My Mommyology

Learning from Motherhood.

May 13, 2012
by mymommyology
4 Comments

My Mommyology’s Mother’s Day 2012

As it is Mother’s Day, I will tell you about the fairly decent Mother’s Day I’ve had thus far.

I thought I’d get to sleep in as I normally do on Mother’s Day, but I didn’t.  The girls were climbing over and on top of me for quite a bit when they got up.  My husband must have slept late with the NBA Lakers-Nuggets Game 7 show on our DV-R, so he didn’t get up until after we did, to take them out and get them breakfast.  But he did prepare my breakfast of toast bread and cheese.

My Mommyology Massage Envy

The flyer at the desk said, "A Relaxed Mom Looks Good." I agree!

After Mass we got a call saying that a slot opened up at the Massage Envy  where my husband had me wait-listed for this afternoon.  The original plan was to have a home service massage (how that would have been relaxing for me with the girls banging on the door, I don’t know…), however a few days ago my husband said that the business owner called him and said that she was closing shop, thereby cancelling all her appointments this weekend.

In the end it worked out well:  I helped him get lunch into the kids and they hung out at the Pet Store and at Target while I got some me-time.  I’d have to say my therapist Lisa was GREAT!  Then the Nail Salon across the street was open and could accommodate me for a much needed manicure-pedicure session, and without hesitation I jumped at the chance.  To cap off the afternoon, I got some frozen yogurt for the girls and myself at Moonberries.  Oh and yes, they got me flowers!  A yellow bouquet, as yellow is currently Sam’s favorite color.  Kids giving you flowers are the sweetest thing, wouldn’t you say?

The girls seem to be quite cooperative today too.  Sam was more behaved than usual at Church today and sat down for a good portion of the homily, and up until the writing of this post, has not had a meltdown of any sort.  Jamie — well… 🙂  Jamie saved her explosive poop for her dad while I was getting all my pampering treatments, and thereby saved me one dirty diaper to change.  Atta girl! 😉  Now the house is quiet as Sam is off playing with her dad and doing her Kumon with him, and Jamie is fast asleep for a late afternoon nap.

I am hoping for an evening of uninterrupted peaceful sleep to cap off such a restful day, but I may be pushing my luck (as would have been a facial treatment). 🙂  I’ve been thinking back to the last time that I’d had a truly restful night’s sleep, and it was before I became a mother.  I realize now that sleep and motherhood aren’t quite complimentary, and you just take what you can get when you can get it (like a 50-minute nap during a massage!).  So this is why moms enjoy pampering sessions so much! 😉

I used to think that Mother’s Day was a day when Mom would spend all day relaxing with her kids and family, but now I feel that there is some kind of irony in that sentence.  How can mom, whose natural tendency is to take care of the family, relax when everyone that she attends to is around?  In my case, while I undoubtedly love my girls to bits and pieces — when we’re together it becomes mostly about them than about me or anyone else.  And so, my husband has now concluded that Mother’s Day in our family is really a Daddy-Daughter day, because it’s Mom’s Day (Afternoon) Off.   If it means 120 minutes of pamper time to re-charge for the next few months of 24-7 constant care, then it’s well worth it, wouldn’t you say?

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms around the World!  I hope you get to spend your special day just the way you want to, no matter how simple it may be.  And if anything else, I hope that you get a decent night’s sleep! 🙂

May 11, 2012
by mymommyology
1 Comment

5 Fun Activities to Build Your Toddler’s Fine Motor Skills

Happy Friday!

For this week’s guest post on Green Eggs and Moms, we revisited an original that I did on Sam’s fine motor skill development.  I mentioned previously that this was a skill that I wanted to put more focus on as she got older, and was looking for activities and things we could do at home and out of school that would build it further.

My Mommyology Fine Motor Skills

At her favorite restaurant, the waiters give Sam pizza dough to mold and play with.

Check out the five activities that Sam does on a regular basis at home and in school.  I feel that the most important thing is that she (and I) have fun doing it.  It takes out the pressure to learn and turns it into something that she enjoys doing over and over again.

Can you think of more that you’d like to add or suggest?  I’d love to hear them and try them out ourselves!


