Boys VS Girls

When I found out in my fourth pregnancy that I was having our first son I never thought there would be so many daily differences.

Sure I have to duck when changing a diaper or be able to beat the times of a Nascar pit team in changes.  There is the obvious differences in the plumbing.  My girls were never as interested in their nether regions as early as my son has been.  It's a nonstop wrestle to keep him from yanking his jewels off.  His most recent interest in showing them to everyone or just touching them.  He has already become an expert at arranging his clothing and diaper so that he can man-handle himself. I am missing when he was just obsessed with his belly button. (he would play with it so much that he actually left it glowing red)

The biggest difference is in day to day playtime.  Today I was standing at the sink washing vegetables when my son started his usual shouting to hear himself being loud. (boys are louder.. girls are just really high pitched)  I turn around and jump at him with a loud RAWR!  I thought it would have startled him at least a little. (I know.. mean mommy)  Instead of running away to peek at me from behind something like his sisters have in the past, he runs at me full charge with a little battle cry.  I was so startled by his reaction I didn't prepare myself for his onslaught.   He almost manages to knock me to the ground.  (If I hadn't been standing close to the sink it would have been Monster Maxx 1 Mommy 0)  He then laughs a huge belly laugh while pointing at the stunned look on my face.

There are also many things that are all to similar.  Maxx loves to break into dance at any music just like his sisters.  Their favorite song to dance to is actually the intro music to Strawberry Shortcake. Nadia requests me to play it again and again just to dance with Maxx.

What are some of the differences between your sons and daughters has caught you off guard the most?  

Can't I get a Retake?

My new ID finally arrived in the mail today..  that's right in the mail. It seems they don't trust our DMV employees to actually hand us a card when we walk out anymore.  Not without merit it seems, only recently one of our local DMV workers was busted while selling Id's for $1700-$3000 to illegal immigrants.

I wonder what changes they are going to make now.  Already I was forced to walk around with a card that will not be accepted by anyone as proper identification (due to the hole punch they put into it when I went to renew it)  And a worthless piece of paper stating I am getting a new card in the mail (but does not count as identification.)  For the past two weeks I guess I have qualified as a non-human. I have just been a figment of my imagination.

Upon receiving my long awaited ID... (Yes, I said long awaited.. I'm impatient.. less than 10 minutes at the DMV and still had to wait two weeks to get the card.  I'd rather go back to waiting at the DMV for hours and walk out with my proof of identification.) One peek at the card and I shrieked in horror.  Am I really going to have to walk around showing this to people for the next 4 years?
Let me just say.. they should have at least warned me I looked like the walking dead on camera.  I could have sworn I looked better when I walked into the DMV. I honestly think it was just being at the DMV that sucked the life out of me.

Mother's Day the Aftermath

Yesterday I had the most relaxing and enjoyable Mother's Day in all the 12+ years of being a mommy.  I did not receive gold and jewels, because they would mean so little to me.  Instead I got a much needed day off from being mommy.

Instead of waking with Monster Maxx at 6am he actually slept until 8 am.  I would have slept in later like was my original plan, but being pregnant my bladder capacity is sad joke.   I woke before anyone else and snuck some quiet time catching up on emails and reading some of my favorite blogs.

For breakfast I didn't get the fantasy breakfast in bed.  Mostly my own fault since I am the early riser in the house.  Instead of lounging in bed trying to ignore the crumbs settling around me as I ate my breakfast that was thoroughly enjoyed because it was not something I had to cook myself for a change. My missed breakfast in bed reminded me of all the years I brought my parents breakfast in bed on these special days.

I spent the remainder of the day guiltily ignoring any and all standard mommy duties.  Watched movies from the comfort of my bed (yup a whole movie ALL the way through!), being brought ice cream and grilled cheese sandwiches and reading an entire book (my first in months).  My mother's day gift from my family was the gift of laziness.  I didn't change a single diaper, wash a  dish, or referee a single argument.   It was glorious!

Even with yesterday being the best mother's day to date.. The aftermath of that day spent lounging is beyond imaginable.  There was clothing scattered from bedrooms, down the stairs and into the couch cushions.  Toys were everywhere but in the actual toy bins and boxes. The remote for our DVR is no where to be found.  I still have not gotten up the nerve to check under the couches for the mess that awaits me there.  I think that was a piece of broccoli stuck to the TV screen.

I think for next year I will ask for a day off and no undeclared disaster zone left for me to clean on the day after mother's day.  Who am I kidding though?  This time next year we will have baby #5 in the house tearing things up as well. Two kids will be in diapers, a five year old that changes outfits more than any diva in concert and two teenage girls with hormones on full blast.  I will be glad to get a bath undisturbed and alone.

I hope all your mother's day were amazing, no matter if you are mother's of birth, adoption, fostering, step- moms or single dads who have to be both roles.