Mommin' It Up!

November 20, 2013November 20, 2013

Proof that Jenny is more influential than Miley.

As you may have heard, the Oxford Dictionary added “selfie” to their list of ~~real, actual~~ words this week. Evidently that was the best that 2013 had to offer.

(Dear History Book Writers of the Future,
We’re sorry.
Sincerely,
Everyone Alive in 2013)

According to Time magazine, here’s the justification:

“We don’t enter that many words from pop culture,” says executive editor Steve Kleinedler. “When we do they are ones that tend to be very widespread, very ubiquitous, used without further explanation.” And selfie, he says, is an example of a word that has become organically popular in a short period of time. “It’s a good word that shows the pulse of the nation,” he says.

The pulse of the nation. It is no freaking wonder the whole country is going to pot.

“Selfie” narrowly beat out “twerking,” a word made well-known by the unfortunate performance that we can’t un-see by Miley Cyrus at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, for word of the year.

Miley might be famous for twerking, but we all know who is famous for selfies.

There are more where that came from. So many, many, many more.

Jenny’s facebook wall pretty much exploded when news of the new official word broke. Who would have thought Jenny was so influential?!? We will definitely have to add this accomplishment to our media kit – I mean, not many bloggers can say that their face single-handedly got a word into the dictionary. This goes to show that Jenny is not only more influential than Miley, but she’s also more influential than me, because not long ago I proposed that “selfie” be among several other incredibly annoying words that should be abolished.

Jenny won this round.

Jenny loves taking pictures of herself not because she’s vain, but because she thinks she looks so damn good all the time. She just can’t resist. She loves her face that. much.

Wait, maybe it is because she’s vain.

Anyway, at her house, the apples aren’t falling far from the tree. Just today she caught Jonah in the act of admiring his reflection. The next thing you know, he’ll be starting his own blog carnival.

#doyourhair 11/20/13 #nofilter #beauty #hair #hairblogger #todayshair #toddlerstyle #vanity #toocute today's look is a combination of Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo, applesauce, and bedhead. Styling tool by @fisherprice. What does YOUR hair look like today? — #doyourhair 11/20/13 #nofilter #beauty #hair #hairblogger #todayshair #toddlerstyle #vanity #toocute today’s look is a combination of Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo, applesauce, and bedhead. Styling tool by @fisherprice. What does YOUR hair look like today?

At least it’s not a selfie of him twerking.

October 9, 2013

Be Glad I’m Not Your Mom: Sick Toddler Edition

sick jonah — Yes, this IS as fun as it looks!

So, Jonah is sick with a bad cold. It is just that, a bad cold. Low fever, bad cough, lots of snot, nothing a doctor can do anything about. And what else does he have that a doctor can’t fix?

A mother who is super, super OVER IT. This is day 5, people. DAY FIVE. At the outset I can be super-cuddly-let-me-soothe-you-my-poor-baby Mom, but by now I’m like suck-it-up-and-quit-your-whining-a-cold-is-no-excuse-for-tyranny Mom. OH MY GOSH!!!!

Jonah is my kid who gets, pardon my French, SUPER-PISSED when he’s sick. My usually cheerful boy wakes up mad at the world and screams about anything and everything for the first hour or two of his day. Especially if one of the other two kids opens their mouths or approaches him. So this morning I’m like, at the end of my rope on DAY FIVE, yelling at the other kids to QUIT TALKING, because it makes Jonah mad. Yes, that’s right. The Snot King demands ABSOLUTE SILENCE. And he would also prefer that you don’t look at him. Avert. Your. Eyes.

Part of the reason my fuse is so short is because when something hangs on this long, worry sets in. Every coughing fit causes me great anxiety. Last night his temperature went up half a degree and I was mentally on my way to the emergency room. I try to push the panic aside as I forge ahead slathering Vicks (silver lining: I LOVE THE SMELL OF VICKS!) all over his chest, which makes him scream, which makes me irritable and shortens that ever-shrinking bit of nerve I’ve got left. Every time I take his temp or – God-forbid – give him medicine, I have to wrestle him into submission. It. Is. Exhausting.

