Education for mom

These past few weeks have been very educational for me.

1. Just because I can bake and decorate the perfect birthday cake, doesn't mean I have to. Buying one at the store to save my sanity is more important, easier, and makes the birthday boy just as happy.

2. Just because I could sew a Halloween costume, doesn't mean I should be upset when my son wants to go buy one instead. See #1 about sanity.

3. (and this one is pathetic) When the kids are fighting, I'm pulling my hair out, and the house is falling down all around me, the word "poop" makes the fighting stop and the laughter begin.

4. Special needs kids really do need their own room, if at all possible. My project for the next few weeks is to empty out my sewing room for him. Bummer for me, but it will help my sanity and his as well.

5. There's nothing wrong with saying NO, even if it's for a good reason. somebody else will babysit, bring in the meal, or whatever this time and that's ok. There's always going to be another opportunity when you're not so buried in work, sick kids, and everything else life gives you.

6. My husband seems to know when I'm stressed out, because he always manages to pick that day to bring me a Diet Coke...what a guy!

7. If mom gets sick, and the antibiotics make her sicker, laying around the house is perfectly fine. The dishes can sit in the sink, the clean clothes can be piled up on the family room floor, and watching Dora all day is fine. Or HGTV, if I can get away with it.

8. Changing my eating habits really will work. After all these months of dieting off and on, the jeans I just bought last week say 12 instead of 20, and they are a little loose. WOO HOO!!!

You'd think that at my age I'd know all of this already, and I may have at one time, but anyone with kids will tell you that your brain goes away as soon as the first one is born and you have to relearn everything again. Several times, if needed.