I have made a lot of decisions as a mother just to make life easier on us as a family. As long as everyone’s safety is taken care of, pretty much anything else is flexible. Especially now that I’m expecting again, things have taken an even greater turn for the laid-back, usually in favor of a little more rest or sleep. I know I can’t be alone in this, so let me tell you about it.
Here’s a blurry picture of me in my post-work laziness, and Meredith copying me. Not pictured is her lack of pants or diaper. Can’t keep clothes on that girl.
>Meredith doesn’t like bedtime and it’s hard to get her to wind down, so for awhile now we’ve been taking her on a drive almost every night to get her to fall asleep.
>She still sleeps in bed with us, too. It’s been good, but I’m ready to move her out at least to make room for a new baby. But I really don’t know if it’s going to work. We had grand plans to transition her a couple weeks ago but it keeps not happening. We might just keep going with the family bed out of laziness.
>She still nurses a lot too. There’s not much there, but she’s in a very needy stage and although a break sounds nice and I don’t mind the idea of weaning, I’m not going to force it. Tandem nursing a toddler and a newborn sounds overwhelming but it might just end up happening.
>We don’t do baths very often. For myself I try to shower every other day but baths are hit or miss with Meredith (whether she’ll scream through it or play happily) so it’s more like I force it on her whenever her hair gets nasty enough and otherwise it’s spot cleaning only. I also usually just throw her in the shower with me.
>When she first wakes up in the morning – on a work day while I’m getting ready or on a weekend when I’m trying to grasp a few more minutes of sleep – she immediately grabs my phone and I don’t even care how long she plays with it. Mostly she just likes to look through the peeshurs (pictures).
>Speaking of screen time, we don’t limit it right now but that’s probably because she doesn’t have much interest in it. There is one show on Disney called Jessie that she really likes (for a few minutes anyway) but apart from that she’s not into it. I wish she would be.
>There is no way I was giving up caffeine during this pregnancy. Coffee was immediately disgusting to me though (still sad about it) so I’ve been taking caffeine pills. Kinda pathetic.
>I am also not super reliable about taking my vitamins. I’m trying though, really I am.
>Let’s not even talk about food and the kinds of dinners we have around here right now. Or breakfasts. I figure at least Meredith eats pretty well at school.
You guys, there is more. But I’m out of time. Please tell me: what are your parenthood confessions? Because I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to relate.
From Nora:
Let’s see… I’ll give you my bonus mom confessions :)
The girls are randomly picky about what they eat so once I find a meal they like I stick with it. I don’t care if they eat it 3x in one week because they are eating! It’s a miracle.
We didn’t do baths/showers everyday while the girls were here; they didn’t smell and were happy (as we were since it’s SUCH AN ORDEAL).
I do give the little one a 5 minute time limit to put on her jammies after bath (she’s almost 5 so she can do it herself) otherwise she sleeps in her pull-up. Her decision at that point. (And yup, I realize some people will think it is mean!)
Disney channel is a staple on rainy days or when I’ve run out of ideas for fun/educational/imaginative play things. What is it about the show Jessie? The girls LOVE it
I was good about the girls gummy vitamins for a week and then forgot I had them for them…
From Melanie:
Hmm…
…I don’t wash sippy cups every time, just stick them in the fridge empty till the next meal
…right now, at any given time, we might have a 2-yr old and/or a 3-mo old in our bed
…the baby will usually wear the same onesie till it has poop or write-up on it
…as we speak, the 2-yr old is watching Diego so I can have a little break
…there is most definitely dust on many surfaces here
I could go on, but I will stop! This made me laugh!
From kapachino:
Oh yes the sippy cup thing! We totally do that too.
From Sara:
This reminded me: I did not bathe Riley in the bathtub until she was 4 months old. Until then she was sponge bathed… and it was every 2-3 days or when she had a blow up/sweat a lot/etc.
From Melanie:
Not write-up, spit-up. Auto correct annoys me.
From Sarah:
Oh the first trimester is so exhausting! I think all these solutions are perfectly reasonable. My son is obsessed with a show called Mighty Machines and I let him watch it every morning while I get ready for work. He is okay with bath time but hates having his hair washed so I just wash his face and ears and call it good pretty often. Good thing he has short hair!
From Arwen:
Kathleen, I can relate to so much of this post! My kids are filthy, sleep basically whenever and wherever we can get them to, and eat a diet that would shock a lot of people. Eh. They’re happy and loved, and in the end it turns out the little things don’t matter so much!
