Real Stories. Real Advice. Real Moms.
I'm diapering a watermelon? So where'd I leave the baby... (GIVEAWAY)
I'm reading a fun book which offers help "for the highly distractible mom". Umm. Me. And maybe you, too. It's oversized, like one of those old school Red Chief notebook pads with a pic of a mom holding a diapered watermelon. At first, I thought it would be too cartoony, but when I opened the pages I realized I had just found someone who gets me. Author Carol Barnier says, "This is not a book written by a woman is naturally organized, sort of a hybrid of Martha Stewart and the Proverbs 31 woman". Thank goodness!The word "mom" is a split-level condominium of meanings. We multi-task like no other. Add to that the title that of working mom, volunteer, wife, friend, or any other of the roles we take on and it's easy to see why we have hummingbird head syndrome. But sometimes it is more than that. Some times there are women, like me, who have to master their distractions. It doesn't come easily and it's something I've worked on my entire life. Carol describes herself in this way.
"I am the one who starts out to get her a child a drink of water, who stops briefly to pick up a paper clip from the floor, end up weeding the garden with absolutely no understanding of why that child is still thirsty."
She offers awareness statements with helpful tips and work-through pages to help you overcome or at least manage the challenge. Statements like:
We will forget.
It drops the guilt and lets go of the idea that if you just 1) were better organized; 2) more at peace; 3) tried a little harder; 4) spent more time in prayer; or 5) adopted a low-carb, high-insect diet that you would start remembering things. Instead, she gives you tools that free up brain space.
It's refreshing, really. Do you know how it feels to go to a spinning class and the instructor is a size 0, never has given birth, and calls out instructions in a boot-camp style, saying, "anyone can do this, be like me". Barnier doesn't do that. Instead she acknowledges that we will lose things, we need to limit our interruptions, and we need wider margins in our lives with less activities so we can do the things we love the best well.
The thing is, you do get help, but the person leading you to a more organized life has "given birth, did have a few extra pounds to lose, and loves Turtle cheesecake better than tofu".
Thank goodness!
There's a home schooling section that doesn't apply to me, but may apply to you, but this is really a great tool. And I love that she added some easy recipes and fun activities for the mom with younger children. It's a fun book. Carol promises this:
To help women work with their personality traits rather than against them to make it possible to: keep track of items; actually arrive on time or even early; access information that you need when you need it; limit pesky interruptions; get stuff to organize itself; and run a home and have fun doing it.
That's great, but here's some more good news. We are offering a giveaway to one lucky CML member who shares her "hummingbird head" moment in the comment section. I'll draw a name on Friday at 8 a.m. and the lucky winner will receive her own copy of "I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby".
Check out more of Carole Barnier's book at OpenGifts.org. Buy "I'm Diapering a Watermelon" on amazon.com.
Add a Comment
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Comment by T. Suzanne Eller on December 12, 2008 at 9:54pm - Carla Williams is the winner of this book!
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Comment by Pamela White on December 12, 2008 at 9:22pm - I have gotten more than one phone call reminding me to pick up my kids from school, luckily I live only 5-10 minutes from the school.
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Comment by Carolyn Dileo on December 11, 2008 at 7:27am - Ok, once my son, when he was seven, went off to school with his pants on backwards. I didn't notice until he came home! Actually, I think that counts for his hummingbird moment. I mean, how can you not tell your pants are on backwards?
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Comment by HIRH on December 10, 2008 at 3:13pm
- The "hummingbird moment" that I'm sure I'll look back on and laugh would have to be when I was planning on taking my (now) one year old daughter out to a restaurant for the first time. It was just me, for lunch with an old friend. I was exstatic trying to get me all primped and her all decked out. I had purse, wallet, sunglasses, shoes, bib, bottle... ran out the door (running late of course) and sat down to a wonderful meal. 1/2 an hour into the meal I see her skirt is wet. Yup... girlie had peed through her diaper... worst yet... a diaper was probably the one thing I forgot. I had to leave my lunch date embarassed to take my little one home to change her.
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Comment by MissionChik on December 9, 2008 at 9:29pm -
Okay, after laughing at all the other posts, I've come up with the one I'm willing to share. :)
So, I have three kiddos (5,6,7) and this day the younger two are on my heels, questions, tattling, more questions and more tattling, following me throughout the house as I'm cleaning, etc. After QUITE some time, almost an hour, I wonder, "WHERE IS JADEN?!" (my oldest son) I'm hollering like crazy as I rush outside to see if he'd gone to ride his bike. On my way back into the house, my blood-pressure had sky-rocketed!, my daughter looks up at me ever so calmly, sighs and says, "He's in the bathtub waiting for you to come wash him, Mom." DUH! When I asked him to get in the tub I'd explained to him that he couldn't have a long bath and play this time, that I'd be in there in a second to bathe him!?!
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Comment by Wanda on December 9, 2008 at 4:22pm -
I love it, ya'll! Every one of these posts crack me up.
My distractable mind....isn't so bad. But my hub's and kids....that's another story!
Those people (God love em!)....now they can get 20 things going and.......forget them all!
Makes me....crazy!
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Comment by ShaRhonda Crow on December 9, 2008 at 1:42pm - I am so loving the phrase "hummingbird moment", Hmmm....Can't wait to tell my husband that it is not a "fake brunette" moment! Just had one the other day. I completly undressed my daughter for bathtime, proceeded to pick up laundry, sent 2 text messages, checked email, unloaded the dishwasher all to walk back into the living room to find a naked almost two year old, patiently drinking her sippy cup of strawberry milk and watching Sesame Street, thank God for no bodily accidents.......I am so putting this book on my to read list!
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Comment by Dana Neal on December 9, 2008 at 1:12pm - Can I just love w/o leaving a comment? LOL
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Comment by Carla Williams on December 9, 2008 at 12:40pm
- Oh, I'm so glad to have a different name for this instead of menopause. A hummingbird moment?--Right now! Working on two networking sites, two blog sites, planning for CBE and CBA, answering the phone, putting out fires (long distant for work), planning speaking workshops and just realized that I have also have to put on "real clothes" and go out the door in 10 minutes. Yikes!
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Comment by Sandy McKeown on December 9, 2008 at 11:01am - So glad to hear you are doing well, Suzie! Has Carol Barnier been looking in my window? I am sooooo distractable--oh, look! it's snowing--is that my dryer buzzing again? What did I come in here for? Ah, well, I'll remember eventually--won't I? Blessings to your total health, Suzie!
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