I've been thinking about trying to find a good new CD for the car.....something that the kids (especially Grant) would enjoy. I get on Amazon and see so many that look interesting, but I just don't want to pay $13 and waste my money if they're not good. If anyone has any favorites that they'd recommend, please share!! Thanks.....
It was a long weekend. I'm so tired of someone in our house being sick....this month it's been one thing after another. Grant first got this stomach thing on Thursday afternoon, but on Friday he acted like he felt okay (he just had no appetite). So Saturday morning, we gave him some milk. Big mistake! He threw up again, but then seemed to feel okay. My parents came in town that day for a few hours, and while they were here I started feeling nauseous. They left around 3pm, and a couple hours later I got sick. But it really only lasted a few hours, and then by the end of the night I was feeling a lot better (just weak).
Then this morning Dean woke up with it. He hasn't moved from our bedroom all day.....he definitely has it worse than I did. I was hoping to be able to rest today, but I was by far the more healthy of the two of us.....so I was alone with the boys all day. It's so frustrating when weekend days are just like weekdays. We couldn't go to church, which I was really looking forward to because they were having a potluck lunch (and we still don't feel like we know people very well, so I was excited about going to that). Things like that don't come up very often at church, but inevitably those seem to be the weekends that something like this happens.
And I was just so short with the boys.....so resentful that I can never have any time to myself, even when I'm sick. So I was getting upset with Grant for backtalking and mistreating Drew, but I just had no energy to try to discipline him correctly. So instead I just yelled and fussed at him a lot. Then at around 7pm, Drew kept trying to grab Grant's trains that he was playing with, and he shoved Drew a few times before I took him upstairs and put him to bed. I know that in order for him to learn the correct way to behave, I need to be consistent in disciplining him (instead of just getting angry), but this is so hard to actually do. Especially when I've been around them all day long, and all I want is a break. It's so much easier just to drop him in his room and be done with it.
Things are just really hard right now. Even having friends over isn't easy.....it drives me crazy to not be able to have more than a 10-second conversation with a friend because one of the kids is crying or needing something. It's nearly impossible to have an in-depth conversation with someone when you have small kids around. They're just so dependent right now. I just want them to be a little older so I can do fun things with them (instead of just feeling like a babysitter). And believe me, if we could afford to put both of them in school (or to put Grant in for more than 2 days per week), we would! I know they'll both be there next year......
Okay, here are some pictures from Palm Beach in Galveston, when I took the boys about 10 days ago.
The boys had the most fun just playing here on the beach part....we were just about the first people there that day, so we claimed a good spot right next to the water. There are a lot of different parts to the park, but Grant was actually pretty afraid of doing very much (probably because it was our only time to go this summer). We went a few times last year, but I'm sure he doesn't remember it! 
Drew found a rock, so of course that means that Grant MUST have it!
Drew is learning to protest when his big brother takes something away from him. Unfortunately, there's not much he can do about it yet except to cry (although he has slapped at Grant a few times in frustration, which is quite funny to watch)!
It's so hard getting a good picture of them together (where both of them look reasonably happy and one isn't trying to mess with the other). I thought this one was pretty cute....
Grant was a good little helper and pushed Drew's stroller all the way to and from the parking lot. I know I complain about Grant a lot, but the moments that he's not being a little stinker, he's actually quite a gentleman (and is proud of himself when he helps out). It seems like it's always one extreme or the other!
A nasty stomach bug has gotten Grant with a vengeance. Poor thing....at lunch today he mentioned he didn't feel good and wanted to be excused. (He didn't even eat all of his cheese, which is a bad sign). But he got out of his chair and started playing again, so I went ahead and decided to go to the post office, like I had planned.
No sooner had we walked into the post office (both boys in the stroller) did Grant start asking me to carry him. The second time he asked, I took him out of his stroller just as he threw up all over the place. Remnants of hot dog, cheese and grapes were all over the carpet (with the tile just a few inches away). At least it missed the stroller, though....I guess that was good!
So we came straight home....he threw up again on the way home, and has been continually tonight. His stomach is empty but he still tries. Poor little guy. He can't even keep any Gatorade down.
We feel so bad for him while also hoping we don't get the same thing (especially Drew, who grabbed Grant's sippy cup and starting drinking from it). Meet the teacher day at school is tomorrow.....we'll definitely miss that, but hopefully he'll be better for school next Tuesday!
