Maybe I should shower more frequently?

M and I are not American Idol watchers, but you'd almost have to live under a rock to have never heard the "Pants on the Ground" song. I had it sent to me on e-mail, Facebook, saw it on various commercials, heard parts of it on the radio, etc. However, if you've never heard it, here it is:



Jimmy Fallon (as Neil Young) even covered it on his show:



Here is my version:

Poop in my hair
Poop in my hair
Lookin' like a mom with some poop in my hair

With the clip in my hair
Spit-stained t-shirt
Poop hits my hair
Don't even notice
Lookin' like a mom
Walkin' 'round town with some poop in my hair

Clean it up, hey!
Get the poop outta my hair
Lookin' like a fool
Talkin' to the neighbors with poop in my hair

Clean it up, hey!
Get the poop outta my hair
Lookin' like a mom with some poop in my hair


Seriously... how did I miss this? I kept smelling something and couldn't figure it out for HOURS... both kids were clean, no poop on the floor, potty, chair, rug, carpet. I finally brushed some hair away from my face and found... it. Thanks, H, for the memories.

Formal debut

It's a bit ridiculous... I've spent about 4 months trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my blog: why I write it (personal journaling? keep friends and family in the loop? amuse others? create a readership? feel special when strangers comment? It's taken me some time to sort out my true intentions), what my blogging limits are (public or private blog? photos of kids/family/home? anecdotes of motherhood? anecdotes of marriage? details of my location?), who I wanted to be reading the blog (family? friends? friends of friends? people who get to the blog via a friend's blog or a comment I've made on a blog? anyone in the world?)

After much soul-searching and prayer, I have decided to create THIS blog, which is essentially going to be a "mirror" blog that has been scrubbed of photos and names of my kids and husband, in order to have a public blog that doesn't make me feel like I'm exposing my family to anyone and everyone. My criteria is that, if I wouldn't mind a perfect stranger (or creepy person at the grocery store) accessing this blog and printing each post and stapling it up on those WalMart bulletin boards, then it's ok. Otherwise, it's a no-go.

My #1 priority in my mothering job is protecting my family.

While I love to look at other people's blogs with great photos of their kids and home, I know that I need to keep some things private. By exposing too much, I leave myself open to regretting it if something bad were to happen. But, by revealing too little, I never run that risk. Even Ree, the Pioneer Woman, keeps the names of her children and husband private. I was reading a blog recently and noticed that while the author typically avoided mentioning the town she lives in, she had posted a photo that included the name and mentioned her family lived within biking distance. It hit me that I had the following information: her full name (last name had been mentioned on a different blog), the names of her children and husband, town she lives in and approximate location of her home, photos of what her house looks like, schools her children attend (also revealed in photos on the blog/clues in the blog), and what church they attend. There are way too many people out there who might use this information for less-than-honorable intentions, and with a fully-public blog, I have to be aware of this.

Do I want absolutely anyone out there to know what I have in my home? Would I be willing to post photos of the inside of my home at the local grocery store? Would I want my sonogram photos in every local church bulletin? Would I encourage my husband to pass out pictures of my children to all of his coworkers and ask them to hand them out to strangers? Would I tell strangers that I'm going out of town and how long I'll be away? Would I print out a list of all the major dates in our family, such as birth dates and anniversaries, and send it to the newspaper of a major city? Obviously... no. I have my Facebook page limited as to who can view it and the photos on it, and even then I question if I should remove photos/names/acknowledgment of birthdays and anniversaries.

However, I have a lot to say and I enjoy writing (don't want to let all those creative writing classes and M.A. just rot away in my brain!), so I'll enjoy blogging in a more safety-concious way, and hopefully anyone who stops by will enjoy reading it! As for family/home/personal pics, those will stay on my private blog.

Stay tuned for the companion cooking and recipe blog, cheerfullychaotickitchen.blogspot.com!

Just me

I was "blog-hopping" one day after having read a comment on Clover Lane that I particularly liked. I ended up at Views from My Kitchen Sink, where I found a great post about having a picture of yourself that you really like, with no husband or children in the photo. I thought about how the majority of my photos are of the kids, or M with the kids, or just M, or me with M and/or the kids. I'm usually the one behind the lens these days. And the photos that are just of me have been rather hideous of late.

But then I came across THIS photo:

I love it! I was pregnant with H and pushing C in a stroller along the bumpiest, cobbliest, cobblestone street in Montreal last summer. We had just gotten our new camera and M was dying to really "take it for a spin." Every few feet he'd call out my name to take another photo of me and C... this must have been the 100th that evening. I can see in the slightly tired eyes that the long walk, uphill on cobblestones while 5+ months pregnant, while pushing a stroller and lugging a diaper bag, was beginning to take its toll. But, when I see this picture I smile because I see how completely happy I was. This picture reminds me of who I am on days when I'm dragging or frustrated or cranky. I love how the cars and street are blurred behind me-- it's as if, for just one moment, the bustle of daily life stopped, and there I was.

It's just me, who I am. Maybe not the me in the mirror at exactly this or that frustrated moment, but the me I see when I close my eyes. The me my husband saw on our wedding day and every morning when we wake up.

Have you ever...

had one of THOSE days? A day where you were

- projectile vomited on
- peed on
- pooped on
- nearly set on fire when the lighter fluid bottle cracks and soaks your shirt?

Really? You have?

Well, was there also a live scorpion, less than 2 feet away from your toddler and infant, that you had to hunt down and kill?

I didn't think so.

Welcome to my world.

A place for everything and everything in its place

... in my dishwasher. And literally nowhere else in my house.

Some women are domestic goddesses and can manage to create perfectly ordered living spaces, no matter how small the space. My former roommate, Lauren, is particularly gifted in this art. Her room in our apartment was a study on controlling clutter and having an immaculate, zen-like living area.

I'd like to use the excuse that after M and I married, I moved into the house in which he'd been living for 5 years and had to move all of my furniture and stuff into his house, as opposed to the way many newlyweds start from scratch in a new home/apartment. Then, once we'd gotten fairly settled in our 3 bedroom home (our bedroom, office, and guest room), I got pregnant with C and then moved right after she was born. We moved to a 3 bedroom house again, so we had our bedroom, the office/guest room, and C's room. And THEN, I got pregnant with H. So now we have our bedroom/office/exercise room, C's room, and H's room/guest room. And the closets? Don't even ask. We have NO STORAGE space in this house, so it's a little frightening how I've had to "organize" (I use the term loosely) the closets.

However, this excuse falls apart when I look at my friend Kate's house. Kate's moved a few times since having kids, and her house is always gorgeous. Then again, when Kate wants more space, she knocks down walls.

Now THAT'S an idea! Gotta run and get the sledgehammer...

WWJW

Further proof that my brother-in-law is the funniest person in the world...

The day after H's baptism we were all at my in-laws' house and someone commented on how good the chrism on H's forehead still smelled. I (or someone... I think it was me) commented that it would be a best-selling cologne for men if we bottled it. Then my younger brother-in-law came up with the tagline for the product:

Chrism. WWJW- What Would Jesus Wear.

Told you. He's HI-larious. That's even funnier than merely hilarious.

Lions and Tigers and... Walruses?

Yesterday, C and I played a little word association game while I vacuumed the house.

Me: H is cute like a...
C: Lion

Me: H is cute like a...
C: Tiger

Me: H is cute like a...
C: Walrus

Umm... ok. H is cute like a walrus, folks.