Why Cookies and Milk and Yellow Balloons

One silly reason I delayed creating a blog (in addition to the fact that I had a baby 4 months ago and my life has been upside down since) was that I did not have a clever or interesting title. I needed something that was catchy and cute but yet said something about me. In the world of blogs, a cool title is a must.

Yesterday, I was listening to some music with Emily and Sam and my title jumped out at me. So here's the story: I grew up in the 1970's and early 80's listening to the music of Janeen Brady. I had three sisters close in age (Vicki was much younger) and we spent many hours in front of Mom's long, wooden stereo/record player (it was about 5 feet long and 3 feet tall with built in speakers on both sides) listening to our few records (yes, records-I'm old). We had a record called "I'm a Mormon". On the cover was a picture of a child probably looking out a window with raindrops on it (did you have it too?). I always thought it was a strange cover but I digress...

...I bought the same "record" for my kids to listen to but on CD. It is now titled "Songs for a Mormon Child" and the cover has a bunny sitting on a chair in a flower garden (I digress once again). One of our favorite songs was called "I Want to Be a Mother". It was this song that inspired my title. Here are the words to the song:

When I go up I want to be a Mother and have a family.
One little, two little, three little babies of my own.

Of all the jobs for me I'll choose no other, I'll have a family
Four little, five little, six little babies in my arms.

And I will love them all day long and give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons.
And cuddle them when things go wrong,
And read them stories and sing them pretty tunes.

When I grow up if I can be a mother how happy I will be
One little, two little, three little babies I can love.

And you will say each sister and each brother will look a lot like me
Four little, five little, six little blessings from above.

When I heard the phrase "cookies and milk and yellow balloons" I decided that that was it - the title of my blog! It was catchy and cute and said something about me. So what does it say about me? I'll try to explain..

The first reason is because I love being a mother. I did not take this "occupation" lightly. Before Brad and I got married, we discussed that when we had kids I would stay home with them. It was something I wanted (When I grow up I want to be....). Since we got married so young (I was barely 20 years old), we decided to wait awhile to have kids. To make a long story short and to not bore everyone (who probably already knows it anyway) we felt we should not have kids until Brad decided what he wanted to be when he grew up (I say that with the most support and respect for him) and had made good progress toward reaching that goal. After nine years of marriage (and a Bachelors degree, Ph.D. and two years of medical school under our married belt) we finally had our darling Emily, 22 months after that sweet Sam, and just recently smiley Ben. They are my one little, two little, three little blessings from above (don't ask if there will be four little, five little, six little babies in my arms - we'll take them one at a time).

The second reason I choose Cookies and Milk and Yellow Balloons as my blog title is because so little of being a mom and my current day-to-day life is about giving them "cookies and milk and yellow balloons". It is hard work!! You really have no idea how difficult it is until it is too late. The song is really quite deceiving about the day-to-day struggles of being a mom but yet it is the times when you "cuddle them when things go wrong, and read them stories and sing them pretty tunes" when it feels the best. It is when you are giving them little bits of joy that make it all worthwhile. I just love it when Ben's face grows into a huge grin and he kicks his hands and legs just because he sees me. And when Sam crawls up on my lap and says "I love you" and asks for a story and when Emily draws me beautiful pictures and writes To Mom, From Emily. It makes my heart smile. I'm grateful that I was first (as jobs go) a wife, then an admistrative assistant, then a Special Education teacher, and then the best job of all a MOM! This blog will be my musing as a mom, wife, woman, friend, neighbor, sister, daughter, and whatever else I decide to be.

And the last reason I chose Cookies and Milk and Yellow Balloons is because I really do love cookies and milk (especially chocolate chip cookies!!!!!) Mmmmmm cookies

Oh, and Emily loves Yellow (it is her favorite color)