Coffee and Sweats

by: Nusrat

Can’t be Hateful, Gotta be Grateful

So my older son had a Thanksgiving Feast at his preschool today. I didn’t know parents were supposed to attend these things. I mean seriously? I know working parents can’t attend but as a stay at home parent I’ve got my hands full for the three hours the Bubz is at school. I went in to pick him up, with Baby Chubz on my hip and was greeted by his teacher with,

“We missed you today!”

Now I love his teacher. Which may be why I felt so bad for not attending. Then Bubz wraps himself around my leg and says,

“Yea I missed you today!”

I felt pretty bad.

I smiled. I apologized. I promised to make it to the Christmas party next month.

Now I need to arrange for a babysitter to watch the little one while I go eat lunch with the big one. Which is great one-on-one time but a part of me is wondering just how much parental involvement is expected at pre-schools? I ask because I am planning to go back to work one day. The field of work I was in Before Kids (a time period hereinafter referred to as BK) was not very flexible and should I return to the same field I wouldn’t be able to take off for lunch to eat a Turkey sandwich with my son.

How do working Mom’s do it? How? Do you constantly break your kid’s heart when he’s searching for you and realizes that he is going to be one of the kids whose mom did not show up for lunch?

How to stay at home Mom’s with more than one kid do it? How? Do you bring the baby along when you volunteer to read to his class?

“You missed TWO things!” he reminded me as I buckled him into his car seat. Apparently there was a Halloween thing too. Lord.

He also had a bunch of goody bags in his hand made by all the other Pinterest Mom’s. When do you have time to shop for “Gobble! Gobble!” stickers? When do you have time to assemble said goody bags? How do you even come up with this shit? How? Do I break my kids heart when he doesn’t have goody bags to hand out to all his classmates?

I’m feeling a little incompetent over here because all I managed to do today was drop the kid off at school, go grocery shopping, take the baby for a haircut, run some more errands, shower, unload the dishwasher and throw in a load of laundry.

It was a no makeup kind of day. OK that’s everyday. Just throw me some sympathy over here.

Good Lord I really need to step up my Mom Game.

Merry Thanksgiving Everyone.

by: Nusrat

Pregnancy – Second Time Around

I’m expecting baby #2. Yes, I’m happy and excited about the pregnancy but mostly I’m tired. More tired than I ever thought possible.

Pregnancy the second time around is both easier and harder. Easier because I couldn’t care less about reading every single book on pregnancy and happy babies. I’m no longer super anal about not consuming cheeses, seafood or coffee. I don’t care how many raised eyebrows or concerned looks I get. I ordered a coffee the other day at brunch with my visibly pregnant belly and the waitress smiled at me and said,

“I drank coffee during my second pregnancy too”  and it made my day. I needed that validation. My doctor told me I could consume a cup of coffee a day but still, I needed a mom who had been there before me to say it was OK. Trust me, the world is a better place when I drink coffee.

Pregnancy is harder now because I used to nap all the time the first time around. Now there is no napping. There is no rest when a restless two-year-old boy needs you. I have to take him to the park to burn off that little boy energy so he’ll sleep at night. I have to prepare meals for him, even if he barely eats two bites. I have to stop what I’m doing and play with him when he says:

“Ammu come on, lets’ play cars!”

To be honest I’ve barely had a chance to think about this baby. I have no idea what size fruit he is this week. I’m not freaking out about having all the equipment, supplies and gadgets to make my baby comfortable. I bought the entire store the first time around and I definitely didn’t need it all.  There is literally no baby prep going on. I haven’t even pulled out the old baby clothes – I simply don’t have the time. I’m running after the two-year-old all the time.

I can’t keep up with one, Lord knows what I will do with two.

I’m getting tired just thinking about how crazy my life is about to get.

Pregnancy 2nd time around

by: Nusrat

Coffee and Life Changes

Life has changed a lot in the past three years. When I started blogging I was a college student. Then I got married and I stopped blogging altogether. Life got messy. I didn’t want to share my thoughts anymore. Now I have three years worth of life, repressed inside which I’m hoping will make for some worthy blog posts. There’s only one way to find out.

I guess a quick recap is in order.

Since my Xanga days I…

Got married.
Moved to New Jersey
Popped out a baby
Left my job to stay home with the baby.

All of the above points are devastatingly life changing. No wonder I didn’t feel like writing.

Getting married – no one ever thinks about what is going to happen after the fairy tale wedding. There is no ‘happily ever after’. Instead, it’s ‘what’s for dinner?’ and ‘who’s going to clean the bathroom?’

Moving to New Jersey. People are crazy here. You think Texans are all redneck republicans eating roadkill? Not at all. People on the east coast are insane in their own way and  I’m slowly morphing into one of them.

Popping out a baby. Do I really need to explain this one? I burst into tears the first time I got shot in the face with a stream of pee. Now I think it’s hilarious.

And the last big life change,  I’m a stay at home mom now.
Which explains why I live in sweatpants.
And why my best friend is a two-year-old.
The other day in order to get me out of bed he stood at the door and said
“Ammu, come on! ….Coffee?”
My best friend knows that coffee is the only thing that will get me out of bed. It’s the only thing that’s been constant.
No, he didn’t make me a cup. He’s only two. But I’m working on it.

Constant Coffee

I don’t deal very well with change. So expect a lot of bitching and a lot of what-happened-to-my-life type moments. I also crack myself up when I think about all the things that go down around here but I have no friends to tell them to. So hopefully you’ll check back to laugh with me.  Or feel sorry for me.

I’ll be doing both.