Princesses, bracelets, and rings, oh my!

So God...He has a funny sense of humor, maybe or maybe he's getting back at me for something...not sure.  He gave me this spunky, get-dirty-I don't-care girl who also likes ALL things girl.  Not just every now and then does she like girly things, but all the time.  It's actually become oh so apparent since the departure of the older brother to school all day.  Instead of playing the things he talked her into-cars, trains, Wild Kratts; she now fills her time with Barbies, high heel dress up shoes, and every and I do mean every pretend play bracelet, necklace, and ring she owns.  To complete the jewelery, she wears a permanent tutu with every outfit.  At times, I think the outfit and get up weigh more than she does.  She's a little thing.  She wears so many accessories I usually don't even spend the time taking them all off before we leave the house because well I'm trying to make sure I have everything I need to get out of the house-3 kids, snacks, sippy cup, keys, phone....the list goes on.  So the girl she pretends to be at home during playtime has now moved into the real her. 

Now some of you that know me best know that most days you will find me still in PJs or workout clothes hair in a ponytail with no makeup.  I am never "done" as me and one of my college buddies called it.  You know the type always looking perfectly dressed in the new fall fashion with every hair on her head straighten and the make up perfect.  Jewelery even matches her belt and shoes.  I am not that girl.  I am not girly.  I like pretty things and like having nice clothes, but if it takes up too much time or effort I give up. 

And the Disney princesses...I swear she hasn't even seen all the movies, but knows every one by name.  It is crazy how kids pick up on things.  I don't even like Disney movies...I mean does ever after really happen in life?  I've always been the reality even documentary movie kind of girl.  Once of my favorites is the Story of Us.  It is a story about a couple's marriage and the struggles.  I like the realiness of life, the messiness of life.  Yet, my daughter is young and in some ways maybe believes that princesses and princes coming to save you are reality...funny what perception and ideas about life we give our children without even realizing we are doing it...

At times, I am at odds with what to do with my daughter who is only three, mind you.  I also pose the question almost every day how in the world she even knows about all this stuff?  How does it all come so natural to her?  Where did she get this gene that missed me?  It is quite hysterical...or even scary at times...then I am reminded she is related to her aunt and the picture becomes clearer.  Hopefully as she grows, I'll figure out how to deal with all this girliness and save for the future cost of the girliness...maybe she'll even inspire me to get a little girly every once in awhile.  

Girls will be girls or not

Ugh…school is starting!  That’s how I felt… and I felt it all over…like in my throat and all the way deep in my stomach.  I know in a few years I’ll be saying, “when do the kids go back to school?”  But this was our first year of for real school…where I wasn’t in control of our oldest child for most of the day.  Anyone else feeling this way or just me????  I felt like why should my child’s teacher get him for 7+ hours.  I carried him for 9 months and 1 week, gave labor to him, and have been with him it feels like non-stop for 5 years.  Yes, I was sad, maybe even a little depressed about it…at first.

Then after a few days alone with my other 2 children…something else was happening.  Something I didn’t expect or even imagine.  Throughout the summer, my 3 year old daughter had been driving me and everyone else in the house nutso.  I swear she managed to whine through just about every dinner driving me and my husband to the mantra, “Eat or else go to your room” every night.  We had agreed that it was the girl in her because our oldest would eat whatever we put in front of him and was the most laid back kid on the planet.

But finally with our oldest in school most of the day, we got our sweet daughter back.  Was it that we were back to a routine?  Or was it the fact that I had a little more time to spend with my daughter now that I was down to 2 children?  Or was it our littlest, almost one year, was growing up and also needing slightly less of my attention?  Or was it one of those short phases that kids go through stretching their muscles?  Probably a mix of all those to be honest…of course, then I immediately turned on the mom guilt that I hadn’t paid enough attention to her.  It took only a little bit of logic to realize that she hadn’t been scarred from life.  No matter the reason, I loved this new version of my daughter.  Now of course, she still has her moments and tantrums, but we can quickly move through those with a little discipline and go on with our day-reading library books and playing pretend.

So the moral of the story for me as a mother that day was to step back from the busyness of life and take a look at why your child might be having an issue.  As a parent, we are always busy trying to deal with the behavior and by the time the situation is dealt with you just want to move on to the other tasks at hand, i.e., laundry, baths, work, cleaning up dinner in my case.  You don’t have time to step back and think okay what’s really going on with my child and why is he behaving the way he is.  It was just a little nudge for me to wake up and live my life with my child not my to-do list.

p.s. the oldest that I worried about is fine, too...actually thriving...why do we worry?  change is good...most of the time!

The beginning of what...I'm not sure...

I'm not quite sure where this blog is going.  Nor, do I really know where I'm going most days.  I run here and there with the kids.  I dabble in this and that during my "spare" time.   I'm this person for my kids and this person at work and that person for a friend.  So I guess this blog is just like me and eventually is going to take me exactly where I need to be...just not sure where yet!

As I thought about what I want to do in life and what I'm really passionate about, I thought about the things I enjoy and how I want to spend my time and this got me thinking about time and how it is probably my most valuable resource.  This also got me to think about where the past 15 years or so have gone.  I mean next year my husband and I will be married 10 years...and soon I'll be having a 15 year high school class reunion!  Oh my!  I mean really I swear I was just in high school running around the halls and hanging out by my boyfriend's locker or hanging out with my girlfriends in college making runs to the gas station for cokes.

How did this artistic, athletic (my husband might not agree), easy going girl from the Midwest become a some what controlling and rigid mom of three with a ton of responsibility on top of being a wife for 10 years...and so the blog just a girl playing house begins...because that's how I see myself...as the girl I once was playing house pretending I have three kids, which is ironic because I don't ever remember playing house as a child.  I can't be that adult with all that responsibility and that long to-do list, can I? at least not all the time...that's my answer for now.  We will see where the next few years take me and where God wants me to be.