Who Are You and What Have You Done With My Son?
I've heard of the "terrible two's." but what is happening in this apartment is beyond that. I'm sure many parents have the same thought about their 2 year olds. Maybe it's just my low frustration tolerance, but Ari is making me want to scream and literally pull my hair out of my head one strand at a time.I heard somewhere that nature/biology makes children intentionally cute so you don't kill them. It makes so much sense. Ari behaves like a maniac. He screams because I won't let him watch TV, eat off of the floor, pour juice on the cat's head and other fun activities that benefit him, not me. And just as I'm on the verge of loosing it, he flashes the biggest cutest smile. How's that for an extremely frustrating situation?Needless to say, I'm loosing my mind. I feel like I'm living with an irrational mental patient. But in reality, he's just a 2 year old. His mood swings are so pronounced and erratic. I thought I was a moody person, well clearly he's trumped me in this department.By the end of the day, I can't wait until he goes to sleep so I can have a break [...]
Farmer Fader
Howdy Y'all! It's 5:05am, and I'm wide awake. I've renamed myself. My old moniker, Sarah Fader, just doesn't describe me anymore. I am now officially a farmer, "Farmer Fader." I have adopted this new identity, because that it appears I can no longer sleep past 5:30am. I'm wide awake at this extremely odd hour and it upsets me.It's not like I have crops to tend to or animals to feed (other than my voracious felines who eat processed brown pellets) or any productive activity to engage in at this time. So why am I awake? It's just unfair. I initially blamed this spontaneous early morning wake-up situation on the fact that I had to pee. But, one would think, that I could pee and then go right back to sleep.No. Not happening. I'm up for the day now, and don't know what to do with myself. I have a strong feeling that these odd hour wake-up times are occurring because of the ever growing and changing baby in my uterus. Apparently, she wants me to get out of bed and do something. Who knows? Maybe this will be her personality? Perhaps she will be an early riser, a get up [...]
A Visit to The Staten Island Museum
It was raining this morning when I woke up, but (despite the rain) I felt an intense need to get out of the house. I turned to my friend, the internet, to find free and/or low cost activities to do with Ari today. I found the Staten Island Museum. It stated that admission was $3 and FREE on Tuesdays after Noon. So Ari and I threw our belongings together, got in the car and off we went to Staten Island!We arrived on Staten Island and made it to the museum!Unfortunately, there was no place to park. So we drove around for a bit. I had an unfortunate incident with my coffee this morning, I ran out of milk and made the mistake of trying to add buttermilk to my daily dose of caffeine. Needless to say, I remained un-caffeinated for the duration of the morning. I was feeling it, at this point, and then...I saw it.But, there was still no place to park. So I did what any other savvy New Yorker would do. I parked illegally.Okay, I know, I shouldn't have done it. But I desperately needed coffee and Ari was starving and requesting a muffin, which he got [...]
Crying in Front of Your Kids
I am now five months pregnant with my second baby, a girl, and I am hormonal as ever. I can cry at the drop of a hat. I wasn't like this when I was pregnant with Ari. During my first pregnancy, I was more aggressive than anything else. I was blunt, confident and nobody would dare mess with me. I was a pregnant superhero.This pregnancy, I feel more like a damsel in distress. I'm an emotional roller coaster. Unfortunately, poor Ari has to see my go through these crying fits. I don't know exactly what to do when I am "touched" with emotion. When Ari sees me cry he says:"Don't cry mommy! You don't cry."But the truth is, I do cry. And I cry a lot at this point in time. I mean, I'm normally a sensitive person, but this is overwhelming. Tiny little things make me cry. Things that (probably) wouldn't bother me if there weren't a fetus, and raging hormones around.So, I have a question for all you mommies out there, pregnant or not. What do you do when you feel the need to cry in front of your kids?
Ari’s TGIF
Ari and I were sitting on the couch at my parent's house, when it occurred to me that I was very tired. It's been a long week, and my first one back at work. Today (of all days) I woke up at 5am and could not go back to sleep. I turned to Ari (as he was watching Blue's Clues) and said: "I'm tired." "You're not tired," he replied "You're sleepy!" "Okay." I acquiesced "Are you sleepy?" "Yes." He agreed. "Do you want to go upstairs?" I asked yawning audibly. "No." He said definitively. "I don't want to go upstairs! I want to sleep on this couch."
Being Liked At Work
I've had the luxury of staying home entirely with Ari over the summer. Despite my pregnant mood swings and his throwing my carefully prepared meals all over the floor (amazingly) we still love each other.Unfortunately, when I returned to the land of substitute teaching, I realized that I had to make an effort to be liked at work.It's sad, really, but I care about what my co-workers think about me. I get along with most people at school, but there is one person in particular who (no matter how nice I am to this individual) the person in question is still openly rude, condescending, and blatantly disrespectful to me.Now, you may be thinking:"Stop taking it so personally! Who cares if this person likes you? You're not there to be liked! Get a grip! This is a job! You're not there to make friends!"Or something along those lines.Well, guess what? I do care. Yes, I care what this person thinks about me because they have made it known (by their behavior) that they don't like me. It's uncomfortable, and I hate it.I wish I didn't care. I wish I could be one of those people who, simply, went to work, kept [...]
