Saturday, September 6, 2014

Reflecting on Becoming a Stay At Home Mom: Part Two


 September 4, 2012

I am so excited. Today I am going to see Madonna at the Garden. This will be my fourth tour and I can not wait to dance the night away. First, I have to go to work for half the day. I woke up at 8:20 am. I have to be at the office by 9 am, but my commute is only 8 minutes so I have just enough time to snooze once. 8:27 am and the alarm beeps again. I get up, brush my teeth throw on some clothes and I'm out the door. I stop at the coffee shop on the way for a bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin and a hot tea. I'm a little late, but my supervisor is great so I smile as I walk by her and remind her that I am going to be leaving early to see Madonna. She nods that she remembers. I like her. She's cool.
I get to my desk and turn my computer on while I eat. I chat with my coworkers about Madonna, of course, and as soon as my computer is on I hook my iPhone to it to stream Pandora, Madonna music. I sing and dance as I work on my computer logging in my home visit notes from the day before. I answer a few calls praying that none of them are emergencies. I get up several times and chat with people about how excited I am for the concert. I smiled a lot. I notice. Lunch arrives and I ponder on what I am in the mood for. I settle on pizza. Pizza would build a nice base for the drinking I will be doing later on that night so I go with that. 

It's 1pm and I am off to come home and get dressed. The house is quiet. My husband is at work and the dog is sleeping. My clothes have been picked out weeks before. The perfect ode to the 80's: a lace mini skirt, a pink off the shoulder shirt, fingerless gloves and leggwarmers, of course. I shower and do my hair. My shower was about 20 minutes long. It was nice. It was peaceful. At 3 pm, I race out the door. I have an appointment to have my makeup done professionally. Hello. I said I was going to see Madonna. This was an epic event. 

The airbrush machine is rythmically swaying back and forth and I can feel the cool mist of makeup hitting my face. By 4:30 pm I am ready and on the road again. I pick up my girlfriend and we head into the city early for dinner and drinks. We laugh and sing as Madonna plays in the background at the resturant across the street from the Garden. I look around and there are an large array of Madonna fans everywhere. I can feel the cosmos working.

People begin to complain that Madonna is taking to long to hit the stage. I don't notice that she is two hours late as there is a DJ spinning records and I simply stay that she does not feel as though we are ready for her yet.

10 pm she hits the stage and I dance. I dance the night away. It was amazing. I feel carefree without a worry in the world. Two hours later, hoarse and giddy from dancing I drive home and stay up until 4 am surfing Facebook and posting pictures from the concert. I make some late night breakfast and I call it a night since I have to work in less that four hours.



September 4, 2014

The monitor lights begin to blink orange. I hear Marisol calling my name. "Mama...Mama..." she giggles. It's 7:30 am. I get up, use the bathroom then head into her room. She is smiling. She is such a happy little girl. We both enjoy some breakfast while we get to see the first images of Angelina Jolie's wedding dress on the Today Show. Marisol is drinking from a big girl cup (sippy) for the second day in a row and it seems to be going well.

Once breakfast is done, Marisol asks to watch "Yo Gabba Gabba" so we watch a few episodes. Yesterday I bought us tickets to go see "Yo Gabba Gabba" live later on this year.  She has no idea, but this will be her first ever "concert". It will be so much fun. I seriously can not wait to see her face when Foofa wants on the stage.

The rest of the day we clean up, I organize her bureau and I put away most of her 12 month old clothes. It is amazing how fast she is growing. We have a snack which is a yogurt. Marisol rarely eats much, but what she does like she will eat lot of. So we stock up on strawberries, avocado, toast, peanut butter, mac and cheese, and cheese. As you can see, vegetables are not on the list. She can detect the smallest piece in anything that I try to sneak some in. So when I make bread I usually load them up with things like zucchini and carrots to get some in her.

Lunch time has arrived quickly and I reheat some left over chicken. I add some mac and cheese and avocado to it. Feeding a toddler is quite frustrating as it takes longer to prepare her lunch then it does for her to actually eat her lunch. Most of the chicken goes over board, but she did eat two pieces which is a giant improvement so I am happy. All of the mac and cheese is gone and so is the avocado.

After lunch I clean up and check to make sure the ground beef is defrosted for dinner later. It is. I check the cabinet to make sure I have some spaghetti sauce and some ziti which I do. One day I would love to make my own sauce, I add that to the ever growing pinterest it later list. Marisol and I color a little before nap time. She has discovered the world of crayons and she loves them. I also love that she does not put them in her mouth which is great.

It is 1:30 pm and nap time has arrived. Today I am just as tired as little mama is. We read "Mail Harry to the Moon". It is her new favorite and she giggles every time I say "varoom". She thinks it is hysterical. I hand her two pacifiers. One for her mouth and the other she holds and rubs in her eye. Don't ask, I don't know why. It calms her and thats all that I care about, but I start to think about how hard it will be to get rid of not only one pacifier, but two, but then again, I am worrying about something that we are not getting rid of just yet. We just got rid of the bottle which was not as bad as a thought it was going to be at all.

For the next two hours Marisol naps and I attempt to watch Revenge, but soon my eyes feel heavy and I too, nap. I do like that Marisol now naps only once a day because it is usually a longer nap which is nice. It gives me a nice break because I do get quite tired.

When Marisol wakes up, we eat a little snack before dinner which is usually animal crackers. She loved them. As I cook dinner, Marisol has all of the mixing bowls on the floor and she is pretending to cook along side me. She talks the whole time taking a few dancing breaks since the radio is on. She has a love for Michael Jackson and her new favorite song is "Beat It". She loves it.

Dad arrives and we eat. We chat about our day and after dinner Dad and Marisol play while I take a warm bath. My body has been aching as of late. I think I am just getting old. The whole bath time Marisol comes and visits me. It isn't the most relaxing bath, but it is the best one. She is playing peek a boo with me from behind the door and she is cracking herself up. She has the best laugh. It is quite loud and lovely.

Before we know it bath time routine has arrived. I start the bath, getting the milk ready, grab a book, and pay out her pajamas. Dad usually does the bath because I can't bend down for that long because of my hip replacements. So I wait for her on the couch. Reading her book is my favorite time of the day. She is the most still she has been all day long and I feel like it is a reward for all my hard work all day. It is the best.

By 9 pm, Marisol is sleeping and this mama also heads to bed to watch the rest of that Revenge episode, but I fall asleep again.


What a difference two years make. Yes, my day is completely different now, but it is filled with a lot more genuine moments than ever before. The things that made me happy in the past no longer would make the new me happy. Motherhood does change someone. I have changed and I like it. 

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