Magnificent Mommy Monday

I've decided that every Monday I will feature a magnificent mommy in my life.
Today that is Connecticut Mommy.

Connecticut Mommy sometimes makes me cookies when I don't feel well and need baked goods. I think this makes her a magnificent mommy, but there are other reasons too!

CM is a mother of 3 beautiful girls, ages 4, 2 and 4 months. When the 3rd girl was born I told CM's husband "You are in SOOOO screwed!" (I know I'm such a supportive friend!)
I'm pretty sure he already owns some kind of gun. If not, he'll be making that purchase before they turn 16.

The following entry was written Friday night:

Tonight CM's husband called and asked if I could watch the girls so that he and CM could go on a date. I imagine with that full house dates are few and far between. I didn't have anything going on, that's right, my social calendar was empty on a Friday night in August. My DH had to work so I figured what the heck! This would give me plenty of material for this blog! (Understatement!)



Within the first 20 minutes:

We sat down to eat pizza and the 4 year old insisted on changing her clothes! No big deal except it was a skirt that was missing the matching shirt which she made me hunt all over the house for! Turns out she knew exactly where it was!

While I was hunting the 2 year old spilled her juice all over the table, floor and her pizza. While I'm cleaning that up the 4 month old is crying. So I'm holding her, wiping up the mess, when she projectile vomits all over me, the floor and the 2 year old's pizza.

I think I would have freaked out a whole lot more if the 2 year old hadn't erupted in giggles and said "SHE PUKED ON YOU!" which got the 4 year old going, which in turn made me lighten up and laugh.

I'd like to say it was smooth sailing after that 20 minutes but it wasn't. You see I'm supposed to be the cool babysitter who came over to play with them. Cool Aunt Rinnie who disguises cleaning up as "rounding up all the puzzle pieces so we can do all the puzzles! Ready? GO!"

Sadly, the 4 monther thought I was there to hold her and rock her until she decided to stop crying. She cried, I swaddled, she stopped. VICTORY! 5 minutes later WAAAAAAHHH! Maybe she's wet? Yup! Once she was a dry baby I thought she'd be happy...WRONG!

2 year old comes in looking at me like "Quit pinching her!"

*Side Note: Have you noticed when you have a crying baby in public, EVERYBODY says that! "Quit pinching that baby!" It's like a way for strangers to bond with the frantic mother!*

I ask 2 year to be my super-duper helper and get the green blanket. I swaddle the 4 monther and she stops. PHEW! I walk into the girl's room to help with puzzles and you guessed it WAAAAHH! Maybe she's hungry? It's about a half hour before she's scheduled to eat but what else should I do?

CM being the amazing mother of 3 that she is, left me frozen breast milk that I just had to defrost and poor into a bottle. Easy enough right? Apparently I'm not fast enough for 4 monther. I'm holding her, she's still crying, while I'm running the frozen breast milk under hot water. Finally it's in liquid form and I try to get it into the bottle. Just as I'm about to pour it into the bottle, 4 monther shoots her arm out and smacks it out of my hand and all over the counter! More giggling from 4 and 2 year old but this time I'm not quite as amused.

I decide that in order to be efficient I have to put her down while I get everything together. I look in the freezer and thankfully there is another plastic bag of breast milk. I repeat the whole process, but much more carefully! I test the milk on my arm, perfect temperature. (I don't really know if it was perfect but it felt like the temperature it would be if it came from a boob)

I get 4 monther out of her seat and put the bottle to her mouth and.......she realizes "THAT'S NOT A BOOB!" and starts crying again. Meanwhile 2 and 4 year old are saying over and over again "Come help us do the puzzle!" I'm trying to explain that their sister isn't happy and I have to get her to eat but they lose interest, and continue whining. I feel their pain, I'd be bummed too if my awesome babysitter couldn't do puzzles with me because of my screaming sister! I'd be thinking "Yo, Sis! Take the freaking bottle so we can get down to some serious puzzle time!"

I would like to take this moment to thank my Sister-in-Law who just this week was explaining how you can swaddle a baby and hold them on their side to make them content. It looks scary, like she's going to DROP the baby! She did it in Olive Garden the other day and all I could think was "People are gonna call CPS", but that baby was perfectly content! Thanks sis!

I decided to try the whole side holding thing. Suddenly she was quiet. I leaned over to make sure she was still alive and breathing. Sure enough, she was! I didn't offer the bottle because I figured, why mess with a good thing. Then in all my childless wisdom I thought "She breast feeds on her side!" so I popped the bottle in her mouth and suddenly it was the best thing since real boob!

After awhile I got brave and sat down. She didn't drink as much as CM would've wanted, but she got some down! While drinking her bottle she fell asleep. I ever so carefully put her in her crib all snugly and backed slowly out the door of her room.

If it felt that good to get my friend's baby down for the night(or so I thought, she woke up about an hour after that) I can't imagine how fantastic that must feel EVERY night for CM!

CM has decided to be responsible for raising not 1 human to become a productive member of society, but 3! I was there for about 4 hours and I was losing my mind trying to figure out how I could make everyone happy and she does this all day everyday!

I learned this: You can't make everyone happy all the time. This is a lesson I've learned many times in many different areas of my life. This is the first time I've thought of it in relation to children.

You do your best and what you feel is right. Then you hope that at the end of the day the 4 and 2 year old remember the funny parts (me getting puked on) and forget the fact that I wasn't able to help them with their puzzles.

CM I admire your strength and your flexibility! I can't imagine being stretched as thin as you are and still smile as much as you do! You are a light to your little girls as well as the people around you! There is obviously a joy about raising three girls that I can't understand unless I have my own! Don't get me wrong, it's a joy to be around them now, but if I had to do it every day like you...I'd probably drink more!


Disclaimer: I'm probably gonna say a few things that people (mostly parents) will find offensive! Like the last comment in this blog. Please know that nothing is meant with ill intent! Well...unless I say it is somewhere in the post...