Sick Day

Head pounding, scratchy throat, burning eyes and aches all over. That describes how I felt this morning at 4:30am when Trexen stood next to my bed pleading for me to find his Sophie kitty. Ugh up out of bed for the third time and now that cold the kids passed back and forth invaded my body.

A few hours later I am laying on our living room floor wrapped in a blanket, eyes closed and two wide awake boys driving tractors on me. I always rate my sickness by deciding if I would stay home from work or not, is it bad enough for a sick day? Well I found myself in a new situation this morning, there are no more sick days. Whether I'm full of energy or dragging myself out of bed there are two little ones needing me to be mama no matter what.











I close my eyes for a second and find this.













I tried to tell them, "mommy doesn't feel good, I need you to have good listening ears" but quickly they forgot and I was pushing swings and building sand castles trying to sit every chance I got wearing sunglasses in hopes of "resting my eyes" without being caught.













4:30am caught up with him












So I assume the position on the couch, enjoy quiet nap time and prepare my husband for a disaster house.




















Since there are no sick days, we are just trying to make it through today, looking forward to restored energy and fun later in the week.

You're Mean

"You're mean", that is what my husband said to me last Saturday morning. The few seconds prior to this statement I was frustrated, tired and simply said, "I need a break from these kids!" In my mind that is not mean just real, after an entire week with my darling little ones and I longed for a few minutes to myself.











A year and half or so ago I was part of a "Mom to Mom" group; we met once a week after our kids were sleeping soundly and shared highs and lows. Many of the moms stayed home during the day teaching and loving on their kiddos but I at the time was working 40+ hours each week out of the house. Over and over these mamas shared stories of weekends being difficult, their husbands messing up the routine and Monday bringing them back to normalcy.














Interesting...supposedly fun, family filled weekends being stressful. At the time I couldn't relate as I enjoyed the occasional Saturday lounging in pj's watching cartoons or skipping naps to be on the go. I listened intently to these mamas, tried to sympathize and stored that interesting thought in my mind.












Well this past weekend it went from an interesting thought to the truth...weekends are a bit challenging. My husbands been away all week and wants to spend time at home while I plea to go somewhere, anywhere. He wants to lay on the floor and play tractors when that is what I did hour after hour for the past 5 days. My significant other attempts to put the boys in their beds at 10am for a morning nap just because they "look tired" and I am arguing that nap time is at 1pm, don't mess with our schedule!

I like routine, plans and schedules and yes throughout the week we have sort of a routine. As the one with my 2 and 1 year old the majority of the time I know their moods, what to expect and how we do things. My husband is a fantastic, out of this world daddy but does it differently, not bad or worse, just different. So in my mind I am not "mean" just need to learn how to embrace the weekends, the times of crabbiness because naps were messed up, lounging in pj's even if they are the same pair I wore for the past 2 ok maybe 3 days and truly enjoying time with my boys and husband together.












Mama Meanness, I don't think so, simply striving for sanity.

Featured Mama

Each week we will feature an amazing, marvelous mama. You will get a peek into the daily lives of other local mamas, see pics of their family and learn some fun facts. This week we feature...

Nicole Paczesny

~Age- 30 yrs
~Birthday- January 20th
~#2 profession (mommy is #1)- I went to UW LaCrosse where I earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology with a minor in Psychology. I was originally planning to go on and get my Master's Degree in Social Work at UW-Milwaukee, but as it got closer I wasn't sure that's what I wanted to do. From there I decided to attend massage therapy school. All through college that is what I really wanted to do so I decided to just do it! I worked as a massage therapist in a downtown Milwaukee spa for about 16 months, up until Brady was born. I had planned to go back after a few months but it's now 4 years later and I am still at home! I still hold my national license and and continue to take continuing education courses.

~Names/Ages of Kiddos- Brady Michael 4yrs on June 6th, Nathan Michael 2yrs, #3 is due January 1st, 2012!
~Favorite Nap time Pastime- Well Brady very rarely naps so I never get complete quiet but I sometimes let him watch an episode (or two!) on Disney Junior so I can have some mommy time at the computer or take a shower.
~Guilty pleasure food item- I have absolutely no self control and some of my weaknesses are Cool Ranch Doritos, ice cream and most chewy fruity candy.











~Most Challenging Hour of the day- The hour before Mike comes home from work. By that time I am just spent and ready for daddy to get home and take over while I make dinner.
~Favorite Baby/Child Product- I'd have to say the baby product we've gotten the most use out of was a crib soother. We were given one when Brady was 4 months old and he used it until he was almost 3 1/2 and Nathan has had one since birth. It gives them something to watch and listen to as they settle to sleep on their own.

