My Daughter, The Addict

You read that right.  My four-and-a-half-year-old child has an addiction.  

And it's serious.  

We're not talking about a need-a-fix-every-now-and-then craving; this is a can't-live-without-it, major-withdrawal-inducing, can't-eat-can't-sleep obsession.  I should probably be spending my time planning an intervention instead of writing this post.

Want to meet the object of her addiction?

Yup, my girlie can't live without this pink, rabbit-headed square of blanket that we all affectionately call Lovey.

Here she is when she first fell for Lovey's satin-bordered snuggliness.

Her addiction is my fault.  I know we often try to blame our mamas for our deep-seated issues, but this one really is on me.  When Li'l Miss was about five months old, I read an article that said something like this, "Babies who develop an attachment to a comfort object are more likely to bond with their parents, sleep well at night, attend an Ivy League school, get an advanced degree, stay married, avoid jail, and contribute to the good of humanity."  (New mamas, beware of articles like this one.  They will give you nervous twitches and panic attacks.)

I was a first-time mom, still completely freaked out about this enormous responsibility called motherhood.  I had my nurse friends on speed dial, and I was taking notebooks full lists of questions to my pediatrician at every check-up.  I read this article and was instantly convinced that my sweet, tiny, comfort-object-less baby girl was headed straight for the principal's office (and a life of crime after that).

Thankfully one of my students had given Li'l Miss an adorable pink rabbit/blanket at one of my baby showers.  (I was an elementary teacher for five years before I got the priceless blessing of becoming a full-time mommy.)  I whipped out the little rabbit, steeled myself against my steadfast conviction not to put anything other than a sheet into my baby's crib, and gave Li'l Miss her first taste of Lovey. 

The rest is history.  I oh-so quickly learned that the author of the aforementioned article completely neglected to mention the fact that the parents of the children involved in the study had to pry their child's comfort object out of his/her clenched fist as he/she headed off to Harvard or Stanford or Yale.  

I'm 100% sure I will be doing exactly that.

Li'l Miss can't sleep without Lovey.  This means if there's any chance that we'll be out past bedtime, we'd better bring Lovey along.  If Lovey needs a bath (a.k.a. a spin in the washing machine), it has to happen during waking hours only...and is very likely to happen with a certain little lady's face pressed against the lid of the washing machine.  Li'l Miss has gone to sleep more than once with a slightly-damp Lovey snagged from the dryer.  (She also may or may not have gone to sleep with a slightly-damp Lovey rescued from the potty right before naptime.  Don't judge.  We're talking no Lovey = No naptime.)

 Thankfully, four years later, I'm getting a little bit better at giving myself grace as a parent - something I really couldn't wrap my mind around on that long-ago day when I just knew that my Li'l Miss wasn't going to make it in this world without a comfort object.  I'm a teeny bit less OCD, not quite so paranoid, and daily working to love my children with open hands.  Most of the time I'm able to say, "My four year old has a rabbit-headed blanket attached to her wrist.  So what?  It will fall apart before she starts high school.  (I hope!)"

And, now that I'm a parent again, I can avoid making the same mistakes twice.

Life's BIG Questions

Today I wrestled with one of those deep, thought-provoking mom questions 

that just has no easy answer:

Do I let her wear that in public?

Emma's First Day

We survived!  Our first day of preschool at home went really well, and Emma and I both enjoyed ourselves.  Here's a little peek at Emma's very first day of school.  (If you want the short version, just scroll down through the pictures.  They pretty much tell the story.)

I had to take the classic first day of school picture on the front steps.  (Okay, so my child wasn't actually going anywhere - or even wearing shoes for that matter - but I think it's still a special memory.)

We started off with singing.  (Emma kept insisting that singing is not part of school.  Thanks, expert preschooler.)  After that we read a camping story together (Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night).  

There's a place in the story where Henry's mom builds a campfire, so Em and I used sticks collected from the yard to make our own campfire.  Emma even pulled out her play food and cooked some plastic sausage in one of our campfire cookers.  Emma was more excited about cooking than making letters with the sticks, but she did a little bit of that too.  Here she is making an "I".

I wanted to set aside a few minutes for Emma to read/look at books on her own.  She's not the best at staying focused when she's reading on her own (as in, not good at reading for more than 3.7 seconds).  I thought we could start with five minutes of quiet reading and go from there.  

We went in the tent and each read our own books.  The timer rang after five minutes, and Emma didn't want to stop reading.  She looked at books (especially the Henry and Mudge book) for more than twenty minutes.  I was totally surprised and thrilled.  If a love of reading is the only thing Emma takes away from our school time together, I will be completely satisfied.

