Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sleeping

I use to close my eyes, lay my head down on my soft pillow, my body would sink into my heavenly bed and settle down to vivid visions of the most wonderful dreams. Colors popped, sounds seemed so loud, emotions seemed so real. I use to get scared- awakened by visions of surreal nightmares. Darkness rampaged my thoughts, falling, screaming, running, waking up out of breathe. Thoughts, emotions and actions seemed so real-scary or enlightening.

Now- My head hits my pillow, and what feels like one hour later-my alarm goes off. No colors, no thoughts, no wondrous images-just sleep.

There is a couple exceptions to this: The Children.

I feel a presence standing next to me, I open my eyes to find a tiny figure at the side of my bed. She has her water cup in one hand and her blanket in the other. She awaits my next move -allowing her to come sleep in "mommy's bed". When there is a night where everyone stays in their own beds, I will usually awake to the ever present "MOM" sound that seems to continuously be heard through out the day and echos into the night!

So, if you have the privilege to actually dream-enjoy!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Organizing Art

Problem: My mother threw out all of my childhood projects, so in turn, I keep all of my girls' projects. I have a hug bins of their art that I just don't want to let go, and it keeps growing.

Solution: I've decided to get rid of it all! Before I do that, I have taken on a major project of my own-I am going to photograph all their projects and create a book(s) of their work! Books do not take up room and they will have a chance to actually flip through and see all their art through the years (I don't realistically think they would actually to go through the bins to look at all their art). I try to take some pictures everyday, and photograph all their new art as it comes in.

Conclusion: I have a major project ahead-but once I'm caught up, I think it will work out great!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I, Adult

Why are you going? What are you doing? How long is that going to take? Why do you have to ____? When are you going to ____? Who are you talking to? ...and on and on and on... why, why , why, why, why......

When you reach adulthood, you have a sense of relief that you no longer have to answer to anyone. Well, let's just say it- our parents! We no longer have to justify what we do, when we do it, or how we did it...

...until you have children! Children are curious, dependent, caring, loving, and oh, so innocent! It's not easy though, when I feel like I have to answer more questions now as an adult-than I ever did.

I constantly have to justify why I did things in that particular way, and why not the "other" way. We all have to answer to someone and once you have children that's who your answering to! The answer "just because" or "because I'm the mom" hasn't yet left my mouth, though I've been very tempted. I may break eventually!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I, Comforter -- by Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin, M.D., M.O.M.

Last week, I had the unfortunate circumstance of having to take Hope, one of my twin daughters, to the hospital for surgery. She had a history of multiple ear infections, and I finally agreed to let the doctors place tubes in her ears. The procedure involves the insertion of tiny tubes through the ear drums to help equalize ear pressure and drain fluid from the middle ear.

The surgery took less than an hour, but it seemed like days before they called my name to meet her in the recovery unit. As I walked into the room, Hope was still emerging from anesthesia. Her eyes were closed, but she was writhing around and crying hysterically in the arms of a recovery room nurse. They had tried to give her a dose of a sedative and pain medication to calm her down. But no luck. She was mad!

I took her into my arms, and I could feel the pain and anger in her tense body. Though her eyes were still closed and she was in a half-awake state, my maternal instincts sensed that she acknowledged my presence. I held her close to my body and whispered gently in her ear, "Hope, Mommy's here. You're OK. Mommy's here now."

Within minutes she was relaxed and asleep in my arms. The sudden silence was obvious, and I got an approving smile from the bedside nurse.

With Hope sleeping peacefully in my arms, I watched as other children, half-asleep and crying, reunited with their parents in the recovery unit after surgery. The ability of their parents to comfort them was natural and effortless-- nothing short of amazing.

As parents, we were born to comfort our children. Our ability to bring peace to their hearts is powerful and healing. Today, it's surgery. Tomorrow, it may be a scraped knee, a failed test, or an unrequited first crush. As long as we are there for our children, the emotional pain will pass. Peace will return to their hearts. They will rest comfortably at night knowing Mommy (or Daddy) loves them. And when they sleep soundly, so do we!

Sweet dreams to parents and their children everywhere!


(Post submitted by Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin, M.D., M.O.M., pediatrician, author of "Twins 101," founder of TwinsDoctor.com, and the proud parent of a singleton and identical twin girls)

Monday, May 11, 2009

I, TV Critic

Okay, as for adults, I'm all for mindless television, as well as educational (I do love the Discovery Channel, and History Channel). Once the kids have gone down, I get to actually sit down and turn my brain off for a while. If that means indulging myself in my favorite TV shows for longer than I should- what can I say, we've all got our thing.

However, the use of the phrase "guilty-pleasure" when referring to a television show does bother me. People use this term instead of saying "...this really bad show that I love to watch!" Most television, especially when referring to a reality-show are bad-own it, who cares, we all love some "bad" TV.

As for the kids, it has to be educational, and I'm going to say it-I love Barney! The kids love him, and so do I. Barney teaches kids so many wonderful things in an appealing kid approved environment. They sing songs and tell stories, with real kids sharing "real" experiences that my kids can learn from. I love when any of my girls watch it, from little babies to little kids!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

I, Chef

It's the FIZZ!

Most children love soda because of the fizziness. Here's my secret to give my kids soda:

3/4 cup Juice
1/4 cup Sparkling Water

The carbonation from the water turns any juice into "soda". So my kids have- "SODA JUICE".

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Playing Nice

To see my girls sharing, trading, helping and playing together is such a joy. They are either playing wonderfully together or they are totally arguing, there's no in between. No middle ground! Their arguing attributes to my migraines, but the playing attributes to my humanity.

The innocence of children playing and interacting with one another is such a beautiful thing to hear and a see. They repeat our "adult" talk and use our words in their own play. If only adults could take all the wonderful things around them and incorporate only those thing in our "play", it seems so simple...

Often times my husband and I will listen to our girls playing "mom" together, and we can't help but smile. Warm feelings and good thoughts occur when hearing and seeing the gentleness of there play- "I must be doing something right", at least until they start arguing, again.

Monday, May 4, 2009

I, House-keeper

I put away, organize, clean and scrub the house down. The smell of Pine-Sol sweeps through the air. I look around, two hours later.......it looks as if I haven't done a thing! With the constant cleaning, organizing and putting things away, you'd think the house would look like I actually do those things!

I've realized that once you have kids, your house will never been big enough or clean enough!

We have a HUGE playroom, yet I find toys all over the house. We have an office (the Hubby's) and a half (my desk, in the guest room), yet I have paper, mail and school notices all over. Where does it all come from, and will it ever go away?

Friday, May 1, 2009

I, "Gumby"

I have become stretched in ways I never thought humanly possible. Pulled in every direction, with each child pulling a limb in opposing ways. My head, all the time, spinning around them like a carousel. "Mom" is the song that plays in the background-over and over, again, from dawn to dusk.

Once the kids have gone to sleep and I'm done for the day, an amazing thing happens. I actually reshape back, into something recognizable and stable, sustained only by this brief period of quiet and stillness.

6 hours later it all begins again...