There was one time when I forgot to take the tooth and put the money under his pillow. He was around 5 and began to cry when he saw that the tooth was still there. I was so tired the night before that I snoozed the alarm clock until it was time to get him up for school. Bad tooth fairy! In what I believe to be one of my most brilliant mommy moments ever, I sent kiddo to the bathroom to get ready and had an argument with myself. I went into his room closing the door behind me and started an argument with the “Tooth Fairy.” She ended up (with a European accent – not really sure what country) explaining how she was tired from traveling all around the world collecting teeth and leaving money. She said that she was so tired, she fell asleep before taking kiddo’s tooth and leaving the money. After having a “multiple personality moment”, I slipped two dollars under kiddo’s pillow before opening the door.

Fortunately, kiddo was still in the bathroom brushing his teeth when I told him to check under his pillow again. He found his two dollars and then asked me what happened. I told him that I had a conversation with the Tooth Fairy (hey, it is true even if I’m the tooth fairy!) and told him how she was tired and fell asleep. He was very happy with that. Until now.

The same thing happened, except kiddo’s almost 11. He lost one of his molars (with all those missing teeth he looks like he’ll need dentures) the night before. I snoozed away until it was almost time to get kiddo up. I had three dollars ready to sneak under the pillow and tip toed to the door. And what do I find when I get there – kiddo wide awake! Argh! My cover was blown and kiddo knew right away who the Tooth Fairy has been all this time. But, I think he appreciates that I tried for so long to keep the magic alive for him. It’s a bittersweet moment for me because of two things: 1) I don’t have to pretend to be the “Tooth Fairy” anymore and 2) kiddo’s growing up. But, it’s nice to have these memories to look back on to laugh and share with him.

Juliana has been having a big interest in plants.  I am not quite sure where she gets it from as I do not have nor have I ever had a green thumb.  But when we were looking through the project ideas in the fall, she kept going back to projects with plants.  She decided on experimenting on how milk affects the plant’s growth in place of water.  After a few days of thinking about it, she decided she also wanted to try to experiment on how salt water would affect the plant’s growth.  Honestly, I was not sure how the outcome would be.  I was thinking that both of these variables would quickly kill the plants, but Juliana had some pretty good arguments.  She thought that the calcium and vitamins in the milk would help the plants.  And while she did not necessarily think that the salt water would make the plants grow, she had a great theory.  One day, while driving home from school, she turned to me and said “You know, Mommy…  some plants live by the ocean and there is salt in the air and they get wet from the salt water in the ocean.  So maybe the saltwater might work!”  I was very intrigued myself!

In the end, the plant with the milk thrived.  It grew bigger and fuller than even the water plants.  And within a few short days, the plants with the salt water died.  The funny thing is, the plants with the milk, while beautiful, stunk beyond belief from the milk.  And the plants with the salt water developed salt crystals on top of it.

Juliana’s project really came out amazing.  She was proud of herself too!  We’ve already started talking about next year!

I left a job that I had been mostly happy with because I needed to take care of my son financially (my salary had been frozen for a couple of years & it took a toll on me). My previous job wasn’t perfect, but I really benefitted from it – earning my degree, my licensure, getting great support from my co-workers and feeling very fulfilled by the work.

In leaving that job for the other one, it took me back to my first “real” job. I began as a temp and impressed the managers so much that I was offered a permanent, union job. Then I found out I was pregnant. So I stayed there for seven long years. The first five were the worst because my talents were being wasted, my mother passed away and there were serious problems in my relationship with my son’s father. Through it all, my son was my motivation. He became that beautiful face that I studied day in and day out when I felt like I’d be stuck there forever.

After three years, I was able to go back to school to finish my undergraduate degree and get tuition reimbursement. I had to keep a promise I made to my mother to finish and one to myself that I’d be a role model for my child. I graduated and continued on to get a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling.

The three years of graduate school were some of the most stressful in my life. I worked full-time, went to school full-time and provided for my son full-time with my son’s father dragging me down emotionally. I barely slept and earned the best grades of my life. And who did I do it for? My son. He was my motivator. I needed him to see me graduate and go into a career that I truly enjoyed.