Finding FREE Things to Do in NYC With a Two Year Old
I live in New York City. As you may know, it's one of the most expensive places to live in the world. My boyfriend and I do not make much money at all. In fact, at this very moment, I have about oh...$10 to my name. Not that you needed to know that, but it's true.Unlike many mothers in this town, I don't have money to spend on fancy classes for my kid, i.e. tumbling, sing-a-longs, martial arts and other similar fun sounding yet expensive activities.So what do we do everyday, you might ask? We do whatever is free! But, I'm getting bored of all the free stuff. I need more ideas for things to do with a 2 1/2 year old that do not cost any money. Can you help me out? Here are a list of the things we already do: Toddler Time at the libraryGo to the playgroundPlaydatesThe Botanic Gardens on days when it's freeThe park And...that's about it. Any ideas for more things to do in NYC with a 2 year old that are free? Let me know!
Do You Wanna Be My Friend or Not?
So there's this mom. We've hung out a couple of times. She's super cool. Her kid is super cool. She's pregnant with another kid who I'm sure will be just as cool.But, she's a flake.I'll text her "Hey! I'm heading to the playground! You wanna hang out?"No response.I previously chalked it up to the fact that, she probably doesn't want to be my friend, which is sad. But okay, I can handle it. I'll live.However, lately, I've been running into her on the playground with another mom friend who I can't help but give the evil eye to.I'm sure this woman is perfectly nice, she has no obvious deformities physically or emotionally. She seems fine. But, obviously she's won out over me. I'm not cool enough to hang out with apparently.Today, my ego was bruised enough to confront my maybe-friend. I couldn't take it anymore.We were sitting on a bench, and the conversation went a little something like this:"So, I was going to text you today, but I figured you wouldn't respond.""I know," she said "I'm sorry, I'm a horrible friend.""No, it's fine. I just get the distinct feeling that you don't wanna hang out with me. That's how it's [...]
Vegan Lasagna! Who Knew?
In all my 30 years of avoiding making lasagna, I always assumed that it was a cheese-centric dish. It is, for the most part, but my lovely friend Amanda makes a bad ass vegan lasagna! Amanda is vegan and an amazing cook and baker. If you never tried her cookies, click here to find out what I'm talking about.This one's for all you vegans out there. She's agreed to reveal her top secret vegan lasagna recipe. Here she is, all the way from PDX: take it away Amanda:This is a semi-difficult yet totally worth it recipe. Some of you may have no clue what these ingredients are all about. Nutritional yeast, what the heck?! I promise your local health food store will have it, along with the rest of the ingredients. This will serve 4-6 people.Ingredients: * 1-2 jars of spaghetti sauce, depending on how saucy you like things. We use a jar and a half. A lot of sauces aren't vegan and contain goat's milk, of all things, so be sure to check ingredients. * 16oz frozen spinach * 1/2 lb carrots, chopped * 1/4 cup chopped parsley * 4 cloves minced garlic * 1/4 cup vegetable broth * [...]
Lasagna: I’ve Conquered Thee!
I have a confession to make: I'm 30 years old, and I've never made lasagna...until now.For all you vegetarians and kosher people out there, it's cheese lasagna, no meat included.The reason I never attempted to make this dish in years past is because it intimidated me!My mom would complain constantly about how long it takes to make lasagna.She would lament about what a pain in the ass it was to assemble, there were so many layers involved.Finally, I said to myself, What the hell! I'm going to go for it!So I looked up a decent recipe, found this one and began the process.Once I started assembling the ingredients, I felt the fear within me rise:What if I'm doing this all wrong?What if my mom was right and this lasagna is going to sabotage me?The layers! There are so many layers! This is taking forever!But I progressed onward. 45 minutes later, after the oven timer beeped, I made Wil take out the lasagna. I was too scared to look. Plus, I was afraid I would drop it. I've been so clumsy lately with my pregnant brain, I didn't trust myself."Um, is it supposed to look like that?!" He shouted across the [...]
Love
Okay relax. This is not going to be a sappy post about how we should all hold hands and love each other. Are you relieved? Fabulous.I had a nightmare. It ended with me waking up and thinking:"I love Ari MORE than I love Wil."My heart was racing, my whole body was sweating, and I felt awful.I couldn't understand this feeling. It traumatized me. I love Wil. He's my partner in crime, my "one day husband." I love him to death. Did I mention "love?"But the love I feel for Ari is different. I created him. He lived inside my body for nearly a year. It is a deep love that is unexplainable. Intangible. A terrifying love. A love where I couldn't handle it if anything happened to him.A love that scares me to my core. I explained this disturbing feeling to my friend, Nora. She said:"Welcome to Motherhood."I'm scared. Shaken. I feel the need to protect Ari from the world with my love. But I want him to experience it too. It's a conflict.Do you feel this way about your children?