Picture Perfect....

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Biting at Daycare....Bail or Be Patient

As I picked up my sons from daycare, I peaked my head into the infant room where my 3 month old is casually sipping on his last bottle of the day, then I go on to greet my 19 month old in the 1-2 yr old room, awaiting his squeal and akward sprint towards my direction as I open the door. On this particular day, my little one does seem too excited to see me, he appears quiet and a little to himself. Trust me, this is not normal behavior. I pick him up and try to get some sort of reaction out of him, but no luck. He doesn't appear to be sick, not sad even, maybe shy. The young lady from the daycare facility tells me he had a "pretty good day" but says I need to sign a paper? I see it is an accident report...my son was bitten at school today. They are not quite sure when it happens or who did it, but noticed the mark later in the afternoon. As I kneel down, he looks at me with those big blue eyes and I am furious! How could anyone bite this angel? Ok, remember, you're the adult and he is playing with a group of small children..it is bound to happen right?

The next day, we go through the same afternoon routine. Today Charlie, my youngest is wide awake playing on the floor in a boppy when I peak in, then on I go to Ben's room. He is bound to be happy to see me today. I open the door and call his name...he begins to cry??? Slowly he walks over and throws his arms in the air reaching for me to hold him. Again, I am informed I must sign another paper. The daycare worker apologizes, but he has been bitten again. This time, they know who did it and are "surprised" as it was not provoked and this child just came over and bit my son as he was playing with one of the toys.

OK, maybe this is a fluke. One that I am not happy about, but a fluke nevertheless. The next couple of days go by and long story short, my son is bitten 5 days in a row at daycare. The director, "bless her heart" was genuinely beside herself and extremely apologetic over the last few days. She said they were doing everything possible to resolve this new biting problem in the room, but unfortunately it keeps happening to some of the children, my Ben included. I ask bluntly if he is provoking or picking on any of the biters. As I had thought, no, he is not. She describes Ben as so mild and gentle mannered.

By this time my patience has run thin. Yet I can see the director is sincere and doesn't want me to pull my boys from her facility. They are switching teachers in the room, notifying parents via a letter sent home the previous week, calling parents of the biters to come pick up their children, etc to address the problem.

But in my eyes, the biters need to go....

We are now into the next week....since my boys go part-time, they are due to go back, but I am worried.  So before I tell you how the story ends....what do you think....BAIL OR BE PATIENT?

Working Mom's Guilt ~ Monday Blues

It is without fail that the Monday morning alarm clock leaves working moms (and dads) tired, maybe a little cranky, even a little blue.  After spending a great weekend with my kids, I dread the beginning of the week knowing I am running around crazy on Monday morning just to drop them off at daycare and miss them for the next 8 hours.  Strange as it maybe...the idea of sending my little girl off to school, well that doesn't bother me so much.  I know she is supposed to be there ~ learning, playing, and avoiding getting a "ticket" for talking in line :-).  But the boys are different and I feel like a hypocrite sometimes.  When I was at home full time after being laid off from DHL and before I started working again, I got into this crazy routine of diapers, Barney / Sesame Street, grocery shopping, and house cleaning.  My days of adult interaction were suddenly over and I missed them.

So, I decided to enter a new field, Medical Billng, and after receiving my CMRS certification, have begun to work in a hospital to gain valuable experience.  For the past 6 weeks, I have been working full time and what a shock it was to my system and my routine!  I miss my children terribly and Barney's endless songs don't seem quite so annoying.  My husband shakes his head at me when a comment slips from me about working....I can just tell what's going through his mind; "You wanted to go back to work....now you want to stay home...".  Thank heavens he is sweet and supportive about the whole thing.  I am so blessed to be able to have the life I have and financially not required to work full time permanently (at least not for a while). 

Luckily, I will be able to go to part time in 2 weeks and hopefully will find a happy balance of working and being home.  Then I can start working on building my home business of medical billing for small specialty practices.  The whole topic is something I have been struggling with for quite some time and imagine many other moms struggle with it too.  How do you assess your self worth as a mom?  By your yearly salary? How many home cooked meals you prepare and the cleanliness of your house?  Neither I suppose, or maybe both. 

