Tag: mommy blog

#NaBloPoMo, Here I Come

On By VeeIn Uncategorized29 Comments

Is NaBloPoMo still a thing?  When I was blogging before, I was vaguely aware that in November, some bleeps (blog peeps, duh) participated in something called National Blog Posting Month, where the goal was to post a blog entry every single day.  After about about 5 minutes of Google searching, my impression is that NaBloPoMo is no longer hip or with it.  Or at the very least, no one is talking about it this year.  (Or everyone is talking about it and I’m really bad at Googling).  But I don’t care if I’m a few years late to the party.  I’m into it.  I hereby declare this November my NaBloPoMo.

And because I couldn’t find the sanctioned NaBloPoMo prompts for this year, I created my own list of daily themes that I plan to touch on.  If you’re some kind of genius (or entry-level internet user, whatever) who knows where the official list of prompts is, just maybe keep it to yourself rather than exposing my internet ineptitude, ok?

So my thirty days of NaBloPoMo themes are below.  I’m hoping they give me the opportunity to write about some things on my mind, and maybe tell you a little bit more about myself.  And while I’m a lawyer by trade, intellectual property law is not my specialty, so these babies are absolutely not copyrighted.  Feel free to borrow any or all themes if you’ve got the NaBloPoMo bug, too

Drum roll, please…

  1. Married Life
  2. Ex-Boyfriends/Ex-Girlfriends
  3. Career
  4. Embarrassing
  5. Jealousy
  6. Birthdays
  7. In-laws
  8. Police Encounters
  9. High School
  10. Fathers
  11. Veterans
  12. Photograph
  13. Superstition
  14. Money
  15. Frenemy
  16. Reality TV
  17. Sports
  18. Discipline
  19. Injury
  20. Pets
  21. Proposal
  22. Visitors
  23. Thankful
  24. Shopping
  25. Diet
  26. Dream House
  27. Christmas
  28. Charity
  29. Hair
  30. Books

November is coming, my friends.  And it’s the most wonderful month of the year. (Except for December, of course).

Until next time,

Vee

Why does my kid always…

On By VeeIn Family, ParentingLeave a comment

Why does my daughter always …

  • Poop her diaper the second after I change her into a fresh one.
  • Take short naps when I need to get something done, and long naps when I need to get out the door.
  • Spit her pacifier onto the floor every time we’re in a public restroom.
  • Hide food in her neck folds, and somehow, also in her diaper.
  • Try to touch my brain (via my nostrils) whenever I hold her.
  • Get a head cold, followed by an ear infection, followed by a diaper rash. Rinse and repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat.
  • Insist on unfolding the laundry as soon as I’ve folded it.
  • Bee-line for the kitties’ water dish as soon as I put her down on the floor.
  • Cry from exhaustion, but then do metaphorical (or sometimes actual) cartwheels when I try to put her down for a nap.

And why does my son always…

  • Refuse to fall asleep in the car until we’re 5 minutes away from our final destination.
  • Magically identify and extract new vegetables from his meal.
  • Ignore a toy all day, but need to play with it immediately if baby sister shows any interest in it.
  • Refuse to wear a jacket or use a blanket, no matter how cold it is.
  • Try to choke me out when hugging me from behind.
  • Drink bath water by the gallons.
  • Confess his hiding place when playing hide-and-seek.
  • Have a growth spurt right after I drop a fortune on new clothes.
  • Talk about his penis to strangers.
  • Squeeze the full juice box before he puts the straw in his mouth.

Why do blowouts come in threes?

Why do the Terrible Twos start at 18 Months? And when oh when do they end?

Why does it hurt like a mofo to step on a Hotwheels car?

And how is it possible that in spite of everything, my kids melt my heart over and over again, every single day?

Until next time,

Vee

Screen Time: Is My Kid Watching Too Much TV?

On By VeeIn Family, Parenting3 Comments

Alright, I’m going to be completely honest, because this blog is anonymous, and because the first step is admitting you have a problem.  On some days (on a lot of days — maybe even more often than not), my 2.5-year-old watches a full 2 hours of TV.  Ugh, gross.  This is the first time I’ve said that number out loud.  It sounds outrageous.  (But if your kid watches more TV than that, I totally don’t judge you!)

