Ways to Make a Busy Mom’s Life Easier

As a mom your life is busy. Days are filled with chasing after little ones, cooking, cleaning, and driving everyone here and there. And these things are probably just a small part of your typical day. Before you become too overwhelmed, try a few of these simple strategies to lighten the load.

Invest in Time Saving Gadgets

You may already have some of these items in place, but adding a few additional conveniences is always a good idea. No mother should be without a dishwasher. This one appliance will save time, energy, and give you a few extra moments to get off of your feet each evening. Consider purchasing an extra clothes drier too. Sounds silly, but laundry goes much faster if there are enough dryers to keep up with the washer - because, no matter what the salesperson may tell you, the dryer will not dry the clothes in the same amount of time it takes a load to run through the washer. Even a Genie garage door opener can make life simpler.

Make Sure to Take Some Mommy Time

No one can care for others 24 hours a day and not feel overwhelmed. There are probably plenty of days where you wish you could have just a few minutes to catch your breath. Take advantage of nap time. If you have older children, make their TV time coincide with the little one’s sleep. Use these precious few minutes to take a break. Keep a basket on hand with things you wish you had time for like that latest novel, a craft project, or a tablet that allows you to catch up with friends on social media.

Create a Tranquil Bedroom "Getaway"

Take the time to re-do your bedroom. This area needs to be your oasis at the end of a busy day. Splurge on soft bedding and luxurious pillows. Remove all TVs, mobile devices, and computers, and most importantly, never let a toy cross the threshold. When the kids are finally asleep, turn in yourself, Keep the lighting soft and use a sound machine or relaxing music to lull you to sleep.

Sometimes you need to slow down, step back, and find a way to make life less hectic. Doing so may seem selfish or frivolous, but reducing just a small bit of the stress and chaos that surrounds you can actually make you a better mom. Having a relaxed and refreshed attitude will allow you to focus on the tasks at hand in a whole new light.

When Did Everybody Else Get So Old?

I recently finished one of the books on my reading list - When Did Everybody Else Get So Old?: Indignities, Compromises, and the Unexpected Grace of Midlife by Jennifer Grant.

Jennifer Grant is a writer, editor, and speaker. A former health and family columnist for the Chicago Tribune, she is the author of four previous books, including the adoption memoir Love You More. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband, four children, and two rescue dogs. Find her online at jennifergrant.com or on Twitter @jennifercgrant.

I received this one in exchange for a review, so I bumped it to the top of my ever-growing reading list.

This is a fairly quick read, and I saw glimpses of myself and my life in Jennifer Grant's. No, we're not all the same, but chances are if you're in that same time of life, you'll find glimpses of yourself in there too.

She takes us through the changes as our children grow up and get ready to move on into their own lives, starting college and moving out. After all that time of singular focus on the children, the questions emerge - What now? Who am I besides mom? 

Jennifer shares her insights and the things she learned, simply by living it, not without a bit of humor thrown in, sometimes at her own expense. And, yes, she even talks about S-E-X.

I read some reviews from people who laughed out loud and cried when reading this book. I didn't experience any of that, but I did come away with a strong sense that everything is going to be OK as perhaps we're all old (and wise) enough to accept our lives and ourselves as we are. And maybe this next phase has plenty to offer, too. 

Overall, a very enjoyable book, and I especially liked many of the quotes from books she had read and her special take on them. I plan to troll her Notes section for some additional reading. (like I really need any more books on my to-read list)

Thanks to Herald Press for the review copy of the book.

What I Wish I'd Said

I just finished reading In His Footsteps: Be Happy In Every Situation, Find Your Purpose, and this passage really struck me.   I thought it would be especially appropriate to share part of it for this Mother's Day weekend.

What I Wish I'd Said

When my children were small and would lose their shoes, I wanted to teach them responsibility, so I said, "You lost them; you can find them.  When did you last have them on? Where were you?"

I wish I'd been more concerned with teaching kindness, rather than responsibility.  I wish I'd said, "Here.  Let me help you.  When did you last have them on?  Where were you?"

When my children were small and I was busy or tired, I would ignore them or even worse, berate them.  I would say, "Go away.  Stop saying 'Mom, mom, mom'.  Just stop whining."  I wish I'd said, "Come here.  Talk with me.  Let me hug you."

That's what I wish I'd said.

