Calling all {wannabe} Supermoms!!

I have had such a difficult time lately with my overly guilty conscience. I feel guilty I'm not giving Maddie enough attention. The next day, Garret, the next, work...
A friend asked why I named my blog "Wannabe Supermom"...she ever-so-graciously said, "You already are a supermom." What a nice thing to say and while I appreciated her sweetness, I contemplated this for a while. What makes a mom "super"? I certainly don't feel that way (unless you take an apron and tie it to my neck, I suppose...). With Mother's Day approaching, I have been pondering what kind of mother I am and hope to be.
I honestly thought I'd be a stay at home mom. I never factored in the finances for some bizarre reason (isn't that kind of the biggest factor??). I chose, many moons ago to do what I do for a living and while I do love it, it does not generate a hefty income. Nor does my teacher-husband's career. So, I work. Hard. And I try to be a great mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter....and frankly, it's exhausting. If there were just 7 more hours in a day and I had two more arms and a bunch more patience...
I feel like no matter how hard I try, some area of my life is suffering for all of my best intentions. If I'm kicking butt at mommy-ing, I'm failing miserably at work. If I'm being the best wife possible, my friendships fall by the wayside.
I guess my issue is that, while I fully understand my family is my priority and I must simplify as much as possible, who are these rock stars that seem to do it all...seamlessly, perfectly, happily?! I follow blogs and have friends that I am convinced are either A: undercover superheros or B: heavily medicated (hee, hee). But seriously, how do they do it?? And how can I follow in their fabulous footsteps?? Or....am I doing ok? Is it normal to have days that your most precious gift from God causes you to end up in the fetal position in your closet weeping? To want to just shut off your phone and decompress? To know your husband is human but expect him to read your mind and just do the laundry, no asking needed?
I, admittedly, have often worried too much about what others think of me. It's a horrid personality trait that I work on feverishly and am improving upon, but nonetheless... Maybe everyone feels this way. Maybe we just don't talk about it enough. Maybe we should.
Being a mom, heck, being a woman is hard work. We take on the world and put often unrealistic expectations on ourselves. We do so much for others, so little for ourselves. It really is daunting and striking a good balance is, well, nearly impossible.
For all of my concern, I truly do feel that the best we can do is our best and while I know I am far from perfect, most days I can strike a decent balance. I have a happy little family, great friends and a job I love (with reasonable hours, so I can make parenting the priority). I make dinner, I play with my daughter, I keep house, my patients seem to think I'm pretty awesome and my husband, well, he's the bomb. So, maybe my meals aren't made from scratch and the laundry is getting knocked over by the ceiling fan. Maybe my kiddo has jaggedy fingernails and I haven't showered in three days. Who cares? Is striving for perfection just making us all nuts? I'm going out on an I-know-nothing-about-anything limb and saying as long as we love God, one another and do our best, we're succeeding! Sure, let's go with that because that I can do! All you need is love...love is all you need? Here's to hoping.... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the wannabe supermoms out there! You rock! XO

Green{ish} thumbs...

 I never claimed to have a green thumb...I'm pretty sure it's a lovely shade of grey when it comes to gardening. Never much liked it or tried it for that matter but our sad, empty flower boxes were begging for some attention so I figured it'd be a fun family thing to do. Maddie loved it, of course since she could just get dirty and wet with no repercussions....plus she loves to feel useful. It's sweet how she really wants to pitch in.

Garret decided to mow the, er, grass later to prep the yard (it's horribly dead with the lack of rain we've had!) And, on cue, Maddie grabbed her lawnmower and "helped" Daddy.

With our leftover flowers and plants we made a little garden...since the flower boxes are too high for her to reach, I figured she could have her own little area to water and tend to. We may get ambitious and plant some veggies (provided we don't kill these first :).

Already MUUUUUUCH better!

 Just a few days after surgery and we can already see a HUGE improvement!! Maddie seems happier, her speech is clearer, we aren't constantly repeating ourselves....hopefully it keeps on this path!

            

The day of surgery and a few days after, she wasn't sleeping well and her breath, wow. We were warned it would be bad but this was "lemme-check-your-pants" bad. But little by little she's getting back to normal!

 Bella came over for a playdate and they ran around, chasing bubbles and laughing. Ahhhh, the sound of happy, healthy children is the BEST sound in the world!!



Maybe, just maybe....

 I didn't realize how sick Maddie was. In general, that is. I kept hearing kids in daycare get sick all the time. But I also kept having this nagging, "but this sick?" feeling. I expected common colds but Strep, Pneumonia, kidney infections?? It finally all made sense when, after a recommendation by the Pediatrician we saw the Pediatric ENT. He told us Maddie had an antibiotic resistant film in her ears that cause multiple ear infections as well as various bacterial other infections that antibiotics weren't curing. The bacteria apparently roams around the body as rests where it may...all over this poor child, apparently! He also suggested her adenoids be removed as her sinuses were also having issues.

Getting checked in!                                 Giggle juice!                               Ready to head in...

 Luckily, it was a quick process. We were in a week after the consultation for the procedure and it took only about 40 minutes! He came out and said it all looked "bad" and that we should see major improvement in her health and her demeanor. He explained that she probably hasn't felt good in so long (which kinda explains her, um, rotten attitude lately??) and that as she heals her hearing and overall personality should get much better.  Maybe, just maybe all of this awful illness will abate and my kiddo can feel good and we can get our sweet baby back :).



Key West post nuptial partay!!

And while I'm playing with collages, here's the gist of the post nuptial weekend! We originally planned to get married in Key West and once the semantics became too much, our friends were kind of disappointed so we figured, "why not still go??" And we did....we do plan on a belated honeymoon in the fall so having a fun weekend with friends was just the perfect way to relax and have a blast! And we did....

We finally did it!

We got hitched! It was AMAZING. Exactly what we wanted...low key, fun, meaningful....absolute perfection. There are SO many pics that I thought this fun collage would sum it up! Enjoy!

Hoppy Easter!

Bella's school had a great little fair for kids complete with Easter Bunny, bounce houses, pony rides and an egg hunt. We didn't know about the egg hunt, so thankfully Uncle Rob had a couple of plastic bags in his car. Phew!

First Pony Ride!!! she loved it!!

Easter morning, Maddie and I made Banana pancakes (her request!). She loves to cook...here's to hoping she's much better at it than I am!!

We kept it very small, with the wedding being next weekend. Just family and a small brunch!

Monique offered to make dessert, and while on crack, um, I mean, Pinterest, I saw this and "suggested" she make it :)

I think hers came out even prettier!!Ya ya brought a singing bunny for Mads (kind of her M.O.) and it indulged in some Mimosas...

We did a small egg hunt for the girls in the backyard. Bella is quite competitive but Maddie managed to grab a few :)

And once again, attempting the impossible: getting these girls to smile, at the same time. Again, no luck but they sure are cute anyway!