September 9, 2007 In my house, there isn’t much “pampering”. For the adults anyways. My son and daughter both get back massages every night before bed. We also do joint compression techniques with my son to help relax him. My daughter gets her hair brushed and played with daily.

I am a mom - therefore I am cursed. Hey - don’t take that negatively. Well okay, it can be negative… as in “I am bound to raise the babies I birthed - for 18 years - no matter how ungrateful they are”. But thats not where I was going…. Where was I? Oh yeah–I am CURSED WITH GUILT. Trivial things seem to bring on that feeling of guilt. I call it “The Mother’s Curse”

September 4, 2007 Today I sent my 5 year old son off to his first day of Kindergarten. He has been excited for months about starting school. In fact, when he finished Pre-K at the beginning of June, he was upset about having to stop school for Summer Break! He loves school and has a lot of good friends there.

There are many moments as a parent, that I feel unsure, inadequate, out of place and like I might be making mistakes. If I were to dwell on every moment in the past that I felt like I had done something wrong, I’d be totally consumed, and unable to move forward and learn from the mistakes. Realizing this has probably been one of the most therapeutic and useful tools for me as a parent. I commit my entire life and being to my children. They suck the life out of me.