This is the best day ever part 2

Riding the train to pick up
 Grandma from the airport

A few days after the couch bed slumber party, I got another best day ever comment, this time from Isabella. Grandma had gone on a trip the same time as daddy and she was going to be coming home from the airport on the MARTA train. We decided to surprise her and rode the train to meet her so she could have some company. It cost me $5.00 for all of us to ride and they were as excited about that ride as they are about rides at Disney. 

I think there will be a train ride or two in our future! 

Mommy this is the best day ever!

I just love to hear that from my daughters. As a parent, there is nothing better the putting a smile on your children's faces. And when you can do that without spending a fortune, it is even better. This week my husband went on a business trip and it was just mommy and the girlies for a few days. They were sad that daddy was going to be gone, even more so that they were not going to be able to ride on the air plane. So I came up with a plan that made them happy, and they forgot to be sad! I picked them up from school but instead of going straight home, we went to Racetrac and each girl got to choose their very own drink. This may not sound like much, but they drink water pretty exclusively, so being able to choose a soda or a slushy is a huge deal to the girls. It was at this point that Hannah exclaimed, "Mommy this is the best day ever!" The girls knew there was more to come and their excitement was almost more than they could handle.

We went home and got some movies picked out to watch. About 5pm our friend Ms. Jane came over and brought us a pizza and some of her famous cookies from www.kriyakitchens.com . We ate, played some video games and the girls colored pictures for Jane to take home. Then the fun really began when I opened up the "Couch Bed" , the girls changed into their jammies and we popped some popcorn. 2 hours of Veggie Tales movies and songs later and it was time for bed, in the couch bed. Ms. Jane went home, and mommy and the girlies slept downstairs all night. This is the first time they have ever been allowed to sleep on the sofa bed and to them it was like sleeping in a fancy hotel. 

The girls were so happy and we all had a great time. It was not anything that took a lot of time to plan or money to make happen, but it was all special to them so they were thrilled, and so was I!

Asleep at last!

Mommy, what's your business?

As they have grown, my girls have always seen me working.

First, I worked for a big hotel company as a corporate trainer in revenue management. Half of the time I worked from home, half of the time I worked in various hotels around the country. If I was home they were small enough to not even realize I was there, I was in my office on the 3rd floor, they were with the nanny on the main floor. If I was in a hotel, they often came to visit at some point during the week. People that did not know me, knew of my children. They always wanted to meet the quads, and having them come visit, helped me alleviate my working mommy guilt. They even came with me on several trips out of town, allowing me the privilege of taking my kids to Disney and a luxury beach resort before they were two.

Later, after a layoff, I started my own business and pretty much work all the time if I am home. Admittedly, I probably work too much. The girls watch me take people's pictures and make them into photo books. They think it is fun to watch me change the color of a background, or "magic" people's eyes open. And when a new book is delivered, they are amazed that the pictures they saw on my computer are now in a book.

Recently, my daughter Hannah came up to my desk and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was working. She asked me if I was making a book and I said yes. She then asked her favorite question, "Why?" I told her because that was what my company is, I turn pictures into books. She simply said, "oh,ok" and went back to playing with her princess dolls on the floor next to me.

A few days later she asked me about one of her friends moms. "Mommy, what is Mrs. X's company?" I told her she did not have one. To which she asked "Why?" I responded that some mommy's don't have companies. Again, her favorite question "Why?" It took me a while to come up with an answer that I did not offend myself with or scare her for life with. "Well, that's just the way it is." was the best I could come up with.

"Not when I am a growing up, I will be a Dr. and have a company" she stated matter of factly. And that is seems was the end of that.

While it is a cute story, it was a big moment for me. I worry all the time about working or not working and it is an internal struggle for me almost daily. As it is for a lot of mothers on both sides of the situation. The working mom vs. stay at home mom is a debate that has escalated to an epic battle in the last few years.

At the end of the day, I know I am a much better mother because I work. I have managed to figure out a way to work which feeds my soul and creative spirit, and helps provide for my family financially. At the same time I have a flexible enough career that allows me to be there for my children far more often that I did when I worked a corporate job. Having my daughter essentially tell me she wanted to follow in my footsteps was confirmation that I am doing the right thing for me and my family. I know it is not the right situation for everyone, and that is the point, follow your path and being a great mother will happen as a result.

Mompetition

When I worked full time in corporate America I was fiercely competitive with my co workers. Part of my job was to teach others how to analyze competitive intelligence and strategize against it. Then I became a mom and really learned about competition or as my husband calls it Mompetition.

It really hit home when recently, I received this email from another mother of multiples who shared her feelings about seeing my family at an event a few years ago.

Of course had heard about you. The working mom with quadruplets.

So I saw you there. You and your hubby were calm and collected, strolling peacefully with your daughters. All of them were wearing beautiful white bonnets starched and clean and everyone looked relaxed and were enjoying themselves.

