Ode to Chik Fil A

Oh I love you Chik Fil A
When I'm too tired to play or do much more,
I can take them right to your door.
Strapped in their carseats, happy as can be,
I know I can take a break, albeit breif,
a break is a break and that is the key.
In your playground, they run with delight,
I sit and watch with a sigh of relief,
keeping myself from passing out, is no longer such a fight.
Your food is tasty and they all eat it all, which is something to see,
After all,
you made it into the small list of foods they'll actually eat,
and Lord knows, that list is pretty small (luckily for you and me, nuggets make the cut!).
Your staff is so courteous and I love the little touches like kids placemats and Purell,
A half hour messing up your place for dinner, rather than trying to feed and clean them up at home,
sure is swell.
So thanks to you Chik Fil A,
my go-to-place on a tired day.

Yesterday I survived, Today I don't know if I'm going to make it

Every Mom knows that some days are cake. You think, "I'm good at this...I rock." Then other days - disaster. The disaster days are the days you are late (again) taking your kid to school because he moved as slow as molasses and refused to get in the car without his spiderman toy (which of course can not be found).  And where are his shoes? You're also late because your baby just had a huge blowout in his diaper and managed to dump all the food off his highchair onto the floor. You pause to contemplate cleaning it up but that would make you even more late - and you can't bear to get any more of those looks from the teachers as you drop off your kid 20 minutes at school - so you keep moving. Oh, and of course, you arrive at school to drop off your kid late with your hair going in 17 different directions, no makeup, and did you remember to brush your teeth? Who knows. All you know is your tired and it's only the morning and it's going to be one of those days...

Well, yesterday was a good day. Everyone got off on time and smoothly. The "schedule" we pride ourselves in maintaining on those good days was actually maintained. There were no blowout diapers, no spills, no injuries, no tantrums or meltdowns, everyone was happy, dinner was on the table, the house was vacuumed and I was actually nice to my husband in the evening.  Yes, I was pretty proud of myself. You know what that means? Today is another disaster day - oh yes, you know the good days, the days where you think you got this mom thing down pat, are only followed by yet another day of craziness, the kind of day where your life feels like a whirlwind and you wonder how you're going to survive the day.

Disney=A Magical Place for Poop

The first trip to Disney for my 4 year old and 15 month old.  We are enjoying are second day - everyone's first visit to Animal Kingdom. Yes, we are tired from spending the previous day at the Magic Kingdon and from starting another fun filled day at the Animal Kingdom park with two excited, albeit still exhausted from the previous day, kids.  We try to navigate towards the attractions with the shortest lines. We learned our lesson at the Magic Kingdom- "Fast Passes" only work if you're willing to stay at the park until night time. Really, how helpful is it to have a designated time to get on your favorite ride when it requires you to come back 8 hours later? And we learned that you wait and wait and wait, for a 30 second ride? Really, I remember Dumbo being longer? Anyway, we navigated towards the rides we could realistically get on at Animal Kingdom when my husband looked at me while his mouth agape. I said, "What"? No answer. I looked around. I looked down. And then I saw it. Not just a little blowout. I'm talking BLOWOUT. My baby had been on antibiotics the week before, which clearly was still affecting his little tummy, and there was poop all over him (face! fingers! hair! uck! and how is that even possible?), all over the stroller, a complete and utter blast of poop had erupted. So, we were those people. Those people who are stripping their kid naked in the middle of the park, dumping clothes and shoes straight into the trash, going through a pack of wipes and begging vendors for napkins. No restroom was nearby and there was no time. This was a situation. We're wiping and cleaning (me, the baby, my husband, the stroller) with everything and anything we could get our hands on. Yes, we purelled our child. I'm sure it's not good for him but come on. Poop everywhere! I managed to only get it on my arm and shoes so after the panic had gone, I wiped myself off with napkins. We all happily got into another long line and went on a ride. Isn't that what it's all about? Just clean up the mess, and keep going, go on the ride.