2011 May | whoorl

Aiming to be a B+

May 31, 2011

I adore Joslyn’s blog. Whether I’m searching for inspiration or adding a few things to my must-have list, I can always count on her impeccable eye and stellar taste. And if THAT wasn’t enough, many of her posts focusing on parenting make me want to yell “ME TOOOOOOO” at the top of my lungs because it seems Joslyn and I are very similar in one regard. We are Type A Mothers.

As Joslyn stated in a recent blog post,

I think a lot about this idea of “mellow parenting“… I believe with ever fiber of my being that creativity flourishes and the magic happens when you let kids be bored, explore, make messes and just sort of ramble about a bit, and yet, at my core, I am a type A mom. Big time. Art projects inevitably begin with a mental assessment of how hard they’ll be to clean up, I still tend to overschedule (despite my continued attempts at laziness) and, more often than not, I’m far more uptight than I’d like to be.

Sigh.

You are preaching to the choir, Joslyn. I’m a tad bit Type A myself (hahaatadbithahaaa), with one of my major triggers being kitchen messes. Let me take you all on a little journey into my mind.

Friday evening, dinner table.

Sarah: Wito, how was preschool today?

Wito: It was fun! We played with dinosaurs and…(Sarah’s brain: OMG OMG IS THAT PASTA SAUCE ALL OVER HIS FINGERTIPS? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET THAT MUCH PASTA SAUCE ON THE HANDS WHEN USING AN EATING UTENSIL? HE IS GOING TO WIPE HIS HANDS ALL OVER THE NEW DINING CHAIRS, ISN’T HE? OH, THERE WENT ANOTHER NOODLE ON THE FLOOR. HOW MANY NOODLES ARE DOWN THERE? WHAT DO YOU THINK THE RATIO OF FOOD-IN-MOUTH TO FOOD-ON-FLOOR IS? 1 IN 5? 1 IN 15? WHERE’S HIS NAPKIN? WHY DOESN’T HE USE HIS NAPKIN? USE YOUR GOD DAMN NAPKIN, KID! YOU ARE ALMOST FIVE YEARS OLD!)…and then we read a funny story and then you picked me up!

Sarah: That sounds like fun! Wito, honey, be sure and wipe your hands on your napkin, okay? Also, sit up straight with your knees under the table. That way, you won’t be spilling so much food on the floor. Okay?

Wito: Okay, mommy.

Wita: Ahahaaaaa baaaaaabaaaaaa maaaamaaaa *fistfuls of bite-sized turkey and cheese flying through the air while the rest of her dinner is smashed into her hair*

Sarah’s brain: MELTDOWN CAN’T COMPUTE ;FGBNWRIO;GRW;IOGHWR

End scene.

You guys, why am I so neurotic about this? I mean, REALLY, it’s just food on the floor. They are LITTLE CHILDREN. I know I’m going to sweep the floor regardless if there are 2 Cheerios on it or 49, so what’s the big deal? I just wish I could tone it down a bit, but MAH BRAAAIIIIN.

And then I start to wonder…is Wito not the slightest bit interested in creating art (painting, drawing, etc) because I shrink-wrapped him in trashbags whenever he got within 2 feet of a paintbrush for the first 4 years of his life for fear of the mess he might create?

Hmmm, food for thought.

Joslyn included this passage from an interview with Anna Quindlen on Momfilter:

“I think having bright lines and boundaries really worked for us, that it made our kids strong and secure because they were clear on expectations and responsibilities. But I wish I had been better able to combine that with letting things go a little bit. Nobody really needs a bath every night. Nobody really needs a balanced meal for every meal. I should have let the freak flag fly a bit more. It’s hard to be a Type A mom. I wish I could have been a bit more B plus, for my sake and their own.”

B plus. I think I’m in love with that idea. Most certainly, the LAST thing I want is for my Type A behavior to stifle my children in any way.

So, this is a call to all of my fellow Type A mothers. Join Joslyn and I in aiming to be Type B+ mothers this summer. Are you in?

Look, I’ve already started.

Those Cheerios have been on the floor for 5+ hours. Baby steps.

Feels quite liberating…

(Nope, just feels messy.)

