About Sheila Quirke & her Blog
Sheila is a winner of Top 25 Family Blogs by Moms - 2012
What's your favorite thing to do on family night?
With just a single three year old, every night becomes a de facto family night!
Some of our favorite times, though, are at the end of night, just before bedtime. The ordeal of pajamas/tooth brushing are done and the fun of books and songs begins. We used to do this separately, taking turns, my husband and I. Now, somehow, we do it all together. Three of us on the bed reading books and singing songs. Three books and three songs, to be exact, when all is well. If there has been some naughtiness while getting ready, it is reduced to 2/2, or the dreaded 1 book, 1 song. Ha! Gratefully, there are not too many of those.
There is nothing better than reading, singing, and laughing together, emphasis on together.
If my husband is travelling, my son and I like to mix it up a bit. Dad's night out means Mom's night off. We usually do a "pizza party," which involves a frozen pizza and kid's television, or "breakfast for dinner." Pancakes taste so much better at night, strangely enough. We giggle about how naughty we are both being and revel in our rebellion. Good times.
What has surprised you most about motherhood?
I am potentially the least maternal mom I know. At 35, I was still trying to bargain with my husband for more time. I had a great career and loving husband. That might have been enough for me. Then my Mom got sick and in caring for her, I learned that I was more capable in the that department then I had given myself credit for. I really love mothering. Some days I just suck at it. More accurately, some moments I suck at it. Most of the time, my empathy carries me through when my patience runs thin.
The other part of motherhood that surprises me is that I am still mothering my daughter, despite her death to cancer in 2009. Telling her story and being a pediatric cancer advocate helps me feel close to my girl who I will never fight with about dating or curfews, walk down a marriage aisle, or help prepare for becoming a mother herself. The ache of missing her is a burden, but that ache is lessened by talking about her, doing good things in her name, sharing her astounding four year old Donna wisdom with my readers.
Now we are preparing to adopt a child. This is both exciting and terrifying. I have been a mother for seven years now, but still, the whole experience is an emotional one and will be different this time around. For a birth mom to pick me to mother her child, well, I can't think of anything more profound or sacred.
What's your favorite game to play as a family?
Hmmmmm . . . again with the tricky question for a family with a three year old. That age is a little too young for game play, and yet, we play little made up games all the time. My boy is sitting right next to me as I answer these questions, so I went straight to the source. He likes the hockey game. Huh? Oh, yeah! He likes the games on the iPad that we play together. The one with the little monster that eats all the candy, and the massive truck on testosterone that always falls off a cliff, and dinosaur flashcards, and shark quiz game, and air hockey and the bear that eats all the marbles. Most of them have rules only understood by my boy, but we have fun all the same. The iPad is the new "mommy's little helper," isn't it?
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