A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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We all dread when our kids are sick. It’s sad and you feel so badly for them. You’re pretty much stuck on the sidelines treating symptoms and waiting it out. If you are like me, you’d give anything to trade places with them. But what about when the mom gets sick? What happens then? Last week was just like any other week. We spent every day trying to hit up as many parks as we could in between rain showers and thunderstorms. Almost every time we got to a park all the equipment was soaked, the ground was muddy, and you would never guess it was we...
Big Brother, the ever-opinionated four-year-old is always coming up with ideas. What we should do with our day. What we should eat for lunch today. Where exactly it is we are going. He also has appointed himself the voice of our five-month-old Little Brother as well. Unsurprisingly Little Brother seems to always want to do exactly what Big Brother has announced as his “idea” for the day. Hmm, last I knew the baby couldn’t talk but Big Brother says it’s what the baby wants. They both want the same thing so why not just do it? When I said th...
There are a few things Big Brother and I have in common or I should say that we both aren’t big fans of. One is waking up early. Since birth I am pretty sure Big Brother’s bedtime has averaged out to ten or eleven. It used to be a solid eleven every night before he started school. A night that I get that boy in bed by nine feels like a free time night. But now that school is out we don’t have to worry about it. Another thing we share is our dislike of having to stop watching a show when we are in the middle of what we think to be a reall...
Thanks for never making me feel like I’m wrong when I really am. Thanks for not gloating unless it’s something that wouldn’t hurt my feelings. Like when I left the tub on too long and flooded the bathroom, making more work for you. You really could have let me have it and never hear the end of it but didn’t, knowing that I was up all night trying to soak the water back up and ripping my bathroom apart in the process. I also have to say thanks for catching our son’s puke with your bare hands. I didn’t know what to do when the projectile...
Ever since I had Little Brother I have been very concerned with one on one time with Big Brother. I always try to plan something where it’s just the two of us. However, with his dad’s work schedule the best I can do is try to take advantage of Little Brother’s nap times. Not what I had in mind but the best I think I can manage. I know when it’s time for Big Brother to have some alone time with me because he gets really whiny and everything in his little world is wrong. He’ll cry at the drop of a hat and talk back. It can drive me crazy but I kn...
As I get on the floor to scrape stickers off the linoleum I think about the day that Big Brother told me he was making the floor look more beautiful because it was boring. I couldn’t scold him; he was sincerely trying to do some house decorating. But as I give up and leave the stickers right where they are I swear to myself that the next person to buy that kid stickers and send him home with them is not my friend anymore. (Something Big Brother would say.) This is my fourth failed attempt to patiently get the stickers off. As I pick up the book...
As a new mom and even as a seasoned mother people will solicit you advice. Some of it is great, some bad, and some bizarre. All usually unasked for and some of the time given by people you do not know or think even like you. Taking the advice with a grain of salt and graciously saying thank you to the current ‘know-it-all’ is good advice. Now I’m not the person to be giving any out. I’m a try and learn kind of gal. I give most things a shot, as long as they aren’t too far fetched. For example if I ask my grandmother and she has heard of it, gu...
Now that Little Brother is three months old I have noticed a lot of changes in him. Not only his looks but he has a more pronounced schedule too. A nice addition to how much he is growing is that he now wants to talk, watch, and play. He has gone from this tiny little bundle to more than doubling his weight and becoming so strong. He holds his head up so well and never wants to lay flat if he’s awake. I better hold him up in my lap like a big kid and let him see what every noise in the house is. He has taken to liking his bouncy chair with t...
As I have fallen into my role as the stay at home mom of two boys I find myself getting ready to go places earlier and ending up arriving even later. It is as if Murphy’s Law is playing some sick joke on me to see how much I’ll take and if I will eventually just give up and stay home. Determination makes me keep trying because it might take me two hours to get out of this house but I’m telling you the fresh air and outing we get for a whole half-hour or hour does wonders. Little Brother usually falls asleep in the truck and Big Brother just...
Last week Big Brother had a long awaited appointment. Over the course of two years we have been told by a few different people that big Brother couldn’t hear well. Headstart testers ( That’s what I call the testing people who do those series of tests on your child before they go into headstart), before that a daycare worker, and finally his new school suggested he be retested for his hearing. Even when Big Brother was born he was referred out to be retested for one ear. I took him in to be tested again as an infant and they said he was fin...
Before Little Brother was born I was already trying to think of ways to give Big Brother his one on one time. I knew that he’d need it. I also thought of how we could make it special. We have tried to get Big Brother to go out to errands and shopping with one of us when we go. The baby would always stay home, but Big Brother would always refuse to go. He just preferred to stay home with one parent and his brother while the other parent did leave to do the running around. The night before the Big Day I started to talk it over with Big B...
As I think about all the advice I’ve heard about kids from family and friends one that is standing out is the old line, “No two kids are the same.” Sure I agree with it but I can’t help but wonder if I am somehow making my kids the same. I can already see Little Brother two or three years from now barking demands at me just like Big Brother and see myself delivering. Over the last two months Big Brother has been taking it hard. He’s had a lot to get used to. His mother is not being able to cater to him during playtime and every other time like...
As I fall into a routine with two children I find myself feeling guiltier than ever. For a long time I was easily manipulated and run by Big Brother. All he had to do was make me feel the slightest twinge of guilt and I’d comply with his way. I’m a huge pushover and have only really become a rule follower in the last year or year and a half when not being in charge started to be a problem. I was receiving comments from people about his bossiness and my lack of. I always just enjoyed my son’s free spirit. He is extremely shy around other peopl...
