Friday Randomness...

I know, I know, my posts have been few and far between lately!  I'll spare you another email full of excuses and just get to the postin' already!  I have a bunch of randomness to share.

First, we had a family photo shoot at our home a while back, which was a birthday gift from my fabulous hubby, and was done by the most fabulous Erin Johnson.  (You check out her MOMtrepreneur interview on the right column of this blog.) It was such a perfect gift for me...a way to capture my sweet little boys' childhoods, and also to celebrate the fact that we survived (barely) a year of fighting to sell our home to get to this wonderful new (old) home on a lake! I think if you look closely you can see the relief in our faces.  There are SO many GREAT shots but I'll just post a few favorites...

All of us by the shoreline...love the sepia tone!

Sweet little Toby was losing his patience with this photo shoot stuff...started to tear up and retreated into his "Monkey." This one really captures his sensitive side!

My boys (and "Puppy") on the dock! Believe me, I'm about as close as I could be without being in the photo here! :-)

In my Paintertainment world, I've already shared about the county fair that has kept me busy...I've had several other face painting "gigs" this past week too, and am currently in the process of adding new products from 3 new vendors to my store! But I'm most excited that the first copy of my new face painting book just arrived in the mail yesterday and is now available for sale!  I've had so much fun making this book!!

The other thing I wanted to share unfortunately has no photos with it, but I promise it's not to boring.  ;-)  Over the past month or two my hubby and I have sortof evolved our evening routine and it's been awesome.  In the past we've gotten the kids in bed by 8, and then often spent the remaining 3 hours of our evening zoning out in front of the TV. Granted, I am usually doing other things at the same time, like emailing, crocheting, or whatever.  But sitting in front of the TV for 3 hours is just not the best use of our time.

So, without going into the lengthy story of how it evolved, here's what we're doing now:
8:00-9:00 - "The Productive Hour" - We both spend time getting something done on our to-do list. 
9:00-10:00 - "The Deck Hour" - We sit on the deck with a beverage, no computers, and TALK!
10:00-11:00 - "The Vedge Hour" - We vedge out in front of the TV.

It has been so simple yet so awesome in so many ways.  At the end of the night, instead of feeling like a vegetable, we feel satisfied that we've gotten something accomplished.  We have some quality time to connect and talk about our day without interruption.  And we still get to watch the Tivo'd shows we like.  Often times the deck hour will extend right up until bedtime and we skip TV all together. I suppose in the winter "The Deck Hour" will have to turn into "The Living Room" hour or something.

So there you have it.  A small change in our routine that is really a life changing thing, I think!  I know it may not work for everyone, but I thought I'd share it as a great way to cut a little TV out of your day, get stuff done, and stay connected to your spouse in the chaos that is child rearing!

Have a beautiful weekend everyone! 

Top 11 things I'd like for Mother's Day (in no particular order)

1. A date with my husband [more than twice a year]

2. One full Thursday of garage sale-ing that is not limited by full bladders, full diapers, empty tummies, car seat buckles, strollers, and nap times.

3. Hugs, Kisses, and homemade cards from my sweet, sweet boys that involve hand prints, glitter, macaroni, and all that priceless, cheesy stuff that I admit I love. (photo above via)

4. 24 hours at home [by myself]

5. A visit from the magical potty training fairy

6. This super awesome overpriced refrigerator  [yeah, right! And yes, it plugs in, but no, I don't mind.]

7. Everybody to clean up after themselves for just. one. day.

8. Somebody else to take over the kids' morning "getting dressed & fed" routine and evening "getting into bed" routines for a week so I can just do the funnest parts in the middle. [spell check did not underline "funnest'...proof enough for me that it's a real word]

9. A completed honey-do list [who am I kidding...can someone complete MY to-do list?]

10. An opportunity to go to the bathroom without an audience. [I'm flattered, but would prefer not to scar you for life, boys!]

11. A chance for my alarm clock to be the one to wake me up. [can I set it for noon?]

"Tiger Mothers"

I recently came across this article, "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior," via a Facebook friend's link.  In it, author Amy Chua explains the differences that she sees between Chinese and "Western" mothers, and the reason that she feels Chinese children turn out to be more successful.  Chua sites one example of how she was able to degrade, demoralize, abuse and insult her daughter into playing a perfect piano recital piece, if you can believe it, in support of her methods.