Now I’ve been on social media enough to know that everyone thinks screen time is basically the devil.  And parents who expose their children to TV are doing the devil’s work.  (Well at least now I know what I’m going to be for Halloween, right?)  So why am I admitting that my son watches an enormous amount of TV? I don’t know, I guess I have a sneaking suspicion that lots of parents rely on TV to parent, and maybe we can normalize it a little bit. Yes? No? I’m all alone, you say?

Well in my defense, I guess, things weren’t always this bad.  When K-Man was in daycare, he watched maybe 30 minutes of TV a day, tops.  I will admit that I started him early, out of what I felt was necessity.  When Hubby was in med school and I was still working, Hubby was usually out of the house by the time I needed to get ready for the day.  And K-Man woke up at an ungodly hour almost always.  How is a girl supposed to shower and blow dry her hair with a baby all up in her business?  So, I would situate K-Man in the bathroom with my iPad, and let him watch Elmo’s World while I preened.  And on the weekends, well, K-Man didn’t sleep in.  Which means I didn’t sleep in.  Which means I got in the habit of sitting him on my lap, turning on some trusty Elmo, and snoozing on the couch while his brain slowly melted away.

And then we pulled K-Man out of daycare in anticipation of our move to Upstate New York.  That move, man, it killed us.  Have you ever tried to pack up your life with a 2-year-old and a nursing baby in tow? It is fricking impossible. So I’ll just go ahead and admit it: my son watched Moana and Cars pretty much on loop for about two weeks straight while Hubby and I packed.  Moana is a great babysitter, even though she’s only 16.  So by the time we were all moved, K-Man was a legit addict.  Every other sentence was, “Watch Cars? Watch Moana?”

It took a few more weeks to rid him of that particular habit, but the upshot is that the kid still watches a lot of TV (though he’s moved on to a YouTube obsession). I mean, it all adds up so quickly.  There’s usually an hour when he first wakes up.  It’s just that I feel like absolute death in the morning, and when I have to roll out of bed to deal with two maniacal kids, I don’t have much fight in me.  So I let him watch while I peel my eyes open, read my social media, make us some breakfast, get dressed, brush my teeth, and put my contacts on.  And then every time I have to nurse Ell-Bell (aka, the fussiest, most picky, most distracted nurser ever), I have to take her to another room, which means K-Man gets to hang out with the TV (aka, his babysitter) yet again.  And then there’s the after-nap grumpies, when K-Man is not human and needs to sit on the couch and zone out with some shows for a bit.  And on the worst days, little dude even gets to watch a bit before bed.  Because sometimes by the end of the day, I just can’t even.  So yeah, you can see how we hit two hours some days. Yikes.

We are always working on it, but I’m also trying to give myself a bit of a break.  I’m still learning how to Mom.  And gosh darnit, sometimes TV is educational.  Yeah, yeah, there are probably better ways to learn, but let me have this one.

All that being said, I do try to stick to some guidelines when it comes to the boob tube:

  • No more than an hour at any given time.  Let’s give that poor melting brain some time to re-congeal before we melt it all over again
  • Educational. We try to stick to TV that has at least some redeeming value. K-Man loves to watch nursery rhyme compilations on YouTube, and I totally attribute the fact that he knows his ABCs, colors, shapes, and numbers to those shows. I mean, the kid isn’t even three yet and can identify all the letters—both upper and lower case—and can also count up to 30-10!
  • I don’t offer it.  If he wants to watch TV, he has to ask for it.  And don’t worry, he does.
  • We have to do something else.  If it’s a TV-heavy day, we absolutely must get out of the house, at least once but usually twice, to do something completely different.
  • Snuggles or no deal.  My kid is extra cuddly when he’s watching TV, so if I’m not taking advantage of it, what am I even doing with my life?

So them’s the rules!  In the event that you’re interested in coming over to the dark side and need some TV recommendations, might I suggest Little Baby Bum, Clifford, or Daniel Tiger? Ugga mugga!

Until next time,

Vee