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I struggle to find that perfect balance that I was raised to believe was possible for women who "wanted it all: family, career and white picket fence." This will be a place for me to post my trials & tribulations of motherhood, being my own boss and trying to find the exact shade of white to match the picket fence that so desperately needs painting!

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~MacysMom

Groundhog Day, Gardner style

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Contributed by: Abby Gardner on 1/3/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Lakewood and Edgewater page, where YourHub.com staff and readers can introduce you to more people -- and a dog -- who make this part of the metro area what it is.

I am convinced that I am living the "real" version of the movie Groundhog Day, except my version has a different twist. Instead of living the same day over and over in a plight to win the girl, I'm living the same day over and over trying to perfect my parenting skills so that my daughter's time in therapy as an adult is minimized. This is no easy task ... she's 2. For those of you who don't have a two-year-old, let me amuse you with a glimpse of what my Groundhog Day is like:

6:30 a.m. The alarm goes off. This isn't one of those Bose alarms that you can program to wake you to the sounds of waves crashing or birds chirping. My alarm has a high pitch and blankie...Mah-Mee!! Look at the clock and roll over...MAH-MEEEEEE! 10 seconds pass...MAAAH_MeeeEEEEEEEE--I really need to get my daughter into hog calling...she sounds just like Minnie Pearl.

6:35 a.m. I walk into her room where a tornado hit last night around bed time because I couldn't find the "fuzzy" PJs (aka fleecy one-piece sleeper with feet) and because she had decided to take EVERY book off the shelf in an attempt to read ME a bed time story. I approach the crib. She looks like a little angel, thumb in her mouth, eyes wide open, blanket perfectly positioned like a football being carried 99 yards for an interception return. "Waehs Daddy?" "Daddy went to work, " I reply. She begins to cry..." I want Daddy!" I ask, "How about some pancakes and "dip" (syrup) for breakfast?" POOF...the waterworks stop on a dime.

8:45 a.m. Breakfast is over. I've managed to get my daughter dressed and myself into something that says StrollerFit and I'm now racing throughout the house looking for my car keys, cursing myself for not being better organized. I am going to be late for work and my class starts in 15 minutes. I love StrollerFit. It gives me time each day to be with other moms I consider friends. We can complain about our husbands, we can talk about our children's funny sayings and best of all, we get in a killer workout.

10:30 a.m. Class is over. It's time to get my errands done. From the backseat, I hear..."Tuwn it uhp!" It's my daughter, telling me the CD we're listening to is playing her favorite song...something about piggy toes. "What's the magic word?' I ask. She says nothing. I don't turn up the radio. "PWEEZE, Mah-Mee...tuwn it uhp rye now! I pretend to turn up the radio. She doesn't notice and seems to be happy. Look out Target...here we come!

12noon: Lunchtime. I do a Wonder Woman twirl and WHAMMO! I am a short order cook. "Mah-mee, I want gweld cheese." "OK, honey," I say. "One grilled cheese coming up." "No, Mah-mee, I want pee-nut buhyer & jehwy--juh pee-nut buhyer on bwead. " "No jelly?" I ask. "Juh pee-nut buhyer, no jehwy."This goes on for about 5 minutes after which I make an executive decision...peanut butter on wheat bread, 1/2 a banana and a cup of milk. My daughter gobbles up every bite, and even manages to get some of it in her mouth. I try to get the residual peanut butter out of her hair and the stickiness of the banana off her hands before laying her down for her nap.

3:15 pm: My daughter, who has been playing nicely with the mountain of toys she received for Xmas, decides it's time to torment the dog...he's a Greyhound. They are tall and sleek. They are also extremely passive and sweet. She tries to pretend he is a horse and makes an attempt to climb on his back. He jumps up, startled. She screams. He runs away, scared by the high pitch of the scream, and she chases after him, still screaming. I start laughing because it reminds me of that scene in E.T. where the little girl screams.

3:17 pm: "Mah-mee, I wahn pway wif my pway dough." I get out the play dough activity center and she goes to town. She smushes, she pokes, she pretends she's eating, she makes animal cut outs, etc.

3:25pm: "I aw done, Mah-mee." I look at the kitchen table. I make my way over to the counter to see what coupons I have available for take-out tonight, since the table is caked with play-dough crumbs and it'll take me until her college graduation to get all of it cleaned up.

5:15 pm: We've been reading Clifford's First Valentine's Day for a half hour. Before that it was The Gum Drop Monster and before that, we read My Goldfish Wish. It's about this time that I start peeking out the window hoping to see my husband's car turn into the drive.

6:30 pm My husband calls me from the road. He's stuck in traffic on Arapahoe in Boulder and thinks it'll be at least an hour before he gets home. I feed my daughter and the dog. I'm lucky my daughter doesn't get the dog's bowl and the dog her dinner, but both would eat whatever I put in front of them at that time of day.

7:26 pm My husband walks in and my daughter squeals with delight. She runs to him..."Daddy's home! Daddy, I changing Elmo's diaper...he stinks!" She runs back to Elmo. The dog gets a pat on the head and a scratch on his belly. My daughter engages my husband in a game of chase around the kitchen island while I'm cleaning up from dinner.

8 pm My husband takes our daughter upstairs for a bath and bed time stories. I collapse on the sofa in front of the TV to watch mindless reality shows. Damn those Hollywood writers! I could really use a good episode of Desparate Housewives right about now.

10:30pm I'm asleep on the sofa. My husband wakes me up and says, "Let's go to bed." "I can't," I say, "I have work to do." I make my way over to the computer to send my business emails, balance my business checkbook, etc. I look up at the clock and it's 1am. I trudge upstairs and fall into bed. I didn't even get a shower today. I have 5 1/2 hours before the alarm goes off. Maybe I'll get that shower tomorrow.

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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments

Submitted By: Gail Kirkegaard

posted on 1/16/2008 @ 9:21:15 AM

Rated Blog Entry

Katherine, the feeling wears off somewhere around the beginning of adolesence (11 to 13?), and starts a come back at age eighteen!

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Submitted By: Katherine Jerome

posted on 1/10/2008 @ 9:45:47 AM

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This feeling will wear off by the time your daughter turns 18. I promise!

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Submitted By: Nikki Britain

posted on 1/6/2008 @ 6:57:51 AM

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Sometimes I wonder what exactly I did with all the free time I had before kids. (Mostly after I've read "Curious George Goes To The Beach" for the seventh time in a row.) ;-)

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Submitted By: Abby Gardner

posted on 1/5/2008 @ 9:26:19 AM

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Karin, Thanks for the reassurance! :)LOL

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Submitted By: Karin Malchow

posted on 1/4/2008 @ 1:31:32 PM

Rated Blog Entry

Excellent. By the way, I still have Play-Doh crumbs in my table and my youngest is 13.

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Submitted By: Erin Feese

posted on 1/4/2008 @ 10:03:18 AM

Rated Blog Entry

You crack me up, Abby ... and I have a new appreciation for moms!!

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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Abby Gardner

Lakewood , CO

Abby Gardner has posted 8 blog entries and 3 comments since joining on 7/13/2006. Abby Gardner 's average blog rating is 4.12.

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