In reaction to this article, Lac Su, author of "I Love Yous are for White People," writes about the deep scars that he has from being raised by two "Tigers."
 

I'm pretty sure the debate over who has the best mothering methods has gone on for as long as there were at least two mothers on the earth. I always hate to hear moms comparing and cutting each other's parenting methods down, but when I hear someone bragging about how emotionally and even physically abusing their children has turned them into more "successful" adults, it makes my stomach turn.

There is so much I'd love to write in response to this article, but alas, being in the midst of raising two boys with a husband out of the country at the moment, running 3 businesses, getting ready for a birthday party and packing to move in a week have left me with less time than I'd like to blog.

I am especially leery of any mother who looks back and says they would not do a single thing differently if they had it to do all over again.  We all have our parenting regrets and no mom is perfect.  Anyone who thinks they are is living in a fairy land of denial.  It leads me to believe that this poor woman was raised the same way, and in her pursuit to carry over her parents' forced "perfection" into her parenting methods, she is living a life of deep-down denial, struggling to overcome her own feelings of failure.  If she were to admit that even the smallest thing she had done in raising her girls was a mistake, it would throw off her entire theory.  It would question not only her own parenting methods and those of the generations before her, but would require her to admit that even SHE is not perfect.  And that is not acceptable.  Seeing her girls excel in music and academia is still not enough to feed her self esteem, so she has to justify her method of parenting with the world in a desperate attempt to gain approval of other "tiger mothers," to justify everything she has done...to feed her own self esteem which deep down is clearly low. 

I think the main difference in opinion lies in the fact that we have different definitions of "success."  Personally, for me, success does not mean getting straight A's and playing flawless musical pieces.  Really, in the end, is God going to care if you got good grades, performed a flawless piano recital, or climbed to the top of the corporate ladder?  To me, I will know I have been a successful parent if I see my boys turn into young men of character and integrity, who fear God and treat women with love and respect, become contributing members of society in a profession that they are good at and they enjoy doing, and in the end, are happy.  Yes, happy.  I know that probably sounds really pathetic and foreign to a "tiger mother," but they don't know what they are missing in life if they have not enjoyed true happiness.  I am sad for them and their children.  And if, along the way, my boys excel in music or art, math or science, I will of course foster that and be beaming from ear to ear with pride just like any mother, not just because of their skill or talent, but because they are enjoying doing it out of their own free will...because they are developing their own skill, confidence and pride in something they truly are good at and have earned, not because I spent countless hours abusively forcing them to memorize or repeat something to perfection.

Of course, I most definitely agree that we should challenge and push our children to excel where they have talent, to work hard and experience the pride and satisfaction that can only come from really earning something.  But I feel so sorry for this mother and for her girls. They are caught in a cycle that has gone on for countless generations.  I can only pray that one day, one of her girls will wake up unhappy, and like Lac Su, realize the pursuit of perfection is not worth the damage done by her "tiger mother" upbringing, realize that there are much more important things in life, and cut her own children a little slack. 

How I Coped With Gestational Diabetes...over Thanksgiving & Christmas!

It was about this time of year last year, just before the start of the great food triangle of Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s, when I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes.

With my first son, I passed the glucose test no problem.  So, when I just barely failed the 1 hour test with my 2nd baby, I was sure I'd pass the 3-hour test.  But, to my surprise, despite having absolutely no risk factors for diabetes, I just barely failed that one, and was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (GD).  I guess they really mean it when they say that every pregnancy is different! (Side note: For you moms who think you can "cram" for your test by cutting out sugar for days before...don't bother.  Your body processes sugars however it processes sugars, and you can't alter your results.  Plus, why would you even want to do that?  For your baby's health's sake you need an accurate test result!!!) 

From there I was sent into a room where a nurse came in and said, "so you have gestational diabetes...any questions?"  Uh, yeah...I pretty much had so many questions that I didn't even know what questions to ask!

After attending a class on GD with several other pregnant women at a clinic, I was sent home with a lot of information to "digest."  While I was certain I could do it, it was all a bit overwhelming at first.  How would I possibly be able to follow such a strict diet while having pregnancy cravings? How am I supposed to know how many carbs are in the recipes I make?  How can I possibly test my blood 2-4 times a day when the thought of needles made me queasy?  And why did I have to get this diagnosis during the hardest possible time to diet of the year...from just before Thanksgiving until just after Christmas?!  

