Mom Mondays

How was your weekend?  Ours was good. We had family over Friday night and on Saturday and Sunday we just hung out and did things around the house.  I feel like I'm forgetting something.  Hmmmm. Oh, right! Sunday was the First Football Sunday of the season!!!

It's a big deal in our house.  Mr. Pal is a huge New York Jets fan.  I'm a Giants fan, but I'm not a huge Giants fan.  I root for them because that's who I always rooted for, but I'll root for the Jets if they are playing.  I'm a great wife like that! LOL

Of course, Baby Girl Pal, being a daddy's girl and all, is a Jets fan.  Here is her and daddy when she was about three months cheering on their team.

Look at that little face! I love this picture.  It almost looks like she understands what's going on.

And then there's this picture.

I guess the Jets lost!  Sorry kid, you should be a Giants fan like mommy!

This Sunday Mr. Pal was getting ready to go to our brother-in-law's to watch the game. He was cooking up wings in the kitchen.  I was doing my usual Sunday routine of starting laundry and dumping out the garbage cans that are upstairs.  Baby Girl Pal had just woken up from a nap and was running around the living room, babbling to herself and playing with her toys.

Then it happened.  That "mom" moment.  I paused and looked over the ledge so I could see Mr. Pal & Baby Girl Pal.  This exact moment is what I had pictured in my head of what being a mom would be like.  It was a moment I pictured that wasn't all cuddles and kisses.  It was a moment I pictured that was real life.  It was a moment that was occurring right now.

I'm a mom.  I'm a wife. I have a little girl who has entered a world of independence.  She doesn't need me to entertain her 24/7.  She doesn't need me to carry her everywhere.  This was a moment mom's all get to experience.  We can get stuff done.  Somehow our babies grow to be independent toddlers and we get to slip into a routine of cleaning the house and doing things that for a year were designated as "nap-time chores."

This moment made me smile.  Yes, I love the cuddles and kisses.  Yes, I love being needed.  Yes, I love the quiet moments where all three of us snuggle on the couch to watch Sesame Street.  But this moment, where all three of us are completing our own agenda just made me realize that sometimes being a mom, means letting our kids just be on their own.

I love Baby Girl Pal's independence.  I love her fickle moods when it comes to story time. (She only lets me read the first page before she thrusting the next book in my face).  I love the little girl she is becoming. It's hectic moments like the one on Sunday that make me realize just how much I love my little girl and just how much I love the little family I am a part of.