I was traveling this week so I haven’t blogged, nor have I read other blogs. However I did travel by myself with both kids, so I’m pretty sure that makes me a superhero. No seriously – where is my award?

We visited my sister, who is a new mother adjusting to life with her 7-week-old. She’s still in those early bleary-eyed days of parenthood where you don’t yet have a routine, you’re still figuring out how your kid works, and you frequently question whether you’re doing anything right.

One day she had to run a quick errand so she left the baby with me, in addition to my own two spawn. When she returned she was in awe that I had both babies down to sleep, I had taken a shower, and I was starting to bake some pumpkin bread. Even I was impressed with myself. I believe I may have said something along the lines of, “Take that bitches!” when she walked in the door.

In the security line at the airport I could practically feel the burning stares of passengers behind me. “Oh gawd we’re stuck behind the single lady with two kids. This will take FOREVER.”

With a baby in one arm I managed to single-handedly get out my liquids, take off my shoes, pull out my ipad, lift all bags on the belt, collapse the stroller – and put it all back together on the other end. With speed.

The chump behind me eventually asked if he could help in the final two seconds of my stroller reassembly. I politely declined, at which point the TSA agent made some comment about the amazing juggling skills of mothers. Damn straight.

I admit it – I get an ego boost from some of these everyday parenting achievements. And why shouldn’t I? This shit is hard work. When I had a paying job, I would get recognition – hell, maybe even a promotion! – if I expended this much energy or demonstrated such heroics.

It reminds me of this video if you haven’t already seen it. Every badass parent deserves a rap video.

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One of the few things I did read this week was this post which has also gotten loads of interweb chatter for its fabulous message to make sure moms take photos of themselves with their kids, not just of their kids.

It always bummed me out that there are very few photos of me with my mom when I was a young child. I have tried to be better about this, but this was a great reminder.

The past week I had a night on the town, started a new co-op with my youngest, started swim lessons with my oldest, spent quality time with an old friend, and chaired a preschool committee meeting.

These activities are not very impressive or taxing to the average human. But that’s more socializing, organizing and interacting in one week than I’ve had in a while. So my interweb activities took a hit. Not a bad thing, I realize.

That said I didn’t read a ton this week but I’ll share two things that I liked.

My sister recently had her first baby so I’ve been trying to give her useful advice here and there without being overwhelming or annoying. The main thing I’ve wanted to convey is not to stress too much – parenting is messy, there isn’t a single solution that works for all kids or parents, and you can’t obsess too much about all the advice or tips you read or you will inevitably walk away feeling like YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

I toyed with the idea of writing a post about this, but this one, My Advice to New Moms, by JJ Keith says it better than I could.

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Earlier this week while reading bedtime books to my daughter, my husband could not contain his laughter at the heartlessness of Mommy Pig in this rendition of Three Little Pigs.

She kicks her children out of her house, packs them each “a little bag of food,” and says “watch out for the big, bad wolf!”

Smell ya later, bitches!

At least she gave them a snack before sending them to their death. It’s a poorly written book – I think I got it at Jo-Ann Fabrics for a dollar. Today I finally removed it from the bookshelf rotation.

There are a ton of great children’s books out there, but there are also a lot of crappy weird ones (especially if you shop in the dollar bin at a fabric store). This older post from the blog Wait in the Van critiques the children’s book Love You Forever. I’m actually not familiar with the book, but the post still made me laugh out loud.

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Lastly, several months ago my husband and I were trying to make Chewbacca noises on a Friday night. Yes, this is how we entertain ourselves when we can’t afford a date night.

That’s when we stumbled on this little gem of a tutorial. Just wanted to share in case anyone needs to master this skill for a Halloween costume or fancy dinner party. Gawd I love the Interwebs.

The theme for this week’s Friday Faves is ‘Letting Go.’ Apparently I am in that state of mind.

I love this post by Alexandra at Good Day, Regular People where she talks about how adulthood hasn’t panned out to be quite what she envisioned. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I have felt this way a lot lately as I’m still adjusting to the shift from working mom to stay-at-home mom. House is always a mess, I am always a mess. Life is always a mess. There was a degree of ‘clean, polished, organized’ in my life before that no longer exists. It was small, but it was there – like drinking a latte at work while wearing a fun new shirt, counseling my clients on the issue du jour. And yet it’s been liberating to let go of so many expectations for myself and just hang out with my kids. I’ll get a little polish back once we’re done with the preschool years, right? Riiiight.

This post by Beth Anne is about letting go of your kids as they grow up and become people who, God forbid, may not need you some day. Ohmyheart. There have been so many bloggers writing about sending their kids off to school this week. It’s been a good primer for me. I know I will be an emotional wreck when my first goes to kindergarten in a year. All the more reason to relish this year with her and stock up on kleenex.

And this letter by Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings reprimanding a Maryland politician for being an asshole about gay marriage is just a good read about letting go of hate. Such a waste of energy, that hate.

Blah I had some great posts last week that I forgot to link to, and this week I failed to read much other than Berenstain Bears.

I would, however, like to congratulate myself for demonstrating such strong leadership skills that my child selected this out of all the BB titles at Target.

When I do eventually run for Mayor, I will clearly need to stop blogging about my bunions and wenis and burn this blog to the ground.

Speaking of burning, here’s my favorite mindless entertainment of late for anyone who hasn’t already seen it: Suri’s Burn Book. I swear I don’t normally like to laugh at children. But this is my one exception.