Happy New Year!

The first year we were together, my husband and I went to South Beach for New Year's. There was another year when we took the boys to the Florida Keys. The year I was pregnant we went to a party at a friend's house. Not to mention my twenties when I spent many a new year in bars in Manhattan.

This New Year's Eve we will be alone, on the couch, watching movies and eating take-out.

And I can't wait.

This holiday season I am tired.

I love my friends and family, but I just want to be alone. We saw family for Thanksgiving, for a birthday on the 13th, on Christmas and we will see them this Saturday (all which requires us to travel a few hours away).

We were at a friend's party on the 20th, we had other friends over last Sunday and I'll be getting together with the girls next week.

And I love my husband. He's my favorite person to spend some quiet time with.

So I hope everyone has a Happy New Year with people they love!

Holiday Photo Blooper

Sarah from Real Life wants us all to embarrass our children and post our Holiday card photo bloopers. Count me in Sarah!

Last year I attempted to take the holiday card photo of our 18 month old. In order to get her to sit down and look happy, I did what any good mother would do - I gave her an Oreo cookie. Now keep in mind that at 18 months old she was not accustomed to having sweets too often (note: at 30 months old, that is a different story!). The sugar rush combined with the chocolate did not bode well for the photography session.

Here is one picture:

Notice the chocolate on her hands and face. And notice how happy she is. We may not have had the perfect Holiday card, but we did discover her love for chocolate.

I Heart My Husband

In this month's Parents magazine, there is an article "I Heart Your Husband" by Lori Gottlieb. As a single mom, she wants you to appreciate your husband. And if not, "send him over to my house".

I get it. I totally do. I get it more than most women because my husband travels for a living and it SUCKS.

Dinner is the worst time of the day. It's when my husband calls to check in because either he is finished with work or taking a break. And it is when the kids want to eat. Pains.in.the.ass.

So I have to cook, ward off a two-year old who wants to "play mommy?", listen to my husband make excuses as to why he may not make his flight tomorrow, answer "what's for dinner?" from the teenagers, explain to them that I already started cooking and no, I cannot make something else and resist spitting in the meal. All while balancing a wine glass.

Then I have to fight with a two-year old to "eat one more piece of broccoli", listen to stimulating High School boy conversations about which 16 year old girl is hot and which one of them is more gay and sucks at hockey.

Then I have to clean up, bathe my daughter, put her to bed and have the energy to google divorce lawyers and search eharmony.com for my perfect mate (who loves kids and doesn't travel for work).

So yeah, when he is home, I do appreciate my husband. Sorry Lori.

Dear Palm,

My love with you started in 2001 with one of those black and white Palm pilots - ahh memories.

This year I joined the year 2006 and got a Palm treo 650. Loved it. Loved it so much I switched to a 700w shortly after.

Other than my daughter, it became my love. I joined message boards, I became a treonaut. I will not leave home without it. I keep my shopping and to-do lists on it. You would think I was a CEO and not a mom the way I walk around constantly consulting it.

And while everyone else is walking around with their hip iPhones and new Blackberry Storms, I still love my treo. But it is kind of bulky and it's not so cool anymore, so I did some research and I found the Treo Pro.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am in love and I don't care who knows it.

But dear, sweet, nice people who work at Palm, when, oh when will it be coming out on the Verizon network?? It is the "network" and only THE best cell service...says me.

So if there is any way a suburban housewife (who does work part-time for a wealth management firm. Just thought I'd add that in there) can convince you to release the Treo Pro to Verizon, please let me know.

And because I have a very short attention span, I will need a cool new phone soon. And if the Treo Pro is not available, I may have to buy a crackberry.

That's not a threat. Just a fact.

All my love,

Coma Girl

Hide-and-Seek

Playing hide-and-seek with a 2-1/2 year old can be quite entertaining as my husband and I found out this weekend.

Daughter: "Wanna play hide seek?"
Husband: "Sure"
D: "Daddy you hide"
H: "Ok, and you count to 10"
D: Closes eyes very tight and covers them with her hands (just in case) "Ooone, Twwwo, Thrree I come get you!" Stands, looks around and asks me "where daddy go?"
Me: "I don't know. You have to go find him."
D: Looks confused, "Daddy where arrrrre you?"
Me: "Sweetie, he's hiding and you have to find him"
D: "Ok".

She continues to stand in the kitchen.
Finally, my husband sneaks in and scares her. Now she thinks this is the game.

D: "Wanna play again?"
H: "Sure, I'll count, you hide."
D: "Ok!"
H: "One, Two, Three..."
D: Standing directly behind my husband who is counting and screams "Surprise!! Wanna play again?"
H: "Ok, I'll hide, but you have to count to 10, not 3 and you have to try and find me."
D: "Ok. Covers eyes, but she can still see through them as my husband races out of the room. Ooone, Twwwo, Thrree. Where daddy go?"
H: Screaming from the next room "You have to find me"
D: Comes over to me sitting, reading the paper "Ok, I'll sit down".

Step-Mom

There is not a day that goes by in my house that I do not wonder if I am a good step-mom or not. This morning I was thinking about it and I realized that it all depends on what your definition of a good step-mom is.

If you ask my step-sons, a good step-mom is someone who does everything for them, buys them stuff, but never ever tells them what to do.

If you ask their biological mother, a good step-mom is someone who raises her kids, and does everything for them so she doesn't have to. But she will never give the good step-mom any credit and reserves the right to talk bad about her.

If you ask my husband, a good step-mom is someone who just helps him out. Especially on really bad days when he wants to run off and go live on a boat in the Caribbean.

I guess the reason why I don't know whether or not I am a good step-mom is because my thoughts on being a good step-mom change - probably more often than they should.

There are times when I just give up and say "Fine, they win. If they don't want me telling them what to do, I won't. But I won't do them any favors either".

Then there are times when I think "I just signed you up for driver's ed, paid $300 for it, gave you my father's old car, insured and registered it for you and convinced your father to allow you to finally take your road test. If I want to tell you to take out the trash, I will!"

Then there are times when I am in the supermarket and I'll buy the $4 Arizona Green Tea because SS#2 likes it and he'll drink the gallon in 2 hours. Or I'll just suck it up and pay for it when SS#3 goes over his texts on his cell phone bill without making him do a chore to pay it back.

Maybe I'm not consistent enough? Maybe it's because they're teenagers and they're not consistent at all with the way they treat me? But shouldn't I be more mature than them?

I do feel badly because it's becoming more and more obvious that I parent them differently than I parent my own daughter. And the kicker - I'm tougher on my own daughter than I am them...because I can be. Because I'm her mother and if she doesn't like it, tough nuggies. If I'm tough on them and they don't like it, they run and tell everyone who will listen that their step-mother is a witch (yes, I like to believe that they don't curse). And that includes running to their mother and that just...well, that just sucks.

Something I wrote a while back titled "Why being a step-mom sucks big donkey balls"
1. Your step-kids will blame you for EVERYTHING.

2. Your step-kids will only want you to be their parent if it benefits them. Otherwise its "you're not my parent, mind your own business. But do my laundry, cash my paycheck, get me a car, get me a cell phone and pay for it when I got over my text allowance, pay for my hockey and make my dinner. Please." (hey, at least they have manners!)

3. Your step-kids will never understand that you chose to be their parent and that you actually do love them.