Writing about life, motherhood, disability advocacy and more.

The Porch

Friday, August 28, 2009

One of my favorite parts of our house is the porch. It’s big with a wide stair case and I love it. To make it even more complete we finally painted and hung a porch swing last week and it is so dreamy. Family swing time with guitars and singing is one of my personal...

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Good Uses for Eggs

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Saturday Night: Homemade Blueberry Ice Cream {8 egg yolks} Sunday Night: Homemade Meringues {4 egg whites per batch}

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Budding Photographer

Monday, August 24, 2009

Beanie loves taking pictures lately, so dad gave her free reign over his old camera. The other day I caught her setting up this little photo shoot of her guys. Here are some of her actual pictures: Perhaps this is the biased mother in me {in which case I don’t care} but I think those...

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Chair

Thursday, August 20, 2009

We didn’t get the yellow chair. We got this one instead. I like it.

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Yesterday

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Yesterday was a bad mommy day. I knew it pretty early on. A morning meltdown from Beanie I didn’t quite understand the origins of and a bad response on my part told me to brace myself for the rest of the day. Sensing that it could be one of those days I decided early on...

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eAugust 19, 2009 - 11:06 pm
don't worry about beanie, she'll always be growing through some stage. just know you are a rad mom. rad moms aren't perfect, but they do know when to put on fake eyelashes.

also, thank goodness for a rad husband.ReplyCancel
Chief MommaAugust 19, 2009 - 11:26 pm
I've got no advice, but I must say this is my favorite post that you've ever done. I'm picking my own battles over here with Michael. He is very active, and aggressive. He hits and bites constantly. We spend half of his awake time in timeout.

I'm cracking up about the fake eyelashes. I'd like to see a pic.ReplyCancel
Kimberly PorterAugust 19, 2009 - 11:54 pm
A quick confession: I threw shoes at my 3-year-old the other day because he was "giving up" because it was "too hard". I lost it. I've been known to spank, too, and I have always been against spanking. Bad Mum I feel almost weekly. Hang in there.ReplyCancel
Kate McNeilAugust 20, 2009 - 12:04 am
Even though you had a terrible day, I really liked reading this post. I feel like kids or no kids, we've all been at our wits end like that and your honesty was refreshing. (Especially the screaming in the car. TOTALLY been there.)

Forget perfection. Your love for Beanie is so obvious and that's all that matters.

And oh yes, you should buy Bare Minerals, it is awesome.ReplyCancel
AnonymousAugust 20, 2009 - 1:06 am
I second what Kate said. any girl with a mom like you could easily look past a "crazy-mom" moment! Plus I've learned something else that helps ease the guilt of losing my temper -I remind my kids (I'm sure they've had enough reminding) that moms make mistakes too and let them know I'm sorry- I'd expect the same from them. bad example followed by a good example I guess! ha ha 🙂ReplyCancel
tawniAugust 20, 2009 - 2:47 am
Sorry but I just laughed out loud. I am so glad I am not the only one that has thrown milk against the wall. Whew. I have MAJOR pregnant hormones plus a crazy toddler who runs down the street in under 5 seconds so I feel you! Im so scared about having two! Remember when she is out of this stage we will have another one going trough it! Nice thought huh. I loved your post. It made me smile. I do bare minerals too. Love it. Or bare essentials…whatever its called!ReplyCancel
ShawnAugust 20, 2009 - 3:18 am
I had a daughter from Hades—and she didn't stop until she was 14!!

I think that no matter how we remain cool and calm—we still screw up our kids someway. But it does make you feel better when they tell you later (when they are grown) that you are what made their world seem right and that you still are the most important person to them!!

Hang in there….ReplyCancel
AbbieAugust 20, 2009 - 5:02 am
I made a goal to stop yelling at Eli by the time Audrie was born – HAHAHAHA! I yell even more with two. Honestly, I think this is an area that the Atonement covers. How can it not? I try every single day to be nice to my kids, but I'm not perfect and God knows that. So, I just try and say sorry to my kids and repent to God and forgive myself and try again to be just a tiny bit better the next day. Some days I surprise myself with how nice and checked in I am, and sometimes I'm surprised at how cruel I can be to the 2 people I birthed. I mean I love them. Why am I so mean to them and scream at them?!?! (oh crap, now I'm crying. thanks.)

The point – we're normal, right? We have tempers. We don't have instructions. These little people have tempers. And these little people were sent to you and me for a reason. We're good moms most of the time, but we make mistakes.

I think what you did was perfect. Mommies need pampering. And so do babies. Let's pamper these babies and call it good.

Did this make any sense? I should be asleep.ReplyCancel
MigonAugust 20, 2009 - 11:06 am
Thank you all for sharing. I was really worried that I shared a little too much and that people would be like "you need anger management counseling" but I also felt that a certain amount of honesty was needed so that we could openly discuss these issues as moms without feeling inordinate amounts of shame. We should feel bad when we've done something wrong with our kids, but not helpless–which is how I was feeling. So thank you.ReplyCancel
AlissaAugust 20, 2009 - 8:03 pm
So I'm not to the toddler stage yet, but I have had my fair share of bad Mum days (which are exacerbated by pretending I know what I'm talking about when it comes to dealing with other people's kids)…anyway, my favorite book is 1,2,3 Magic. I think it really helps kids chill out. But maybe I should just start telling parents to hook up some fake eyelashes.ReplyCancel
heidiAugust 20, 2009 - 8:56 pm
i was raised by an angel mother. i don't recall any yelling or frustrations from her. thinking about that makes me feel worse about my weak attempts to be a good and patient mother. i asked my mom about it one day and she said that i must have blocked out the bad stuff with memories of the good stuff. i hope my kids are able to block out the bad stuff too if i have provided enough good stuff. i am sure beanie will only remember the good stuff too. like fake eyelashes.
ps-and i remember wearing fake eyelashes(big dolly parton ones) to school one day in high school. i was miserable and they made me feel so much better. perhaps they are the secret to happiness?ReplyCancel
staceyAugust 22, 2009 - 5:33 am
oh boy, this post is so timely for me. thanks for being frank, migs. glad to know i am not alone in acting like a 5 year-old sometimes! now i need to get some fake eyelashes to have on hand for the next hard day. 🙂ReplyCancel
ErinAugust 24, 2009 - 3:11 am
I've so been there. What a relief to know I'm not alone! This was healing to read- thank you!ReplyCancel
MojoAugust 25, 2009 - 8:30 pm
I totally had that day today. Totally. My awesome mommy thoughts were, "On this train, would anyone notice if I hit my child?"

You're so normal. Trust me.ReplyCancel
SunnyAugust 31, 2009 - 7:11 pm
This post was the most comforting thing I have ever heard another mother say. By far.
Seriously, I can't figure out how I can love this job so much and be so bad at it. And how I should just go back to work and let my little guy be ruined by someone else.
And thank goodness for amazing husbands who come to the rescue, then spend the remainder of the evening convincing us that we are doing a great job…ReplyCancel

Sneak Peak: Quilt

Monday, August 17, 2009

Remember the first studio project I talked about doing? It’s well under way–a new quilt for Beanie’s big girl bed {which she is not in yet, but I’m sure we’ll be undergoing that transition in the upcoming months}. I’m going to make another quilt similar to this and sell one in the shop. So far...

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Surburbia Myths De-bunked

Friday, August 14, 2009

I have a dishwasher and my kitchen is not any cleaner. In fact, I submit that my kitchen was easier to keep clean when we washed dishes by hand. I know, shocking. I suspected this might be the case as in college I encountered a similar irony–the houses I lived in with dishwashers always had...

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