Tales from the Mommy Trenches

Improvements to our humble abode

I never knew it while we were renting, but my husband is a home improvement freak! He is happiest every weekend if it is spent at Home Depot and then at home absorbed in one home improvement project or another. His latest project has been our yard. Curb appeal was always at the top of his list when we were looking for a home to buy. He said he could not bear coming home to an ugly house every day. It would depress him. Fair enough!

We bought our house, which I think is just beautiful. It had been vacant for nine months, though, so the yard had a very neglected look to it. The first thing my husband decided to tackle was the enormous trees in our front yard obscuring the view of our house and posing a danger to our girls’ rooms to boot. We removed 15 (that’s right, 15!!!!) trees from our front yard. Here is the before and after picture:
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The Weight of Worry

My mom always says you are only as happy as your least happy child. I would like to add that you also worry for your children way more than they could ever worry about themselves. I know that worrying is life sucking and counter productive, but I have been struggling with it a lot lately.

Before I had children, not much weighed on my mind. Nothing really caused me to have crippling anxiety. Not even trying to get through law school and pass the bar. Once I started having children, I have become a huge bundle of nerves. read more

Bloggers who inspire me

The lovely (seriously, her curly hair makes me miss mine) and very talented mommy to the adorable toddler Boeta kindly nominated my blog for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Thank you, lady love. That means a lot coming from a blog that I find inspiring. It chronicles her adventures with her tot and husband as they explore the fascinating wildlife in South Africa. And the photography is breathtaking. Go to her blog and check it out.

As far as I can tell (correct me if I am wrong, fellow bloggers), the nomination process does not actually lead to one blogger officially winning the award, so I will force my competitive spirit to simmer down. However, it does seem to be an excellent way for readers to discover new blogs that they would really enjoy. I would like to contribute to this noble effort, so I am passing the blogging love along and “nominating” some of the blogs that I find inspiring. read more

How to get a stubborn breastfeeding baby to take a bottle

This post contains affiliate links, but my recommendations would have been the same regardless. Scout’s honor.

As some of you may know from this post, I have been struggling for almost eight months to get Wren to take a bottle. I’m not weaning her, I just would like to have a little more flexibility with her feedings. I scoured Pinterest (and Google, of course) for solutions to my dilemma, and the only advice that came up were a bunch of expensive bottle brands (that didn’t work), or tips from mommies who had obviously started introducing their babies to the bottle when they were still newborns. (Whoops.) I was despairing. This must be a common problem! Maybe I just suck at googling, but I came up with zilch. My niece never took a bottle. My poor sister in law just had to wait until she was old enough for sippy cups. So I know I’m not alone. read more

Rotary Barbecue Field Party

We have had a busy weekend. I think our family is going to sleep well tonight. (But knowing Wren, I’m not going to count on that.)

My dad is a proud Rotarian, and he invited my siblings and me (notice it’s “me” and not “I”. See this post) to a Rotary event hosted in a beautiful pasture and catered by my dad’s favorite barbecue place. We told him we wouldn’t miss it!

The weather was pretty wet the whole time we were there, but the girls had a wonderful time anyway. There was a bouncy house, and the girls wasted no time in bouncing the day away. We could barely get them to eat. Ruthie called it her castle and she was its queen. She also had a queenly voice that had us all in stitches. It sounded like a cross between Julia Child and Katharine Hepburn. read more

Lantern Parade

I have decided that even though it is a huge pain in the rear and not to mention extremely stressful to take the girls out, to see the looks of delight on their little faces when we are on an outing makes it all totally worth it.

This evening was one of those times. A fellow graduate of mine from Westminster (a local private high school in Atlanta) has started a new bar/restaurant called Ladybird. The restaurant overlooks the Atlanta Beltline, which was hosting a lantern parade. We figured we would kill two birds with one stone (sorry, I never realized what a brutal metaphor that was) and check out the new restaurant and watch the parade. The place was packed, but was humming right along quite efficiently. We had to send poor Uncle Thomas (my brother in law) to the crowded bar with two sippy cups in hand to request that they be filled with water. The barman very kindly complied and Ruthie and Rosie were much obliged. read more

Trip to the High

Today we were invited to go to the High Museum in Atlanta. Apparently, the High has some diverting activities for kids. We weren’t even there for a specific children’s event (which they offer too), but there was still a little room full of fun activities for babies and toddlers. It is definitely worth checking out.

My sister came over to my house in the morning to help my get the kids dressed and ready. I put on their cutest outfits (we don’t get out much, so we like to put their best foot forward) and we headed over to the museum. I was shocked that we were leaving with plenty of time to spare for once. What a difference a helper makes when you are getting three children dressed and fed! My girls have crazy curly hair, so I did my best trying to make their hair look done, at least. We get to the museum parking deck right on time and Rosie’s neat little top knot has turned into a rat’s nest in the 20 minute trip there. Her hair band had disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle of hair bands that haunts the backseat of my van. Never to return. I panicked and pulled Wren’s head wrap off to put on Rosie’s head. It didn’t do much to ameliorate the situation, but I at least felt like I did something.
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Writing mistakes that drive me bonkers

It happened again today. I was reading something on the internet with a glaring grammar mistake. I cringed and fought the urge to email the site administrator to inform him or her of the error.

Hello, my name is Sylvia and I am a compulsive English language corrector. I can’t help it. I read someone’s blog post that I find intriguing and I will stop reading immediately if I see that he or she does not understand the definition of a certain word. I understand that this is rigid and unforgiving of me in the extreme. Sometimes I feel like I might explode, so I am using this blog post as a therapeutic space. Maybe I will even get to the point where I can blithely read things without paying any heed to the mistakes I might read. Or at least stop blurting out corrections. Bear with me. read more

Labor Day Weekend

Cheers to long weekends! Ours was low key, yet delightful. I make a habit of visiting my abuelos at least once a week, and we made it over there on Friday. I wish I could visit my father’s mother more often, but she is in an assisted living complex about an hour away. With three under three, places that are an hour away might as well be days away.

To be honest, it doesn’t hurt that my abuelos live in a veritable Garden of Eden, complete with beautiful flowers, a bustling bird feeder, and a pool. In the summertime, their backyard is in its element. Ruthie skipped her nap, so we brought her outside to “see the birds.” I didn’t feel like changing her into her bathing suit and changing into mine (and inevitably changing Rosie into hers once she awoke and realized we were all swimming without her), so I told Ruth she couldn’t get in the pool. I was distracted by my phone for one moment and this happens.

Little rascal read more

Gift ideas for second (or more) time moms

It is usually difficult to discern the protocol on gift giving to pregnant moms who already have children. Should you even bother? Doesn’t she have everything she needs already?

There has been a recent trend I have noticed of throwing a “sprinkle” instead of a shower for moms who have children already. I think it is a wonderful idea. There are a lot of things that an expecting mama needs even if she has had a baby or two (or seven) already. So if you find yourself invited to one of these sprinkles or would just like to do something kind for a loved one who is expecting, here are some gift ideas: read more