May 7, 2012
by mymommyology
4 Comments

The Piedmont Farm Tour Experience

There’s always a first time for everything even for me — and that includes a Farm Tour!

We ended our hectic April by participating in the 17th annual Piedmont Farm Tour of North Carolina.  Apparently there are about 40 farms in our area and every year the Farm Stewardship Association sets aside a weekend where people can load up a car full of folks and visit as many farms as their afternoons will allow them.  Every carload costs $25 for the entire weekend, and the farms offer various attractions from feeding animals, sheep-shearing, to organic fruits and vegetables, and to cows and cheese.

In our van-load of adults and children, we were only able to go to two farms last Sunday afternoon.  We picked Spence’s Educational Farm and the Chapel Hill Creamery, the next closest farm in the area (We only had 4 hours so we had to plan ahead).

We’ve heard a lot of good things about Spence’s Farm and how it is very child-friendly.  Sam got to feed the chickens and touch the horses.  There were also a lot of hand washing stations set up with antibacterial soap mixed into one bin, and the volunteers on the farm were very encouraging about the kids washing their hands frequently.  Jamie was totally enamored with all the live animals and did not want to nurse or nap.  It was as if all the pictures in her book had come to life and she didn’t want to miss any part of it!

My Mommyology Spence's Farm Tour

The girls up close and personal with the animals.

The fee per car also came with one free pony-ride for each child.  If only for that, I’d say the farm tour was worth it because Sam was beyond excited about riding a pony for the first time.  She wore the helmet, and sat still in the saddle while the girl led the horse around the ring.  My husband followed in close proximity to take pictures and also as a precautionary measure in case she wiggled and slipped off.  It wasn’t necessary though, because Sam held her own on that pony!

My Mommyology Pony Ride

My Little Big Girl on her first ever real pony ride!

Our second farm was the Chapel Hill Creamery, known for producing cheeses and sausages.  The first thing that they make you do when you register is to sanitize your feet.  All their fences are electrically wired to keep a good distance from the cows.  Even during the tour when they explained the operations of their business, everything felt very thought through and very sanitary.  They had one comfort room open to the public and it was surprisingly very clean too!  I learned later on that the farm is run by 10 women (and one man).  Everything made a little bit more sense after that. 😉

Even their operations are very pointed.  They have only one kind of cow on their farm — the Jersey cows, whom they milk 2x a day.  Each cow can produce at least 14 gallons of milk, and all of that is used to make cheese.  That’s a whole lotta cheese wouldn’t you say?!  Apparently they only keep the females on the farm, and all the males are herded off onto a different farm for meat.  Now that’s what you call girl power!

The highlight of the Creamery for Sam was a horse-drawn carriage hayride on the way in, and the tractor ride back out.   She did enjoy seeing the baby calves resting outside the milking parlor and reading about how they make cheese.  Other than that, all the information must have flown above her head.  I on the other hand, took one look at the milking parlor and thought to myself, “It’s one huge breast pumping facility!”

My Mommyology Chapel Hill Creamery

Our horse-drawn hay ride approaches

It was an incredibly hot day to be out on the farms and so on the way home we stopped for ice cream.  The girls were completely exhausted though but they both had a good time.  I’m glad we took the opportunity to go on a farm tour in the first place.  I realized that I’d never really ever been on an actual working farm (ever!) so it was a good experience for me too.  There’s always something to be learned from chicken and cows after all.

I’ve said it before with the Marbles Museum and the Touch-a-Truck event:  I love how interactive and hands-on the learning is nowadays.  For the children most especially, these are experiences they can commit to memory and speak about when they learn about it in school (If at all).  Some of the  the information one gets from educational tours such as these may not be found in books.  And sometimes those are the more crucial bits of information that will help you in life.

It’s a constant reminder for me to be open to these activities and to expose the girls to them when I can.  After all what have we got to lose? 🙂

May 4, 2012
by mymommyology
2 Comments

6 Ways To Build Harmonious Sibling Relationships Amongst Toddlers

It is the first Friday of May! 

Check out the guest post at Green Eggs and Moms on Sibling Relationships.  But first, here’s a little “history” behind the post.

My Mommyology

The girls "sharing" and taking turns at the Piano.