Well, if you're a mom, chances are you will do literally anything for your children, including counting carbs and pricking your finger, and that's just what I did.  It's amazing how your little one can motivate you to do whatever it takes to keep him or her healthy!  It was a tough transition at first, but I found a few things that helped me to get through my last 10 weeks of pregnancy. 

There were a couple things that I found really interesting or surprising that I learned from my GD class:

1) The amount of carbs shown on the nutrition label is the total amount of all types of sugars in that food item.  I didn't realize this was really a sugar count...maybe if you've done the Atkins diet you'd already know this, but it was a new one for me, and I was glad that I could so easily look up how much sugar I was having by looking at the label and serving size.

2) You still NEED sugar! I already guessed that having too much sugar would send too much to baby, making baby gain weight.  What I didn't realize was that having too FEW carbs would also send "ketones" to the baby, also making baby gain weight.

I was not supposed to cut out ALL sugar.  Actually, I was SUPPOSED to have sugar...I just had to have a specific amount of grams at specific times of the day.  This is why you have to make sure to have snacks every 2-3 hours throughout the day between meals...to prevent your body from sending ketones to baby. 

Ketones are things that your body releases when you haven't eaten in a while...when your food's all digested and your body starts to break down your fat stores.  For the first few weeks, I was given Ketostix test strips to pee on each morning, which tested my ketone levels.  This was to make sure I was not releasing too many overnight, since that's the longest you go without eating.  Having some protein at night in your bedtime snack helps your body last longer through the night.  I rarely had a high or low ketone reading so I didn't have to test the entire 10 weeks.  But, one time when I got deathly sick and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day throwing up everything I put in for 2 days, my ketones tested off the chart.  So, being forced not to eat for 2 days assured me that yes, your ketones do in fact go up if you aren't eating enough!

3) Fattening stuff didn't matter.  Well, of course, if you only eat fattening foods, it's not good for you or baby.  But as far as my GD was concerned, since I only had to count sugars, and was not overweight anyway, I didn't even have to count things like fat or calories in my diet tracking, just carbs.  At the same time, I had to watch out for foods that I normally thought were good for me to eat tons of, like peas, milk, and fruit.  It seems really backwards, doesn't it?!  Yet I actually LOST several pounds in the first week or two, even while my baby was growing, and leveled off for the rest of my pregnancy.

Here are a few things that helped me get through my 10 weeks of a GD diet...

• Remind yourself that it's only 10 weeks.  Yes, it can seem like an eternity when you're just ready for baby to come, but just knowing that there's an end in sight was a great help to me.  Knowing that I could go back to "normal" once baby arrived gave me a little extra strength to get through it (that and knowing I had my own stash of Christmas cookies and other treats in the freezer, waiting until baby arrives!)

• Get a watch with a timer – It makes it easier to remind yourself an hour after eating that it’s time to check your glucose, especially when on the go.  At home I used my microwave’s timer, but then a microwave is not so travel-sized. ;-)

• Get a mini pen and paper pad – I found some great little, tiny notebooks in the dollar bins at Michael’s and used a mini pen that all fit inside my testing kit.  While I only was required to keep a food journal for a couple weeks to show a nurse, I kept it up the entire 10 weeks.  I wrote down every meal and snack, along with my test results and times they were taken.  It came in handy just to remember what I had last and when I had to eat again, as it can be harder to keep track of these things while also chasing a toddler around!

• The Calorie King – Spend less than $10 for this great little pocket sized book. It gives you the carbs (and other nutritional info) for foods, including menu items in all kinds of chain restaurants.  This makes it easy to figure out what you can order on your way to the restaurant, rather than having to ask for nutritional info everywhere you go. I also liked being able to look up what menu items I could order in the car on the way, sparing me from asking for nutritional info and taking forever to order once we got there.  This gets easier over time, I promise.  If you have restaurants you visit regularly, it’ll only take one or two trips and you’ll already know what is safe to order.

