Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Not a whole lot going on with us today. Today is PJ day at the boys’ school. I gotta say that PJ day has got to be one of the best inventions in preschool history. Although they have taken a HUGE leap by allowing us to wear jeans to work for 5 Fridays in a row (albeit for charity – it’ll cost you $5 each time, with the proceeds going to United Way), I think I’d rather be able to wear my PJs to work.

Since there hasn’t been much on TV the last few nights (or much left to watch in the DVR), I’ve been catching up on some magazines that have come to the house. I get an array of different cooking magazines (Southern Living, Rachael Ray, Taste of Home, etc.), as well as a few different parenting magazines (Parents, Parenting – not sure why I get both, but I do). I was reading the September issue of Parents and came across this article that I liked. It was called “39 Things Every Mom Should Know”. I apologize if you get this magazine too and have already read this. Basically, it’s a list of 39 things that if you realize them now, it makes things a lot more enjoyable. I’m not going to re-write the whole list – just the ones that I liked the best (the numbers correspond to the numbers they used in the article – I have no idea if these were meant to be in any particular order or not). I’ve followed it in parentheses with the reason I think it’s true. Sorry this is so long – I’ll try to post some shorter stuff soon.

4. Put Band-Aids on everything your kids want you to. Why not. (It can be frustrating going through a box of Band-Aids every week, but I’ve learned that when we DO give Zachary a Band-Aid, things are suddenly SO much better. So what does it hurt, even if he doesn’t have a REAL boo boo?)

6. Just throw away the poopy underwear. (So true. While Zachary was potty-training, we even had a few days at school where I’d pick him up and the teacher would say that he had a #2 accident and that she just threw the underwear away & hoped that was OK. Of course it’s OK! Who wants to open up a bag to find a pair of poopy underwear inside? Not me! That is why for potty training I will always use cheap character undies from Target, and save the nice Gymboree & Hanna Andersson ones for once he gets the hang of it).

12. Know this: That stains won’t come out. And it’s okay. The sooner you accept this, the better. (As much as I’d like my kids to come home looking as nice & clean as they did when they went to school, I know that it’s just not going to happen – especially with boys. I do get sad when a favorite shirt or pair of shorts gets “ruined” with a stain of some sort, but I also try not to send them to school in things I’d be devastated if they got stained, and there’s also no shortage of other clothes around the house if we have to “retire” something before its time).

17. Try to like what they like. It kind of sucks when it’s Bob the Builder, but the payoff will come when they discover Lemony Snicket. (I actually don’t mind Bob the Builder. I prefer Bob over Handy Manny, which Zachary has gotten into lately. Just can’t seem to get on board with that. But the other day Josh commented that he was starting to dig the Imagination Movers. It definitely makes it easier when you like what they like – I’m more inclined to want to sit with them while they watch something on TV if I like it too. Nothing will send me to the kitchen faster than some Handy Manny right now. And I have no idea what this Lemony Snicket thing is, but Zachary has discovered Shrek, which is cool – and it means that we can take him when the next Shrek movie comes out).

18. Teach them to pump on the swings ASAP. (We have tried our darndest, but either Zachary just doesn’t get the concept or he is pretending not to because he likes being pushed. Either way, it makes it more difficult for us when he wants to be on the swing…)

34. Teach them to like cool music. Why suffer through The Wiggles when you could be enjoying Wilco or counting along with Feist? (Again, have NO idea who Wilco or Feist are, but I must say that Zachary does have some good taste in music. Once he turned about 2, we started downloading some kids music for the iPod, but honestly, we don’t listen to it all that much because he generally likes the same stuff we like - DMB, Coldplay, U2, etc. Although I should admit that I have downloaded WAY more Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus than a 33-year-old should download…but it’s all for Zachary – he loves it!)

35. Don’t buy the most expensive school-picture package. It’s a waste of money. (So true – those pictures always suck. But I am a sucker for pictures of my kids, so I always buy something…)

39. Independence is a wonderful thing. For everyone. So is together time. Make sure you have a healthy dose of both. (I like this one a lot – we do try to do a lot of things together as a family because it’s fun, & we have a good time. But everyone needs time to themselves, so we also try to make that happen as well. Whether it’s alone time for me or Josh, or Zachary time with one or both of us or Grandma…yeah, gotta have a good balance of togetherness & alone time).

So there you have it – my favorites from the list. Did anyone else read this article? If so, which ones did you like?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!