You know you're a mom when...

...you are all dressed up for an event or an evening out and you look down to find a bright pink Dora the Explorer or Hello Kitty band-aid on your finger.

...it isn't unusual to be joined in the bathroom by multiple little people...or to even be holding a child on your lap while trying to take a potty break yourself.

...a good morning is measured by how many times you have to re-warm your coffee. 3+ times equals a not so good morning for me. 1 or 2 times is a decent morning. Didn't have to re-warm it at all? The girls must be at the grandparents.

...you know the location of every drive-thru Starbucks and all the restaurants that feature curbside to go. You are also still ticked that Braums stopped letting you buy milk and bread through the drive-thru window...even though that was years ago.

...playing peek-a-boo with a toddler on the other side of the shower curtain is just part of the morning routine.

...your closet is filled with so many sizes of clothes that it could be its own little retail outlet...pre-ever having children, pre-maternity post having children, maternity, post maternity...plus the sizes that you wore either while you were or were not pregnant, but couldn't bring yourself to wear maternity quite yet or still be wearing maternity after the baby. Does that make sense to anyone? Can you tell I'm getting ready for a garage sale and currently sorting clothes?

Just a few thoughts from this mommy early on a Friday morning. Does anyone else form blog posts in their head as they shower?

It really can't just be called a GIVEAWAY...

it really is more of a PRIZE PACKAGE, as Rachel is calling it...and there are TWO of them to be won.

Go visit Rachel at In His Hands to enter in their drawing...it will help to bring their baby home from South Korea. You will be blessed to read about their journey.


Go...go now!

Bless her heart and bless their tummies

We made a quick trip to the park on Monday when my mom was up for a visit. I was hoping to talk some ducks into eating some of our old bread, but either it was too cold, too windy, or perhaps their tummies were still full from the weekend.


The duck feeding plan was aborted. Thankfully there was a tire apparatus and a wobbly wooden bridge to entertain the girls instead.



With the high being 80 today, I thought we'd shoot for another park and maybe actually get rid of the now moldy bread that has been riding around in the van.

We had no problem enticing the ducks.


When Lily ran out of bread, she quickly began pestering other little kids for some of theirs. Bless her heart. When that didn't work she offered the ducks grass, sticks, stones, and finally wood chips from the playground. And seeing that they had trusted her hand for some tasty bread just moments earlier, many of them ate the wood chips. I put a stop to it quickly, but bless their little tummies.

And while you're blessing tummies, please bless Jade's. She ate a bit of moldy bread...and not from the bag, but rather from the turd laden pond side. Nice.

Guess what I found!

Within hours after writing my last post, I found myself at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). It wasn't that I had already given up on finding my two most important forms of ID, but rather that I needed to get a title for a new vehicle transferred into our name.

As I started to wait in line at the title department I started to wonder if I would need a driver's license to complete the transaction.

I don't know about your local DMV office, but ours, and in fact every one that I have EVER waited in, is just plain weird. I guess I could take the view of trying to be entertained by utter randomness of the types of people that come in and out of those doors, but during cold and flu season I find that hard to do. Not to mention that it seems like the people who work there are on a personal mission to make you aware of how much they absolutely hate their jobs. It just isn't a fun place.

So I got out of that line, walked across the hall and instead started waiting in the driver's license line...hoping that if I did indeed need one that a temporary would do.

Finally when I heard the gruff "NEXT" being called it applied to me. I don't know why I felt compelled to tell his mistakenly sweet woman about how I had lost my license, but I did. "Step to the line for you picture, ma'am." What? A new picture? I was thinking they'd just resend my old one. The one that I sort of actually liked. The one where my hair had been washed and I actually had some makeup on. I was starting to think of ways I could lose this one that would document me the way I was looking that morning.

Ten bucks later, I had my temporary and was waiting in line for the title.

This time the employee didn't like the way our insurance company did the temporary card for the new vehicle. Suddenly I was searching of every random pocket and fold of my wallet hoping to find an insurance card for our other car.

And lo and behold guess what I found? From a seldom used pocket that holds my checkbook flap into place fell out my driver's license and social security card. I guess I only thought I had turned my wallet inside out a hundred times. I nearly cried when I saw the picture of me wearing my favorite yellow tee with a tan summer face.

Then the guilt set in for blaming it on Jade all of this time. I guess she was playing around down by our scanner and must have handed my cards to me...such a good girl. And then I tucked them away in such a good hiding place that I couldn't even find them myself.

After a brief moment of guilt I decided I had one more line to wait in. I marched myself back over to the driver's license section to get my $10 back and prevent the scary picture from being printed.

I couldn't believe it, but they let me void the transaction. Now if they could have only erased the smells and images of my earlier trash digging...that would have been something.

Rubber Gloves. Are they ever used for anything pleasant?

Gloves. I didn't even own a pair. Thankfully I haven't really needed them. Even the sound of them popping as you arrange them on your hand brings back memories of the doctor's office.

I broke down and bought a pair though after putting off a dreaded task for over two weeks now. See this bag? This yucky trash bag? With the diaper peeking out? I had the pleasure of digging through it today...item by item looking for something.


Two somethings, actually. Namely my driver's license and social security card. Lost at the hands of my 19 month old. Who would let their toddler run around with such things? A mommy who was trying to sneak some computer time...ahem...I'm guessing anyway.

Last I knew, they were on the scanner. It rests on a shelf below our desk which is conveniently located a few inches from our TRASH CAN. Great.

When I realized they were missing, the trash had just been rolled out to the street. My sweet hubby retrieved the bag and delivered it to our front porch. I was hoping that he might take a quick look, but after waiting weeks now...I'm guessing every guy has his limits.

Then I realized why he had been reluctant.

The bag also contained the week's diaper trash. Not normally a problem because the diaper genie forms them into these totally contained, cute little sausages or tootsie rolls...whatever food analogy you prefer. It is customary to slide the roll of diaper trash down the stairs in slinky style before it gets taken out.

However, this time while doing the slinky roll down, the bag busted and diapers were strewn everywhere. Such a proud parenting moment. It all came back to me as I started missing my two most important forms of identification.

So after making a quick trip to CVS for some protection, I emptied the contents of the bag and sifted through it item by item on our garage floor. The weather had turned colder again, so I was hoping the stench had died. Nope. Apparently fermentation can occur no matter what the temperature.

The slinky game is OVER. Not taking any chances in the future.

And after all that, I will still be doing all of my banking transactions through the ATM line because my IDs were not found. They really need to figure out a way to give suckers out through the ATM...my kids are so confused. Um, mom, we're at the bank...where is my sucker?

Thankfully I don't think I'll be visiting both the DMV and the SS office on the same day. That would put me over the edge...as I'm guessing I'll need my DL to apply for a new SS card.

Maybe they'll turn up soon.

Where, oh where, would a toddler hide such things?