• Modify your Current Snacks – Look up your already favorite cravings and figure out how to still have them. One of my favorite bedtime snacks is a graham cracker with peanut butter spread on it, and topped with chocolate chips.  It sounds weird, but is actually really good, and is a great way to satisfy my chocolate-peanut-butter cravings.  So, I figured out how many carbs were in a cracker, switched to natural peanut butter (without all the sugar...but now that's all I eat because I like it better!), and how many tablespoons of chocolate chips I could put on top.  I found a glass that held exactly as much milk as I needed to fill in my remaining carbs needed so I wouldn’t have to always use a measuring cup.  What I thought I originally had to cut out altogether, turned out to be just the perfect snack for me at bedtime...just the right amount of sugar, and some protein to get me through the night without dropping my ketones.  It only took one time to figure this out, and then I could just make my snack at night, already knowing it was just the right amount of carbs without measuring everything every time, and feel more “normal.”

• Still hungry?  Be sure to keep some "free" foods on hand in the event that you've had all the carbs you're allowed, but still feel hungry. Free foods are those containing no carbs, or so little that it doesn't count.  I enjoyed celery with natural peanut butter, string cheese, hard boiled eggs, cottage cheese and pickles.

• Crystal Light - (or any store brand sugar free drink mix)  Great treat when I was just craving something sweet, or wanted a sweet beverage other than water, and didn't want to waste my precious carbs on a drink.  Since I also avoided caffeinated pop while pregnant, my only other choice really was caffiene free diet stuff.

• Develop a list of pre-counted food assortments so you don't have to count every meal. I found out a few items that fit within my allotment of carbs for snacks and lunch time, and made sure I always had them around.  My goal in doing so was to be able to go to the frig and grab something, feeling more like a "normal" lunch time, without having to constantly look at labels every time I ate something.  For instance, I found that a container of Yoplait yogurt had just the right amount of carbs for a snack (and in many flavors, including chocolate...great for my pregnant chocolate cravings!).  For when I couldn't be home to make something or eat something refrigerated, I stocked up on pre-packaged snacks like peanut butter cracker sandwiches, mini muffins, etc. I found many great canned soups that had enough carbs for a meal, with a little room to spare to add crackers. I found some great whole wheat “sandwich rounds” that are thinner than regular bread, so I could have two pieces of bread (although thinner) to make a whole sandwich and have room for other carbs with it.  For breakfast, I switched from cold cereal to a mini bagel and cream cheese.  It was just the right amount of carbs, with a glass of milk.

• Diabetic cook books – I remember one day standing in the kitchen bawling, as my husband walked in the door, because I had no idea what to make or how many carbs were in my recipes.  I tried some websites that let you enter your recipes and then calculate the carbs for you, but found that it took SO long to enter everything, I didn’t even get one recipe entered.  So, I headed to the book store. You can spend a fortune on these books, and don’t need to re-do your entire recipe box.  But, I did get one book I really liked.  Go to your local book store and browse…you’ll find tons of books with great recipes that tell you how many carbs are in them.

• Get to know what you can handle – I only went over in my blood sugar level once during my 10 weeks, and it as maybe by 2 points.  I found that my body was able to process sugars better than many others who have GD, so I was able to add a few more treats around the holidays than my diet dictated.  Do a little experimenting.  If your levels are regularly well within range, treat yourself to an extra cookie. Your next blood sugar test will let you know if you should do it again.  This is another reason it’s a good idea to keep tracking your diet and see how it affects you!

 • Remember you’re doing it all for baby!  I never thought I could make myself stick so strictly to any diet, but I did to a tee, because I knew that everything I ate was affecting my baby’s health.  No matter how much harder my second pregnancy was, I knew that the ONLY thing that mattered was baby's health, and he was healthy.  Well, okay, not wanting to give birth to a giant baby was a great motivator as well!  But, in the end, just remember…you’re doing it for your baby, and it’ll all be worth it in the end!! (and yes, there WILL be an end!!)  Now if I could just channel that motivation NOW to lose a few extra pounds...

Gifts: Does "Homemade" Equal "Cheap?"

How can you avoid the insanity of black Friday?  Make stuff!! I love to give homemade gifts.  I've been feverishly creating for the past month or so, and I'd love to show you what I'm giving this year!  But, many of my recipients are also followers so I can't spoil the surprise...you'll all have to wait until AFTER Christmas!