When Em was done with her books, we read a poem about fireflies together.  Emma used a pointer to find the title and several letters in the poem.  (She loves her "hand thing" as she calls it.)  We also turned the lights off, closed the windows, and clicked flashlights on and off as we read about fireflies clicking their lights on and off again.

For math practice, Emma counted out frogs onto pond mats.  Numbers have been more difficult for her to master than letters.  We're focusing on 1-5 this month; she's got 1, 2, and 3, but she's not quite there with 4 and 5.  (If you have some fun ideas for practicing numbers, please send them my way!)

By the time we finished math, Emma was ready for a snack break.  She counted out the ingredients to make friendship trail mix.  Here she is with chocolate on her face and all the super healthy yummy ingredients in the background.

We finished up with "The Hungry Bear Game".  I think this was Emma favorite part of the day.  We set out a checkered tablecloth with several camping-related items on it (mug, cooler, flashlight, etc.).  Emma closed her eyes and pretended to sleep in the tent.  While she was sleeping, a hungry bear (a.k.a. Mommy) dragged off one of the items.  When Emma woke up, it was her job to figure out which item had been stolen.  Then it was Em's turn to be the bear.  I think she would have played this game all day long.

For the science portion of our camping unit, we're talking about ponds.  Today we took a mini field trip to a nearby pond.  Emma used her binoculars to look for wildlife.  We actually saw turtles, a frog, and a killdeer.  Check out my little biologist.

After visiting the pond, we headed to a friend's house.  My friend asked Emma what she'd learned during school.  Emma's response was, "We played a game, and a bear stole stuff."  

Okay, so clearly my OCD lesson plans haven't turned my child into a genius overnight.  But it was fun.  And I got to spend lots of time with my sweet girl.  Total success in my book.  

Home Sweet Homeschool

No, we haven't made the big decision about where Emma will go to school.  The whole homeschool/private school/public school debate is alive and well in our house (and getting more intense as Em's first day of kindergarten approaches at what feels like the speed of light).  I was homeschooled until college and had a very positive experience overall (with a few bumps along the way).  Jeremy went to public school and had a very positive experience overall (with a few bumps along the way).  So we definitely approach the "Where should Em go to school" question from two totally different perspectives.


All that aside, we have decided not to send Emma to preschool for now.  Being the OCD former teacher that I am, I'm getting W-A-Y too excited about doing preschool at home with her.  Our first day of "school" is tomorrow, and I think Emma is just about as stoked as I am.  We're doing a camping theme for the month of September.  Here's a little bit of what I have planned.  (Remember, I warned you about the whole OCD thing. :)


-Songs - We're going to learn a few camping songs that I found on the internet.  (You can't have preschool without singing, right?)  I We might break a few windows, but we'll have fun anyway. :)


-Storytime - I checked out some great books about camping (fiction and NF) from the library.  I'm going to have them out to read with Em and for her to read/look through on her own.


-Poems - I love poetry.  When I taught first grade, the kids had so much fun (and learned lots of reading skills) studying poetry.  This week Emma and I are going to read a poem about fireflies.  I have this plastic hand pointer that she is completely in love with, so she can try using it to follow along with the words as we read aloud.  We're also going to use the poem to practice some other reading skills (identifying letters, rhyming words, etc.).


-Reading Readiness - We're doing a lot with uppercase and lowercase letters this month.  Tomorrow Emma gets to "make" letters out of campfire sticks.  (Twice this week I've been cutting something out and she has stolen the scraps to make letters so I think she's going to love this activity.)


-Math - This month we're working on counting from 1 to 20 (why is 13 so tricky?!?) and identifying the numerals 1-5.  I got some fun frog counters from the library so we're going to try those tomorrow.  We're also going to talk about shapes and sorting/classifying later this month.


-Snacks - Emma loves to bake and cook.  I'm looking forward to making some yummy things with her and practicing math skills at the same time.  Tomorrow we're making trail mix.  Emma has to count ten of each ingredient into her cup (Froot Loops, M&M's, mini marshmallows, raisins, peanuts, and chocolate chips).  Super healthy, I know!


-Crafts!  This week we're making a backpack out of paper grocery bags, fabric, and paint.  Next week is a raccoon puppet. 