A while back I wrote a column about Baby T’s quotes and even did a follow up one of even more. Well I thought it was time to share some more of the things that we have heard in our household. These are some particular ones that had me laughing so hard that medically I was “not taking it easy” like the doctor ordered. Any woman who has had a c-section knows what I am talking about. Since the birth of baby #2, I feel like I take more notice to the things that come out of Baby T’s mouth because I can see how much he’s grown since he was as small...
Hi, I am (insert your own name here). I used to have a name but now it is Mommy. I am the girl who makes sure her kids have matched socks but doesn’t care if her own are…As long as I am not going anywhere that I have to take my shoes off. I am the woman whose kid has covered the walls or cupboards or windows with possibly crayon and permanent marker. (In my case both over the course of 2 years.) Upon discovering the new masterpiece I declared to him how beautiful it was and how much I loved it because he was so proud that amidst all that scr...
As I lay me down to sleep. I pray my children do not weep. As I watch them close their eyes, I hope they dream of starry skies. I pray that if and when they cry, I will always be there to sing a lullaby. I am thankful for the help we receive, And I secretly hope my oldest stops wiping snot on his sleeve. As I lay me down to sleep, I pray my children stay asleep. Not for long as some may want, Just long enough for me to say it was a shot. As I close my bloodshot eyes, I dream and hope they grow into stand up guys. I pray my babies learn to love...
The second Sunday after welcoming the new baby I started to feel a little cooped up. I am still recovering from surgery but by my eighth and ninth day I felt so much better. I was walking around the house better and even bending over to pick up Baby T’s cars. I figured why not try an out to Wal-Mart? What was the worst that would happen? I’d have to either leave if I was too sore or drive a motorized cart. I forgot how long it could take to leave your house with a brand new baby in tow. You change them and their clothes. You just about get the...
Here I am about to spend my fourth night at home. I cannot believe it but I came home pretty early. On the second day after my new son’s birth, I was on my way home. I had expected to be at the hospital for at least three maybe four days. Surprisingly I wanted to come home the day early. All I could think about was my poor Baby T at home alone (well with his dad or his Tota) and about how if I could come home that extra day sooner Baby T would get the chance to spend two nights with his new brother and Mommy before heading back to school v...
I have finally been told after being driven crazy by my doctor that I have a birth date for the new baby. Last week I mentioned how they (the doctor’s office and hospital) were going to let me know. I got a phone call and a date given to me. Then two days later the hospital calls and gives me a date that is one day closer. Excited and relieved to know when I am expecting to meet the new addition to our family I started to let my immediate family know. Of course I had already told them the first date I was given and now was basically r...
As my due date approaches there have been a few surprises between a month ago and now, like my health, unpacking, and my actual delivery date. This is kind of a “moms only” article so if you’re a guy and bore easily now would be the time to flip the page. I have been so tired this pregnancy but I just shrugged it off thinking that I had a three-year-old who just turned four and if being his play buddy wasn’t tiring enough, his busy ways were. Like, “Oh you want a snack, ok…Wait let me get you a bowl first!” On the off day that Baby T would...
Here I am after a few weeks of quality time with Baby T. We had a good break, I could tell that as the holidays approached my little guy was ready for it. It was starting to be a fight to get him to school and bed. He would drag his feet so slowly across the floor to his boots that I felt like I was saying, “Hurry up, come on” fifty times a morning. Even his teachers had commented that not just him but all the kids in his class were in need of a serious break. The last week and a half before the two weeks off we had to keep reminding Baby T of...
Now that fall is behind us winter has loomed its freezing head. I have never been one for the cold. Christmas, skating and skiing were always my favorite parts of winter. Making a snowman on a mild day is fun to me. However the wet snow that makes you late for work, or soaks your shoes before you get where you are going never seemed like quite an even trade off. I mean I do love that “snowman snow,” the kind that is easily packable and stays put. For instance, you could walk through it and not get it in your socks and I like the sound of the...
Recently I went out to eat Chinese food. I always look forward to the prize part when you’re done your meal: your fortune cookie. I personally get a kick out of those little paper tidbits of wisdom. Sometimes they make no sense or are so vague they apply to everyone. Baby T’s dad didn’t have a fortune in his cookie that night which prompted the conversation about who gets to write those, and how do they come up with it. All because someone didn’t insert one into his cookie. I was just doing laundry and found my little paper fortune and I thoug...
Now that packing is behind us and settling in is ahead of us we have found ourselves in a waiting stage. Fortunately for me I got the assistance or I should say the labor force of my in-laws. My mother and sister in law pretty much packed my whole house the day before the move, making what I had packed seems to be the equivalent of a closet. Each time I picked up a bag or box they would instruct me to leave it alone. I felt sort of useless during the move. I was pretty much restricted to putting stuff in boxes or taping them. But mostly my job...
For the second time in Baby T’s short life we will be moving. Not that a move is such a big thing when you live on a reservation. Everyone will know about it and know where to find you after the fact so there is no need for forwarding an address or worrying that someone won’t know where you moved to. For instance, yes you have moved but you are technically still close to everything you’re used to like family, friends, and schools. Baby T will not have to change schools he will actually be much closer to it. Best of all he will finally get t...