I don't give homemade gifts because I am too cheap to go buy something, although I always have this feeling in the back of my mind that that's what people are thinking when they receive a homemade gift.  Maybe it's my own insecurity about giving something I've made...wondering if the recipient is just being nice by saying they like it. After all, they can't add "something Gretchen made" to their Amazon wish list.  So, I always find myself accompanying my hand made gifts with something store bought as well, which leaves me feeling like I've just undermined the value of my own gift and added to the home-made stigma.  It's all a little ironic when I think about it, because I know people around the world are paying for the things that I make on my website and in retail stores to give as gifts to others!

While making gifts may very well be a way to save some money, I have found that many times it really costs me the same, if not more, than what I would have spent on a store bought gift.  Especially if it is something that I haven't made in the past, that might require some materials and/or equipment that I didn't already own from a previous project.  One year I tried making soaps...they turned out okay but I found it wasn't really my thing and now all the supplies sit unused. (Which brings up another good point...thrift stores are a great place to find craft supplies from people who have given up on it!)

I guess in my mind, a homemade gift says so much...it says that I thought about you not just in the instant that I grabbed something on a store shelf so I could cross you off my shopping list, but for the hours, days, and sometimes weeks it took me to create your one-of-a-kind gift.

These days, time is money.  Especially to me, a work-from-home mom, who could easily fill up all of my "me time" doing my freelance design work, for which I get paid by the minute.  Or a weekend doing a face painting gig...where I get $75 for one hour of work.  When you think of it in terms of how much money I could have made in the same amount of time spent working on a gift, suddenly the "value" really shoots up!  I mean, you can crochet an hour every night for a couple months to make an afghan!  Not to mention EASILY spend $30+ on the yarn alone.  I know certain color schemes go out of style, but I'm always so sad to see beautiful handmade afghans hanging in the thrift stores by the dozens for a couple bucks.  But I digress..

I'm not trying to bash store bought gifts.  It's really fun when you can find just the perfect thing that you know someone really wants or can really use, and like I said, I usually add something store bought with my homemade items. But, it does make me think, why couldn't I scrap the store bought item?  Or at least not complete some homemade gift and then rack my brain over what store bought item to "add to it" to make it a "better gift" that measures up to the dollar amount everyone else spent?  It would be really fun one year to just agree with the family to only give homemade gifts. You wouldn't even have to be artistic...think of the fun seeing everyone's creative sides come out!  Maybe you write a poem, or make up a song, bake something delicious, or make IOU's for an activity to do together!

I've always enjoyed giving photo gifts from sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish, and have even had a couple custom designed puzzles made for my grandparents.  These seem to be a nice blend of homemade and store bought...they carry the store bought price tag and perceived value but also the personal, one-of-a-kind touch of being homemade.  When I make something, I always like to add a little home-made tag to go on it as well.  It gives it that fancy gift feel like something from a store, and gives you a place to call out the fact that this was hand made by you and maybe even describe the process you go through to make it.

I guess my point is this: If you're a recipient of a homemade gift, don't assume the giver is just being cheap...take their investment of time as a great compliment.  And if you're giving homemade gifts, take pride in the fact that you are giving a gift that nobody else on the planet is getting from anyone else!  After all, years down the road, chances are these are the things that will really last and you'll want to hang on to for generations!

"STAY at Home Mom"

"Stay at home Mom." Why does that come across as so boring?  Sure, I happen to be a "work-from-home Mom" with my businesses, but even without my businesses, just being home to raise my kids is far more work (and more rewarding!) than any paying job I've had.  I mean, think about it...you are devoting your entire day (minus nap time and the 5 seconds you have alone in the bathroom before your toddler barges in) devoted to molding a human life into a responsible, contributing member of society.  You are influencing someone's future Mommy or Daddy, someone's husband or wife...You're creating the future of humanity for crying out loud! "The children are our future!!"

Yet, somehow whenever I hear someone remark, "oh, you stay at home with your kids?" or "she used to work at such-and-such company but now stays at home with her kids," it comes across as some kind of "easy" route.  Because "work" is, you know, "work," so everything else must be like a day off, right? I mean, can't you just toss the kid a snack and a toy and then sit back on the couch with your bon bons?!

I think, to over analyze a bit,  the part that urks me is the word "STAY."  To me that makes me think of being still, just standing there, doing nothing while everybody else "GO's."  Like something you do at the amusement park with the kid who's under 42" tall while everyone else rides the wild roller coaster.  It sounds so sedentary...yet "staying" at home with kids is anything BUT that! I don't think a day goes by when I don't feel like I've been run over by a truck by the time the kids are in bed!

