Mommy Needs a Makeover?

While I have been busy being someone else's mom, I have started to let myself go, apparently. I didn't realize it had gotten so bad until last night when I was at Art Night with Mia. We were sitting at a table in the school cafeteria while she worked on her shell creature craft. That's when Random Teenage Boy on the opposite side of the table informed me, "My mom has that exact same sweatshirt." At this, I stopped and looked at myself. I wasn't even wearing a sweatshirt. Whew! Dodged that one, right? Then, he looked at me pointedly and repeated himself, this time somewhat louder, "My mom has that exact same sweatshirt." Although his words had no inflection whatsoever, making it impossible to tell how he felt about this, it was now clear that he was, in fact, speaking to me. Then, I understood that he was referring to my very boring, basic, blue fleece jacket that I was wearing for pure practicality of the in-between seasons weather we are having. Obviously, I knew it wasn't high fashion when I put it on, but I had not really cared at the time. Now, I am rethinking this...

Especially after this morning's trip to the Kroger pharmacy. I have another sinus infection, which makes five since school started. UGH! Frankly, though, my misery of having yet another sinus infection has been paled by the exchange between Pharmacy Boy and myself. I have seen this particular kid before and wondered how old someone has to be to work there. He needed the pharmacist to verify the prescriptions before he could hand them over to me. While ringing up my antibiotic and nasal spray, he said something that made me inwardly cringe. It was, "Thanks, MOM... I mean, ma'am!" Oh my! I could tell that he was pretty mortified, something akin to when you think, I wish the floor would open up and swallow me whole. So I said nothing, because truly, what could I say that would make that situation any less awkward? And just for the record, unless I had a very busy "extracurricular life" in say, eighth grade, I am not nearly old enough to be this boy's mother!

Ever since this experience, I have put in more of an effort with my appearance, or at least I think I have tried harder. It seems that I may be sliding a bit in this department, though, considering these two highly embarrassing moments that have taken place within the past 24 hours. Barring any recent scientific advancements that would allow me to get an injection of much-needed self-confidence (alas, I am aware of no such treatments), I think it may now be time to consider a mommy makeover. To be clear, I am not desiring to be more attractive to teenage boys. However, I would settle for looking like less of an obvious MOM-type figure to them. Is that too much to ask for?

Best.Weekend.Ever.

I am having a beautiful, blessed weekend. On Friday evening, Mia and I attended our first Mother/Daughter banquet at church. It was so fun to have Mommy/Mia time, and the theme was cupcakes, which we love.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm 33 in case you are wondering. I would love to tell you I am 29, but I fear that those little "crinkles" (I'm not ready to admit that they are wrinkles...) that have cropped up in the past couple of years will give away my little white lie, so what's the use? To start off my day, I got to sleep in!! Then, Brett made me blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Heaven on a plate. After that, he gave me a super-sweet and amazingly thoughtful gift:

{I am not sure I did it justice, but the shoe is super cute!}

These are some shoes I found at DSW last year... They were so cute and amazingly comfortable, but not so practical, and being a full-time mom meant that I couldn't justify spending the money for something I didn't need. We waited and waited for them to get down to an acceptable sale price. Sadly, they never did and I was bummed at the end of the season when we lost out on the price-is-right-waiting-game. Enter Brett. A couple of months ago he informed me that a box would be arriving from Amazon, and that I was NOT allowed to open it. Do you know how hard it was not peaking into that box on the top shelf of the closet, especially when he told me it was my birthday present? My curiosity was heightened since I have not received a birthday present from him in about 3 years. (Okay, the back story there is he got me a lovely emerald heart shaped necklace on my 28th birthday, which like this year, fell on the day before Mother's Day -- my first Mother's Day. The problem was that the gift caused stress for us because he kept talking about how he shouldn't have spent so much money. However, I can't really wear it much. If you have little ones you know that they love to pull on jewelry. I have lost plenty of costume jewelry to little hands, and I definitely do not want anything to happen to something I will always treasure. I still don't know how much money he spent, and I don't want to know. All I know is that the necklace is beautiful and I love it. So, I think that this is why he has avoided giving me gifts for my birthday and/or Mother's Day since then.) Now, you can imagine my surprise when I found out what the contents of that box were.

I wore my new shoes to church today, and I felt so pretty. (Plus, I was relieved to discover that they continued to be comfy throughout the morning, and I didn't have any problems with my hip. I'm not able to wear heels any more sine it aggravates the bursitis in my hip -- yet another reason I probably can't get away with claiming to still be 29. However, I can apparently get away with wedge sandals. Hooray!) I think that he has resumed gift-giving at the perfect time, when I needed to be reminded that I am not just a mom; I'm a woman, too. And sometimes, moms need pretty things, even if they aren't all that practical. Now, if Logan will just out-grow the pulling phase, I can get back to wearing that emerald necklace.

After getting my fantastically impractical gift, it was time for me to pack up my gear because I headed off for an entire day of scrapbooking -- 8 whole hours to myself to do what I enjoy!! Oh, yeah, I even accomplished a few pages. One or two more sessions, and I should be able to finish the 2011 album. On a side note, while scrapbooking, my parents called to wish me a happy birthday. My mom asked if I felt "older and wiser." I told her, "Well, I definitely fell older, but I'm not sure about wiser." (It turns out that eating the fried chicken at the Mother/Daughter banquet wasn't a wise choice. I haven't had it in years, and there's a reason for that. It doesn't really agree with me, and it has been that way for awhile now. Oh, the joys of getting older. Do you see why I am in a bit of denial?)