From one mom to another, I suppose I will continue to go back and forth on this and cherish the time I have with my kids for now.  Can't believe my little girl is almost 10 and in the blink of an eye, I will miss these days, the Barney songs (will he still be around??), and my little BibChatters :-).  Then I can look at my husband and figure out how to deal with "empty nest" issues.....

Consignment Madness - Love It!

This afternoon my husband and I stopped by Once Upon A Child in Florence, KY to pick up some items for Ben who is 18 months old. It wasn't until recently, I had rediscovered the world of consignment shopping. When I was a child, most of my clothes were hand-me-downs or gifts from local charities, churches, or neighbors. Very rarely did I ever receive anything brand new and or brand name. I had this warped idea that if clothes or items had "previous experience" as Once Upon a Child taglines in their store, then they must be junk.

After my first daughter was born, all of her clothes, cribs, bedding, decorations, toys, etc was brand new. (We were very lucky to be given such great gifts from friends, family, and co-workers over time). Then, as she became older and Ben was born 7 years later, I remembered how quickly she had outgrown many of her clothes after wearing them once or not at all. Many toys (even to this day) are purchased brand new and then sit, lonely and bored in her closet :-(. So, as I was making one of my many trips to Starbucks, I happened to notice a large pink and blue sign on a store with baby strollers out front. Intrigued I pulled in and walked about. As soon as we entered it was crazy!

I was amazed at the sheer volume of clothes neatly organized by age group, gender, and color! They we're so packed! The aisles were filled with fall/winter clothes but they had plenty of summer clothes left to choose from as well. Skeptical, I closely looked at the quality of clothes, brand names, and prices. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and quite frankly the popularity of the store. My preconceived idea of hand-me-downs quickly changed. We got 3 pairs of shoes, 4 shirts and 3 shorts for $30 bucks! Many were name brand and in fantastic condition.

If you are looking to get more for your money and especially with Back to School shopping at our door, I would highly recommend giving local consignment shops a try. We did and now that my family has 3 children (two boys under 2 - need I say more.....we will definitely be back!.....

Sunday Morning Routine

It's Sunday morning and as always, another day begins with our little routine. My 8 wk old son rustles around in his crib just a foot from our bed, while my 18 month old (who graced us with his presence in our bed last night) sits up and starts the "Ba Ba" chant. My eyes are still closed but my body rises, as if on auto pilot, to get the boys, change diapers, warm bottles, grab a cup of coffee (a MUST!), and sneak a peak at Channel 5 news beforing putting on Barney. Our daughter is with her dad this week and even though she just went back yesterday, I miss her already.

As I carry Charlie on my hip and his bottle in the other, I hear the sweetest song coming from the living room. To other ears, it wouldn't make sense, but I can make out the random chants as "A, B, C, D....". Ben, my older son, has been practicing his ABC's. He is getting the tune somewhat down and blocks of letters in the right order, but somehow "G, H, I" comes after "R, S" in his version. Still music to my ears :-).


My husband comes down and helps with the boys and my coffee machine which I thought was taking a tank on me. That would be a disaster! He had just bought a Keurig Single Cup machine for my birthday in June, which I had been wanting for quite sometime. This year we bought a Tassimo for my brother-in-law and a Keuring for my mother-in-law - so I have been dying to have one too. Anyway, when it wouldn't brew, I began to get just a little frazzled because no matter what the day or the routine, I have to have my cup of coffee (ok, two cups). Needless to say, it was a simple fix, the coffee refill was crumpled a bit, so he popped in a new one and we are good to go.

Half an hour after rising, everyone is getting settled and I am finally starting to wake up...go java! Charlie and I are sitting on the couch, he is propped up on his Boppy in my lap drinking his bottle while Ben is mesmorized by Barney - that big purple dinosaur I swore I would never let my kids watch. Did I mention I was in my 20's when this opinion was formed and had no idea what I was talking about?

Looking around at my little ones going about their morning as usual, my husband relaxing on the recliner with Charlie resting peacefully on his chest; Ben sweetly chattering his "ABC's", and my coffee getting low (time for cup two), I thank God quitely for my life and for this moment which I can't wait to relive tomorrow. (Wait...tomorrow is Monday morning...routine will be a crazy!).....