Before I was a stay-at-home mom...
I envisioned days of a completely clutter-free, clean house, with meals organized ahead of time and a calendar that both made sense and was easy to keep.
I imagined sitting down with a good book every once in a while to read while the kids enjoyed playing outside or inside, depending on the weather.
I dreamed of going to the grocery store with a list and coming home, having not forgotten anything on said list and not needing to make a return trip for at least a week.
I thought it would be easier to schedule lunch dates and play time with friends.
Now that I am a stay-at-home mom...
I wish that my house would stay clean for at least an hour. Just one hour... not even a whole day. :)
I wish that I could remember what day of the week it was and which person has to be where and when. Just to keep up with t-ball, swimming, soccer, church, preschool, birthday parties, Brad's softball/basketball schedule, and my need for at least some semblance of a life, I have to have a calendar... just like the one I used when I worked. Seriously?! :)
Read? A book? What?
Grocery trips = at least twice a week, but most of the time I forget something and have to go again. lol.
Lunch with friends? Getting around to it... constantly getting around to it. If they'll ever still have me by the time I "get around to it." :)
However, I am NOT in any way complaining. I honestly could not ask for a better life (maybe just a little better organizational skills)... I get to watch my kiddos grow up, enjoy the little things, like a long walk, a push on the swings, or stories about princesses that kiss frogs or heroes that kill bad guys, and I get to spend my weekends enjoying my time with my hubby instead of playing catch up on the cleaning and laundry. Complaining? Absolutely not... just thinking about how naive I was. :)
So... to the lady who asked me if it was nice just laying around the house instead of working... :) Well... glad she doesn't read my posts, because I might just have to give her an earful!
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Showing posts with label Clearing things up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clearing things up. Show all posts
Friday, February 12, 2010
Taking cues from a good friend of mine and the blogger who got me started on this, I thought I'd post some photos of the kids' artwork, toys that they love to play with, and some cute pics of them as they are growing. She's great about blogging daily and I love to read what is going on with her life. I wish I was more dedicated to my blog and was as organized as she is. She often posts pictures from a couple of years before on the same day... I'm doing good to have my pictures categorized into years. :) So... my tribute to Cheryl... thanks for always giving me inspiration to blog, talk about the good and bad things that we deal with as parents, and for making me feel like I'm "normal." It seems like every time I think I might be losing my mind or going crazy, Cheryl will post just the right thing to help me realize that I am just a normal parent dealing with the craziness of playing Batman or Spiderman for the 100th time in a day or answering the same question about our plans for the week for the 1000th time. :) Love you, Cheryl... wish we were better about getting together, but glad we have this connecting us still.
Jake has grown to love the snow this year... last year, not so much. He's enjoyed eating it more than anything (and yes, I have warned him about yellow snow). :)
One of my favorite memories of Bailey as a two-year old is that she would lay in our bedroom floor and "make snow angels." This was before she'd really ever made a real snow angel and she loved the idea. Now, she loves doing the real thing. So free and innocent.
If preschool has done anything, it has created a monster in my creative daughter. If I would let her, the entire house would be covered with drawings, glued up construction paper, and makeshift people. Thankfully, she is able to express her creative side effectively. Here is her Valentine's Day bag, complete with her "tons" of Valentine's. She was so excited about her party and proud that she had SO many Valentine's at school. Everyone loves her, she says (she does realize that everyone got the same amount, but it does not impact her confidence that she is well-loved). :)
Her snowman... she is happy with it since we have not had the right kind of snow to make a real one.
And, Jake's artwork. :) I drew the sun or circle at the top. Jake's artwork is more of an attempt to get the finger paint off of his hand. He's definitely less interested in art than his creative sister.
And, our most beloved toys... or at least Jake's. He's so in love with these three that we take them nearly everywhere we go. I love that he has favorites, but I do admit to being sick of them. I've contemplated hiding them, but he can remember when he gets up in the morning exactly where they were when he went to bed. How do I know? Well, if I clean while he's asleep and they are moved, I get questioned about playing with them. Yes, son, I really play with them when you sleep (insert sarcasm). lol. I will also admit how funny or not so funny it is that Jake can tell me lines that the characters say and can even pronounce Dr. Octavius (which was completely done so on his own, without encouragement), but cannot remember that a cow says moo instead of yee-haw (cowBOYS say that). We will learn these things, too, eventually. :)
More to follow... I promise.