Now, all joking about getting older aside, this was the icing on the amazing cake that was my weekend, a sweet hand-made Mother's Day card from a sweet little five year old. Brett must have patiently told her how to spell each word and I am sure it took awhile for Mia to write this message: "DEaR MaMa I HOPE YOU HaVE a HaPPY MOTHERS DaY." (Don't you love the backwards "S" in "Mother's?") The drawing on the left is a self-portrait of Mia walking her stuffed dog, Browna. So cute! 

Mia gave me another Mother's Day card that she made during Sunday School. Okay, this one wasn't really a surprise since I am the Sunday School teacher, but it's nice that she still wanted to make one for me.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Brett got me a Mother's Day present, too. I got $30 in iTunes gift cards. Oh, to splurge on music for myself -- what a foreign concept! I am sure I will love it once I get over the shock and uncertainty. I don't know how many years it has been since I have bought a CD for myself, and the tiny little iPod I own (which I am sure is hopelessly obsolete as it has been sitting in a cupboard for quite awhile) never really got much use. I have never even downloaded my own music before. (Maybe doing so will help me to not feel so old.) Seriously. All the music I listen to is kid-friendly stuff I play in the mini-van while driving kids to and fro. It's either kids' music CD's, Disney soundtracks, or the Christian station, not that there is anything wrong with those. I enjoy them all, but sometimes Mommy misses country music and 80's rock, for example. (Another side note about how old I have apparently become: Do you know that they play 80's music on the oldies stations now? How can it be possible that the music I grew up listening to is now considered "oldies?")

So, now I need to back to my point that I really want to remember: My weekend was fabulous. I received beautiful, thoughtful gifts from my amazing family. But the best gift was the one I gave myself, the gift of some downtime (and not feeling guilty for taking it). I thoroughly enjoyed letting myself relax and celebrating the fact that I am a person, too. I went for a walk in the warm sunshine with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and this is the best part: there was no dog tugging on her leash or needing to have her poop cleaned up, there were no children whining that they were too hot/too cold/too tired/too whatever, there was no need to turn around and tell anyone to get his fingers away from the wagon wheels or to sit down or we'll have to go home... It's interesting that I know that I need to get to church each week in order to feel centered once more, but after 5 years of being a parent, I still struggling to understand how important it is to have me time. It really does make such a huge difference. Good thing I happened to have read this blog post recently, aptly titled, "Mommy Is A Person." Sometimes we need gentle reminders. Other times we need to be bombarded with the same message over and over. I think this weekend was cathartic for me in this way because it really helped drive home the message that even though I am all of this stuff to my kids, Mommy is also a person!

But I'm Not That Old!

Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.        ~Mark Twain

On Mother's Day, our pastor's sermon included a description of "Millennial Moms" as an illustration of how moms make a difference in the marketplace today. (At least that's what I got out of it, and am recalling at this point in time, 3 and a half weeks later.) Anyway, I got more and more excited as he described these "Millennial Moms" because they sounded just like me. Millennial Moms are the ones who brought about mini vans, he said, because station wagons just weren't cutting it anymore. Hey, I thought, I drive a mini van! "Millennial Moms" are eco-conscious, he went on, and more and more often they are using cloth diapers. Again, this struck a chord with me. I am nothing but passionate about Logan's FuzziBunz! Lastly, "Millennial Moms" are blogging. Um, duh. That's totally me! Right?

But then our pastor's description of these awesome new moms took a turn downhill. He mentioned that they were between the ages of 18-29. Just when I had been looking at Brett and thinking happily that I was a part of some cool new group of totally with-it hip moms, he whispered to me, "You're too old." Okay, that is true, I thought but can't I just eke by? This was only a few days before my 32nd birthday, which isn't all that much more than 29. I mean, what's 3 little years difference? And what happened to Brett saying that once I got to 29 I could just continue to be 29? Ouch!

I had gotten over this, because, well, secretly I decided that I met all of the other criteria for "Millennial Mom" and so decided that I must be one. And then my future sister-in-law came to town along with her mom and sister, and they were interested in going wine tasting. Not being much of a drinker, I checked into this and found a couple of places that weren't too far away. We had a good time at the first. I even found a wine I liked, which has never happened before, ever. My mom was ecstatic that she had to show her id; the server simply asked everyone for it before we got started. I later decided that this was an excellent idea and that they should card everyone no matter where you go. It's just plain diplomatic. 

At the second winery, I went to use the bathroom first thing. When I returned, I asked if he had carded everyone. "Not yet," was the response from the server (who I later found out is the owner of the winery and really needs to brush up on his people skills!), but I only need to see theirs anyway," he said referring to Kristin (my future SIL) and her sister. I was crushed. And just a bit annoyed. And I have been stewing about it since Saturday. I keep trying to figure out how old I must have looked to him to not warrant checking my id. I had touched up my makeup and fixed my hair before we left, and I thought that I was stylishly dressed in an early-thirties kind of way (not trying to look younger, mind you, but still with the current decade...) The best explanation I have come up with is that I am a mom and I look like I am a mom, therefore, I look old enough to drink... and then some, apparently. I feel a bit sad about this, but I'll get over it. (I hope.)

It's sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.  ~Brigitte Bardot