GainesvilleMoms.com

Oh...My...Goodness. Has your child ever had a night where you wonder if your wonderful little one was replaced by a monster? I am still pretty furious after the way my daughter acted during dinner the other night. Aubrey usually has pretty good manners during dinner and when we take a trip to a restaurant. She sits pretty still, colors with her crayons, keeps her napkin on her lap and usually uses her utensils. But a few nights ago, during our dinner at Olive Garden, my daughter was on a rampage.

For the past few weeks, all I've heard is, "Mommy! I really want to get my hair cut short!" And for weeks now, I've tried to politely ignore my daughter's request, hoping she would soon forget about her desire to have short hair "like mommy." But she didn't. And tonight, my hubby, Aubrey and I took a trip to the salon to cut off my daughter's beautiful blonde hair. As you can probably guess, I wasn't exactly excited to see my daughter's hair fall to the floor. But I have to admit, maybe Mommy didn't know best, just this one time.

"It's raining, It's pouring," and pouring, and pouring and pouring. I don't think we've had one full day of sunshine in about three weeks! And we all know how tough it can be to keep little energy-filled kiddos indoors for days. Last week, after exhausting all dry options, like coloring, cartoons, puzzles and reading, both my daughter and I put on our jackets and headed outside for some messy fun. We were getting a bit stir crazy, and I figured cleaning up some muddy clothes and a muddy child was worth a few minutes outdoors.

When it comes to playing My Little Ponies, watching "The Tinkerbell Movie" or even painting with pink nail polish, my daughter and her daddy are the perfect playmates. Aubrey is always asking her daddy to help her with this, play with that, do this, do that. Seeing the way my sports-playing, surfer-loving husband plays with our girlie 3-year-old just warms my heart and makes me smile. But when it comes to bed time, it's always, "I want Mommy!"

I am setting a goal for myself! No, it has nothing to do with exercising or eating less junk food, even though I should probably add those goals to my list. I, Stacy Fournier, am going to make a home-cooked meal for five nights in a row.

For the past 17 years I've been a student. Every weekday, for over a decade and a half, I've woken up, gone to school and spent my nights writing papers, studying for exams and reading some of the fattest books I've ever seen. But on Saturday night, I ended that chapter of my life. I graduated from UF with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, and I am no longer a student! Welcome a little taste of being a stay-at-home mommy.