Daily Dose of Mama: teething

Monday, July 13, 2009

Time for Bed

Right now it is late and it's Appa's turn to take painful-teething Little Bug duty. Little Bug woke up about an hour ago in a lot of pain. I tried to rock him for a while, but he wasn't having any of me tonight.

Usually this makes me feel slightly bad and like a bit of a failure as a mother (cue all the repressed feelings of motherhood perfection drilled into me since childhood and reinforced by infertility and the invasive adoption homestudy). I always talk myself off that little ledge and think about all the times that Little Bug does prefer me.

But tonight Little Bug is still crying and in pain and it is late and Appa's turn and, quite frankly, I am a bit too tired to care.

One member of my family is sleeping tonight....and the schedule says it's me. Time for bed.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ignore the Wails

The last week and a half of evenings have SUCKED at my house. Little Bug has always been a pretty laid back sleeper. Oh, we had our moments, especially when he first came home from Korea, but things have been pretty easy-peasy for the majority of our first 10 months together....

Apparently I must have uttered that delightful rhyme at some point in the past month and offended the Parenthood Gods because what is happening at my house each night is a straight-up TRAGEDY.

Scene: Little Bug's cozy and comforting nursery. 7:30 pm.
Off-stage: Little Bug and parents go through normal, well-planned and executed, soothing evening bedtime routine.

Everyday Mama: Good night, Little Bug.
Little Bug: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Scene: ~~Hell~~ Little Bug's cozy and comforting nursery. 1:30 am.
Everyday Mama: Please go to sleep, Little Bug. Please!
Little Bug: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Scene: ~~Hell, true "If I was a slightly less balanced person I might beat my child, hell~~ Little Bug's cozy and comforting nursery. 4:30 am.
Everyday Mama (crying): Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Little Bug: WAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (snooze)

Scene: Appa and Everyday Mama's bedroom. 6:30 am.
Alarm Clock: RIIIINNNNGGG, time to get ready for work.

Repeat every night for two weeks straight alternating between an unlucky Everyday Mama and an unlucky Appa.

The End.

No really, PLEASE let it end.....

Everyday Mama

I'm a 32-year-old everyday mama. My husband (Appa) and I adopted our first son Little Bug (at 10 months old) from Korea in September 2008. We adopted our second son, Little Bro, from Korea in April 2011 at age 21 months. We adopted our third son,Little Moon, at age 3 in November 2013. I've wanted to be a mama for a long time, but I'm still trying to figure out the reality of it all and take time to enjoy the delicate beauty of the highs and the lows.

I worked full time as an editor, which I loved; but I made the bittersweet decision to stay home with my children after Little Bro came home. I'm now clumsily finding my footing in a new world of housekeeping, menu planning, budgeting, cooking, cleaning, and rainy-day activities, as well as navigating the world of IEPs, parent advocacy, and special needs education (spoiler: I suck at house work). My husband is hot and smart and quiet and loyal, and I think (know) my sons are the cutest, happiest little boys in the world.

I also struggle at times with mild depression, anxiety, post-adoption depression, my husband's constant absence due to his stressful and super time-consuming job, the challenges of helping my older son with his sometimes exhausting special needs, and our transition to a family of three little boys with just 19 and 14 months between them. I worry way too much about what people think of me, hate talking on the phone, and I am trying to trust myself more.

Oh yeah, I'm unable to give birth to children; love books, writing, traveling, and the color brown; hate to clean, cook, craft, or do laundry; allergic to pretty much everything but food (thank God); and think camping in anything but a tent is lame.

I needed somewhere to drop my daily mama thoughts and musings on toddler poop to avoid massive clutter and ramblings on our private family blog. Writing it down on paper is so '90s.

This is my everyday "blournal" as I navigate through my life as a first-time (or is it third-time now?) mama and long-time me. So....hi.

You can contact me at daily.dose.of.mama (at) gmail.com.

THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG IS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED.

As an editor, I deal with people on a regular basis who think images or content on the internet (whether it does or does not have a copyright designation) are "fair use." Your lesson for the day is that anything someone writes or creates that is published on the internet is copyright protected, whether he or she spells it out or not. Although I doubt anyone wants to steal my riveting posts on toddler poop, it doesn't hurt to educate the world about the wonderful magic of online copyright law.