I was wrong.  I was very worried about how she would cope, especially because she is so shy.  Then she told me she didn’t want to take the bus by herself, she wanted to go on with me.

The day came, and she picked out a Disney Princess skirt to wear.  I did her hair up in pig tails, got her new Disney Princess book bag, and Ariel Lunchbag ready to go.  I took the First Day Of School pictures in front of our house, and walked with her to the bus stop.  I took the photo at the bus stop as we waited.  My husband waited in the van with my youngest, so that we could follow the bus after to school.

The bus pulled up to the curb.  We walked hand in hand across the street to meet it.  She waited patiently to get on, went up the stairs, sat down in the seat and smiled out the window and waved goodbye. 

The doors closed, and the bus drove off.

My baby was gone.

GONE!!!!!

Completely and absolutely independent and gone into the world.

When did she grow up?  Wasn’t she just a baby?  My tears fill my eyes as I hop into the van.

My husband says, “What took you so long, we gotta follow this bus.  Are you okay”?

“She’s gone, just gone”.

We then tried to keep up with the bus.  Believe it or not, its harder than you would think.  We drive up to the school, and my daughter gets off the bus, the teacher greets her, holds her hand and leads all the kids into the school. 

I spent the rest of the morning feeling like I had an empty nest.  It was quiet only having one child.  I didn’t  really know what to do.  We went to the park, for a walk, and then went to the bus stop to pick up Natara.

Natara got off the bus, and said “I didn’t cry at school.  I had fun.  I want to go back tomorrow”.

“What did you do at school?”, I asked.

“I don’t know”.

And so it begins…….

Enjoy your children when they are young, because in a heartbeat, you wonder where the time went.

As we are approaching “back to school”, it is my first time around with school and kids.  My oldest daughter Natara, is starting school this year.  She is incredibly excited about going on a school bus and learning about numbers and letters.  However, she is very shy also, so I am a little concerned of how the transition will go.  But isn’t every parent a little anxious when their oldest child starts school?

Today I decided to take her shopping for some back to school clothes.  I was expecting to hear some major complaining.  But no…I guess its a sure sign she is growing up because she kept throwing clothes into the cart.  I didn’t think 4 year old girls were supposed to like going shopping.  And how she knew her correct size….I will never know.  She told me, “Its fun being grown up”.  Now I know my baby is ready for school, sniff!!!!

It was an exhausting and a very expensive affair.  She started complaining of a sore head as we were leaving the store.  I offered her Mc Donald’s for lunch, she said NO.  I guess that should have been my first clue that maybe she wasn’t feeling well.  I went through the Wendy’s drive thru for lunch, and she started screaming because I went past our turnoff for home.  She said “I want to nap first, then eat”.  Clue number 2 that she may not be feeling well.  Clue #3 came when she told me that “I don’t want to swim in the pool later.  I will just watch you and Talia”.  What???  My little fish???  What is going on?

We get home and she vomits all over the living room floor.   My poor baby.  Now I realize why everyone is in such a craze to get hardwood flooring.  Vomit is really not fun to take out of carpet.  Yuk!!!

Enjoy your babies, because before you know it…they are off to school.

Then I had kids………

Everything changed when I had my first daughter.  I suddenly ONLY wanted a minivan.  I loved the storage of it and all the room you could have when driving inside of it.  My oldest daughter was born in April of 2005 and by September of 2005 we traded the car in for a minivan.

I loved how I felt like I was a queen driving it…so high from the road.  However, the one thing I never liked about it was learning how to park the beast.

I have an extended minivan, which makes it kind of long.  And I must admit, I have never been a master parking queen.  However, it has been 4 years, and do you think I have mastered parking the minivan?????   NO!!!

Inconsiderate people like to park over the parking lines.  I have friends that like to do that so that nobody will park next to them.  This just peeves me because when you are carting around two kids, a diaper bag, and snacks, you really want parking that is up close.  And ofcourse I just love the parking garages.  Those parking spaces are so tight, they are really not meant for big extended minivans. 

I have gotten much better, but people can still view me from afar taking about 4 attempts to straighten out my van so that its just so in the parking spot, taking care that its not too close to the adjacent cars.  Maybe some men may read this and think the stereotypical “woman driver” and ofcourse I am a blonde too, so that doesn’t help the sterotype.

I think I need one of those audible signals like those large trucks have that are carrying a “wide load”, to warn other people they are coming. 

Anybody else feel my parking pain?????