And here I am again, working to provide for him and not satisfied. The great thing is that my son wants me to be happy in the work that I do. I’ve got a great kid there. Must be doing something right. Parents, what kinds of things do you do for your children?

Although this is a tough week for me, it brings me back to another year that Paul went on a business trip.  This week 3 years ago, I got pregnant with our youngest child.  We were not trying, as a matter of fact, our twins were only 6 months old at the time.  And while I was in shock for three weeks after finding out I was expecting again, Joseph has been the best surprise of our lives. 

I know that the week will fly by and Paul will be back.  I know that (although the week may be rough!) I will survive the week and things will be back to normal in the blink of an eye, as Paul returns home.  I just hate being away from him for a week!

I have done, no exaggeration, about 18 loads of laundry so far this week, and at this very moment, I have two full laundry baskets of dirty clothes to wash, dry, fold and put away.   I have to bread chicken cutlets and get my kids to sort their 4 puzzles that are all over the living room floor.  The baby is starting to get into everything, so he joins the ranks of his older siblings to add to my worries.  And to top it off, my husband is leaving on Tuesday for a 6 day business trip on the other side of the country, so I will be on my own for a bit. 

I know I will get out of this funk, I just have to take better care of myself.  Too much coffee and not enough healthy meals.  And of course increasing my exercise is a given as well.  We always take care of everyone else, and it is time to put Mommy first. 

Is anyone else in a funk this week:?

I remember when I was a little girl, when my mom would use the expression “Well, the fairies aren’t going to come in the middle of the night and clean it!” with regards to how we needed to pick up after ourselves.  I have tried this with my kids, and so far, it has not worked.  I do not know how they always manage to bring a snack into the living room or find any little paper to tear up on the rug.  And no matter what they eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner, under my dining room table is screaming “SWEEP ME!”  I have been doing a ton of laundry every week since we had the last three babies.  Now that it is winter time (more layers of clothing) and the boys are potty training at night (changing sheets every morning), I am doing more laundry than ever before.

The price of  laundry detergent and dryer sheets is ridiculous.  The store brand dryer sheets smell AWESOME and are a third of the price.  Thank goodness for that!  I also recently replaced my Swiffer Wetjet with a store brand device — do you believe this thing uses your own floor cleaner, the pads are washable (yes, this increases my laundry load BUT saves me a ton on disposable pads!) AND you don’t need batteries (it is a spray!)  I LOVE this thing!  Totally beats a mop and can run circles around the Wetjet.

With four kids, I just wish I could spend one day home and not have to clean up after someone all day long.  Until that happens, I guess I might as well call my cleaning supplies my friends.

We planned on resuming our hunt next year (the beginning of 2013).  In the meantime, I still get daily multiple listing reports, and we found out that the Seaford house was still for sale, at a DRAMATIC decrease in price.  Going into the New Year last weekend, we were certain that this was kismet.  After all, this house has been coming up for three years.  We had seen the decrease a year ago, and now another decrease.  This house was now SUPER affordable and still available.  We made an appointment with the listing agent for the 2nd of January and neither of us could sleep the night before.  We could TASTE being Seaford homeowners!

The house was everything we remembered, and it still was what we were looking for.  But renovating three bathrooms and a kitchen would add tens of thousands of dollars to the price of the home.  When the agent first said to us that she’d send us listings that were similar and in the same price range, I told her that if this house didn’t work out for us, we’d hold off on the hunt til our original plan of next year.   But when we got the listings later that afternoon and saw that the similar houses at the similar price (minus all the work!), we were completely intrigued. 

Almost a week later, we have five appointments set up tomorrow to look at houses.  Paul began the process of pre-approving us for a mortgage, and I should be thrilled.  After the health and happiness of our family, all I want is our own home.  So what am I afraid of?

I spent the majority of the day today doing laundry and tearing apart my living room (AGAIN!), sorting the toys, finding the missing pieces, sweeping (and sweeping and sweeping and sweeping… these kids always seem to find a snack and then find there way into the living room when I am on the floor or in a corner and can’t see them!) and rearranging.  I am happy to report that all of the puzzles (except one… but I am on a mission to find that one piece) have all of their pieces and all of the games (except one… GRRR) are in their respective boxes with all the pieces intact. 

