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Theta Mom®

Redefining Motherhood

Coffee Grinds

My phone was ringing. It was a friend who I haven’t talked to in weeks and I was dying to catch up with her. She’s a stay-at-home mom of three, so when the opportunity presents itself for her to talk, I am always happy to oblige.
“Hello?”

“Hi Heather…”
“Hey girl! How are you? I’m so glad you…”
My conversation was quickly interrupted.

“Hold on a second Mel…”
While glaring back at my son I soon replied, “I’ll have to call you back.”

Click.

“Put it down. NOW! I’m going to count to three…

“One”………(no response) “TWO!!”

I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. My son managed to take the lid off of the kitchen trash can and in a matter of seconds, he reached his greasy little hand into the trash and picked up a sopping wet coffee filter full of grinds. Holding the dirty, drenched filter used from my morning cup of coffee, he looked directly at me and smirked.

And then, he did it.


SPLAT!

All over the kitchen floor.

The coffee filter and all of its grinds now speckled my ceramic tile, but it didn’t stop there. While wearing brand new white socks, he began to purposefully smear his feet all over it.

Laughing. Hysterically.

“THREE!!!”

Oops, this was the wrong thing to say Theta Moms, because as I lunged toward him on the count of three, my son began to run……….all over my house.

His little feet created a coffee grind trail everywhere he went.

Why didn’t anyone tell me that once I become a mom I would need to “plan” my phone calls? I never knew conversing with a friend would be so difficult while watching a toddler! I quickly realized that the days of chatting endlessly on the phone with my friends at any given moment were definitely over.

Sound familiar?

Time Out for Theta Mom Thursday

We give our own kids ‘time out,’ but when does a Theta Mom get hers? Where is our transition time? So, as a fellow Theta Mom, I decided that we need a time out, so I am launching “Time Out for Theta Mom Thursday.”

As a Theta Mom, we are always everything to everybody else and there is barely any time left for ourselves. This is the old cliché, so I challenge you to find one hour within one week to do something for yourself. Go ahead, give yourself a time out! You deserve it!

Maybe you want to spend an hour getting to that work-out that you never started, or return to a creative project you have put on hold. Maybe it’s going for a long walk outside, catching up on a good book, or getting a long over-due manicure. Or perhaps it’s catching up with a friend over coffee or enjoying peace and quiet in a bubble bath with a glass of wine. Pamper yourself and make time for yourself! However you spend that hour is up to you but it must be something that you find enjoyable (cleaning out closets does not count)! Finally, it must be time spent without the kids.

Every Thursday, I will post how I spent my one hour of time (in the last week) and I want to hear how you spent that hour as well.

Let’s do something for ourselves for a change. Make arrangements to spend that hour and give yourself a break. You deserve it Theta Moms!

This challenge is so on!

Let It Roll

Why didn’t anyone describe to me (in detail) the exciting adventure I was about to embark on? Why didn’t any of my mommy friends share the real hard facts about potty training? Or better yet, potty training MY child? Where were my Theta Moms when I needed to know the real deal?

There seriously should be a separate manual that gives new mommies an informative guide of the expected agony one will feel when going through this super fun process!

My son struggled from day one while trying to use that P-O-T-T-Y.

I tried it all.

I had the little potty that would play music when he went pee-pee, but that didn’t last long. He was over that in like two days. (Yeah, that’s the one).

I tried the old “crumble the toilet paper-throw it in the big boy toilet-then try to aim at the paper balls” game, but that only lasted a whole hour. I even sprinkled Cheerios in the toilet and gave him little prizes when he aimed and scored.

But eventually, that all went down the toilet, too.

I just had to learn to let it roll.

Waiting…patiently….ever so patiently…for that magical day to come…Finally, at one point (which seemed like an eternity) he finally came around and decided (on his own time, of course) that he was ready and wanted to use the potty all by himself.

Yes, this was a defining moment Theta Moms.

Although I still needed the bag of Cheerios at an arms length and had to applaud him, even when he made only a few drops, he was going on his own!

It was a miracle.

But let’s not forget that through this enjoyable process, there were many days and nights in which he certainly added to my laundry load and it’s impossible to forget the hours of frustration I felt when he refused to go or even try. Yes, those days were certainly F-U-N.

And so after reaching the goal of going #1, aren’t you wondering how he managed to do #2?
Well, I’ll save that for another day…

I’m too busy letting it roll.

My Little Wonders

Over the weekend we decided to head to the beach to celebrate the holiday and enjoy some serious summer weather. It would certainly be a memorable trip since my 9 month-old daughter has never stepped foot on the sandy shores of the Garden State. Already having a 3 year-old son, I already knew what was in store for me…

A Theta Mom knows the reality of the packing and organization needed to bring children (especially those under the age of 2, no make that 1) for ONE DAY (or should I say ONE HOUR) to the beach. If you saw the trunk of my car you would have thought we were traveling to Belize for three weeks with the amount of “stuff” we needed to bring. Nope, not Belize, just heading down the Jersey shore…for a few hours.

I have to say THANK GOD for the invention of the Wonder Wheeler! Oh yes, they should have named this the Wonder-ful Wheeler. If you hit the beach and have not yet discovered the Wonder Wheeler, let me do the honors…You can find it at Wonder Wheeler, but I must warn you, it’s completely life changing.

After filing it to the very top, I am still convinced that this thing could even fit my children inside. It’s amazing. After loading up the Wonder Wheeler with bottles, water, formula, diapers, bibs, toys, teethers, bathing suits, extra clothes, wipes (tons of wipes), sunscreen, towels, sippy cups, snacks, chairs, strollers, pack-n-play, umbrella…ok, you get the point…we headed out for our first beach adventure with our bambini.

Once we finally reached the steps of the boardwalk, I have to say I already reached my threshold. As any Theta Mom would admit, I didn’t see the point of packing all of that stuff for such a short amount of time. It seemed like more work than it was worth.
But then, once we were settled, I took one look at my adorable little baby wonder…and it hit me.

This is why.

This is why we do it.

This is why we agonize over the drama and soon forget about it. This is why we trudge to the ocean with what seems like all of our possessions because the amount of time we are there is nothing short of precious.

Watching my son (he’s the one in the red vest) have fun with his cousins was another wonderful moment for me.

In the end, my little wonders made it all worth the ride.

Face Lift

I decided to get a face lift. And so I got one.

Well, not a real face lift, but one for my blog design! I’ve been an official blogger for, um mm, about six days now and I really needed a change. I know, it sounds crazy…especially since I just entered the blogosphere less than a week ago!

Well, my previous design wasn’t representing me the way I thought it should. So, what’s a girl to do? I needed to change the look and feel for my blog so that it totally reflects me and my message…and now, I have achieved simply that.

So, the content of Theta Mom is exactly the same. I just completely transformed the layout to look more F-U-N and appeal to all of you fellow Theta bloggers!

Yay! I hope you like my new and improved blog! I’m really happy with it and I’ve definitely found myself.

Welcome home.
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