Parenting 101

See this sweet face? Well, yes, Elizabeth is sweet, and smart, and funny, and very loving.  She is an incredible, awesome little girl, she's my little girl and I love her with all my heart. However...there are times when her sassiness  (omg the sassiness!!) can really push my buttons.  I really, really try to take it in stride when she talks back, or says not very nice things to me when I've told her "no."  But sometimes it's hard.  I question myself a lot- am I too hard on her? Am I spoiling her?  I know they say that all kids want and need limits. And of course I know that's true. But sometimes the reaction I get from E when I do set a limit makes me feel like I'm the meanest person on earth. Gah!  Sometimes being a parent feels like you don't do anything right!
Coincidentally, a flyer came home the other day from E's school about a free parenting class being offered next month.  Yeah, I'll be signing up.  The days of my thinking I was going to be the perfect parent are loooong gone....:)


And just some gratuitous cuteness... E with her buddy W in back of our apt complex.

Sometimes...

Ok, so I'm feeling like this blog just focuses on the happy, fun stuff.  I don't want to give the impression that our lives here are perfect, or that it's all a breeze.  'Cause it ain't!   I know I appreciate "mommy blogs" that are honest and talk about real life stuff.  So I thought I'd write a little bit about some of the challenges we have here.  Before I do, I just want to say, the happy fun stuff I post about is real.  We have lots and lots of great times, and our lives are pretty darn good.   There is a lot of love and laughter in our little household.  But in the interest of keeping this blog "real"...

Sometimes...

-I lose my patience
-I let E watch too much TV
-the cost of full time Day Care makes me cry
-I get annoyed when a mother who's husband goes away for few days refers to herself as a "single parent"
-I hate having to work full time, even though I should be grateful that I have a job
-I hate going to the playground and would really rather just stay in and read
-I feel really guilty that E is in Day Care 9 hours a day
-E can at times be defiant and not too nice to me
-E puts up so much fuss when I try to do her hair that I now take her to a beauty salon regularly to avoid the stress
-I worry that I'm not explaining adoption well enough to her
-I feel sad that I probably won't adopt again
-I feel like a loser because we live in a rented apartment, instead of owning a house or condo
-E still sleeps with me, and I like it, but miss being able to read in bed before going to sleep
-I forget to be grateful for all that we do have...

PS: Don't forget to click on the brown button on the right to vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs.  Thanks!! :)

Just a little over a month until...

Elizabeth and I go to San Diego...Whee!!  So excited...we haven't been there since we moved east almost 3 years ago.  Can I just say that I still have a little PTSD from that particular flight?  Elizabeth had recently turned 2.  Need I say more?  OMG, it was...bad...She was not happy about being made to stay her seat, despite all the snacks and toys I had.  I even tried to bribe her with my usually forbidden phone.  She looked at it for about 20 seconds, then threw it over the seat in front of us.  There was a lot of screaming and crying (and Elizabeth had a hard time, too)...It was so bad that after the flight, in the baggage claim area, an older man who'd been on our flight patted me on the arm and said, "It gets better..."  I was so tired and frazzled by that point, all I could manage was a wan smile at him in return. 
Well, obviously, Elizabeth has grown and changed in the past three years.  There is a huge difference between 2 and 5 years, right?  I am anticipating a much better experience this time.  And just to insure that things will go better, I've bought her a kids e-reader, which can be loaded with apps for games, etc.  It was going to be for her birthday, but I may wait until we fly out to give it to her. 

What about you?  Any travelling-with -kids horror stories?

This n that

One cool thing that happened this past week was, I got a new Blackberry, for free! I was eligible for an upgrade, so I went to Best Buy. I picked out the Blackberry, thinking I'd pay $50 for it, but for some reason, it was free. Yay!! It's my first Blackberry, and I LOVE it...I was sooo tempted to get an IPhone (never had one), but couldn't really justify spending $100 that I don't actually have...lol...Doesn't matter, I'm happy with my BB. It sure beats the crappy little $10 go phone I've been stuck with for the past 3 months since someone threw my smart phone in the pool in July...Oh, I didn't tell you about that? Yeah, Elizabeth and I were at the pool one evening in July, and she decided she didn't want me talking on my phone, so she grabbed the phone and chucked it- right into the pool...Oh yes, she did...yeah, this Mama was not happy...Of course the phone was totally wrecked, and I had no insurance on it. So I ended up having to buy a little go-phone until I was eligible for an upgrade, which was luckily this week...Yay!! needless to say, I purchased insurance on this one...
In other news...on Thursday (just 4 days away!!) I'm headed to Texas for a mini vacay. I'm visiting an old freiend of mine...sans Elizabeth....She'll be staying with Maria. I know she'll be fine, but it will be the longest I've ever been away from her, and the farthest!! I am so excited, but a little nervous too...
And, just because, here are a few pics...