I decorated the living room after Em went to bed tonight so she'll be surprised when she wakes up in the morning.  I think she's going to love her reading tent.  (Of course, her OCD mama might not be able to leave it set up in the living room for the entire month of September. :)

Our library has these amazing activity bins that can be checked out and renewed just like books.  I borrowed two: "Camping by the Seashore" and "At the Pond".  Em loves them both.  (Trying to hide them until the first day of school was a total no-go.  I'm going to need to scope out some good hiding spots before I start Christmas shopping.)  Both bins are full of great stuff - puzzles, books, videos, games, and learning activities.  


Em's favorite thing so far is a magnetic fishing activity.  She made up her own game using the plastic camping cups from the camping bin.  (She's matching the colored fish with the colored cups.)

Okay, so there are all my best-laid plans.  We'll see how well things go when I have a real three-year-old student tomorrow.  I'd love to hear from any of you who have done homeschool-ish things for preschool.  For all my OCD planning, I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing! :)


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I can't end this post without wishing a happy birthday to this beautiful girl.

It's almost impossible to believe that this chunky, curly-haired cutie weighed four pounds and looked like this a year ago...

Happy birthday, sweet Raya!  I'm so glad I get to be a part of your life!

One of Those Mommy Moments

Yup...I totally wore these two flip-flops today.  In public.  One black Teva.  One brown Rainbow.  Lovely.  


The best part is that I noticed after leaving the house.  After driving to the movie theater.  After meeting two friends from church and seeing one of our elders.  After the movie was two-thirds over and Em asked to go potty.  While in the bathroom, I finally looked down at my feet and noticed that I was unwittingly making quite the fashion statement.


I guess in the rush to get ready, coordinate cars and the car seat with Jeremy, and make sure that my child kept her shoes on long enough to make it out the door with something on her feet, I wasn't paying much attention to which shoes I grabbed out of the closet.  It was one of those mommy moments.  There have been quite a few of those moments since the day (three years ago today!) that Jeremy and I arrived in Florida to attend Emma's birth.


Moments like the one where I find myself really needing a Kleenex at the same second that Miss Emma is really needing a Kleenex.  So, I wipe her nose on one side and then blow mine on the other.  Great solution.


Moments like the one where I notice a gooey, half-chewed Cheerio stuck to the front of Em's shirt just as we're arriving somewhere important with no trash can in sight.  You've eaten regurgitated Cheerios before too, right?


Moments like the one where Emma begs and begs for a quarter for the gumball machine.  When she finally puts the quarter in, the little blue gumball spins slowly around and around the inside of the gumball machine, pops out the tiny swinging door, and rolls across the floor of the grocery store until I stop it with my sweaty flip-flop.  I brush it off and hand it to Emma.  (After all, it was only on the floor for like 1.2 seconds so the Five-Second Rule totally applies.)  She puts the little blue gumball in to her mouth and realizes it is actually a gigantic blue gumball.  She tries and tries to chew but only succeeds in slobbering a lot and breaking off a tiny corner.  She pulls it out of her mouth and looks up at me.  "Here, Mommy, help me."  Needless to say, I end up with a lot of blue spit all over my hands and a germy, half-chewed gumball in my mouth.  Yum.


I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had these (right?).  The "I Can't Believe I ate/smelled/talked about/looked at/touched/tasted/changed That Moments".  They're part of being a mommy.  And, they're 100% worth it.  They're worth it because - as much as it feels like it sometimes - they aren't the only kind of mommy moments.  Just when you think you've turned into a walking mass of spit-up who will never again go the bathroom alone, you have one of the other kind of mommy moments.  The amazing, incredible, I-will-remember-this-for-a-lifetime moments.


Moments like the one where Emma climbs into my lap, takes my face in both of her chubby palms, and says, "I love you soooo much."


Moments like the one where Emma spontaneously starts praying in her car seat.  Jeremy and I hear her say, "Jesus, get my brother and sister.  I have lots of toys in my playroom; I will share them."


Moments like the one where I wake up to find Emma climbing into my bed to cuddle.  She leans over close to my face and gives me her version of an Eskimo kiss.  She rubs her nose against mine and tries to kiss my lips at the same time.  Slobbery wet sweetness.


I am thankful for every moment of being a mommy - Eskimo Kiss moments and mismatched flip-flop moments.  I wouldn't trade any of it for the days when I took long, hot showers (without an audience) and had time to look at my shoes before heading out the door.  Being a mommy isn't always fun.  It isn't always easy.  But when I hold my squirmy girl and feel her arms, hot from the playing in the sun, tight around my neck...when I see kindness beginning to take root in her little heart...when I watch her smile with pride because of something I have played a little part in helping her learn, I am reminded that my job is important.  I have an irreplaceable spot in my daughter's heart that is worth all the times she tells me, "Mommy, I peed in my shoes."  I wouldn't trade being a mommy for anything.


