Happy Mother's Day from Laurie, Fudge, and Vern!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  For the first year ever on this Mother's Day, I have a brand new son-in-law.  I grew up with two sisters and had two daughters, so adding a son to the family has been fun. When my daughter got married last June, they wanted to know what my new SIL should call me. I didn't really like all the suggestions they were coming up with and I had to mention, more than once, to my DH that I did not want to be called mother anything and finally said I had always liked the sound of Mamacita.   My SIL was fine with the name, but my DD kept saying that it was dumb because he was Asian and not Spanish.  Over the years, I have had a hard time convincing my DD that I am her intellectual equal, so sometimes it is fun to egg her on a little. I told her I realized that he was not Spanish when his name did not end with a vowel and proceeded to speak a little Spanish to her and said, “I am not stupido.”  After that, she looked at her husband and said, “Go ahead and call lame-o Mamacita.”  This, in a nutshell, is how our family communicates and I would not want it any other way!

 

Growing up I remember all those shows where the moms were perfect. They said the right thing, did the right thing, never raised their voices, and were nothing but loving at all times. We all know that isn't real life and my kids know it first hand. When I got Vern and Fudge, I read so many books on getting a dog, training a puppy, etc. that both girls started commenting that it was funny how they never saw me pick up one parenting book. When I told them people used to comment all the time what a natural I was at mothering, the oldest asked if I had given birth to any of those people. After she said it, the two of them could not stop laughing. This is my life as a mother.

 

Over the years, we have had our fights and disagreements and no one has ever accused any of us of being perfect. I am sure my kids will tell you, sometimes my parenting style could be compared to these ladies:

and sometimes I felt like this:

and I never came close to this:

But, being a mom is the best thing I ever did!  So, I would like to wish all those less than perfect moms, like me, a wonderful day!!

 

P.S. My youngest just came into the room and said she wants to spend time with me on Mother's Day!  I felt kinda bad when I said, "for god's sake, can't you see I am writing a blog on DK!"  When my DH wanted to know what was taking so long and what I was writing about, I told him the blog was about being a good mom and he said, "Now, I know why it took so long." Please refer to picture #2 (Marge Simpson).

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Oh Laurie, you and I would be a dangerous duo back in the day.  I guess the great thing about all our little "mistakes" is that the kids turned out fine, and now we get to laugh about it all.  I think the gift I was able to give my girls is knowing that I was just human, and although I loved them more than life itself, it was okay to make mistakes...find the humor...and then try not to make the same mistake again.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Is this where I feel safe enough to admit that I once drove away from a gas station leaving 2 children behind.  In my defense I never saw them leave the vehicle - they were 2 - 13 yr old girls and when I discovered the mistake - I refused to go back and get them telling DH "you go pick them up because I don't want to go to jail for a double murder".  Ahhh - the good old days.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Happy Mother Day to you.  I do hop you have a really great one.   The Marge Simpson picture reminded me that I once went into MacDonalds with three young children and said in a very loud voice ' I don't know why more parents don't murder their children' at which point the very busy MacDonalds customers all turned to look at me and the whole place descended into a deadly silence.  Luckily two women came to my aid and started laughing and agreeing with me.  

I also spent one  birthday, (an unusually hot August day) in Mac Donalds sifting through eighteen giant bags of garbage with rubber gloves on, searching for my eldest (age nine) daughters retainer that she left wrapped in a tissue.  I was determined to find it  as she had lost the first, and I did.  It was in the very last bag. lol

 

Enjoy the day all my US DK friends  (Mother's Day is in March here in Ireland) 

 

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

This is so nice..I think it speaks to many of us!!!!  Happy Mother's Day  to you too!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I remember telling my kids when you got to the eye-rolling stage :" It's not like I got a dress rehearsal for this mother thing, just go with the flow here will ya!!!"  I was the oposite of you Laurie and Jane, I was the girl scout leader, the cheerleading coach, the soft ball consession stand organizer, the LeLeche League Leader, the Boys Scout Den Mother....get the picture. It was exhausting. And did they appreciate it? Heck NO. They used to complain and ask why I couldn't be like other mom's and just show up.