My kids are grown and mostly out on their own now, and there are plenty of things I wish I'd done differently or said differently.   I'm pretty sure most moms would say that. 

Being a mom is one of those jobs where you learn as you go, hopefully learning quickly.  It's one of the toughest but most rewarding jobs in the world.  Even if we don't do it perfectly - and nobody does - we can focus on doing the best we can and most of all loving those little people.  No matter how old they get to be.

Mother’s Day Movie Giveaway

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12th and what better way to celebrate than spending quality time with your family and watching one of your favorite classic films?  Or, even better, one of mom's favorite films. Watching a classic flick together is the perfect opportunity to catch up and share family stories. You might even learn something you never knew about your mom!

Use this app for some conversation starters to get you started. You can also play the Guess-the-Scene Game for some fun or select your mood and let quotes and images from film express how you’re feeling!


Giveaway:
To celebrate Mom, Warner Brothers has offered to give one of these Blu-ray titles to one lucky reader! (Prize will be chosen randomly from the titles below!)

• A Star is Born (1976) (Blu-ray)
• Cabaret (1972) (Blu-ray)

To enter just leave me a comment sharing your favorite romance or musical flick from when you were a kid. That's fun and easy, right?

Get additional entries by tweeting this giveaway or sharing on facebook (once per day).  Be sure to leave another comment each time you share, with a link to your tweet or status.

Giveaway is open to U.S. addresses (NO P.O. Boxes), and entries must be received by 11:59pm on Mother's Day May 12, 2013.  Good Luck!

Book Review: MOMumental

MOMumental: Adventures in the Messy Art of Raising a Family
by Jennifer Grant

About this book:

Celebrating the joyous art of being a mother, MOMumental offers an inspiring, honest, and infectiously humorous look at the perils and pleasures of raising a family in the real world.

Once a devout believer in the myth of the perfect mother, author Jennifer Grant now has a more realistic yet still upbeat view of parenting and families. Instead of focusing on creating a conflict-free home, raising picture-perfect kids, and being an ideal mother, Grant offers a wiser and more down-to-earth way to love your children that makes room for mistakes and imperfections. She says, "I share stories about family life and how I've come to appreciate the mess of it. I am grateful for my own happy, idiosyncratic, and imperfect family."

MOMumental is one mother's account of the unpredictable, creative, sometimes hilarious, and always rewarding process of raising a family. It's filled with funny and poignant stories from her everyday life--a life that mothers everywhere can identify with.

I very much enjoyed this book.  We live in a culture that puts unfair pressure on moms to do everything exactly right - or we as moms put that pressure on ourselves.  We grow up with our own ideas of family and parenthood, how it's supposed to be, how we want ours to be, how our kids and our house is always going to be perfect, etc.  And then, when it doesn't happen that way, we think we're failures.

Sharing stories from her own background and family life, Jennifer Grant shows in a very real way that being a mom is never what you might expect - and that's OK.  No mom is perfect, and what matters is what we do most of the time and learning to relax and connect with, accept, cherish and enjoy our kids.

My kids are pretty much grown now, but I can always stand to be reminded that things are never going to be perfect.  Actually, I'm reminded of that often, what I need is to be reminded that imperfection isn't always a bad thing.  For moms with babies and young children, I would definitely recommend this book.  It's not a how-to kind of parenting book that will teach you how to be a great mom, but it is a book that will leave moms with the knowledge that they are not alone.  Other moms have gone through and done the same things - and their kids turned out OK.

You can read the first chapter of MOMumental now, and the book is available now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.   Look for a guest post from author Jennifer Grant and a chance to win your own MOMumental Book in the next few days.

Note: I received a free copy of MOMumental for review from Worthy Publishing.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Something for My Mom

I suppose, since I'm visiting my parents you're wondering if I brought any gift baskets for mom. Nope, I didn't.  I guess I'm not a very good daughter, huh?

We did bring some wine and snacks to share.  And I brought a sweatshirt I was planning to get rid of.  I started to donate it to Goodwill like I do most of the things I don't want anymore - and I need to get rid of plenty more things!  But then I looked at the sweatshirt and realized it said Kentucky and had a picture of a horse on it, so I packed it up and brought it for my niece - because she loves horse, and she lives in Kentucky.  I guess she must like it because she's been wearing it today.

My mom said maybe it would have fit her...

