Life as a parent...

Ok, I'm stopping the "Day #:..." format of my post titles. It seems completely unnecessary and kinda lame.

I realize I am referring back to my first post a lot, which I apologize for, but I really could have made that post a hellava lot longer than it was, but I decided to skim over a few things in the effort to make it shorter. I figure that people must have noticed that, considering the one comment so far (Thanks Dani!!!) was wanting clarification on something I skimmed over (Dani, I hope you liked the last post! I answered your question! See, I totally take requests).

One of the other points that I skimmed over was my reason for having no time to read these days. For anyone who actually knows me, the reason would be blatantly obvious, but for those who don't know me (perhaps this is wishful thinking at this point, considering my blog is only 4 days old), a little more info is necessary to explain my lack of time.

The lack of time is due to my job. And my boss for this job is a pint-sized dictator who doesn't so much tell me what she wants me to do, she just screams at me until I get it right. Job title: Parent to a newborn.

I consider myself the parent of three (on occasion four, sometimes my husband counts), I have Brayden; my 10-year old stepson, Boca; my Rottweiler mutt (sometimes referred to as the "fur-baby"), and our newest addition, my daughter Rosalie; born April 21, 2012 (and my husband Roland, who has a thing for cars, and when he grows up he wants to be Japanese).

Before Rosalie made her arrival, the other two (or three) were not too difficult to handle. Brayden at school during the day, Roland picks him up after school, and many weekends he's either at Roland's parent's house, or with his mom (or more specifically his mom's parent's, but that is a whole other matter that I will probably not post about, because I'm not sure what I can get sued for posting to the internet, even if it is all true). When he is at home he's self sufficient. I mean, he's 10! Boca, after she got over her puppy years, became extremely easy to care for. Being fans of The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, we followed his principles to the T and she is an awesome dog.  As long as she get's at least one walk a day, she's completely balanced and a perfect companion. She's a low energy dog that loves cuddles. She would be a lap dog if we would let her. I think Rosalie's arrival has been a bit of a blow to her because she doesn't get as much attention from me and she get's told to go away a bit more often. She loves it when people come to visit us because either they are holding Rosalie so she comes and gets pets from me, or I am holding Rosalie and the visitor can pet her or throw her ball for her.

Now... the little dictator...

I don't think anyone has ever said that parenting babies is easy, and if someone has said that to you, slap them and tell them to stop lying. I don't care if you have the most perfect baby in the whole world, it's still tough and exhausting.

There are times, especially at this age where it's not too bad. I get to shower almost daily, because when I put her in her bouncy chair outside the bathroom door, I can see her at all times and she stays put. I generally get to eat breakfast in a reasonable amount of time. She's awake but she's content, so I can generally get a bowl of cereal down and skim the paper before she freaks out to be fed again. Lunch is a completely different matter. I generally want to eat something a bit better than cereal for lunch. Today I made a can of Campbell's Cream of Potato Soup. Not exactly rocket science, but it takes time, and if she sleeps while I am actually making it (like she did today), then the second I sit down to eat it she wakes up and wants to eat herself (I swear it's the smell of real food that makes her hungry), so generally I pop in the soother and hoover my food, but generally she spits out the soother and screams while I eat like a mad woman. That, or I give up and feed her first and then eat cold soup.

Recently I had a weekend where Roland and Brayden went on a fishing trip and I was home being a single parent. My best friend, Erin (who now lives in BC), messaged me saying that I had been so calm about everything so far and that if I needed to freak out, to call. Now, here's a little secret. I am not calm. I freak out ALL the time. Generally in the evening. I have sworn at her, screamed back at her, and put her in her crib while she's screaming to walk away and give myself a time-out.

And I always cry about those times later. Because I don't mean the things I say, and I worry that I am damaging her by saying them or walking away from her. There was even one night where I walked away from her, leaving her in her crib to give myself a time-out and she fell asleep on her own. I cried about this a lot because I am worried that she will feel that I had abandoned her and that she won't be able to come to me for help when she needs it when she's older. You may think I'm crazy, I mean, she's only a baby, but what am I teaching her at this early point in her life? The prenatal class we took before she was born taught us that even their birth experience can effect them the rest of their life.

Sometimes, when I am still slightly sane when she's crying, I can remind myself that there are tons of people that would kill to be in my position. Screaming baby and all. Because they would rather be dealing with a screaming newborn than not have one at all. This makes me reevaluate my feelings and determine where they are coming from. Most of the time I come to realize that when I am overtired, I have zero patience. This could be valuable information to anyone that has dealt with me when I am angry. I think most of the time when I freak out it's because I'm overtired. So, if in the future anyone is dealing with a crazy, psycho Annie, ask me "Are you tired?" and that might calm the beast.

As difficult as I have found parenting is, and I was under no illusions before I signed up for this, she makes it all worth it. As much as she cries and as angry as I get, her smiles, and cuddles, and the fact that I know I would jump in front of a bus for her makes it all worth it. Which is what any parent would say I'm sure. (AAAND, there's the cheese factor for this post)

(P.S. I am sorry these posts are SO long, this is really not intentional. I want to make short little 2 -3 paragraphh entries, but there is so much background info that I really don't want to miss anything. Also, I said I wouldn't do many of these "all about me" posts, but this won't happen much after the first few, I promise...)

~*~

Because this post is all about my babies, I decided to post my first kid's book review! Now, this book has been made into a movie, and my perspective on adaptations is a WHOLE other post for later.

 

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

This is a fun book and an interesting way to get kids into Greek Mythology, however it lacks originality as a novel. Many of the plot devices and character traits can be easily compared to those in Harry Potter. For example, the main character is a adolescent male, with two sidekicks; one male and one female. The male has been immersed in the fantastical realm since birth and the female sidekick is a brainiac. Not to mention that the ending of this novel is almost completely parallel to the ending in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Overall Riordan has created an interesting read but is frustratingly riding the coattails of J.K. Rowling.