parenthood Archives - The Hockey Mom Fit Life

February 24, 2018February 26, 2018

Rest and Relaxation

As frantic as last weekend was, this weekend is all about rest and relaxation. Goalielocks has been sleeping and resting most of the week, while I returned to the frenetic pace of everyday life. The piece for this, of course, is some virus that has left me voiceless, congested and with a sore throat. Although, on a happy note, my orchid started blooming today.

Thankfully, Goalielocks seemed to have some improvement in his headaches today. They’ve been a 5-6 (on the pain scale of 1-10)?all week, but this morning his headaches was at a 4. Unfortunately, it got a little bit worse he ran a couple of errands with me, so we’ll have to watch his activity levels.

I finally got back to Kohl’s, so I could put my Kohl’s cash to good use. And boy did I ever! Both younger boys are completely restocked on underwear’s and socks. Hopefully, we’ll get at least a couple months out of these socks!

I also picked up an Instant Pot, which looks pretty cool. It seemed like everyone got one for Christmas and love it, so I’m excited to try it out. If you have any good recipes, please share!

We also headed to the pet store or two looking for some new marine fish for our tank. We have one store that’s close to us that has an amazing array of marine species and aquariums. My boys wish we had a tank large enough to accommodate a shark, but that it way too expensive.

We did however add another clownfish, a goby, a live rock, a carpet an anemone and a feather duster worm. The tank looks pretty cool with the new species in there. Moreover, our two clownfish have already paired and our getting along fabulously. It will be fun to watch them both. We’ve named them Coral and Marlin (a.k.a Nemo’s parents.)

Since I’m sick, I’m already in pajamas ready for bed. Since it’s so early, I think we’ll put on a movie. It’s a perfect night for a movie.

February 8, 2018February 8, 2018

Friday Eve

It’s Friday eve to a weekend full of hockey. My Mayor and the hubby are headed to Georgia for an outdoor tournament. Yes, you read that right. They’ll be playing on an outdoor rink in Georgia. In fact, I’m a little bummed that I won’t be able to see how the organizers pull this off. Meanwhile in Florida, Goalielocks’ (my tendy) team will be playing Saturday. If we happen to lose the first game Saturday, we’ll be playing an additional game on Sunday morning. Here’s hoping we win, so I don’t miss aerial yoga.

In honor of our impending hockey weekend, I’d thought I’d share some links to my favorite hockey related posts:

After this weekend and next, I’ll have some great stories to share. Goalielocks and I are headed to Boston next week for a tournament with his team. It will be our third time to Boston for hockey. Thankfully, I really enjoy the city and the surrounding area. Lastly, I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my Goalielocks.

Tonight’s song performed by the B-52s is “Roam.”

January 23, 2018January 24, 2018

Running Behind

It’s been one of those weeks where I feel like I’m constantly running behind. Sunday I set my alarm an hour later than when I really should have woken up. Yesterday, I was running to get the Mayor to the bus stop on time. Even though I didn’t have to get ready for work courtesy of this awful sinus infection/cold, I was still running behind. This morning the boys and I were running to get to the bus stop on time as everyone had slept through their alarms. Fortunately, I was able to get them to the bus stop on time.

For me getting to work at my usual time was a major challenge. I was in a rush to get to work since I had unexpectedly missed yesterday and will be out of the office tomorrow due to Goalielocks’ procedure. I knew I’d have to sort through a million emails before I’d even be able to focus on my work. Of course, even the best laid plans go asunder. This was the story of my morning.

As I headed towards the office, the surgical nurse called to schedule Goalielocks’ procedure and go over his health history. Unfortunately, the nurse couldn’t speak to me while driving, so I had to park before we could start our conversation. I certainly can’t blame a health professional for not talking to someone while they are driving. While it was the right call, it sidelined my drive to work for over twenty minutes. As a consequence, I was a bit tardy to work.

I’ve been a bit concerned about Goalielocks going into surgery given that he’s had a low grade fever, nasal congestion, and a productive cough. Today he was able to go back to school and is feeling much better. However, I noticed tonight that his cough is still lingering. Consequently, the nurse said it would likely be a game time decision as to whether or not the procedure goes forward. As a result, tonight we are preparing as of this procedure is going forward. If it doesn’t however, Goalielocks will head to school and I’ll head to the office. My leadership has been very supportive throughout this process and the subsequent rescheduling of the procedure.

Unfortunately, I feel like living in South Florida these days is akin to living in Florence in 1349. Everywhere I go people are sick! Sure we’re not dying from the great pestilence that is the Bubonic Plague, but I think I speak for all of us in saying, we’re sick of being sick! So many of us in the office have been in a horrible pattern getting sick, getting a little bit better, getting sick again, getting a little bit better and then getting sick again. It’s wearing us out. Truly, we’re clearly to have our health, but a respite from the stead rotation of horrible viruses would be awesome. Again, I don’t feel like I’m asking for much.