I guess it would have, but I didn't give her a sweatshirt either.  I guess I'll have to think of something she'll enjoy and send it to her later - or maybe I'll use that as incentive to get her to visit this next summer since we don't have any graduations or new babies being born this year.  At least, not that I know of.

The Price Does Not Make the Gift

Speaking of Mother's Day, several of my friends on facebook mentioned getting chocolate covered strawberries.  I wouldn't have turned those down.  They sound yummy.  I probably would have worried that they cost too much, though.  I'm cheap like that.

I'm absolutely positive that those strawberries taste better if the giver uses a shari's berries coupon instead of paying full price.  Spending more money does not make a gift better.  Understanding the person you are giving the gift to and giving something she'd really appreciate - even if it doesn't cost anything - is what matters.

Related articles

• 5 Homemade Mother's Day Gifts Ideas Mom will Love (savings.com)

Breakfast in Bed?

Did everybody have a nice Mother's Day?  Mine was nice.  We didn't do much - and sometimes that's the nicest of all.  I got a sweet card from my husband, and we'll call my new 'toy' a Mother's Day gift.  Cory stayed on campus for the weekend, so I didn't get to see him, but he did wish me a Happy Mother's Day on facebook, texted me, and called me too - so that was nice.  Beth wished me a Happy Mother's Day on facebook and then came over for a while.  We sat out on the deck and talked for a while - me, Beth, Jeffrey and Tim.  It was nice.

Something I did not get was breakfast in bed.  And that's OK with me.  I was reminded while reading the Sunday comics that breakfast in bed seems to be something husbands and kids like to do for Mother's Day.  Is this really something that moms enjoy, or are they just pretending because the family is trying to do something nice?  Because I just can't see it being all that enjoyable.  First of all - when I wake up, I really need to pee.  I could not make it through breakfast.  Also, I need to wash my face and brush my face before I even feel human.  I would not want to be talking to anyone and trying to eat breakfast. 

Probably I'm just missing the obvious, and all those moms who get breakfast in bed got up while the family was fixing it and used the bathroom, washed faces, brushed teeth, put on cute (and modest) nightgowns, and then crawled back in bed to wait.  But, if that's the case, why not just go eat breakfast in the kitchen and keep the crumbs out of the bed? 

It might even be better to get up and fix breakfast, and avoid this:

Customized Animated Gifts from Snapily

Check out this card I ordered from Snapily:




It features my sweet son, now and back when he was just a little guy.  What mom wouldn't love to get a customized card like this?  The thing is, creating a card like this - using your own photos and words - really doesn't cost any more than buying those Mother's Day cards at the store.  Even better, you can get a coupon and save 50%.  Best of all - no other mother is getting the exact same card!

 
Snapily offers easy to customize Animated Printed gifts and customized 3D gifts.  It's easy.  Simply select your product type and then upload your photos and add text.  The animated card lets you display 2 images on one card!  You can see how it's going to look before you order with the preview - and even share that preview like I did above.  Once you're satisfied, simply complete your order, and your card will be custom-printed for you and delivered in days.

The card I ordered turned out really well.  The only thing I want to mention is that, even though the pictures change from one to the other, you can always sort of see the other picture.  Does that make sense?  For instance, when I'm looking at the baby-Cory picture, I still see grown-up Cory in the background.  So, if you're going to order an animated card, you might want to use two similar pictures, or at least pictures that have the same lightness so one picture doesn't distract from the other when you move it.  Either way, it's a very cool card, and I would have loved getting it for Mother's Day.

Speaking of Mother's Day, It's coming up soon, so you'll want to get busy designing and ordering your cards now!  Don't forget to grab a coupon first so you can save up to 50%.  The coupons are good for ANY and ALL of Snapily's personalized animated & 3D gifts - bookmarks, photo cards, greeting cards, scrapbook pages, notebooks and more.

Check out Snapily on Facebook.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Mommy Rhapsody

One of my friends shared this on facebook, and I just had to pass it along.


Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.


Lyrics:

Is this the real life
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see

I'm just a mom
I need no sympathy
Because I do it all
On the go
Poopy pants, runny nose
Kitchen, kids and laundry
Everything is dirty
No sleep, no sleep.

