Piece of Cake

This past weekend, our church put on our annual Yard Sale and Barbecue. As usual, Dave and I signed up to help with the activities, splitting our shifts so one of us could be with the kids. My shift was 10:45am to 1:00. I picked that particular time because I figured it would be between Lauren's two naps.

This was the first time I left both kids (while they were awake) with Dave for that long. Yes it was only two hours. And yes, I don't get out much. Mason is almost three and a half, and the longest I've ever left him by far was when I was in the hospital giving birth to Lauren. And I don't really call that a vacation. (But I did bring home a nice souvenir. :-)

Lauren's been in a transition stage from one nap to two lately, so I wasn't sure what time she'd want to go to sleep. I was a little nervous when she didn't take a morning nap. I figured she'd want to go to sleep before I got home, and since she nurses right before she naps, Daddy wasn't going to cut it.

But when I got home, Dave proceeded to tell me how easy it was to hang with the kids and this stay-at-home-mom job was a "piece of cake". He took them to the grocery store and had a grand old time. Then they both ate and played nicely after they got home. "Did you do any cleaning?" I asked. Dave was proud he could say "I unloaded the dishwasher!"

Wow.

Sure it was only a couple of hours, and I know he was sort of kidding with me and he does appreciate what I do at home, but maybe one day I should just not do anything to show him what it takes to do this stay-at-home-mom job. The kids wouldn't starve... Mason would pillage the pantry to find the animal crackers and feed Lauren the plain Chereeos (the sweetened ones, he would save for himself.) Mason would go back and forth between watching TV and playing on the computer while Lauren pulled every book off the shelves and ate toilet paper. Meanwhile, the dishes would pile up in the kitchen and the laundry would pile up in the rooms (because no one put it in the laundry basket).

Granted, I'm not a great housekeeper, but I do like things to be somewhat organized and tidy. I might not have floors clean enough to eat off of (despite what Lauren thinks) but I like to give that impression.

And what's up with the kids being on their best behavior for Daddy? I'm constantly having to keep Mason from smothering Lauren with the sofa pillows or knocking her over like a bowling pin when she attempts to stand up on her own. And Lauren gets so fussy when she's nearing a nap, I can't keep her occupied with anything else. It's not fair that Daddy is such a novelty that he's like a big, new toy to play with, and the kids act like angels with him.

I think would be interesting to switch places with Dave for a little while. I'd like to get out of the house for more than two hours, even if it was to go to work. And I'd really like Dave to try being a stay-at-home-dad for more than two hours.

I'm sure after a few days, both of us would want to switch back.

Happy Birthday Grandmama!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Blogged The Year Away

Can it be a year since I started this blog? According to the date, it is!

Although, I'm not one to update very frequently, I definitely have kept it up much better than I thought I would. Since little Lauren came into our lives, I've felt a bit out of the loop on many things. As it turned out, this blog has been my little outlet to the rest of the world. It has also made it much easier to share our adventures with friends and family who otherwise would not hear about it (because I'm not good at keeping up via phone or email.)

Since my little writings began, Mason started preschool, Lauren was born, we celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday and my 32nd, and I'm still surviving despite many a sleepless night without my overworked husband around to help.

Here's to a new year of ramblings!

A Brave, New Boy

Mason is almost 3 1/2 now, and it seems like he's grown up so much in just the past couple of months. There are so many things that he used to be afraid of that he's completely turned around and loves.

One of the most notable things is the car wash. He used to totally freak out when we went through one (which was only a couple of times with him in the car based on his reaction). Dave even had to take him out of the car seat to comfort him once. It got to the point where he would say "I don't want to go to the car wash" whenever we just passed by one. But the other day, Dave decided to try it with him again and this time, he thought it was fun. Now he says "The car's so dirty, we need a car wash" whenever we drive by one.

Another big one is public bathrooms. This used to be a major problem - especially on vacation. (See a previous post about our trip to North Myrtle Beach back in April for an example.) For a long time, the only place I could get him to pee when we weren't at home was outside in the grass. We've stopped in many a grassy area over the last few months. (Thank goodness he's a boy.) But now, in just the last couple of weeks, he's had no problems wherever we've gone. We just got back from a weekend trip to Georgia, and this time, the trip was no problem whatsoever.

He's even gotten much better at tolerating loud noises. (This is probably a main reason the public bathroom issue is resolved - those potties can be loud.) Usually when I get out the coffee grinder in the morning, he goes running with his hands over his ears when he sees it. But yesterday, he actually got up on the step stool so he could see inside while I was grinding the beans. I can even get him to do some vacuuming for me now!

I got a little teary eyed the other day when I let Mason go off to play on his own at Plaza Fiesta, and he had a grand old time. I've never seen him so willing to play at a place like that without Dave or me. He's even going down the big slides by himself. It wasn't that long ago that he started going down the slide on our own swingset.

Mason will be off to 3-year-old preschool soon. This year, he'll be at school three mornings a week. At least I don't have to worry about him being scared.

No, She's Not a Vampire...

... she's my daughter.

Lauren finally has some new teeth popping through... the upper incisors. Since she currently only has the bottom two middle teeth, it's going to look like she has fangs in a couple of weeks. She's a little early for Halloween, but if nothing new comes in before then, I guess she can go as my little jack-o-lantern. :-)

10 Months

I can't believe my baby is 10 months old today! The time certainly does go by even faster with the second child. Here's her 10 month Pooh picture

These days all Lauren seems to want to do is walk behind her push toys. I don't know how many times we walk around the circle of the bottom floor of our house with her little push wagon and airplane each day. She and Mason have gotten pretty good at doing it together...

She's also gotten pretty good at giving kisses and will usually do it when I ask. But watch out, she likes to slip you the tongue!

Porch Redo

For several weekends, Dave has been hard at work on our little porch project. I helped him a little here and there, but my job mostly was to supervise (the kids). He successfully removed all the old screen and horizontal beams, stained all the wood, installed the a whole new screening system, hung and stained a new door, painted the floor, and paid for new chairs and a rug.

As you might remember from a previous post, we've been using the porch over the last couple of weeks, but this past weekend, we finished the floor, and I moved the furniture back in today. I'm excited about our new room and feel like we've expanded our living space in the house. Here are a few pics...

Now if would just cool off a few degrees, we might actually be able to enjoy it again.