Jake has grown to love the snow this year... last year, not so much. He's enjoyed eating it more than anything (and yes, I have warned him about yellow snow). :)
One of my favorite memories of Bailey as a two-year old is that she would lay in our bedroom floor and "make snow angels." This was before she'd really ever made a real snow angel and she loved the idea. Now, she loves doing the real thing. So free and innocent.
If preschool has done anything, it has created a monster in my creative daughter. If I would let her, the entire house would be covered with drawings, glued up construction paper, and makeshift people. Thankfully, she is able to express her creative side effectively. Here is her Valentine's Day bag, complete with her "tons" of Valentine's. She was so excited about her party and proud that she had SO many Valentine's at school. Everyone loves her, she says (she does realize that everyone got the same amount, but it does not impact her confidence that she is well-loved). :)
Her snowman... she is happy with it since we have not had the right kind of snow to make a real one.
And, Jake's artwork. :) I drew the sun or circle at the top. Jake's artwork is more of an attempt to get the finger paint off of his hand. He's definitely less interested in art than his creative sister.
And, our most beloved toys... or at least Jake's. He's so in love with these three that we take them nearly everywhere we go. I love that he has favorites, but I do admit to being sick of them. I've contemplated hiding them, but he can remember when he gets up in the morning exactly where they were when he went to bed. How do I know? Well, if I clean while he's asleep and they are moved, I get questioned about playing with them. Yes, son, I really play with them when you sleep (insert sarcasm). lol. I will also admit how funny or not so funny it is that Jake can tell me lines that the characters say and can even pronounce Dr. Octavius (which was completely done so on his own, without encouragement), but cannot remember that a cow says moo instead of yee-haw (cowBOYS say that). We will learn these things, too, eventually. :)
More to follow... I promise.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Well, I don't want anyone to stroke out or anything, but I am actually blogging. :)
Yep... finally giving into the guilt (and my true need to write) and blogging.
So... where to start? Well, this seems to be the problem lately. Every time I start thinking about blogging, I think about how much has happened since my last entry. And, you know, that's quite a bit. So, here's the quick rundown - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve and Day. :) OK. So those are the holidays. They were great... each special in its own little way. And, I am hopeful that at some point in the very near future, I will sporadically decide to post photos with little snippets about each of these, as well as some video. But, please don't hold your breath! You know me... it takes a while.
There were many more things to tell... playing in the snow, Bailey actually learning to pedal her bicycle (which she's been working on for a while), Jake talking more clearly and becoming more independent, our fun trip to Gatlinburg with Mamaw Kathy and James, etc. So, how do I pick up where I left off without being hitting these highlights? Well, I don't know. So, I'm just going to write about our newest developments and go from there. Patience please... this could be more like a rough version of a term paper before it's all over. lol.
Perhaps the most exciting thing for me right now is that my last day at the Lexington Philharmonic is on Friday. Brad recently received a promotion at work, enabling me to stay at home with the kids for a while. I simply cannot express how excited I am about this. I've been so lucky to work for a company that allows me to work from home part time. They've been so good to me, but it is difficult splitting up my time. Even when I'm working from home, I feel the guilt of each thing pulling on me. If I'm working on things for work, I feel like I'm ignoring the kids. If I'm playing with the kids, I feel like I'm ignoring my work. It's a constant battle... and I'm very excited that I don't have to feel that choice tugging on me all the time. I'm sure I'm going to miss the adult interaction and even parts of my job. But, I can't wait to wake up every morning and know that the only thing I HAVE to do is take care of the kids. They seem excited about it, too. I know Jake will love being at home with me. He makes me feel guilty everyday I leave him, so he's going to be on cloud nine. Bailey, on the other hand, loves preschool, so her concern with me not working is that she wouldn't go anymore. Of course, we nearly have preschool completely paid for, so we had already planned to let her finish her school year. She was really happy then... especially when she understood that we could spend the entire summer by the pool or at the lake. Now, she's thrilled.
So, a week from tomorrow, I will be unemployed. :) Happily unemployed. Not sure how many of us there are out there with the economy like it is.
