Sweet baby face

For those of you that know my daughter, she has a tendency to be a little shy when she first meets someone new, or is in a new place. She gets clingy, standoffish, and sometimes will even cry if she is unsure of where she is and if she thinks I might be leaving. At first I panicked and thought I didn't want to have that clingy kid that always cried everytime she left her house. Which is part of the reason why I started her in daycare 1 day a week around 6 months ago.

This weekend we went to a birthday party for the daughter of Farrah's daycare provider. Even 6 months later, she still usually cries when we drop her off there. So when we arrived at their house, Farrah instantly went into panic mode and wouldn't let me put her down. I sat down on the couch and watched her look around with a look of confusion on her face. "Why am I here on a Saturday?" "Why are there SO many people here?" "How come mom is still here?" All things I can imagine running through her head. It took her a few minutes to calm down and then soon enough she slid off my lap and started playing with some toys. When we went outside she saw the water table and took off running towards it. She loves that thing. It was the first time in a while I was able to really think about "who" my child is. Sounds funny because in my eyes when I look at her, I still see this sweet baby face looking back at me, but there is a little person inside that tiny little body.

She may not be a social butterfly and I'm ok with that. I could continue taking her to daycare for another 6 months and she might still cry everytime I drop her off and I'm ok with that. Because when it comes down to it, she's happy. When I saw her playing in the water table and getting her face painted by the clown, I knew she was one of the happiest kids at that party.

Car pickup

So my Mary Kay car finally arrived. We had so much fun "partying" at the dealership for the pickup. I know Farrah's too young to understand what this means, but it meant so much to see her running around the dealership, sitting in the back seat of our new car and pretending to drive in the drivers seat. This is the moment I worked hard for and it has arrived.

There is something about being able to provide a need for your family that you couldn't have afforded without your efforts that brings a huge smile to my face. Now before I get crucified by the stay-at-home moms reading this, I in no way mean this as a knock on stay-at-home moms, or to start WWIII between working mom's and stay-at-home moms because, although I do work, I am essentially a stay-at-home mom so put down your pitchforks. I do believe that being at home taking care of a child and a home is a full time job. period. end of story. But if you knew my family and the current car situation we've had as well as some extra expenses we've incurred, you too would be posing for pictures in front of you car, you too would receive cards and balloons from excited friends and coworkers, you too would have a party at the dealership, and you too would blow up facebook with your car party pics.

I can honestly say that in that moment when I had finally achieved what I set out to do, and I provided a serious need for my family, I could not remember 1 person that told me "no" when I offered them a facial, 1 negative naysayer, and not 1 person that told me I couldn't do it. In fact, I think those people might be the first people who I pay a visit to in my new car. I'll pull in the driveway, lay on the horn until they come outside, wave and say "just wanted to say hi because I was in the area." and then speed off.

Ok so maybe I won't actually do that but thinking about it is satisfaction enough.