The Supermom

I am not a supermom. I am not a slacker mom by any means, but everyone knows a supermom that they someday aspire to be. Or hope never to become. You see, there is this fine line between being a really great mom (easily called a supermom in my book) and a neurotic helicopter mom who constantly flutters around her kids, worrying about every scratch and scuffed shoe. I have it within me to be the neurotic mom. And before having kids, I probably was one. Anyone ever see that book 'I was a really great mom until I had kids"

Because actually having the little boogers...err joys...radically changes your outlook on everything. Take driving. Before I had Cadence, my driving habits were very much the same as before I had Bishop. The reason being that his carseat was safely in the middle of the back seat. A pain to get him in and out of; but very safe in the case of an accident. Now that there are two of them sharing the back seat, there is one on each side...which means there is exactly 3 safe places that my car can be hit in a collision without directly contacting either of them or me. And lets be real honest here, if I got in a car accident with my kids in the car, I would be a mess. Anyways, the fact that I have charted out the 'safe to be hit' zones of my car should be a clue in the neurotic side.

But back to the really great supermoms out there- I think we all know one. You know who I am talking about. The woman who is able to get every one of her several children out of bed, clothed, fed a home cooked breakfast (we are talking eggs here, not cereal), to school, house cleaned, laundry done, errands ran, children home, homework complete, dinner on the table, limited tv time, "quality family time" together, baths/showers, and everyone in bed at a reasonable hour.

I take my proverbial hat off to you. One woman of my acquaintance comes to mind, and really, the reason for this whole blog happened this last weekend at a Christmas party I attended. Her name is Deb Hegman. This woman never fails to amaze me. From my perspective (as neither her child/husband/someone really close to the family) this woman is able to get all of her kids going in the right directions AND she teaches Sunday school to the preschool class. Which, I don't care who you are, takes a very special, patient person. She home-schooled all of her very intelligent, well mannered children. They have a family dinner every night. And she never has a hair out of place.

So, at the aforementioned Christmas party, I was somehow not at all surprised when she and one of her daughters got up and preformed a duet on the piano. My first thought was, "Well of course she plays the piano. What doesn't she do!?" And this was in no way sarcastic. This is the woman who can pull a craft out of the lint of her purse to entertain a toddler at the dentist office. This woman amazes me. And exhausts me. And all around makes me wish I was a better mom to my kids, while still understanding that I am the best mom I can be.

I just will never be a Deb Hegman. Which is ok. At the end of the day, my kids need me to be me, not try to be her.

But Deb Hegman, I salute you!

A house of secrets

As I have told a few of you, Cadence is an expert at hiding things. And often, I will later find a pile of random toys that she snuck into the bathroom, her bedroom, under her crib, behind my bedroom door and so on. Usually I find the pile by tripping over it, or by not being able to open the bathroom door. At that point, I find a pile of random stuffed animals, dinosaurs, horses, guns, and cars. Basically anything that Bishop likes that she can sneak out of his room or the play area without him noticing.

It has recently come to our attention that Bishop is also big into hiding things. Under the dining room table. Usually he sneaks things under there to eat them in secret. He found a bag of candy once, and he took it under the table, and as I was looking around for him, I found him huddled with the bag of chocolate. Yesterday he took the box of fruit snacks off the kitchen counter, and was eating them under the table. The part that I don't understand is that he can have most anything he wants if he eats his lunch/dinner. The only time I really tell him no is if he hasn't had dinner yet, or only ate a little bit. So really, no reason to sneak the food.

And then, the best time was today. Zach was packing for his trip and asked Bishop if he knew where his hacky-sack is. Bishop said, "Oh, yeah." Then promptly went out to the dinning room table, and pulled out the hacky-sack from underneath one of the overhangs. We were shocked that 1. He is for real stashing things under there and 2. that he actually remembers where he put it.

It's like his secret fort that he is taking things to. So bizarre.

He also adores playing Star Wars Battle Station on Playstation. He came and got in bed with us at 6:30 this morning and wanted to play "The game" as he calls it. He doesn't like watching movies, he just wants to play the game. And the best part is? He is actually pretty good. And he actually wins sometimes. It is pretty incredible.