The Hardest Job You'll Ever Love

I think it was the Marines that coined that slogan, “The hardest job you’ll ever love.” Now, I generally don’t think of myself in military terms (being one to whom sweat is less than exhilarating), but I have decided that motherhood can also be described by this slogan. The last few weeks have flown by in a haze of sleeplessness, wails and sugar. Sleeplessness because of my dear sweet little cherub, Maggie, wails from my other little cherub, Mia, as she tests all the boundaries she knows – yet again! – and sugar because it seems like that’s the only thing I have cravings for right now. I have inhaled package after package of Fruit Gushers and have now moved past the chocolates onto candy corn. I have been surviving mostly on sugar and caffeine.

Sadly enough, Maggie continues to be plagued by great gassiness. While it does provide the comic relief to hear the toots coming out of her in great explosions, I feel badly when she’s hollering and scrunching up her face because her tummy is in agony and relatively disgusted when she empties her stomach down the front of my shirt. So, on Saturday I decided to begin eliminating items from my own diet to see if I can help her out at all. Caffeine is the first thing to go. I’m hardly coherent without it. I figure that if she’s still gassy by the end of tomorrow I can gratefully bring it back into my life and move on to cutting out the sugar. J After that, I guess wheat products? Beans? (NO TACO BELL!!! DISASTER!!!) We’ll just have to see how long this process continues.

I’ve been doing some reading in the wee hours of the night. No, not What to Expect the First Year (though it sits on my bedside table). I would like to tell you about the principles I’ve learned through these readings, but that would take coherence, which is not in great supply. Coffee? Coffee, anywhere? J

Mia is growing like a weed, literally. The pants that fit her last week are disturbingly reminiscent of high-water waders this week. She’s also getting more bits of hair. She’s discovered my little bitty hair claws and she likes to wear them in her hair and on her fingers. She runs up to me and demandingly shakes her fingers at me so that I will attach them to her. She has also accosted the large stuffed cow (almost her size) recently and wiped its bottom with diaper wipes. She has discovered how to put her own shoes on and has created the stinkiest house slippers I’ve ever smelled! I’m eagerly waiting for her to show more interest in the potty so that we can move toward the phase of life that involves the sound of a flushing toilet…

I wish I had more exciting things to report, but, alas, this is life as we know it at this point. Take care and please tell me your own stories – I miss you!