We started driving home late (approx 8:45pm), and it was starting to get dark.  Are kids usually go to bed at 7:30pm so we were already off to a bad start.  This summer we have seen horrible amounts of rain, and yesterday was no better.  It starting pouring buckets on us, making it very difficult to see the highway and it was dark and slick.  We decided to do the safe thing and pull over and spend the night in a hotel.

We got the last hotel room in a small little town.  We had nothing with us, only a diaper bag and a change of clothes for the kids.  Luckily we did pack pajamas so that they could wear them on the way home.  We had  to stop at a drugstore for some extra diapers, some toothbrushes, toothpaste, a hairbrush and homo milk.  All the essentials. 

We get into our hotel room and the kids are running wild and free.  They think it is time to party!!!!!    They are jumping on the bed like a trampolene and dancing around the room.  We then made the mistake of putting them in the same room together, while we were in the other room.  This was a massive mistake.  The kids just talked back and forth to one another, and Talia was bouncing up and down in the crib, shaking the crib rails.

My oldest daughter then wanted me to sleep with her in her bed like a sleep over.  Because we weren’t planning on staying overnight, we never packed her security blanket dolly named Mary.  Natara always sleeps with Mary.  She was sad, wanting her bed at home.  So we shared the King size bed. 

Next, we put Talia in the bedroom by herself in the crib (it was a suite with a living room).  Finally, with the lights dim and nothing to stimulate her interest, Talia finally fell asleep. 

Needless to say, Daddy, Mommy, Natara and Talia are all tired tonight.  We are all looking forward to our comfy beds to curl up into.

The saying is correct…..There is just no place like home.

My oldest daughter is constantly wanting to play with someone.  It was much easier when she was younger, because you could just cart her anywhere, to a park, an indoor playland, a farm, you name it…..she would be happy.  That is no longer the case.  Now, she always wants to “see someone”. 

This week I contacted a couple of friends (who their children are friends with mine also).  We planned to meet at a local free splash pad after work.  Plan B was the Mc Donalds Playland if it rained.  Luckily, it was hot and sunny.  I brought a picnic blanket, a fruit platter, someone brought the drinks, and we all pitched in for some pizza. 

The splash pad had two play structures with swings and slides, and ofcourse a complete water wonderland filled with ice cold hose water.  We set up our picnic and the kids thought that pizza in the park was a really fun idea.  They all ate great, and had a blast playing with one another for two hours straight.  We had to drag them back to the car when the adults wanted to go home.

It was a great way to let the kids interact with one another, enjoy the beautiful summer weather, and for us adults to touch base in a busy world.

The best part was:  We came home to a clean kitchen.

I really enjoy it too.  I think they are a huge money grab for parents.  By the time you pay for admission, ride tickets, and get suckered into playing games for dollar store prizes, you are nearly broke.  However, I grew up in a very small town, and there was nothing much to do.  Once a year the Fair would come into town and we would all flock there to see everything and everybody.

Last year we entered my oldest daughter’s crafts into my hometown fair.  She won a 4th prize.  We were so happy to get a ribbon.  Mainly, we had so much fun making the craft and entering it, we decided to do it again. 

We recently entered two of her crafts into a local fair.  The prizes are just a couple of dollars, but just to have the recognition and the ribbon…..is enough to feel great.  We went to the fair over the weekend to see her crafts being displayed.  There before our eyes, were two little 1st prize ribbons.  Wow!!!  What a feeling!!!!!  After all of that hard work on a rainy day, it really paid off.  However, the most important thing was that it was really fun, quality time.  I don’t even think my daughter really understands what 1st prize is.  And ofcourse, every child gets a ribbon just for participating.

After seeing her crafts on display, we proceeded to spend lots of money going on rides and playing games, but even better…….I will be able to put a wonderful craft and ribbon in my daughter’s memory box for her to view years from now.

Its not the winning at the finish line…..its how you get there.

I went to Costco to pick up some of my staples.  For some strange reason, I thought taking two kids with me was a good idea.  I was wrong.

From the moment we started driving there, my toddler would scream at me if I changed the radio station.  We get to Costco, and I put both kids in the cart.  Apparently a toddler and a preschooler should not be in such tight quarters.

They started shoving each other as I am walking down the aisle.  The little one is screaming no, no, no, nooooo.  The older one is shouting stop, stop, STOP.  The infamous “Mommy, she’s bugging me” comes into play.

I tell the kids I will need to separate them, I tell them to stop, no matter what I tell them, they look at me and burst into laughter.  I never realized I was that funny.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, they decided to start shooting their tongues so that they were spraying spit over one another….and giggling up a storm because shooting saliva is apparently very funny to kids.