COMMENTS (26)

Desert Bound

May 28, 2011

We’re in Palm Springs, lounging by the pool for a few days. Have a happy Memorial Day weekend!

COMMENTS (1)

Helping Families With Diaper Need

May 26, 2011

A few weeks ago, I accepted the opportunity to be a Blogger Ambassador for the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program. To be completely honest, I wasn’t looking for any sort of blogger “ambassadorships” (wait, is that even a word?) at the time. I truly felt like I had found the perfect work/parenting/blogging balance after all of these years, and I wasn’t messing with it. Nope. No sirree bob.

Then I did a little reading about the program and realized I couldn’t possibly say no. I think being on the Tiny Oranges team for PCRF (we were the top fundraising team this year!), as well as spreading the word about The Maddie James Foundation (do you know they reached their goal this past weekend? ONE MILLION DOLLARS.) during this past year opened my mind to how my personal blog could be more than just a place where I wax poetic about parenting, striped tops and lip gloss. Maybe I could make a difference in regards to charitable causes too.

So, I gladly and proudly accepted.

What is the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program? In a nutshell, it’s a program to help families struggling with diaper need. Unfortunately, many families aren’t able to provide their babies with clean disposable diapers, and are forced to clean out and REUSE soiled diapers. Can you imagine keeping your baby in a soiled diaper all day long? Or trying to clean the diaper out and reusing it several times? I’ve dealt with diaper rashes on a few occasions, and my kiddos were miserable. I can’t even imagine the painful irritation a baby must endure while spending most of their day in a soiled diaper. It makes my heart hurt, really. And what about having to choose between diapers and other basic needs like FOOD? Huggies® recently conducted a study that found 1 in 3 American moms have had to face this choice.

The Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program has partnered with local diaper banks and national organizations (such as Feeding America) to raise awareness, generate support, and most importantly get diapers into the hands of the families that need them. In 2010, Huggies donated 22.5 million diapers and will donate ANOTHER 22.5 million this year.

How can you help? Learn more about how you can become involved in your community at EveryLittleBottom.com. You can find where you can donate diapers locally, attend a diaper drive event or even host your own diaper drive. In addition to these first steps, I’ll be back with programs and promotions throughout the next several months to help support this cause.

Before learning about this program, I didn’t know anything about diaper drives, but now I’m ready to jump in full force. What about you? Are you familiar with diaper drives? Have you donated to one in the past? I’d love to hear any input, because I’m totally learning as I go over here, but I am super excited to help in any way I can.

Disclosure: I have partnered with the Huggies® brand to help promote the Huggies® Every Little Bottom program. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about it here. However, my opinions are entirely my own.

COMMENTS (14)

What Have You Learned From Oprah?

May 24, 2011

I’m not much of a daytime TV gal, so I’d be embellishing if I told you that I watched Oprah regularly. I don’t. However, I admire her endlessly.

Last year, right around the time the Babies movie was released, I saw that Oprah was doing a segment about the movie on her show. I set my DVR to record the episode because I was dying to see those adorable babies in action. That evening, when I had some time to watch, I noticed that the majority of the episode was an interview with Simon Cowell about his departure from American Idol. I figured, what the hell, maybe I can learn something new from Mr. Cowell. (Possibly why he continually chooses to wear those ridiculously tight tees?)

Ohhhh, am I glad I watched it. Oprah said something during that interview that resonated with me to the core.

“Do you believe in luck? I don’t. Because I think there is no luck without preparation meeting the moment of opportunity.”

The truest words ever spoken, in my opinion. And look. I STILL have that episode from over a year ago saved on my DVR.

(Yeah, someone else OBVIOUSLY has control of our DVR choices…)

I’ve listened to those words many, many times over the course of the last year.

So. What have I learned from Oprah?

In honor of the last week of the Oprah Show, Maggie put together a #thanksoprah Flickr group to celebrate the things we’ve learned from Oprah over the years.

If you want to play along, take a photo of yourself holding a sign with something you’ve learned from the Oprah Winfrey Show. And then:

- Post your photo to the Thanks, Oprah! Flickr Group.
- Tweet your photo with the hashtag #thanksoprah.