From kapachino:
It’s so great that we’re not alone in this! But I only have one kid right now so I fear for how this will deteriorate when more come…
From Elizabeth:
Some days her hair doesn’t get brushed–it’s hard with curls!
We only brush her teeth at night.
I got sick of the tantrums she would get when we would sometimes say no to ipad games, so I lied and told her the battery was irreparably dead.
There are SO many more.
From kapachino:
Ha – forgot to mention that we only brush her teeth a few times a week when I remember. So bad!
From Morgan:
K, I think I have you beat. Jojo is 8 months now. She gets bathed when she pukes on herself, goes in the pool or every three days. I shower after workouts… Three times a week max ;) We forget to put sunscreen on her regularly and I took her to see live New Orleans brass yesterday without thinking about her baby ears. I only let her roll off the couch once, so that’s in my good column! Happy and healthy is all that matters. The rest comes out in the wash, and they won’t remember anyway :)
From kapachino:
You are working out, that’s impressive! M & I just got sunburned yesterday bc I forgot the sunscreen. And actually I don’t even own any kid sunscreen. She has fallen off the bed at LEAST four times. She’s resilient though. :)
From Trish:
miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight borrow this post idea for a rainy day. Though it’s tough to admit some of that stuff and your post makes me feel like I need to be a bit more laid back! Am I a tiger mom? Yikes!!! Though TV is definitely a thing that has happened recently. It’s mostly hub who will say “want to watch a movie?” and they’ll sit there and watch almost an entire Disney pixar movie. Until fairly recently, though, she wasn’t terribly interested. We do pull her into bed with us every Saturday and Sunday morning and she watches Netflix while we laze just a little longer.
The food. Ugh. We’ve resorted to bribery and even last night I asked Scott if we were being too mean trying to force her into taking ONE bite of damn meat so she could have ice cream (she refuses meat). I have to make her lunch everyday as well but from what they say I think she eats more of her lunch than her dinners. She eats a ton of Mac and Cheese. The processed kind (though I feel better about it because it’s in a bag with a squeeze cheese pouch rather than the box with the powder cheese. As if they’re different).
Teeth brushing. *shudders* An electric Dora toothbrush helps make this more fun, though it still doesn’t happen regularly.
I did not give up caffeine either (though the taste has gotten to me as well) and I have to set an alarm on my phone to remember to take my vitamin. This works great when I’m at work and at my desk–not so much on the weekends.
I’m terrified of the arrival of #2.
From Kara:
I have no problems putting Isla in her crib just so I can get 10 minutes of not having to chase her around the house.
I also didn’t give up coffee while I was pregnant with her, although I too got nauseous at the smell of it during the first trimester. It was the longest three months ever because tea was not a equal substitute.
From Callina:
Such a great post. I have plenty of my own. I can’t imagine how tiring it must be working full time (as a nurse, no less!), chasing a toddler, and dealing with first trimester fatigue, etc. I dread the day when I will have to do the same…
From Sara:
Well, if we try to put Riley back in her crib when she wakes up in the middle of the night and she doesn’t go down easily (like within 30 minutes, she is still cycling between being awake and falling asleep), she usually winds up in our bed. I don’t sleep so well this way, but at least it’s better than listening to her fuss in her crib.
For pretty much the first three months of her life, she slept on my chest on the couch.
We still feed her a bottle at night (like, when she wakes up, she gets 8 ounces). She ate a blueberry muffin for breakfast and dinner because she won’t eat anything else (except broccoli, which is usually on her plate as well). She still uses her Wubbanub in the middle of the night.
The list goes on…
From rachieannie:
Oh yes, I have many many many of these! And any mother that tells you she doesn’t, just doesn’t have the same ones as you. It’s all a cycle of mommy guilt I think. But I agree with other commenters – it all comes out in the wash. Our parents didn’t deal with as much external pressure as we did, so they let a lot of things go, and we turned out mostly fine. Love. All we need is love! Both the Beatles and Christ said it, so I’m gonna take that one to the bank!
Anyways, Drew gets a lot of quality Curious George on Netflix time, especially when he’s sick, or daddy doesn’t come home when I think he should, or I want to lay on the couch and doze. Neither boy gets their teeth brushed very often, and I will give them loveys, sippies, or bottles as often as they make a screech. There is lots more, but I don’t want to be here all day listing them all :-)