One of "those" moms

Greg was recently looking at Nolan's 1st birthday pictures (I guess Mallory's 1st birthday spurred all this sentimentality). He kept on saying,"I remember Nolan being cuter than that." I guess after so much time we've forgotten how he "used" to look...now he's just the most handsome little man ever (very biased). There's a lot of things that we don't remember the same.

One of them is being my ideals on how I was going to be a parent. When I used to go shopping and had not yet had children, I promised myself I would not be one of "those" moms that would let their kid scream through the whole store. I would not let my child throw food at restaurants. I WILL have polite children, and if they do throw a fit I will leave my purchases and automatically leave the store.

I now admit I am one of those moms. Awhile ago my friend, Adriana, was brave enough to eat out with me and the kids. Mallory made this horrible "AAAGGGHHHH" sound the WHOLE time. Nothing worked...food, toys, drink. I swear that people's eyes were burning holes in the back of my head trying to silently tell me,"Please leave!"

I guess it's even a little worse that we live in a college town where girls give you a horrific look and you know what they are thinking,"I will NOT do that when I have kids." When I see this in their eyes, I give them the "oh yes you will" look.

I also thought it would be easier to go about town with two kids. I always thought I would take long walks with the kids, be able to get them from place to place with ease. Not so much. Some times I would rather stay in my house all day to skip the mess of putting the kids in the car and taking them out. When it's a beautiful day outside, I feel obligated to venture outside. But when it's overcast it's my ticket to be sloth-like and not have to dress the kids in cute clothes or have to put them in carseats and drive them around town for errands.

I think all of this means that I need to be more flexible. No more pre-determined ideals of how kids should behave/look/speak. In my dad's infamous words, "It is what it is".....haha I never thought I would use that line, drove me mad when my dad would say it. :)

Picture of Nolan and Mallory playing in the laundry basket...and piles of laundry in the background.