Momma, I puked in the van
Momma, there's gum stuck in my hair
I just pushed Lucy down the stairs (she's bleeding)
Momma, where did I come from?
Better ask your daddy that when he gets home

Momma, oooooooh
I don't wanna die
Well, you should have thought of that before you broke my lamp!

I smell a little bit of poopy in the van
Sarah move, Sarah move
Get your butt in the Durango
Daddy's coming home late, better fix a hot plate NOW!

Fettuccini
Ravioli
Fettucini
Ravioli
Fettucini Alfredo
Magnifico!

I'm just a poor boy can I have some money please?
What do I look like? Money doesn't grow on trees!
Maybe if you ever picked up your things!

Party at Stevie's house will you let me go?
Joshua, we will not let you go!
Let me go!
Joshua, we will not let you go!
Let me go!
Joshua, we will not let you go!
Let me go!
Will not let you go!
Will not let you go!
Let me go!
No, no, no, no, no!
Oh mamma mia, momma mia, let me go!
If you ask me one more time I'll scream!
I'll scream!
I'll scream!

So you think I don't care if you stay up and cry?
So you think I don't need any sleep tonight?
Oh, oh baby
Please just go to sleep baby!
Just gotta get out
Just gotta right out of here

In the end it's worth it
Wouldn't change a thing
In the end it's worth it
In the end it's worth it to me 

 

Gotta wash the kid's clothes 

I Finally Got One

...and I sent one to my mom, too.

I've been wanting one of these Butter Crocks since I wrote a post about them ages ago.  I just never got around to ordering one, until now.  I started looking on eBay and found a really good deal, so I ordered one for myself.  I've been using it for about a week now, and I'm really liking it.  It makes me wonder what I was waiting for.  It keeps the butter at a nice temperature - so that it's spreadable but not too soft.  It's supposed to keep it good for 30 days, and with the weather getting warmer (AHEM! Weather, pay attention here!) it's nice to have.  I hate to keep the butter in the fridge where it gets too hard to spread, and I hate to leave it out on the counter where it gets really soft - and I'm sure it isn't really a good idea.  This seems to solve the whole problem.

So, after I used mine for a few days and decided that I like it as well as I thought I would, I ordered another one and had it sent to my mom.  It's perfect for her with the blue stripes.  I would have preferred red stripes on mine, to go with the strawberries in my kitchen, but I'm not complaining - because it works!  See HOW it works (video)

Have any of you tried these?  If you're looking for a good deal, check eBay.

Gift Ideas for Mom

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bliss Living. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mother's Day is May 9 this year. That's only three weeks away.  What that means is that it's threatening to sneak up on me again, and I better start thinking about getting a card or something for my wonderful mom.

How about you?  Have you planned for Mother's Day yet?  If you're looking for a really nice gift for Mom, you'll want to check out Bliss Living Jewelry. They have a huge collection of mothers necklaces, mothers bracelets and stretch rings that would make the perfect gift for mom anytime of the year. Each piece is one-of-a-kind and custom made with her children's names and birthdates hand-inscribed onto the charms.

I really like the necklaces with the custom inscribed charms.  You can order a charm for each child, with first names on the front and birthdates on the back.   I particularly like this necklace pictured here because of the delicate look, and the crystal birthstone beads on each charm.  But then, the more I look, the more I find others that I really like, too.  There are several styles to choose from - round charms, rectangular charms, Sterling silver, or gold, so chances are you'll find something Mom will like.

Shipping is free on orders over $99 with coupon code FREESHIP, and if you want guaranteed delivery by Mother's Day, you need to order by 4/21/10.
 

Book Review: Mother-Daughter Duet

Mother-Daughter Duet
Getting to the Relationship You Want With Your Adult Daughter
By Cheri Fuller and Ali Plum

A Harmonious Relationship is Possible!

When your daughter was born, you had a thousand hopes and dreams for her…including that one day you’d be best friends.

But as life unfolds, even the best intentions go awry. There are so many challenges on the journey to adult friendship that the reality is fraught with friction and frustration. Thankfully, a harmonious relationship with your daughter is possible.

Written by a mother and daughter who have successfully navigated the minefield from distance and tension to acceptance and friendship, this book helps moms open wide the door of communication so that daughter want to walk through it. Filled with personal anecdotes and based on proven principles, each chapter offers timeless wisdom as well as a daughter’s perspective. Often these principles apply to daughters-in-law as well.