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Keep reading for a quick adoption update...I just got an email from Nina saying that we are officially registered as potential adoptive parents in our country.  This is good news because it means that all of our paperwork was done correctly, and we don't have to get anything redone (or make any more trips to the state capital...for now, at least).   The SDA is scheduled to close next Monday, July 11.  I've heard that the longest the closure can last (by law) is three months, so the new adoption entity should be up and running sometime between next week (I wish!) and October 11.  There have not yet been any changes to the special needs list; please keep praying that more special needs are added and that God would clearly speak to our hearts if we need to consider a change in direction.  Thanks.

A Little Piece of Happily Ever After

Remember when you were in college and you and your roommate stayed up super late eating horrible things - like Cheese Whiz on crackers and DQ Blizzards and Chicken McNuggets - and talking about one day when you'd both be married to perfect guys and your adorable kids would be best buddies and you'd live happily ever after?  (Okay, so if you're reading this and you're a guy, maybe your conversation was a little different.  I'm not even going to venture a guess...)  

I do.   

Now we are both married to amazing guys who love the Lord with all their hearts.  

And those adorable kids...

What's cuter than two kids covered in chocolate and grass stains playing in a tree house?

There were many times when our crazy midnight dreams seemed so far away.  Life didn't always go the way we planned.  Some days have been hard.  Really. Really. Hard.

But here they are.  Our little piece of happily ever after...

God's blessings are incredible - so much bigger than we could ever get our minds around.

And, yes, they are totally getting married when they grow up.

Little Miss E.R.

Nope...as you've probably guessed, this is not the post I was supposed to write about our adoption story.  Instead it's about our first family adventure at the E.R.  We spent a lovely evening there yesterday.

The story starts around 5:00pm.  We had just squeezed in a 4:50 run to the notary and the Post Office, and Emma and I were dropping Jeremy back at his office.  Jeremy and I both had our arms full as we headed up the stairs into the church, so one of us (I won't say which one and make the sad and guilty parent feel even sadder and guiltier) lifted Emma up by her left arm to help her up the stairs.  Ummm...not a good plan.  Emma immediately started crying and holding her arm.

After determining that she was not going to calm down and Milo & Otis couldn't even distract her from the pain in her arm, we decided to take her to the doctor.  Brilliant me thought that arriving at the After Hours Clinic at 5:50 when they don't open 'til 6:00 would get us a great spot in line.  Not so much.  I guess the good spots go a little earlier (like 3:45, maybe).

We waited in line until Little Miss Pink Eye, Mr. Mystery Rash, Mr. Double Ear Infection, and a few other not-so-happy people had headed back to see the one frazzled doctor.  Emma was a trooper.  She played the whole time with her left arm hanging by her side.  Daddy read a book, and I held my breath hoping that the toys Emma was playing with were not covered in Pink Eye or Mystery Rash germs.

Finally it was our turn.  We were taken back by a very nice nurse to see a not-so-nice doctor who reminded us about 32 times that it's not a good idea to pick our daughter up by her arm.  You think?  There was a funny side to this part of the visit.  Picture this not-so-nice doctor in your mind.  He's older and kind of gruff with a little bit of a mad scientist look, but his name sounds a whole lot like Barbie.  Emma kept asking, "Where's Barbie?  Where'd Barbie go?  What's Barbie doing?"  It was pretty funny.

Anyways...Dr. Barbie was able to put Em's arm right back in place but decided she needed x-rays and a sling and sent us across the highway to the E.R.  By this time, I was really starting to doubt my ability to continue to convince Jeremy and Emma that the bag of Goldfish I threw in my purse on our way out the door was really a perfectly acceptable dinner substitute, but off to the E.R. we went.

Thankfully, Emma thought the "giant camera" that took pictures of her arm was pretty cool.  (This from a girl who cries hysterically when asked to stand on the scale at the pediatrician's office.)  I think most of the E.R. staff was pretty bored, because Em got treated like a little celebrity.  She quickly collected two shiny princess stickers, a red bouncy ball, and a coloring book and crayons.

The sling was NOT a hit.  Someone in the E.R. (who asked to be kept anonymous) told us not to worry about making her wear it.  Since it would take an excessive amount of bribery to even get Miss Emma to put the sling on (yes, the pictures in this post are totally staged), I don't think we're going to worry about it.  (Shhh...don't tell Dr. Barbie!)