His cough has woken him up, kept him up, and shortened his much-needed naps, which does nothing for either of our moods. And all of it, the lack of rest, the worry, the irritation, has made me pretty much non-functional in other areas. My house is a wreck, I can barely write a coherent thought, and it takes a huge amount of effort to do the dishes or make a peanut butter sandwich or OH MY WORD, help the big kids with HOMEWORK. As a matter of fact, my head about explodes when the older two walk in from school. Meeting the demands of Angry Toddler while trying to meet the needs of the other kids almost undid me last night. My ability to multi-task is NIL at this point.

In addition, Jonah has missed his toddler speech class (you know, the one he hates but HAS to get used to before preschool??) for two weeks in a row because he also had a weird one-day fever last Tuesday, which is his class day. So that causes me stress as well. If he is not better for his regular speech therapy session tomorrow, you will find me standing on the edge of a bridge.

I know this is just a cold. I know it is not a big deal. I know it could be much worse. I ALSO KNOW I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE GONE. I know I have lost most of a week. I know I miss my cheerful boy. I know it is going to be very difficult for me to wean him back off of TV. I know I am really, really, glad I bought a 2 Liter of Mountain Dew on my escapade to find homeopathic cough medicine last night. I know this too shall pass.

I also know you should be very glad I’m not YOUR mom.

September 26, 2013September 25, 2013

Big boy steps

Yesterday Bobby and I made a big decision for Jonah. We decided that in January, shortly after he turns 3, he will go to preschool. It’s a decision that I am all kinds of mixed up about. He is currently receiving developmental services through our county’s arm of Help Me Grow; however, they kick you out of that when you turn three. And they start the transition process to the local schools fairly early so everyone has plenty of time to get ready for the next step.

So, about three weeks ago, Jonah was evaluated by a team of professionals from our local school district, and yesterday we got their results. They agreed with us that he is speech-language delayed and that he qualifies for services. He could either get services once a week at home one-on-one or go into a classroom where he’d be taught by and Intervention Specialist and receive speech once a week from a Speech Language Pathologist. Because we are able to get him into the same school and the same classroom with the same teachers that Sophie had, we opted for school. Starting in January, just three weeks after he turns three, my baby will be going to preschool 4 mornings a week!

I really cannot believe it. Part of me feels very nervous about sending him out the door 4 days a week at such a young age. Honestly, if I would not have been able to get him in that classroom, I might have opted for the home intervention. But I LOVED Sophie’s teachers and I feel genuinely happy that Jonah will get to be with them. And also? Jonah needs some FRIENDS. Not many of my friends kept having babies when I did, and Jonah has not had a ton of opportunity to interact with peers. He really, really, really needs that social experience and I think it’s going to do wonders for his speech.

Now, I have 3 months to get him to be cooperative in a classroom setting. Yikes! That is what I’m most worried about. He has class for one hour at Help Me Grow, and he does not like to go with the flow. He likes to do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. But, he’s only been in the classroom setting 4 times so far, and one hour a week makes it hard for him to adjust. Twelve hours a week of preschool I think he’ll catch on to much more quickly. I’m praying fer-vent-ly that he does!!

In addition to all this, he’s still seeing his private speech therapist once a week and he’s doing really well with her. And, he’s doing great at home. He’s really starting to let the 3-and-4-word phrases slip out a lot now. He has made some great progress, but he still has a long way to go.

Thus, preschool!

I’m usually the mom who’s thrilled to kick her kids out the door to school, but I think this is going to be hard on me. I’m not ready to let my baby go out that door yet! I think I’ll be crying for a few weeks and nervous for a few more.

In the mean time, I’m going to enjoy the moments I still have with him at home, and keep working with him on his speech. I sure am proud of my sweet little guy!