BibChatter

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.....

Too many times old friends get separated by distance, work, and taking care of our families. Always saying "...call me, we should get together...". But then life happens, and sadly those play dates are missed. This seems to be the story of my life with a few of my oldest and dearest friends. But to my childlike glee, finally a scheduled get together took place - in between the errands, dinner, and time with the kids of course.

I brought my son down to see ShannanB, his Godmother. Even just letting a month or two slip by without a personal visit brings a whole new look to our children. Her two little ones are getting so big and very handsome, I might add!! We had spent the past hour or so catching up, talking about our kids, work, family lives, and a newly found common interest between us both - blogging. Recently I stumbled upon blogging and instantly became curious, maybe even a little addicted. Catering to my desperate need of tutoring, she enthusiastically shared some helpful tips and sites with me. It was great to not only find someone who I could learn from & talk to about it, but even better to have it be such a close friend.

After an hour or so, my responsible Mom side knew it was time to go. My little one had one more feeding and was getting sleepy. My childlike side didn't want to leave and was whining inside. We said our goodbyes, made plans for the following weekend, then my son and I started home.

Inspired to have my own outlet and join the blogging community, I decided to focus on a purpose. What am I passionate about, what do I like to read about, what about my life would I like to share with others?? Web names and ideas kept popping into my thoughts, a mind-mapping journey had started. Thank heavens it was night-time so no one could see me talking to myself. Less than 15 minutes into our drive, my little man had fallen asleep. Back to pondering.....Then, he let out a small noise, a whimper. Just loud enough to break the noise in my head, just soft enough to remind me how small and precious he is. As I looked back into the child-view mirror, I could see his light blue bib gathered slightly over his mouth and chin. With a grunt, some gibberish and a stretch, my five month old went back to sleep. Smiling, I looked back on the road. Bib Chatters - I have my outlet.....thanks Ben.

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