All in all, it was not such a bad trip to the hospital.  Everyone came out healthy, happy, and only slightly starving.

My Freezer is Full!

It's 5:45pm.  My two-year-old is having a mommyIneedsomethinginmybelly melt-down on the kitchen floor.  My husband is just pulling into the driveway and in just a few seconds will be coming through the front door with food on his mind.  I am standing in front of my empty refrigerator, willing something that resembles dinner to magically appear on the shelves.  Anyone else been there?


I have had way too many panic attacks trying to make dinner plans at five o'clock after a R-E-A-L-L-Y long day.  That's why, when two of my friends suggested we try a freezer cooking day last month, I jumped on the idea right away.  Our March cooking day took place on a Saturday when our wonderful husbands could hang out with the kids.  We were a little optimistic about what we could accomplish and ended up cooking from 9:00am to 7:00pm - yikes!  (The freezer full of food I came brought home was well worth the effort, though.)


This morning we tried our second freezer cooking day.  We learned from our mistakes last time and set our sights a little lower.  We cooked from about 10:00am to 2:30pm and each ended up with the yummy stuff listed below.


-Two 8X8 pans of Chicken Chow Mein
-Two 8X8 pans of Poppyseed Chicken
-11 Southwest Roll-Ups 
-Pizza dough for four pizzas
-About three dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies 
(I hardly ever make cookies because three of us cannot should not eat three dozen in two days.  A friend from church recently suggested freezing cookie dough in cookie-sized balls.  I put them on a cookie tray in the freezer for a couple of hours and then throw them in a freezer bag.  Now I can bake one, two, or three dozen cookies at a time.  Love it!  Thanks, Stefanie!)


Last month, instead of staring at my 'fridge when I started to go into Five O'Clock Panic Mode, I opened my freezer.  Dinner magically appeared...every time. =)  Also, I was able to quickly prepare a meal for company after a long day at work, and I had plenty of quick and easy meals to give away if someone got sick or had a new baby.  All in all, I think our two freezer cooking days have been totally worthwhile.


So...want to grab a couple friends and try it?  Here are a few things we've learned along the way...


-Start small.  We tried six recipes (tripled or more) the first time around.  That was over-the-top.  This time we did three recipes and made enough for each of us to take home two batches.  We also made pizza dough and cookie dough.
-Plan ahead so you can shop around for good deals.  If you decide on your recipes a couple of weeks in advance, you can usually find your ingredients on sale.  We used chicken for all three recipes this time, and we were all able to get it on sale at Kroger.
-Hire a babysitter or cook on Saturday when dads are around.  We've had one cooking day without kids (well, my friend's six-month-old joined us, but she was very sweet and cooperative) and one with kids (three kids two and under to be exact).  The day without kids went MUCH. MORE. SMOOTHLY.  I'm a pretty good multitasker, but multiplying fractions to double a recipe while trying to dodge little ones, teach sharing, and dish out snacks is a challenge!
-Try recipes you've used before.  We learned this the hard way when our freezer burritos were a major pain in the rear not really fun to roll up.


It's been a little challenging to find good freezer recipes, so I thought I'd share three that we've all enjoyed.  (If you have any good ones to pass along, please do!)


White Chicken Chili
This recipe was given to me by a friend a few years ago.  I make it all the time.  It's super easy.  It doubles (or triples) really well, and it's a great freezer recipe.


2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped
1 family-size can cream of chicken and rice soup (Walmart sells this in their store brand.)
1 family-size can water (You can use less if you like your soup to have a thicker consistency.)
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can black beans
1 can sweet corn (whole kernel, not creamed)
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles (We're big fans of spicy food, so we usually use the hot variety.  Stick with original or mild if you can't handle the heat.  Original has just a little zing.)
1 teas. cumin


Combine all the ingredients except the sweet corn in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.  Add the sweet corn.  Cook until heated through (about five more minutes).  Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and Fritos (yum!).


Pizza Pasta Casserole
This recipe was taken from the Taste of Home website.  Last month I served it to four kiddos (ages four, three, two, and one) and they all ate it.  What kid wouldn't eat something named Pizza Pasta?