When you talk about work, you use the opposite word..."GO!"  I'm going to work! Sounds a lot more physical, more active, more...I don't know...exciting?  I used to work at Best Buy's corporate headquarters designing store fixtures.  Yes, it was a fun place to work...great people to be around, business trips to places like New York and Hollywood, and even the occasional celebrity roaming through the building.  But, like any job, it wasn't without it's boring days sitting in the cubicle.  Every job has it's up's and downs, including parenthood, but it's ALL hard work!

Today I still get to do the same kind of work for Best Buy and many other companies as a freelancer from my home office.  Sure, it may have lost some of it's sexiness, but I love having the ability to keep my career going while being home with my boys.  I get excitement in other new ways, like watching my child take his first step, middle-of-the-night trips to the ER, and chasing a toddler with dog poop on the bottom of his shoes as he darts across a newly vacuumed living room carpet.

I looked up the word "stay" in my good ol' non-electronic dictionary (yup, they still print those!) and found  paragraphs of definitions...some fitting and some not for the "stay at home mom."

Stay:
"to stop moving; halt" or "to wait; pause" ... seem not so fitting to describe my day at home.
"to endure or persist" or "to hold out or persevere to the end of a race or challenge"...now there's a better definition!

Okay, so just like the job of a stay at home or a work-out-of-the home mom, "stay" can be viewed as both an active or sedentary term.  It's all in how you look at it.  Maybe I should call myself an "endure-at-home mom" or a "persevere-at-home mom".  So as a "stay" at home mom, I thought I'd take it upon myself to remind everyone that "stay" doesn't just mean to sit still or be held back from something.

All stay-at-home moms are work-at-home moms, because motherhood itself is hard work!  And "working moms" are ALSO working when they get home from work!  In the end, all moms work.  I'm a mom, and I work. (and play!)  That's it.  All moms work by definition.  Who cares where you are doing it (office or home?), who you work with (co-workers or kids?) or how you get "paid" (paychecks or hearts drawn with crayon?).  When people ask me what I do, I usually tell them I run 3 businesses out of my home with my 2 boys. Maybe I should say that I run 5 businesses...GF Design, Paintertainment, Junk Mail Gems, AND Sammy and Toby!  (I just happen to love two of them WAY WAY more than the rest. )

I admire all kinds of moms...those who "stay" at home with their kids every day, those who have part time jobs, and those who have full time jobs. Being a mom is a hard enough [24/7 full-time] job already without having people judge you for your decision to work in or out of the home.  Those of you who work out of the home, I applaud your ability to juggle and manage your time and roles!  Those of you who stay at home, I applaud your ability to keep up with your kids all day!  You're all amazing!!  Of course, being that I LOVE my own situation, it's natural of me to want to wish the same upon every other mom I know.  But, in reality, I know it's just not for everyone.

Both working and stay-at-home moms know just how much work and how rewarding it is being a parent, whether you are physically with your kids full time or not, and I'm hoping this post will help everyone who does NOT have kids to understand that moms work hard no matter were they "stay" or "go" in whatever location you think is more "work."  I think that no matter how confident we try to be in our decisions, the sad fact is that many stay-at-home AND working moms feel just a little insecure sometimes when talking to someone who's doing the opposite or who's not a parent.  A stay-at-home mom may feel like other women are looking down on her for being "just" a mom, while a working mom may feel like other women look down on her for not being with her kids 100% of the time.

Let's remember to lift each other up, not look down...We can all use a little support and encouragement!  It's a tough decision to make whatever way you go, so pick up the phone today and tell a mom that she is doing a great job at motherhood however she chooses to do it...unlike our "work" lives, moms don't have a "boss" giving us praise for a job well done.  So here's a little "quarterly review" for all you moms out there from one of your co-worker mommy peers...

Great job not losing your temper the other day when your kid was driving you nuts!  Great job getting out of bed to get the big kid ready for school when you were up all night with the baby and your hubby was snoring away! Good for you for being conscious and vertical when calling in sick was not an option!  NO ONE can comfort your child with an owie like you can! You're all AMAZING, even if you feel nobody may notice half of the work you do...keep on keepin' on!  Give yourself a RAISE and a big fat BONUS of a little "me" time...if you can squeeze some in!  You've EARNED it and you're all SUPER MOMS!! :-)