I love it when siblings are the best of friends (Ahem!  A special shout out to my own who are reading this right now! 😉 ).  I know of a few people who have this relationship with one or two of their very own siblings and I find it absolutely priceless.  It is always a treat to see them interact.

I’ve often wondered how that came to be, particularly now that I have two girls of my own that are close in age.  I wish there was a handbook or a set of instructions I could just read and follow!  Of course as parents, we know that there is no such thing!  So we try — I try and experiment and dance on my head — at the very least I hope that what I am doing for the girls and with them will make them love each other unconditionally and have each others’ backs for life.

So far, I’ve come up with a short list of what’s worked for us over the last thirteen months.  I am happy to share them with you in the hopes that you can use and adjust them according to your children’s sibling (or cousin or close friends) dynamics to make it best work for you.

Feel free to leave your thoughts, comments and insights on the matter.  I’d love to learn from your experiences too!

Click here to read more.

May 2, 2012
by mymommyology
5 Comments

The Merry Month of May

It is May already, I can’t believe it.  Where did all the time go?!  It was a busy busy first quarter, with all the traveling,  Jamie’s 1st birthday celebration, a whole slew of visitors and weekends suddenly filled with activities.

And the fun continues!  The warm weather, longer days and summer heat are upon us, which can only mean more time for more activities and more travel for us.  Hopefully in the coming days I will be able to update this blog more frequently as well (as I am so so so behind on the things I want to write about!).

I’d have to tell you though the girls have been requiring a lot of my attention lately too, more than I realized.

Sam has completely dropped her afternoon nap and that means no more afternoon downtime for me.  We get to spend a little more quality time together while Jamie is asleep, or we use the time to finish up her Kumon activities undisturbed.  It sometimes proves to be a challenge, because I used to use their afternoon quiet time to finish up chores or catch up on my TV shows.  I’m still trying to figure out a good balance.

My Mommyology Toddling

Walking Walking...

Jamie and I get most of our alone time when Sam is at school in the mornings or at night, after Sam has passed out in complete exhaustion.  I believe she is teething as there seem to be four of them that want to come out at once.  Hence, she is also harder to get to sleep.

Jamie has also recently started her Gymboree sessions and we go once a week.  I feel it’s the opportune time to get her into the Play & Learn classes, and it gives us another venue to practice her toddling.  Lately she’s been wanting to walk around a lot, but still not without support.  It is very back-breaking, I can tell you that. 🙂

Yesterday she let go of the table and took one step towards me.  I thought that was it, but I guess she realized what she had done and has not tried it again since.  My hope is that by the time May is over, she will be walking around confidently on her own.  I know that will bring yet another round of new challenges, but that is a milestone that I just cannot wait to reach.

Yesterday I braved the playground with the two girls, and I realized that with Sam running all over the place and Jamie wanting to toddle and not be carried (all over the place), I wished I had Elastic Man’s powers.  I needed to stretch myself in two directions.  It took a few creative suggestions but somehow we managed to last a good 45 minutes.

So if you can’t already tell, by the time I get them both in bed at night, I am also completely spent!  Not to mention, the apartment is left a little bit messier than usual.  Maybe soon we will get past this new adjustment phase, things will normalize and I will find the much needed daily downtime for me.

Which is why it has occurred to me — in a few days it will be Mother’s Day. 🙂  To all the moms out there, have you been thinking about the kind of Mother’s Day you want this year?  I suggest we start a public wishlist so that our husbands, children and loved ones can give us exactly the kind of Mother’s Day we want.  Yes?   Mine are simple:  to sleep in, to be free of diaper-changes, and to get a good relaxing, stress-free massage.  (A facial and a pedicure would be nice too, but that may be pushing my luck! 😉 )

And now, a bit of good news:  My Mommyology has been chosen as Green Eggs and Mom’s Blog of the Month!  Yay!  That means that every Friday this May, Anne (of GE&M) will be featuring a guest post from yours truly.  This is a first for me and I’m quite nervous and excited to try it out.  We’ve been working on a few posts, and I hope you’ll like them. 🙂

Yes, a lot of exciting new things in store for May – and beyond.

That’s all for now!  Toodles!

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