After reading Mother-Daughter Duet by Cheri Fuller & Ali Plum, I know this is a book I'm going to need to read again and refer to often.  It's a book written by a mother and daughter for mothers and daughters, designed to help you get to the relationship you want with your adult daughter.

Since I have a 19-year-old daughter who is just now entering into adulthood, this book couldn't have come at a better time.  Through the book Cheri and Ali take us through their own relationship, sharing the hard times and how they worked through them to develop a relationship they can both truly enjoy.  They also share stories from other mothers and daughters with all different kinds of relationships.  The common thread seems to be that, no matter the circumstances, the mother-daughter relationship is one of the most complicated relationships, if not the most complicated.  It can also be the most rewarding.

I found it encouraging to read Ali's contributions of the daughter's point of view.  No matter how bad things seem, or how much your daughter seems to be pushing you away, she really does want to have a relationship with you.  There are lots of times when I really need to believe that!  On the other hand, she is really trying to separate from her mother and become her own person, and she needs to know that her mother will be OK.

If mom doesn't let go, a daughter can't come back on her own free will to choose connection.

The hard part is finding the balance, letting go; accepting your daughter for who she is, even if she hasn't got it all figured out yet; only helping when she ASKS for your help - there are a lot of helpful tips in this book, through all stages of life.  We are just entering this stage of our lives and, after reading this book  I am encouraged to believe that having a harmonious relationship with my daughter is possible, and this book gives me some of the tools I need to make that happen. 

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Mother-Daughter Duet is available now.  I did not request an extra copy to give away, but here are a few blogs I've found that are offering giveaways, if you'd like to try and win a copy:

• Frugal Plus
• Ramblings & More 
• Canadian LadyBug Reviews (Canadians Only)
• A Path of Joy

Those are just a few.  If you're interested in more, just use Google Blogsearch and search 'Mother-Daughter Duet giveaway' and you'll find more.

Does Mother's Day Sneak Up on You?

Or is it just me?

Mother's Day always seems to sneak up on me. It's the 2nd Sunday in May - May 10th this year. (Just noting that so it's in my head.) When I was in college, I completely forgot about Mother's Day until the Thursday or Friday before. Well, actually, I didn't forget, I just thought I had another week. I was in California, Mom was in Illinois, and there was no way anything was going to get to her in time.

So, did I send (late) mothers day flowers? No, I called my good friend Jeffrey and had him buy a card, sign it for me and leave it for my mom on her chair at church. I thought that was a pretty good solution. Mom wasn't exactly thrilled, but at least I tried!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. E-cards are great for those special occasions that sneak up on you - too bad they didn't have those back in the day! But, since I have a while and I'm thinking about it now, maybe I'll check out the Mother's Day Flowers and Gifts suggestions at 1-800-flowers.com. Some of these are even available the same day, so if Mother's Day sneaks up on you, you know what to do!

Show Your Mom Colors

I've seen these message bracelets all over the place. People wear them to show the causes they support, who they are and what's important to them. The Teen Library Council even sells some at the library that say "I Read" in multiple languages. I was thinking about buying one of those because I do read. However, blogging has kind of taken over my reading time. Has that happened to anyone else? I need one that says, "I'd love to find time to read" but that's probably too much to put on a little bracelet.

Today I found out there is the perfect bracelet. It says, "Mom Blogger" and it's available from Mom Colors. Along with the Mom Blogger bracelet, there is the Frugal Mom bracelet (yep, that one is me, too), the Green Mom bracelet, and the I ♥ Being a Mom bracelet. More Mom Messages are planned, and you can sign up for the newsletter to be notified when the new ones come out.

Click here to find your Mom Colors!

Do You Suffer From DND?

I got this email from my mom. I don't know who wrote it, but I can certainly relate:

DND - Deficient Noun Disease

Do you commonly find yourself calling your children by the wrong name, and feel like kicking yourself for spending so much time selecting just the right name for each child?

Do you find yourself saying to your child, "Sure, I know where you left your cookie." It's on the long white horizontal surface in the kitchen...you know, the one with the thing we cook with on one end and the thing we put stuff into keep it cold on the other end? Um...there's a sink in it?"

Do you tell people on the phone that you'll be happy to take a message, just as soon as you find a "message-writing-down thingamabob?"

