Smart Phones?

I have had my iPhone for almost 16 months.  I've loved it from the first day but I'm finally starting to get annoyed by it.  Well, I'm really more annoyed with my addiction to it but I like to pass the blame off on the phone.  I mean, if it wasn't so amazing I wouldn't be so addicted, right?  I've always known I was addicted to the phone but I kind of joked around about it and didn't take it seriously.  Last night I came out of denial and am finally on the road to recovery! 

Every night at bedtime I read a book to Maddie, then she takes a turn and reads it to me.  Every night the iPhone (aka my window to the outside world) is right there with us.  Last night when it was Maddie's turn to read the book, I picked up the phone to check in with facebook (I had just heard that a friend had her baby and I wanted to congratulate her).  Maddie looked at me and said, "Mommy, don't type on your phone.  Listen to me read to you."  OUCH.  The truth hurts.  She's been noticing that I'm on the phone more than I'm paying attention to her.  I guess part of my denial was also denying that she even noticed.  Of course she noticed that I was paying more attention to the phone than I was to her!  She's not stupid. 

Today is day one of my recovery.  Tomorrow starts actual rehab.  I will have my phone with me for emergency purposes when I'm outside of the house.  I will still use my phone when I need to and when my girls are napping or in bed for the night.  When my girls are awake I need to be present for them.  I am their mom and we're blessed that I get to stay home and raise them.  They need my attention and need to know that I'm there for them when I need them. 

Ok, I'm probably making my phone addiction sound a lot worse than it really is, but I have to make a more conscious effort to put the phone down!

So, with that being said, if you need to reach me when my girls are awake, please call my home phone as the iPhone will be on silent :)  However, I'm not promising I'll answer the home phone either.  I spend a lot of time feeding Sadie and changing diapers and doing chores around the house.  I'm trying really hard not to rush to the phone as soon as it rings.  It causes me to get distracted from what I'm doing and causes neck and back pain from holding the phone with my head and shoulder :)  It's really hard to not run for the phone, though, because I know there's an adult on the other end and I'm usually dying for some adult conversation!!