~Blogs you like, follow or have- We do have a Paczesny family blog however it has been almost a year and a half since I updated it! Two blogs I follow daily are Enjoying the Small Things and Young House Love, and of course PB & J!
~Favorite local place to take kids- We love the zoo when the weather allows, Bouncy Town and are members at the Madison Children's Museum.
~Your mommy style in 3 words- Eat, Sleep, Learn. I figure if I can get my kids to do at least a little of those each day, it's a good day!

All About Animals

This week has been all about animals. Week #2 of themes and it is going well. I have decided to only plan three days filled with games, crafts, fun foods, books and simple spelling words. Thursdays are going to be "Nama Days" where the boys go to my moms for a few hours to play with their friends and then Fridays are PB & J Days.

Monday was farm animal day which is basically our normal around here. They played with tractors, lined up all the animals, pretended to be cows, made cotton ball sheep pictures and we took a run to visit some live cows.

Tuesday rolled around and we celebrated pet animal day. I didn't plan much for this day as we get together with friends every Tuesday but we made puppy chow for the play date, looked through Bella's (our dog) baby book and pretended to be dogs.

Today, Wednesday, was zoo animal day and let me tell you my house was a zoo! It started really rough, Pace decided 3:30 this morning would be bedtime so I was exhausted which is never a good way to start zoo day. Some friends came over for the morning to play and chat which was wonderful. After that it all went downhill. Naps were terrible, lots of crying, whining and watching the minutes slowly tick by. We did manage to paint lion masks, watch some penguin videos on youtube, practice walking like penguins and read books about monkeys.

These weekly themes have been fun, make me feel better and definitely a great time filler during the most challenging hours. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Yellow Day

Bright sunrise, yellow tulips, ripe breakfast banana and a day full of yellow activities. Since I planned my sister's "sweet as honey" bridal shower a few weeks ago and everything was yellow I have really embraced the color. In the past yellow hasn't been on my favs list, it is hard to wear well, difficult to find the right paint color and challenging to match shades. After seeing my house decked out in yellow and enjoying delicious yellow food at the party I've decided it is a really happy color. Yellow just makes all things cheery, joyful and full of life.

Today was "yellow day" and I anticipated a day filled with happiness, laughter and sense of mellow. However lemons are also yellow, the sour, cheek puckering fruit and sometimes when life hands you lemons you must make lemonade. Boys boths woke up incredibly crabby, not sure why but it was ugly. By 7:15 am we had sped through #3 on the schedule and things weren't improving. In the end though we gave some yellow duckies a bubble bath, met friends at a park for a picnic, took good naps, picked dandelions and filled up on eggs and lemon pudding for dinner.

We shall see what green/blue day brings tomorrow...

Red Day

What a wonderful first day as stay at home mom! Today was red day and the boys were excited. I have a white bin from Target that I am using to keep our daily activities in and it worked great. The day started with me actually getting up at 5:30 when the alarm sounded and going for a run. We had a rough night with Trex and I didn't sleep much but my husband is also so skeptical of me actually getting up (every night I tell him my morning plan to wake up early but it never happens) I just wanted to prove him wrong.

After the run I was able to write our tentative schedule on the board:

~Breakfast

~Get Dressed

~Game (included cleaning the bathroom:)

~Craft (didn't happen- had an impromptu visit from Nama and friends)

~Outside (even had a snack of red popsicles- yes before lunch)

~Lunch

~Nap

~Snack- red jello

~Basement Playtime (didn't happen- Trex wanted to go outside instead)

~Daddy Home

At the end of red day a few games played, laundry done, successful sewing time and overall a peacefully fulfilling day. I am not crazy enough to think all days will be like this but I appreciated a good first one.

Now onto making "red" spaghetti!

Week of Change

Change is good, necessary and exciting but can also be scary. My transition week is here; wrapping things up at my job and preparing for my new one as a full-time mommy. I am extremely excited to be a stay at home mom and can't wait for this summer but part of me is nervous. Not that I can't handle my kiddos or housework but that I won't be able to fully enjoy it.

My type A, on the go, get it done side of me is literally freaking out. I need a schedule, a plan, some little lessons, daily craft and way to feel accomplished when 6pm rolls around. I love to have big projects going on, big plans and dreams, big events to look forward to and all this freedom is making me anxious. I can plan our day any way I like, I decide what to teach my kids, what experiences to show them and when to take them to Nama's.

These next few weeks will be tough but amazing at the same time. I am going to try to find the right balance, embrace my personality yet learn to be present in every moment. I plan to share any mini lessons, craft ideas, daily disasters and wonderful mama moments with you.











I'd love to hear from you as well. I will post questions, parenting topics and of course some giveaways! Comment on this post to let me know which day of the week you would prefer to have PB & J- any day works for me now! Do you like the same day every week, change it up or don't care? A random commenter will get a Beans-N-Cream gift card, they have delicious ice cream!