In fact, do all the nouns in your vocabulary, nouns which have been your friends and companions since you were two years old, suddenly become "thingies" when you are under pressure? You may be suffering from deficient noun disease.

Deficient noun disease, or DND, is a common affliction among mothers of small children (older children too). While not a dangerous illness, DND is an exasperating and frustrating one which increases in severity in direct proportion to the number of children in the household.

Common symptoms of DND include the following: Calling children by each other's names, forgetting the proper names for common household objects, and casually referring to other adults not as "John and Jane" but as "those people with the pool who barbecue every Friday." Another common symptom is the frequent use of the WRONG noun in a given situation, rather like mild aphasia. Someone with this particular type of DND might say, "Put your plate on the stove...I mean on the counter...I mean ON THE TABLE!"

A less common symptom displayed by some DND sufferers is an ailment also referred to as the "Crossword" Syndrome. With this particular type of DND-related illness, the affected person might declare, "Oh, yes, I know her name. Let's see...it starts with an "S", has five letters...."

DND, although virtually untreatable and incurable, can still be endured with a minimum of pain and embarrassment if the afflicted person makes use of the following handy coping mechanisms:

One method of coping with the disease involves the clever use of nicknames, which can easily apply to any individual in the family, like "Dear" or "Sweetheart". This method breaks down when the DND sufferer is faced with the necessity of differentiating between individuals, or when she is talking to several people at one time, so the use of group nicknames, like referring to everyone in the room as "Y'all", a common Southern coping mechanism, is recommended.

Another good way to conceal DND from your friends and family members is to develop the habit of pausing in your sentences when reaching a crucial noun. If the pause is long enough, the other individual will attempt to guess the noun for you, and you need only respond in the affirmative when the correct noun is reached. Although this method may take time, it certainly adds suspense to an otherwise ordinary conversation.

The information available on DND is still patchy and incomplete, due to the unnecessary shame felt by many mothers who do not realize that this illness is widespread and quite common. Very few mothers are able to call their children by name, and it is difficult for them to believe that the time invested in picking
out those names was, to put it bluntly, wasted. When education has removed the stigma from the minds of all women, this disease might very well be shown to be the most common affliction in human history.

The cause of DND is not yet known; some scientists believe that using a word over 100,000 times in the course of a lifetime may simply fade that word from long-term memory; mothers simply reach the lifetime limit earlier because they must repeat themselves so often. Other scientists hold up the two-year old child as proof positive that the repetition of a word more than 100,000 times (in this case, the word Mommy) does not cause selective noun amnesia.

Although modern science may never be able to cure DND or discover what exactly causes it, we as mothers and fellow sufferers can still help one another to recognize the illness and learn to live in harmony with it. The next time you hear yourself shouting, "CLAUDIA-CODY-BETSY-LOGAN-JILL.... YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! GET IN HERE!", you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that mothers all over the world are doing the same thing.

I only have two kids, one husband, and one animal, and still, it gets me. How about Y'all? Now I have to go wash those things you put food on when you eat.

Momisms

I've been seeing this blog called Rocks In My Dryer linked in various places, but I never visited before tonight. I wanted to. I mean, with a title like that, how could I not want to? It looks like I'll have to go back. This post on momisms or The Beauty of a Catch-Phrase is just so true and so funny. Run on over and see if you don't recognize a few of these.

Mom is a Person, too

I just had to quote this from one of my friends on LiveJournal:

If you ever want to make a mother (or a father) with young children feel loved chat with them while they are watching their children. Yes, sometimes it is a pain and it seems like you never finish a conversation with them because of all the interruptions but the mother or father will feel loved. Really they will.

So true! It seems that you are a person in your own right, until you have kids. Then suddenly you become somebody's mom or somebody's dad. No one actually notices you any more. It's all about the kids. You've noticed that about me, right? I'm Beth & Cory's mom. That's just who I am. Now they're teenagers, and soon they'll be out of the house. Then who will I be?

That's sound pretty pathetic, doesn't it? Truly, I don't feel that way. I love being Beth & Cory's mom, and I'll always be their mom, but that really isn't all there is to me. I think it is very important for moms to take time for themselves. Sometimes you just have to.

For now my time is over. I need to get the kids up and get going. We have to go get them registered for school today before they have to leave for work. Beth wants to pick up her paycheck and stop by the bank, too.