I can be pretty certain that by the end of the week things will be a mess again.  I try and try to keep things in order, I put things with small pieces in the closet, I have cases and containers for all blocks and such, but no matter what I do and how I teach my kids to clean up after themselves, they always manage to make a mess.  My kids are wiseguys, too!  I keep saying “Only one toy at a time.  When you are done with a toy, put that away and you can take out a new toy”  And of course I am always met with some comment like “But Mom!  I am playing with these blocks and JoeJoe is playing with those cars!” or something like that.  I have tried again and again to get them all to play with one toy at a time (all three boys) but so far, no luck.  So with three toddlers each playing their own toy, we are bound to mix up some pieces! 

Ugh.  I guess I just have to deal with this until they are teenagers!  LOL!

First of all, I cannot believe how fast the year has flown.  I do not know if that is because I am constantly busy with my kids and dealing with three toddlers and a tween girl, or just because I am getting older.  But the one thing I have learned in working with my clients is to remember how truly blessed I really am. 

My year started out with tears and grief, as my Grandfather passed away on January 3.  I miss him dearly.  In March, I was laid off from my full-time “at-home” job of running the NYC MomsLikeMe site.  But then the year started looking up.  I re-vamped my Mommy’s Links site to a social network, we took the kids to DisneyWorld, found my niche in my little corner of the World Wide Web, and returned to counseling with Abilto. 

We’ve made a lot of progress at home as well.  I spend many months at home, because after all, with three infants, unless my husband was home or my mom was around to help me, it was quite difficult to get around.  Over the last few months, the twins started nursery school, and twice a week we all get into the car and get them to and from school.  One of the twins is completely potty trained, which makes my life much easier.  If only the other would follow suit!  And the baby is chock full of sentences and animation.  While life is completely chaotic, these last few months have been a lot of fun (well, when they are behaving!!!)

My husband and I took two weekend trips to the Poconos with friends, and we’re looking forward to our annual spring trip again.  We don’t have as much time alone together these days, but we make the best of every moment. 

So yes, I live a completely chaotic life, and I am sure it is only bound to get worse as these kids get older, but I am truly blessed.  I have a wonderful family, we have our health, and I love my career choices.  Thank you, 2011, for helping me remember these things.  Bring on 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

On top of it all, I was hosting Christmas dinner!  Luckily, my aunts helped with the artichokes and mushrooms and my mom had prepared the lasagna and meatballs.  My mother-in-law brought the antipasto, so in between TRYING to find my children amongst the toys, cars, boxes, ripped papers and garbage bags, I was preparing veggies and meat and other parts to our meal.  And every few minutes, I would glance into my living room and wonder WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO HOUSE ALL THESE TOYS?

When all of our guests left, my husband and I decided we needed to do something, for if the kids woke up in the morning to this mess of toys, who knows where things would land and what would get misplaced or broken.  So we emptied their toy boxes and sorted out the old toys.  We opened all of the new toy boxes and he broke up the boxes for recycling.  We did our best to put what we could in the toy boxes, the new books went into the book case, the new DVDs into the entertainment center along with the new video games.  The board games we put in the closet, and all the new clothes went into a laundry basket to be brought up and put away. 

Could you imagine my delight when I could see my living room floor again?

Christmas is now four days ago.  This morning I was straightening up and found a shopping bag under the table with my Christmas Village on it (I had it covered with a long tablecloth and forgot I put the shopping bag under it) with more GIFTS for the kids!  My mom had brought them last week from a family friend and I was holding them until Christmas morning, and then it slipped my mind.  And don’t you know it – MORE TOYS!

We say it every year, and I know we will say it again next year – WE NEED TO STOP GOING OVERBOARD!  But then again, kids are only kids for a short time, and these memories they will have their whole lives.  I remember when my parents’ living room floor couldn’t be seen, and those were some of the best days of my childhood!

I hope you are all enjoying the (chaotic and sometimes messy!) holidays!