day.

Friday, July 11, 2014

There's Gotta Be An Easier Way...

Today I was watching the news while my little Rosebushes played.   Typically neither little Rosebush pays attention to the news.  It's boring adult stuff.   On the news tonight they were talking about a man who used a Gopro camera strapped to his head to capture the drive to the hospital and birth of his son at the hospital's front door.  They showed the video and I guess Emma tuned into the laboring woman's screams of agony.  She started watching.  Her eyes were glued to the TV as the woman gets out of her car and starts screaming at her husband to come catch the baby.  Emma's eyes widened and she looked very concerned.  She turns to me and asked, "What the heck is wrong with that lady? "  I informed her that she was just having a baby.  Emma flew into a panic.  "MOM!  She's going to die! Who is going to help her?"  I explained to Emma that it was no big deal really, people have babies everyday.  Emma responds with "But Mom, who will sew her back together?"  It suddenly hit me as to why there was such confusion and panic on my daughter's face.  She has no clue how babies typically get out of the mommy's tummy.  Emma has seen me pregnant and come to the hospital when I had Jaxon.  We carefully prepared her for the event by telling her that that the doctor was going to cut mommy open and get baby Jax out.   We warned her to be very careful with mommy because the doctor had to staple her belly back together and it was very sore.   I guess it never occurred to me that this would stick with her forever and she would assume that all babies were born this way. I've never had a reason to explain it to her any further.
Emma continued to watch in horror as the poor woman on TV gave birth to her baby while standing in the curb in front of the hospital, sure to meet certain death when no one sewed her back up. Don't worry folks, the video was sensored!  That's when the questions began.  Emma was almost in tears worried that this poor mommy would die and who would take care of the poor baby.
Emma: "Mom,  what are they gonna do? Why aren't they helping her?  What if her guts fall out?  Did the baby just scratch his way out?"
As entertaining as the thought of letting my daughter believe that if you don't get to a hospital in time your unborn baby will simply scratch his way out through your abdomen sounded; I thought I should tell her the truth.   This is a little snippet of how the conversation went.

Me: "Emma,  babies don't typically get cut  out of their mommy's belly like you, Jax, and Maddie. That's only for special circumstances. "

Emma:  Super confused look on her face.   "Well, then how do they come out?"

Me: "Well most of the time they come out of your hootie-butt."

Emma: "WHAT? You mean they come out your ba-china? Like pee?"

Me:  "Ummmmm....sort of." Keep in mind that she's 5 and I don't want to terrify her.

Emma: "I don't think that's possible?  Are you sure?"

Me: "Yep, I'm absolutely positive.  Babies are born that way most of the time."

Emma: "That's gotta hurt your ba-china. "

Me:  Giggling at the last statement.   " Yeah I'm sure it doesn't feel good.   When you want to meet your new baby so bad some times you don't care how much it hurts. "

Emma:  "Seriously,  your ba-china?"  She shakes her head in disbelief and ponders for a second.  "How does the baby fit? "

Me: "Well Em it isn't easy.   God designed  mommy bodies to do amazing things and when it's time to have a baby your body knows how to get babies out. "

Emma: "God's pretty cool huh? That's awesome but I'm not sure your hootie was the best way out."

Me: "Me either  Emma."

Emma: "There has to be an easier way! I don't think I want to have kids then."

I laughed.  Hopefully this little conversation sticks with her for the next 20 years!




Thursday, July 3, 2014

Class Notes

The summer is in full swing in the Rosebush garden. My little Rosebuds are really blooming and keeping me super busy.   I spend most of my days finding ways to entertain them,  it's exhausting mentally and physically but mostly a lot of fun.  I mean who doesn't love a job where you can swim on a daily basis or watch Frozen for the 432,652nd time in your PJ'S, in the middle of the day.  I truly love spending time with my two little nut jobs but some days I feel like I have accomplished nothing.  Today, I grabbed the mail, like I do everyday and in it was my quarterly Bellarmine Magazine.   I enjoy reading about all the things happening at my Alma Mater.  I am a proud Bellarmine Knight.  It's when I get to the Class Notes section and read about all the great things my fellow alumni are accomplishing that I feel really unaccomplished, if that's even a word.  Things like so and so from the class of 2004 was recently promoted to CEO of total world domination, or  Suzy Q. Overachiever has just earned her third doctorate in rocket science; sometimes those really make me feel like I've wasted some serious time and am a giant underachiever.    I'm not trying to knock down or discount my fellow alums achievements in anyway.  I'm just saying the things I have accomplished suddenly seem pretty insignificant.   I thought if I were to write a "Class Note" for my day today it would list the following achievements:
1.  Became a master plumber by skillfully using tweezers to remove toliet paper that had been shoved into the bathroom sink drain.
2.  Promoted to head chef by finally preparing a meal that EVERYONE in the house ate and enjoyed.
3. Squashed a rebellion amongst the natives in order to maintain peace in the land.    Twice.
4.  Received the prestigious award "Best Mom Ever".
5.  Had previously mentioned award rescinded mere minutes after it was bestowed.

So it's clear that I won't ever be a CEO of a major corporation.  I won't make millions of dollars.  I probably won't single handedly change the world.  What I will do is attempt to raise kind,  loving, intelligent,  wonderful little humans that may someday run a major corporation or be a world leader.  I may not use the excessively expensive education that I received at my fantastic university but I wouldn't change what I do for the world.  I love my little Rosebushes and the title of MOM is all I really need.