I am an assertive person and I went to introduce myself to you….however, you were so perfect and you did everything so well…I swear…I was too intimidated! I felt insecure about my appearance and how I was handling twins and there were you with four!

Ha ha ha…I laugh about it now but I promise it took three years for me to tell you!

My hat is still off to you – don’t’ know how you do it…

My first response was to laugh out loud. When I read it to my husband, he said, boy you sure have her fooled. Truly, I am frazzled and frenetic on a daily basis and I have no idea how someone else had such a different view of me.

I saw this same mom at a party on Sunday and I told her how skewed her view of me was. We laughed and swapped stories about being a mom of many. I felt bad that someone did not think they measured up.

An hour later, I was on the other side of the equation. I took the girls to the second party of the day, a birthday party for a 3 year old friend of theirs. It was at Thrasher Park and had a cute super hero theme. It took me all of 1 minute to notice how much detail the birthday girl's mom had put into making the party special. Hand sewn table cloths, all of her favorite foods, a mural for pictures complete with a real Mr. Incredible, a handmade pin the mask on the super hero game, and so much more. The party favors were hand sewn super hero capes with each child’s initial and decorations for them to attach for a craft project. The made from scratch cupcakes in three flavors, with three different colored sparkle frosting, was the icing on the cake, literally. I was not as eloquent as the person who admired me, my exact quote to my friend was “You suck!”

Why do we do this to each other as mothers and more importantly, why do we do it to ourselves? We are all good mothers in our own way. Measuring ourselves against other mothers is not a good idea. It will probably only serve to make you feel bad about yourself for no reason at all.

This mother’s day I propose we forget the competitive spirit that seems to find us all at one time or another and just celebrate the wonderful jobs we do of being mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mommy Blog Off has begun

I am sitting in a room with 40+ people who are blogging about parenting. So cool, now I have to think about what to write.

I have 90 mins to talk about one of the following questions:
-My scariest moment as a parent
-Mom-spiration: The most inspiring parent I know
-My own inspiring story
-How I first realized my parenting style
-How my child surprised me


So initially I am thinking about my knee jerk answers- My scariest moment- when they told me I was pregnant with quadruplets was the first thing that comes to mind, but I guess I was not actually a parent at that point. The first scary moment as parent when the girls were born- 3 of the 4 were out of the NCIU withing 24 hours. Isabella was not as fortunate, she spent almost 2 weeks in the NCIU, and 5 weeks total in the hospital. She had lung and heart problems and to save her the Dr.'s had to put her in a medically induced coma, collapse one lung and give her all kinds of medicine and treatments to help her. I was in my own 5 day coma state due to a steady stream of Magnesium Sulfate and that was the only thing that saved me from going off the deep end.


Mom-spiration the most inspiring parent I know- that would be all of the other Quad moms are the most inspiring people I know. I have been lucky, my quads are healthy and have no special needs to speak of. Most of my fellow quad moms cannot say the same thing.


My own inspiring story- I think this is the one I am going to dwell on a bit. More to come in a moment.


How I first realized my parenting style- Is frazzled and frenetic a style?


How my child surprises me- They surprise me daily, there are just to many to chronicle!!



I think I will focus on my own inspiring story. At least I hope it is inspiring. I am a mom of 4- 4 year olds and I have two businesses. I love it when people meet me for the first time and ask how many kids do you have, when I say 4 they normally freak out. They ask me lots of inappropriate questions see my other blog- http://www.dumbassquestions.wordpress.com/ and give me a sad look. Like you must be so tired and so bedraggled that you cannot possibly do anything else. Well stand back folks, moms of multiples can do more in an hour than most people do in a day. When you have more than one child of the same age you automatically become a natural multi-tasking expert. I have a husband, 4 kids, two businesses http://www.scrapbookmamma.com/ and http://www.revenueanalysts.com/ and I work part time as a Facilitator for Ladies Who Launch Atlanta helping other women launch their businesses. It is not easy to have 4 kids at the same time obviously. But I want to show my girls that you can do whatever you feel passionate about. Don't listen to people who tell you you cannot do something. I love being a mom and being my own boss and both are hard on a daily basis. But I love my life and I would not have it any other way!

I would love to hear your answers to the questions!!

Scrapbook Mamma sponsors Executive Right Hand

Scrapbook Mamma is a proud sponsor of the Launch Event for Executive Right Hand. Check out our directory ad, focusing on the corporate side of my business.

Scrapbook Mamma goes Corporate

I recently completed the first corporate project for Scrapbook Mamma. It is a collection of their media coverage for the first year. There was a second book featuring the media coverage of Marylouise, the General Manager. It was a big step in growing my portfolio and I am very proud of both books.
Scrapbook Mamma posing with the first corporate book which resides in the lobby of the W Atlanta Buckhead Hotel.