Murphy's Laws for Moms

I love to eat out.  I'm not quite a foodie, but I do appreciate a restaurant with a peaceful ambiance and fine cuisine.  Now, this past statement and the title of my blog may appear to be a paradox but, as many mothers may agree, it is not. Red Robin, and similar restaurants, is one of the most relaxing places for me to enjoy a peaceful night out with my family or just my daughter and me.  It's peaceful because I cannot hear my daughter screeching over the sound of the music, other patrons, and other kids screeching around us.  It's the perfect place to go when you don't want others to know exactly how loud your child can get when out in public.  It's also perfect because they serve meals that resemble healthy food.  You can order grilled chicken with fruit and vegetables instead of everything fried.  Now, the games in the waiting area may appear to be distractions which have the ability to cause tantrums at the drop of a dime (or dollar, as inflation ...

For those of you who read this - I know it's not too many - some of you know me personally, so this won't come as a shock to you.  But, for the rest of you, there's a minor, personal detail which I've left out of my previous blog posts.  If you've been following me for any period of time, this may be surprising to you as I've shared the in's and out's of pregnancy, labor, and delivery, as well as many other sordid details of parenting.  But, alas, there is one important item which I've neglected to share. I am a military spouse.  Now, you may be wondering what this means and what it has to do with the title of this post on being a single parent.  This essentially means that there are times when my husband cannot be around to be the father that I know he wants to be.  There are times when I must make the decisions for my family.  And, there are times when I must struggle through tantrums, milestones, life lessons, and other childhood dramas without su...

It's been over a year now, and I am so happy that I have stuck with cloth diapering.  Not only have I saved money, but my daughter knows exactly when she has a dirty/wet diaper.  She is VERY vocal about this!  I hope this translates to easy potty training, but that's yet to be seen. The one minor detail I've noticed as I've cloth diapered is that, occasionally, there is a smell to the diapers when they become wet or dirty.  It makes me think that each diaper is a poopy diaper, yet when I open it up, it's simply wet.  This has gotten kind of annoying. So, I did some research. Did you know that cloth diapers need occasional maintenance in order to maintain their absorbency and eliminate detergent buildup?  I didn't.  You'd think that this information would be more readily accessible within the cloth diapering community.  But, seeing as I am one of the first of my friends to use cloth diapers, perhaps it's just not known in my community. It's possibl...

With Mother's Day quickly approaching...hint, hint to all the father's and children reading this blog post...I thought I'd do a quick recap of what I've learned over the past year about a mother's job.  A mother's job, while quieted within society, is rarely filled with quiet. It's filled with spills, spit ups, pukes, poops, dirty laundry, and dirty diapers because it's not a clean job.  Because of this, we fill the diaper bag with a change of clothes for both Baby and Mama Our days are not filled with sleep.  Sleep is overrated; naps are essential. As is coffee...more than one cup.  The coffee shop knows to keep that cup full. Happiness for a mother is that first night you get four hours of sleep. It's the first smile and laugh - even if it is because of gas. It's finding time to take a shower and fix your hair. It's making it through a day with no blow outs. It's eating a hot meal. It's finding your belly button and taking those fir...