Throwup

Conversation at my house this morning:
4yo "You know that yellow stuff that you get in your mouth? That's kind of yucky?"
Me "You mean throwup?"
4yo "Yeah.  I had that on my bed last night."
Me "You threwup last night?"
4yo "Yeah. It's on my blanket. And my bed."
Me "You need to come get me when you throw up."
4yo "OK."
2 minutes later...
4yo to 6yo and 2yo "Hey, you guys, do you want to come see?"
6yo "Yeah!"
2yo "Wait for me!"

I should be grateful they don't throw up very often, so it's a novelty.  If they're that excited about it, though, I'm thinking I might have them clean it up.  That might make it lose some of the novelty.  Certainly works for me.

Working overtime

I've decided that being a working mom, I'm always working overtime.  You know those feelings you have when you're working overtime. Those feelings of "I'm just too tired to be working right now, but I know I have to get it done." Or the feelings of "Everyone else is asleep or doing something fun. Why am I still working?" I remember working full-time (plus) during tax season, going home for dinner, and then coming back to work to settle in for the night.  I'd come back feeling resigned to work, but also having a complete focus on working as efficiently as possible so that I didn't have to stay too late before coming back the next morning.

That's kind of the way it is every time I work now. I may only work a few hours a week, but when the kids go to bed and I start working, I have to get in that mode and work as efficiently as possible regardless of how exhausted I may be. This holds true during my little hour of quiet time during the day when I try to return phone calls and emails and start on projects that aren't too big. Not fun.

Luckily, some of my children are getting old enough to somewhat understand what is going on.  My 6 year old came into the kitchen where my computer is, after quiet time, put her arm around me, and said "I know you have to work a lot Mom, because it's tax season". If only I'd had understanding like that when I was working full-time and overtime!

The Joy of Aunthood

I love being an aunt! Don't get me wrong. I really love being a mom, too.  But, I've been an aunt a lot longer than I've been a mom.  I love that before I got married, when I was "the single one" in the family, I got to travel all over the country and spend time with my nieces & nephews (and their parents).  I love being called Aunt Christie almost as much as I love being called Mom.  I always heard that to be successful, a child needs the influence of an adult in their life outside of their parents.  I figure that's what aunts and uncles are for.  I take almost as much pride in the accomplishments of my nieces and nephews as I do my own children.  Hooray for being an aunt!