The other big thing going on right now is that my husband is in another country. Yep, Brad is in Guatemala City, Guatemala, living the good life. :) Or so you would think from the photos he's posted on Facebook! He actually is there on business, training some developers for his company. He left early last Wednesday and won't return until Thursday night. He spent his weekend seeing ancient Mayan ruins and Antigua. Apparently, he's stronger than I am though... His hotel has a casino in it and he's not gambling. He's nuts. They have a great exchange rate. He could win quite a bit if he got lucky. Thank God I'm not the one going on these trips or I would DEFINITELY be looking for a job. I'd gamble it all. :) Anyway, we've missed Brad so much. Bailey is completely convinced that he's on a vacation without us and does not think it's fair that he gets to swim in a pool in hot weather when we are stuck here in the cold and rain. I have to agree to a certain extent. :) Jake is missing him too. I expected him to ask about him, but not to say much more about it. Yet, in the middle of the night, Jake woke up to tell me that he missed his daddy. It was so cute. It kind of broke my heart. Needless to say, we are counting down the days until Brad gets home... quite literally. We created a calendar just for the time Brad would be gone so that we could "see" when he was coming home. Just a few more days... just a few more.
Yep... finally giving into the guilt (and my true need to write) and blogging.
So... where to start? Well, this seems to be the problem lately. Every time I start thinking about blogging, I think about how much has happened since my last entry. And, you know, that's quite a bit. So, here's the quick rundown - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve and Day. :) OK. So those are the holidays. They were great... each special in its own little way. And, I am hopeful that at some point in the very near future, I will sporadically decide to post photos with little snippets about each of these, as well as some video. But, please don't hold your breath! You know me... it takes a while.
There were many more things to tell... playing in the snow, Bailey actually learning to pedal her bicycle (which she's been working on for a while), Jake talking more clearly and becoming more independent, our fun trip to Gatlinburg with Mamaw Kathy and James, etc. So, how do I pick up where I left off without being hitting these highlights? Well, I don't know. So, I'm just going to write about our newest developments and go from there. Patience please... this could be more like a rough version of a term paper before it's all over. lol.
Perhaps the most exciting thing for me right now is that my last day at the Lexington Philharmonic is on Friday. Brad recently received a promotion at work, enabling me to stay at home with the kids for a while. I simply cannot express how excited I am about this. I've been so lucky to work for a company that allows me to work from home part time. They've been so good to me, but it is difficult splitting up my time. Even when I'm working from home, I feel the guilt of each thing pulling on me. If I'm working on things for work, I feel like I'm ignoring the kids. If I'm playing with the kids, I feel like I'm ignoring my work. It's a constant battle... and I'm very excited that I don't have to feel that choice tugging on me all the time. I'm sure I'm going to miss the adult interaction and even parts of my job. But, I can't wait to wake up every morning and know that the only thing I HAVE to do is take care of the kids. They seem excited about it, too. I know Jake will love being at home with me. He makes me feel guilty everyday I leave him, so he's going to be on cloud nine. Bailey, on the other hand, loves preschool, so her concern with me not working is that she wouldn't go anymore. Of course, we nearly have preschool completely paid for, so we had already planned to let her finish her school year. She was really happy then... especially when she understood that we could spend the entire summer by the pool or at the lake. Now, she's thrilled.
So, a week from tomorrow, I will be unemployed. :) Happily unemployed. Not sure how many of us there are out there with the economy like it is.
The other big thing going on right now is that my husband is in another country. Yep, Brad is in Guatemala City, Guatemala, living the good life. :) Or so you would think from the photos he's posted on Facebook! He actually is there on business, training some developers for his company. He left early last Wednesday and won't return until Thursday night. He spent his weekend seeing ancient Mayan ruins and Antigua. Apparently, he's stronger than I am though... His hotel has a casino in it and he's not gambling. He's nuts. They have a great exchange rate. He could win quite a bit if he got lucky. Thank God I'm not the one going on these trips or I would DEFINITELY be looking for a job. I'd gamble it all. :) Anyway, we've missed Brad so much. Bailey is completely convinced that he's on a vacation without us and does not think it's fair that he gets to swim in a pool in hot weather when we are stuck here in the cold and rain. I have to agree to a certain extent. :) Jake is missing him too. I expected him to ask about him, but not to say much more about it. Yet, in the middle of the night, Jake woke up to tell me that he missed his daddy. It was so cute. It kind of broke my heart. Needless to say, we are counting down the days until Brad gets home... quite literally. We created a calendar just for the time Brad would be gone so that we could "see" when he was coming home. Just a few more days... just a few more.
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