So I think you both had the right idea girls. Now that I'm a grandmother, I get to "just show up" and I think I like it a whole lot better!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jane, I am cracking up reading your response. Our kids would have a ball getting together and talking about our "bad" parenting. The stories that my oldest never misses an opportunity to tell happened when she was a baby. Note to new parents....don't tell your kids stories you don't want them to repeat.

• When she was a baby, we only had one car and if I wanted to use the car I had to get up around 5 am and take my DH to work. We had to go through a guard gate to get to the place I could drop him off and after a while, the guard would talk to me and comment on my little baby. One day when I went to pick my DH up from work, I pulled into the parking lot and stopped at the guard gate and the guard asked me where my baby was. Now, I almost had a stroke because my DD was supposed to be in the back seat buckled in in her car seat and I had a moment when I thought maybe I had left her somewhere. I jumped out of the car and opened the back seat and there was my daughter HANGING UPSIDE DOWN in her car seat, sound asleep. To give myself some credit, I had buckled her into her car seat, but forgot to buckle the seat into the seat belt and at some point, her car seat must have flipped forward and caught on the front seat. She was happy as a clam, but I never made that mistake again :)
• I remember those days of school and getting volunteered for stuff and I made my kids promise to NEVER volunteer me to make or bake anything. They would come home with a smile on their face and say, "Mom, we said you would do paper cups," and we would high five.
• I would have encouraged parties, if I thought it meant they would clean every inch of my house...LOL! Jane, you are a smartie!!

I loved your driving story! I think we would have had a good time if we had lived closer when our kids were young. Thank you for the laugh!!!

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Oh Laurie, I can so relate to this!  I have never been a perfect mother.  My daughters and I still laugh about...

• I was a horrible driver (still am)....there were a number of "crashes" during the time the kids were growing up.  I always drove really slow, so they were never too serious.  They remind me all the time about how I used to yell to them in the back seat....hang on tight, I think we're going to crash!  They actually got used to that, and after a while it didn't scare them.  There was the time we were at a party and the girls were with us.  I insisted on driving home because DH had a couple of beers.  I had brought dip and it wasn't all gone, so DH was holding the bowl driving home.  You guessed it....I crashed and the dip went all over him.  Yes he was covered with onion dip. It was dripping off his face.  He hasn't driven with me since, except once after his colonoscopy and he was too out of it to care.  My daughters' friends were not allowed to ride with me....got me out of lots of carpooling.
• The girls would bring home the notices about the PTA meetings and "special events for mothers".  Whenever possible I scheduled my business trips so that I wouldn't have to go, and especially so I would have to be on the "planning committee".  The girls totally get that now....they don't like them either.
• The girls always thought they were smarter than I was.  On the rare occasions when DH and I would go away overnight, we'd come home to an immaculate house....floors scrubbed, dishes done, even the yard was "cleaned up".  Of course we knew there had been a BIG party....I never said a word because I got my house cleaned for free.  Then there were the times when I'd go to put something on, and found it perfectly ironed.  Yup, one of them had worn it.  I always left for work before them went to school, so they raided my closet.  Another great way to get your clothes ironed.
• I also remember the other Moms always talking about the latest parenting book they had read.  WTD?  I had all I could do to keep up the house, work full time, and put food into their mouths.  Any reading I had time for was "mindless" back them....I especially loved those really tacky romance novels.  Here's what I mean...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Kim, I get the how we sing thing a lot too..haha!  When my oldest went off to college I had to teach her how to do laundry and started out by saying,"this big thing is called a washing machine" so clearly, I let some things slide :)  Mine still talk to me almost every day, so I think they do like me :) I am sure you did a great job!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, F, and Happy Mother's Day to you too!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wishing you, the funniest if imperfect of moms, the happiest mother's day.