The Houston's Home: February 2015

Monday, February 23, 2015

Magic

Do you have magic? I don't, but I want some. Apparently there is this thing called "Mother's Magic". Well, I AM a mother............. Where is my magic. Who left that key ingredient out of me when I was made? Or, does it happen when a woman first becomes a mother? A woman gives birth, and as a reward for doing one of the hardest things of her life, she gets magic. It sounds about right. I believe we women deserve it, but well, I'm pretty ticked. I did all of the hard work, 3 TIMES, and no magic.
I've lived 11 years of being a mom without thinking much about it, and then a couple of months ago I was walking down the street when a new family (mom, dad, new baby) were walking the same way as me. We were stopped at a stop light when new baby started to cry in the stroller. The new dad picked up baby and, for about 1 second, tried to comfort baby before saying something about "Mother's Magic" and passing the baby to mom. My first I thought was, "I'm SO glad I'm out of the baby stage" but my second thought was, "Magic?????". Fancy this, after the light turned green and we all started walking again the baby stopped crying as the mom bounced and cooed at the baby. Apparently from the look on the dads face she did have magic.
Ok, I'm not oblivious. I realize this saying has been around for awhile. I just don't know if I would go as far as saying moms have magic. I wish we did, but the fact is we don't. I do believe men and women are innately different. We have different qualities that complement each other. Women have been perceived through out forever as being the nurturer. Maybe that is our "magic", but do you know what I think? I don't believe it. I believe men can be just as nurturing. I think men invented "mother's magic" so that they could pass the baby off to the one with the magic. And then what's a woman to do? Admit to the man that she in-fact doesn't have magic? I say YES! It is humbling, but we really don't have it, and we need help.
My first wonderful daughter had colic for 6 months. I mean horrible, there was nothing I could do, screaming baby colic. She was born in the summer in Washington State where there are no air conditioners, so my home windows were open to try to cool off. I would have neighbors come knock on my door asking if they could try rocking her. See, I had no magic. Don't worry, they didn't have any magic either. They just had pity for me after they tried to calm her and couldn't succeed. To top it off, I had postpartum depression. This came as quite a shock as I had never felt the affects of depression in my life until that point. Honestly, the only magic in our home during that time was my husband. He helped lead both me and my daughter out of that hard time in our lives. This brings me to my point, did my husband even have magic? No, he had love and strength, and patience, and I am forever grateful to him because of this. Mothers are amazing and wonderful, but fathers are just as awesome!
I love being a mom! My children are the best parts of me. I would do it all over again to have these wonderful people in my life, but again, I don't have magic. I do have a lot of love, and I am stronger than I have ever been, and I learn patience everyday. Maybe some would call this magic, but I think it's called hard work with a lot of unconditional love. If you want to call it "Mother's Magic", then there has to be "Father's Magic" as well. Mother's and Father's are in this parenting thing together, so please don't pass the baby to the mom and say she has the magic, 'cause fathers do too!
Also, if there actually is a mom out there that thinks she does have magic........ I'm Jealous.
Man, what would I do with Mother's Magic? Make sure they have clean rooms, have them never fight with each other, get them to eat only healthy things, read more, play video games less, go outside to play, do homework right away, stay in their own beds at nighttime, do their chores, good manners...... the list goes on and on, and all of this with no nagging. Ah Magic...... I wish.

Out Of The Mouth of My Kids

On Easter this year Will had his easter basket full of the little plastic eggs when he accidentally tripped and dropped his basket. When he dropped his basket the plastic egss broke open to reveal the candy inside. Will, in the most excited voice I've ever heard him use said "The eggs open!!!!!!" He couldn't believe there was candy inside- it was the coolest thing to him!
(Easter 2009)

I asked Will one day where the new baby was going to sleep. He said: " in a cage". I guess we now know what he thought of his crib.
(Winter 2009)

I was playing with Will one day. He was pretending to be a robot, so I decided to be a robot too, but he said:
"no you can't be a robot you are a princess"
I said:
"what do princesses do?"
He said:
"they just dance"
(Winter 2009)

We drove by a horse pasture the other day and Claire said:
"I really want a horse. If you don't get me a horse mom I will fire you... ... I mean I will fire Daddy!"
(Winter 2009)

We were talking about where we should go out for dinner one night and Shawn mentioned a new Terriakyi Sushi place. Claire got very excited and said, "Yes! Sushi! Shushi! Please! Please! Please! I love Sushi!" We soon found out she meant a Slushee (like a fruit drink) not Sushi. She does not like Sushi.

Claire: "Mom, I can't make my bed. Will is making me have too much fun." (July 2008)

Will's newest fixation is robots. Yes, we saw WALLE, and that's about when it started. Will can't quite say ROBOT though, so he says "Beebot" instead. It took us awhile to figure out what he meant, but now it's very cute - beebot! (Summer 2008)

William at age 2 still doesn't say too much, but some times he gets on a kick and repeats things over and over, and recently he has found bird poo very interesting. I don't know why, but when we go on walks lately he stops at every white spot on the side walk and says "bird poo- ewwww yuck" this happens over and over and over and over on our walks. I never realized there was so much bird poo in the world! (Summer 2008)

I recently walked in on Claire singing a song she made up to her brother. This is a rare occurance, so I thought I'd better write it here to remember that even though they fight they still love each other. Here is the gist of the song imagine in a very high drawn out soprano:
"I love youuuuuuuuu. You are my frieeeeend because you love to play with meeeeeee and you love to go outside with meeee. I love YOUUUUUU!"
She repeated this over and over and Will just sat there listening seeming to know the song was just for him. I will have to show her this when she is mad at her brother for playing with her "stuff". (Summer 2008)

Claire: "Mom, when I stretch my nose up my nostrils look like bunny ears." (Spring 2008)

Claire had a cough one morning. When she woke up she said:
"My voice is crooked" (Winter 2008)

Claire toes aren't just toes. They are "Weeny Toes" because they are so small compared to everything else. (Winter 2008)

Claire: "Mom, don't step on the cracks or you will get boy slime." (Spring 2008)

Claire (in disgust after we had a carpenter ant problem): "Why did Heavenly Father have to make ants on the Earth?" (Summer 2008)

Claire: "I want to be a cowgirl and a mama when I grow up, and I will have 6 babies and they will all be girls." (2008)

Claire (smiling): "Mom, I can't stand it, I'm so NERVOUS for Christmas" I asked why she was "nervous" and she explains how she can't wait to see what Santa brings for her. I finally figured out that she meant excited not nervous and couldn't wait for Chritmas . (Winter 2007)