Megret on Motherhood

Does anyone have tips on how to keep mini-DV video tapes organized? They are piling up now, and I have them labeled well....but I have no idea where to store them for quick access. Anyone?

....seeing your child's face light up as brightly as the lights on the Christmas tree. I saw it this morning, though it was a slow fade. It was a cloudy morning, and Gardner slept late because of it. At 8:20, we heard him stirring. Two cameras in hand, we crept in and stole him from his cozy crib and brought him into the den. Wide eyes. Sleepy eyes. Wide eyes again. A soft chuckle, only one. He looked blankly at the presents before him on the loveseat. He looked at me. He looked up at Ken. He pointed to one of them. "Deeee!" (his word for anything for which he doesn't yet know) We set him down. We handed him his plastic drumsticks. He banged on the drum and it made a "pphum" sound. His eyes changed....they lit up like firecrackers. He did a shimmy dance, laughed, and began to beat the drum repeatedly with glee. I sighed and leaned back. This is great. So this is what it feels like.

....to "play Santa Claus," I mean. Today's the day. The stage is set. The closet is holding the bag full of stocking stuffers, and the unwrapped gifts from Kris Kringle himself. I absolutely cannot wait. Now I know why Mom and Dad cried as much as we did when we learned the truth. It's going to be SO much fun!! (And, as I asked Ken, why, oh why, didn't we buy something this year that needed ASSEMBLING? Christmas Eve as parents just isn't as fun without a toy or contraption to put together!)

The older Gardner grows, the more fun he is becoming. Don't get me wrong....I loved those early months when I could cuddle him and talk endlessly to him, seeing his eyes light up every time I bent near. Though he's more independent now and my times to hold him close are limited to when we watch a video together or when I rock him before bedtime, he is getting to be SO much more interactive and fun to be around! Nearly every day, I'm amazed at how quickly he mimics something I do....today it was counting to three on my fingers. Yesterday, it was learning the true art of peek-a-boo.....he rolled around on the floor he was laughing so hard. It's not just a one-sided, performance game anymore....he's now playing these games right along with me, and both of us are having the grandest time. As I look at my niece, Arianna, and see how interactive and bubbly she is at age 2-1/2, I know I have that much more to look forward to in Gardner. Pretty soon I will be able to j...

I'm pregnant, but sometimes I do forget. Now, as horrible as that might sound at first, let me explain. I was told this would happen....and it did. I have quickly learned that when you are mother for the 2nd (or more) time around, things change. Especially if you have a toddler to chase around all day. With the first baby, you obsess about EVERY symptom. You read pregnancy books cover to cover at least 10 times over the 9 months...it may even have a permanent residence on your nightstand. You honestly have nothing to do but sit around and try to imagine feeling the first kick, try your hardest to distinguish heartburn from nausea after each carefully planned out, well-balanced meal, and look at your belly twenty times a day to see if it's gotten bigger yet. This time, I am finding myself saying at the end of the day, "Oh, yeah. I'm pregnant!" I smile and pat my belly, so thankful still. Just when I enter that "zone," that blissful state (cue orch...

I don't know if I've started a bad habit or not, but tonight it became necessary for me to deviate from the dinnertime norm a bit. Gardner has been high-strung this week. I mean, abnormally so. Running nonstop, running back and forth, touching everything, saying "hi" to everything (and everyone, and every cat), and just pretty much expending all of his energy (or hibee-jibees, as Mom called it growing up) as best he can. I can barely keep up. Tonight, he was doing just fine at the dinnertable. Ken walked in. Gardner got so excited....he really missed him since he's been away for a day and a half, only seeing him for a brief 10 minutes before Ken left for work this morning. He figited, he twisted, he turned. He shoved his half-full plate towards me and said, "Diii, diii!" ("All done.") I gave in. I unbound the little sprite and let him run full-fledgingly to his daddy. Ken and I proceeded to start our dinners; Gardner took up the runni...

After three days of testing with a total of nine (yes, NINE) home pregnancy tests, it's official. The Wilsons are going to be a family of four come August 2006. We're still in a bit of a state of shock, but giddy with glee nonetheless. It all worked out with perfect timing, with our children being 23 months apart (what I was hoping for....literally to the month). I actually found out way earlier this time around, so I was understandably uncertain. I have spent hours online, searching medical sites, posting on forums....the verdict by all was "a line is a line, no matter how faint." There's definitely a line. See for yourself. So why is it, then, that people like me still don't believe it after NINE consecutive tests showing the same thing? Am I unrealistically thinking that if I just tested ONE more time, the line would darken suddenly to a dark red? Improbable. Yet my Type-A personality shone through brilliantly in this case, and therefore, I tested again. An...

There are songs with this theme within their words. It's true. A child, like no one else, is mesmerized at Christmastime. There is so much to see, so much to do, so much to eat, so much to take in. Especially if, like Gardner, a child is taking it all in for the first time. (We are counting this year as his "first" Christmas, since his 2-1/2 month-old-self was unaware of the activities last holiday season.) I see it in his face when we're at the mall and he sees Santa Claus waving at him from his throne-looking chair. I see it when he points upward at a storefront tree, decked out in lights. "Teee!" he cries. I see it when he squats down to peer at all of the presents underneath the branches....somehow knowing he's not to touch them till the 25th. The wonderment, the naivete, the innocence is so pronounced. It rubs off on me, and I know it rubs off on others....even the scrooges. I saw it today as he made a lady behind us in line break into smile, replac...