The Chronicles Of Motherhood

I am moving on. I have left the only industry I have ever known to find a more fulfilling and meaningful parenting experience. Like I mentioned in my previous posts, I was heavily involved in the nanny industry for a greater portion of my life. It was my life. I loved helping people, finding them the highest quality in childcare and working with nannies who like me, loved children. But it was becoming something that I had not enjoyed. The families were ‘working the system’, not paying on time and that is if they paid at all! I was working so hard for people who genuinely didn’t care about my efforts and didn’t feel I was merited payment for my efforts. I knew my life was worth more than constantly feeling like shit. It was a never-ending rat race and I didn’t have my running shoes.

Once I sold off my business and moved closer to family, I just sort of fell into writing children’s books. Over the summer I started writing a story about a little boy who has a super hero for a mom. It is titled “Have No Fear, Mommy Is Here!” I just did it for fun. I used to make books when I was a nanny.  Then one day I was reflecting on my nanny career and remembered a time when I was nannying and the six-year-old I was caring for asked me why someone had two daddies. So I took that experience of giving him the right words, to absorb at his little age and starting writing “Addie has Two Daddies”.

For the last six weeks I have been trying to get publishers interested. I copyrighted the title along with the book and sent the manuscript off to an editor. One publisher said “We feel, the content and subject matter of the book is not a compliment to our company.” Thanks but no thanks, jerk. Just admit it…you dont want to represent a book that talks about a unconvential family. Another publisher loved it but they wanted me to pay $7,900 plus an illustrator. I felt that arrangement was quite backwards.

I understand getting published is not easy. I am reading a how -to- guide on making EBooks. My plan is to make the book into an EBook (Once I have a dedicated illustrator) and then make the book into an apple app followed by hardback once I get enough buzz. I know people and have made amazing connections through out the years. I know once this book is released, it’s going to blow up! Sure this sounds pompous of me to say but I am passionate about this book. I honestly feel its going to reach the right people and things will fall into place. It always does. Life has a funny way of working for itself.

So I continue to work, reach out to “power gays”, use Facebook and all social media, read blogs and read ‘how to’ guides to make this book a reality. I am so excited about this book and having you all read it.

Until then, I’m absorbing all I can, reading, studying, learning, watching; as I write the next chapter in The Chronicles of Motherhood.

Be Sure to Add “Addie Has Two Daddies” to your Likes on Facebook!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Addie-Has-Two-Daddies/258505060855691

1. Mothers Intuition We all have it. Men, specifically, Dads don’t have this sixth sense. The cough that wakes you up out of a dead sleep, the cry that tells you your baby needs to nurse, the phone call to the advice nurse because your baby isn’t feeling well, etc. etc. For three months now, I have been working with my daughter on her verbal skills. We do a lot of creative play in the mornings (we call it “school”) to help with her communication. I also taught her 50-75 signs, which has been very helpful in determining her needs, wants, concerns and feelings. My daughter just wasn’t progressing, even with all the work I have been doing. I finally buckled down and asked our pediatrician for a speech evaluation, against my husband suggestions who thought our daughters speech delay was a result of the use of sign language. Within 25 minutes of this speech assessment, I saw the phrase, “Child has significant speech delay”, followed by some other words but I can’t remember them. I was focused on these five words. I knew it, it wasn’t just me being a paranoid Mom. My mother’s intuition was right, Our daughter needs assistance with her speech. (The speech therapist actually commented on how well my daughter signs and told me to keep it up as sign language is an avenue for communication, not a crutch as my husband suggested.)
2. Pregnancy: I am pregnant. I want food. Don’t take a bite of my fucking food! When I was pregnant, I was so consumed with nutrition that I would cry if I threw up (gotta love 23 weeks of morning, noon and night sickness) and I would burst into tears if my husband took a bite of my sandwich. I was on a mission to feed my child, I had 40 weeks to put as much vitamins in my body as possible and this fucker just took a bite of my sandwich. My husband just could not understand why I would be so emotional about him taking bites of my food. Maybe its animal instinct in me, maybe I was a nutrition nut…who knows. But next time I am pregnant, back up and away from my plate. I WILL bite your hand. Consider this a warning.
3. Childbirth with an Episiotomy: What a beautiful word, right? Doesn’t it just sound so warm and cozy? NOT! I would love for men to experience one, just one. During the birth of my daughter, I was lucky enough to get a stage 4. Yes, that is pretty much the worst of the worst. 23 hours of hard labor, I was given every drug in the hospital and then had my under carriage cut from there to there. Men have NO idea what kind of pain is involved in this. They especially feel awesome when you are sitting 90% of the time after you give birth. I would love for men to have just one, just to experience internal stitches and how great it feels to heal after pushing a watermelon out of something the size of a grape.
4. Why I Cannot go to bed without checking on our baby, just one more time: He thinks I am insane, but for some reason, I cannot go to bed at night without checking on our daughter just one last time. I go in every night, look over the rail on her bed, brush the hair out of her face with my fingers, get her “favorite Ny-Ny” and place it next to her face, tuck her back under her blankets, check her rails on her big girl bed- make sure they are secure, check her window make sure it’s locked and then once I feel good about it, I leave the room. Its like a nightly ritual. My Mommy friends say they do the same thing.
5. Acne: Men always get the long eye lashes, the fast metabolism and the most beautiful skin. Today my daughter said “Momma Boo Boo”. No honey, its not a boo boo, its a humongous zit that now has its own zip code. You know its a whopper when a two year old notices it. Here I was thinking it would magiclally disapear because I’m pushing 30 and no. God hates me. I must suffer my whole life. Thanks genetics!
6. The feeling of solitude I get from knowing my daughter ate her whole plate of food: Its like the biggest complement when my daughter eats my cooking, well, lets face it, it’s not the best. It often sucks. I will admit that! But this Mommy can bake her ass off, and my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the bomb! So when my daughter eats a full dinner and her belly looks like Pooh’s, yes, I am a happy camper.

So Moms, what are your five wishes that men could endure? Am I forgetting anything?