It’s not wonder Goalielocks’ got sick. In addition, to living in the big, vast germ pool that is South Florida, he was also on a plane and in Chicago last weekend. While I can’t say he got sick because we travelling, I don’t think that weather or the schedule were helpful. Please keep Goalielocks and us in your thoughts and prayers. We’ll be headed to the hospital bright and early. Lastly I’ll post and update as soon as I have one.

Tonight’s song performed by Florida Georgia Line ft. Tim McGraw is “May We All. ” My family and friends would tell you I’m not a country fan, but tonight this song is for my Goalielocks. This is one of his favorite songs.

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017

Mad Dash

Life during the school year, known as hockey season in our house, is a barrage of mad dash days strung together by weekends on the road and tournament weekends out of state. It is a ridiculously busy time from the time we leave the house in the morning until we finally get home 14 hours later. Our careers, the kids’ schooling and their activities leave us dashing from place to place nine months out of the year.

For the last eight years, the boys have spent the summers in Minnesota with their grandparents giving mom and dad a much needed respite from the madness. This summer, however, is different. There is no respite. Since we’re taking a big family trip, they’re staying in FL for the summer, so again no rest for the weary. Okay, I can’t complain to voraciously as we’re taking a once in a life time trip to retrace our roots. It is a trip that I cannot wait to share with my kids, my husband, my parents and the rest of our family.

It is an odd dynamic getting used to the craziness in the summer. While my summer days and nights were once quite quiet, they are now loud and filled with silliness. I know get emergency calls at work from the boys for such emergencies as:

Can we bathe the guinea pig?
Why isn’t the Wi-Fi working?
Are you bringing home McDonalds for lunch?
Are you on your way home yet?
Where’s the Roku remote?
Why do I have to read?
Why can’t The Mayor do the dishes?
Why can’t Goalielocks vacuum the floor?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have them home. It’s just that it has thrown me off my summer routine, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Plus when they are gone for months every summer, I miss them terribly. They’ll be back in Minny next summer to spend time with the family and enjoy sometime away from mom and dad and I’ll enjoy my brief respite from life’s mad dash.

P.S. Tonight’s mad dash comprised of a quick run upstairs to watch the SpaceX rocket launch that was scrubbed for the second night in a row.

June 20, 2017

Daily Dose of Cuteness

The boys gave their guinea pigs their first bath yesterday. Their little pigs are super sweet and they’re doing a great job taking care of all three of them. Here is Goalielocks’ piggie Simone taking her first bath.

May 14, 2017

Mother’s Day part 1

Writer’s block hit me as I tried to write this post. How does one adequately express the significance and difficulty of this Mother’s Day in the context of Jacob’s forthcoming graduation and the many losses that have occurred over the past several months? I’m not sure it is possible, but I’ll try.

Motherhood is at once both a supreme gift and a supreme burden. Before you jump all over me for the word burden, let me explain. As my mom so wisely warned me when I was pregnant with Jake, there is no bigger emotional investment than having a child. Yep, she was right about that and pretty much everything else. Every up and down our children experience is felt deeply in our heart and soul. The highs are magnificent, but the lows are devastating. Even worse as our children experience the lows, sometimes we have to step back, guide them and allow them to figure it out. It is excruciatingly painful but if we always save them from themselves, they’ll have difficulty as an adult working through problems.

I would love to say that I’m always super fantastic at this, but I’m not. I’m still working on it. Motherhood is really all about OJT (on the job training) as we would say at work. Yeah, there are books like What to Expect When You’re Expecting or Raising Boys. However, these guidebooks left a lot of information out. They didn’t warn me that my youngest would pull his pet beetle out of his pocket during the intermission of Jacob’s choir concert or that they may try to make a lizard habitat out of the buffet table’s drawer. Yeah, the books left out a lot. I am fortunate to have an amazing mother, who I think did a great job raising me and my brothers. She’s always available if I need her advice or just to talk. My grandmothers and great grandmothers were also served as strong examples for me as well.

I understand fully that to be able to call my mom on mother’s day is a luxury. Mother’s Day for many is reminder of a painful loss and for some it is the exclamation point to their recent loss. For us it is a reminder of the loss of my mother-in-law Sandy (pictured below with the Mayor.) Six years later, we miss her immensely. Today pray for those that have lost their mother, particularly those whose loss is recent, and for those mothers that have experienced the loss of their child. This Mother’s Day celebrate your mother, spend time with her, appreciate her and spoil her as it is a gift to be able to share this day with her.