2 lbs. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 jars (28 oz each) spaghetti sauce
1 pkg (16 oz) spiral pasta
4 cups (16 oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
8 oz sliced pepperoni


Cook spiral pasta noodles according to package instructions.  While pasta is cooking, in a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef and onion until beef is no longer pink.  Drain fat.  Once noodles are cooked and drained, stir in the spaghetti sauce and pasta.  Spray two 9"X13" baking pans with non-stick cooking spray and divide mixture into both casseroles evenly.  Sprinkle each with cheese and top with pepperoni.  Cool if needed; then cover and freeze.


To cook: Thaw casserole in 'fridge overnight.  Bake uncovered at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.


Poppyseed Chicken
Two sweet friends made this for me after Emma was born.  They gave it to me frozen in 8X8 pans.  It's yummy, easy, and another big hit with all ages.


Combine the following and spread in a greased 8X8 pan...
Shredded chicken (two breasts or one small rotisserie chicken)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of chicken soup 
1 pint sour cream 
1 Tbsp. poppyseed


Top with...
One roll of Ritz crackers, crushed
One stick of melted butter


Cover and freeze.


To cook: Thaw overnight in the 'fridge.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  Serve over rice or chow mein.


I hope you enjoy these and maybe get brave enough to try your own freezer cooking day.  If you do, I'd love to hear about it.  Please, please share your good freezer recipes with me!  It's always fun to try something new.


On another note, please pray for our adoption paperwork to come together quickly.  We are waiting on two important papers.  (If you want to pray really specifically, one is called an I-171h and the other is an official copy of our marriage certificate from a very slow state WWAAAAYYY out west.)  I PROMISE my next post will be about our adoption.  Lots of you have asked about our recent change of direction.  Thanks so much for asking and praying.  We appreciate it more than you know.

I Am NOT Supermom

If you're a teeny little bit competitive like me, you've caught yourself watching other moms with amazement.  Sometimes it seems like the world is full of mommies who fly through the supermarket with three babies and a binder full of alphabetically-ordered coupons; breeze through security at the airport, folding a double stroller with one hand and pulling snacks out of a diaper bag with the other; or wake up at 4:30 every morning to finish an hour of P90X before whipping together a batch of homemade Spiderman cupcakes for their son's class party.  


I am NOT one of those moms.  I often find myself wishing that I could grab hold of Supermom's cape and ride along through her world of organic meals from the garden, beautiful FINISHED scrapbooks, and freshly mopped floors.  (If you ever want to mop my kitchen, come on over.  I despise mopping!)


Last night I had a particularly non--Supermomish experience.  Emma has been fighting a nasty cough.  I woke up around 2:00 to her voice on the monitor, "Grandma!  Grandma!"  (She wasn't completely delirious; Jeremy's parents were visiting this weekend.)  I went to her room, got her settled down, and headed back to bed.


Forty-five minutes later, she's awake again.  I head back to her room, thinking a few very non-Supermomish thoughts.  I give her some Motrin (exactly what Supermom would do, right?) and convince her that Grandma definitely does not want to play at 2:45am.  


At this point, for some random reason, I realize I am completely starving.  I head to the kitchen and pour myself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.  (FYI...Supermom does NOT keep sugary cereal in her cabinet, and she definitely does not eat it at two in the morning.)  I finish my horribly sugar-filled snack, and go to put the Motrin away.  As I slide the bottle back onto the shelf, I hear a loud crash.  Even in the semi-darkness, I can see that I have knocked Emma's glittery purple nail polish off the shelf and onto the ceramic tile below.  Lovely.


By now I am utterly beyond any hope of falling right back into a yummy, dream-filled sleep when I go to bed.  I turn on all the lights and frantically grab a washcloth.  Have you ever tried to clean nail polish off ceramic tile?  It's so not fun.  Thankfully, after twenty minutes of scrubbing and some very non-conventional use of nail polish remover, most of it comes off; but I'm left with one disgusting washcloth and two very glittery purple hands.


Okay...here's the really bad part.  My sister was visiting in February.  She knocked bright red nail polish off the same shelf onto the same section of tile.  Supermom would have learned her lesson then.  Not me.  I just brilliantly bought new nail polish and put it back on the same shelf.  The beige tile that my husband and father-in-law spent hours laying the perfect stair-step pattern I picked out, is quickly starting to look like a glittery red and purple mosaic.


At 3:30, I finally head back to bed, where I lay wide-awake on my pillow.  When I hear someone calling for grandma at four o'clock, it's almost funny.


So, the next time your fingers slip off the hem of Supermom's cape and you find yourself flat on your face in Realmomville, I hope you'll think of me.  As you lay there, picture my desperate scrubbing and my glittery purple hands.  Laugh a little, and remember I'm right there with you.