Pregnancy Television

I think I am watching too many television shows about having a baby. If I'm home alone (meaning no husband) then I will watch anything from Bringing Home Baby on TLC, 16 and Pregnant on MTV, to Special Delivery on Discovery Channel. Kiara doesn't mind watching these shows either, but I might have overdone it with her. I was in the bathtub with Kiara and she pushes my leg up and says it's time to have a baby. Then the other day when my 3 year old niece was over, Kiara tried to push on her stomach and then told me that the baby was coming. What have I done to this poor little girl?! I just can't help myself, it's like I can't get enough about pregnancy, labor, and newborns.

Worst Mother Ever

This morning the girls woke up about 8:00, which gave us approximately 45 minutes to get dressed, brush teeth, do hair, eat breakfast, pack lunches, put on sunscreen and leave for swim camp. If we got ready on time then we would walk to the park and if we were running late we would have to take the car. Things are going well until Kiara decides that she must watch Caillou this morning. I tell her fine, she can watch 1 episode of Caillou and I finish packing lunches. Caillou ends and naturally Kiara wants another one. I tell her that if we watch another Caillou then we can't walk to the park and we'll have to drive. She agrees and another Caillou is on the TV. I finish getting myself ready (which really means I put on any clothing that covers my ever growing legs and belly, brush my teeth, run my fingers through my hair, and put on sunglasses).

Everyone is now ready and packed and I happen to glance at the clock to see we have 7 minutes till camp starts. I go into the living room and tell the girls we must leave now. Evelina heads to the door, Kiara turns off the TV and then goes to her room and cries that she wants to finish watching Caillou and walk to the park. I tell her we must leave now by car and she refuses. Evelina is already outside at this point getting into the car, so I tell Kiara, "Let's go right now!" She refuses so I decide to pretend to leave without her. I grab my purse, car keys, tell her I'm leaving, and shut the back door. I hear Kiara running towards the back door and screaming, "Mommy, Mommy!" and I instantly feel bad so I try to open the door. The door is locked from the outside and I cannot open the door. I calmly tell Kiara to open the door and she locks the deadbolt instead. Kiara is hysterical now and I start freaking. I search through my purse for the house keys and cannot find them. I run to the front door hoping it was accidentally left unlock and am disappointed. Now I am really freaking out and I decide to call Brian. Then I realize I left my phone in my bedroom. I am in full fledge panic mood now and wondering how I'm going to tell the neighbor that I need to use his phone to get a locksmith to open our house because I was trying to teach my daughter a lesson by pretending to leave without her. My heart is racing and I hear Kiara from inside the house screaming, "Mommy come back, Mommy come back!". I am in tears now and go back to the door and try to persuade Kiara to unlock the door by herself. Kiara is too busy crying and is of no use. I happen to search my pants and find the house keys in my pockets (I must have put them in there without thinking). I unlock the door and give Kiara the biggest hug ever. She is quick to forgive me and gets into the car with no problem. We get to camp about 10 minutes late, I sign in the girls with their teachers, give kisses, and leave. As I walk back to my car by myself I feel like the worst mother ever. I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Kiara and Her Baby Brother

As my pregnancy winds down (I'm officially in the 3rd trimester!), I am starting to get more anxious about the effect the new baby will have on Kiara. Kiara has two sides: she is the baby of the family when Montre and Evelina are here and she is the only child when they are gone. When it is just Kiara, Brian and I sit and enjoy her cute moments (and not-so-cute moments). How she loves to sing silly songs out of the nowhere. How she dances in the living room. How she loves to be naked and thinks saying Poopie and Pee-pee are the funniest things ever. How when she wants something she says, "Just 1" like, "I want to watch just 1 Caillou" or "I want just 1 ice cream". I love Kiara so much and whether it is pregnancy hormones or a good case of cheesiness I am so sad she is growing up. I've been trying to hold on to her this summer and cherish every moment I have alone with her. The other day she fell asleep in my arms before bedtime. Kiara hasn't done that in a long time and so I think she senses things are about to change too. I'm just afraid that once Lenin is born she'll get put on the back burner and feel left out. I know it'll only be temporary, during those chaotic newborn months, but I feel like she has no idea how her life is about to change.

Of course, Kiara is so excited about having a baby brother. We talk about what a great big sister she is going to be and how baby Lenin can't wait to meet her. She tells me how she is going to get diapers for me, get Lenin's pacifier, and hold him in her lap. The other day she says to me, "I want to play with Baby Lenin" and she then sits on my lap facing my belly and begins to play "Patty-Cake" with my belly. No lie, she softly did the motions of "Patty Cake" on my belly and then ended play time by tickling my belly button. Yesterday Kiara comes and kisses and hugs my belly then says, "I love him!" I was confused and asked her who she loves and she said, "Baby Lenin!" Maybe Kiara will adjust to the new baby with no problems but I still feel guilty that I am the one responsible for changing her status in life.

My Little Helpers

My kids love to help me around the house. The girls especially love to act like mini moms. This morning both girls wanted to wake up Montre. Evelina and Montre can aggravate each other at times so I sent in Kiara. From down the hall I heard her say, "Moooontreeeee, wake up sleepy head! Sleepy head wake up!" It was so darn adorable, but I'm sure Montre wasn't so pleased. The girls also love to help me clean, well, try anyway. I bought a small dust buster that can be extended into a small vacuum for my classroom. When I brought my school stuff home for the summer, the girls found the vacuum and were so excited. They thought this vacuum was made just for them. They actually fight over who gets to use it first. Unfortunately, their vacuuming skills combined with the less than satisfactory sucking power make their vacuuming a step above the effectiveness of that little corn popper push toy that toddlers love to use. I still have to go over their work with the regular vacuum.

Montre is also a great help around the house and is becoming quite dependable. Of course, I have to be very specific on what I want him to do. If I give him general directions, I usually end up frustrated. As a mom of a pre-adolescent I've learned to give detailed and clear directions and also to pick my battles. One example is when I asked him to clean out his backpack from the end of the school year. He had already used the backpack to carry his swim items to the pool and I guess he didn't mind having his markers and scissors next to his sunscreen and pool pass. I, however, thought this was not a good idea and asked him to clean it out. Another time I asked him to clean his desk and he did so by throwing everything into a drawer. Later when I checked his work, I tried to show him how to organize better. I really appreciate all that Montre does. Every year when he goes away to YMCA camp for a couple of weeks, I realize how much he helps me and I usually send him an email at camp thanking him for being such a great son and big brother.