At this point, I can feel the eyes of adults around me, and yes….even other kids.  And the other kids were looking on not to say “wow, that looks like fun” but they looked as though they were thinking “what is wrong with them”.  At that moment I just wanted to crawl in a big hole and hide as I realized I was one of those parents in the store that you look at and think “Can’t she control her kids?”.

As we walked to the cash, my little monsters suddenly turned into little angels as they started trying to charm the cashier.  Yes, ofcourse making me feel silly for thinking to myself my kids were totally out of control. 

All in all, it was an exhausting outing, and I am taking comfort in the fact that they are having a nap.  Yes, nap time is wonderful.

Now that my kids are 4 and almost 2, they are not as dependent as they once were, and they are able to speak up for themselves.  I started realizing that they are no longer infants, and that it was time for my husband and I to have an overnight date night.  We have gone out for dates here and there, but never overnight.

Our sixth wedding anniversary was last weekend so I decided that would be a perfect time to have our date night.  My mom came by to watch the kids, and they had an absolute blast with Grandma.  It doesn’t make you feel too guilty when they are giggling and waving “bye” as you leave out the door.

We went for coctails first, then we went out for some tasty ribs at a local restaurant.  After that, we went to a wine-tasting bar and tasted some wines we had wanted to try.  After that, we went for some dessert at a specialty place that only serves cakes and pies.  Yummy!!!!  We then retired back to our nice room, and the next morning was a wonderful brunch.  It was so nice to just sleep in, climb out of bed and not have to schedule my morning shower, and then go down for a great all you can eat brunch and not have to listen to  “Mommeeeeee, more toast” or “I don’t like that, yuck”.

And the best part of the date night, was coming home to kids that were shrieking in delight to see their parents.

Take time for yourself, and for your relationship, to remember who you were before you became the wonderful selfless parents that you are.

The other day it was soooo hot.  I mean, I took the kids to the park, the swing seats were hot, the slide was hot, and after a half an hour they wanted to go home.  We went in the morning so it wouldn’t be too humid, and so that the UV wouldn’t be too high.  Unfortunately, it was one of those days when it was hot from the moment you woke up. 

We got home, we stripped down to our swimsuits, slapped on the sunscreen and hopped in the pool.  Wow, did that feel refreshing.  A few people surrounding me have pools also and they were all in their pools at that time as well.  The sweet sound of children laughing, splashing, and watching beach balls fly in the air was very relaxing. 

After all of my grumbling the previous week about the hassle and cost of owning a pool, I realized the simple pleasures also associated with it.  A girl at work told me that “I couldn’t imagine growing up without a pool.  We always had one” and I realized how lucky my children were.  Not only is a pool fun, but its a great way to practice how to swim; an important means of survival.  I also thought back to my own childhood…..we never had a pool but my grandparents had a cottage that we would go to.  Those memories were some of the best memories I can think of in my childhood.  Collecting shells along the beach, swiming in the water, going for boat rides, and roasting marshmallows and hotdogs on the campfire.

Thinking back, it made me realize I have to sometimes think through the eyes of my children.  We get so caught up in a stressful adult life, complaining about money or time that we don’t have, that we lose touch of the simple pleasures that life brings us.

Enjoy the simple things in life.

I find myself sad as I say goodbye to Someone, Something, that reperesents part of my own childhood.  As parents, we all try and shape our childrens’ lives the best we can.  A certain smell, taste, song, can bring back memories from the past, from our childhood.  My daughters scream in delight when they hear “Pink” , “Miley Cyrus” or “Taylor Swift” come on the radio.

For me, that icon during childhood was Michael Jackson.  I can remember boys at school doing the “Moon Walk” to try and be like him; wearing the “glove” or leather jacket.  I grew up to music videos with “Beat It” and “Thriller” and watched his incredible dance moves.

Over the years I was there watching as his face transformed, and watched him battle criminal charges against him and public scrutiny over balcony incidents and other things.

Regardless of some of the negative publicity Michael Jackson recieved, for me,  when I think back on my childhood, I can remember Michael Jackson’s music and influence and a smile comes to my face.  He changed the music industry, and deserves the title, the King of Pop.

I sit here and I am heartbroken watching his little daughter speak at his memorial service.  She tells thousands of people that her daddy was the best dad in the world and that she loves him.  After this, she walks off the stage in tears.  How heartbreaking.  As a mother, this just brings tears to my eyes.  No child should have to endure such pain.

Children should have a world full of hope, happiness and laugher where the world is their oyster.

Think about a person, a song, a taste,  or a smell that brings you back to childhood; where the world was a totally different place.