I almost just went back and erased my last post......I am so ashamed at how much I take my kids for granted sometimes. Some people who read this probably also read popular mommy blogs like BabyBangs and Kelly's Korner. I don't read them much, but every so often I'll start blog-hopping and end up on one of them. On Kelly's Korner, she has a prayer page where she posts prayer requests that are emailed to her (that girl has thousands of readers). And today she highlighted a few specific requests. I already knew about one of them (a couple in Alabama who lost two-year-old twins in a drowning accident in July.....unfathomable).
And one of the others was for the Maxey family, who lost their one-year-old little girl Madeline to a brain tumor in 2004. Then they had a little boy (Grant), who is just a little older than our Grant. And then they had a little girl Annette, born last October (just a week or so after Drew was born). Now Annette is dying of cancer too....they're taking her home this week from the hospital.
I spent about 20 minutes just looking at their website and am heartbroken for them. It's impossible to look at it for more than a few minutes without crying. Apparently they were told after their first daughter died that none of their future children would have any greater chance of getting cancer than she'd had. So if that's correct, it just seems so unfair for something like that to happen twice to one family.
And I think about how much I complain and feel sorry for myself that my boys are giving me a hard time. I completely take for granted that I've got two healthy babies. Wow....
Anyway, just thought I would mention this for the people who aren't familiar with Kelly's blog. The Maxey family's website is http://www.maxeyweb.com/ . I don't know them or even where they live, but they definitely need prayer. I don't know how I'd be able to get out of bed in the morning if something like this were to happen to me.
This is usually why I don't tend to read blogs of people I don't know. Because one of two things usually happens. One, I happen upon family blogs where the family seems perfect in every way (and I end up feeling lousy about myself and my family when I have no real basis for thinking that way). Or two, I end up spending way too much time learning about people (who I don't know) with heart-wrenching situations. I don't think it's healthy to become consumed by things like this, but this particular one (and reading it on this particular night) just made me realize how trivial my problems are, in the scheme of things. So what if I'm bored during the day and my boys are driving me crazy?? There are people going through much harder things than me.....
Yes, Drew is in full stinker mode now, and he just turned 11 months old! What am I going to do?! When Grant would throw fits or act unruly before, at least I had my sweet little Drew to get me through. But now I'm wondering if he's going to be worse than his brother. Whew....the past few days have completely wiped me out. Grant WILL NOT listen when we tell him to do things.....sometimes I tell him five, six times to sit in his carseat before I have to spank him and physically put him there. And the same goes for pretty much anything.....diaper changes, getting off of Drew when he's wrestling with/laying on top of/physically abusing him. I usually have to go over and pull him off of Drew (who, by the way, rarely cries when Grant does this, but it still worries me!). It drives me crazy to have to say things sixteen times to get him to do anything!
And Drew.....oh my goodness.....that little boy is becoming so independent. He will put up a fuss and start fighting when he can't have his way.....I don't think Grant started that quite so early?? For some reason I think I remember that Grant hit this point around 13 months. Drew loves climbing stairs right now (in fact, if I'm holding him when we get to the stairs, he pushes against me to get down, so he can crawl up himself). And if he crawls over to the stairs himself (and the gate happens to be ajar), he'll try crawling up. When I grab him to bring him down, he kicks and fusses. And the same thing happens when he wants to go outside too.....and pretty much any time he doesn't want to be taken away from something he wants!
So it seems like my little snuggler is gone....at least for now. Tonight when I put him to bed, I tried to rock him for a while (like I do most nights), but he was not interested. He just wanted to be playing on the floor, and kept trying to wriggle out of my arms. So I put him in his crib and left the room (he was very tired anyway, and only fussed for a few seconds). I'm hoping that maybe he will learn the cause/effect.....he doesn't get to read stories or rock when he squirms and tries to get down.
But it's so weird.....at the same time, he is still super clingy to me at times. Today my friend Jen came over with her little boy, and he wouldn't let me walk 10 feet away before crying. But then I'd pick him up, and he wanted to get down again a few seconds later!
So anyway, this is just a frustrating time with Drew. I think he sees his big brother doing so many things that he also wants to be doing, but he's just not big enough. I've been (seriously) wondering how I am going to survive the coming years with both of them acting like this. Should I go back to work and put them both in daycare?? Because right now, I'd say that I'd be very content dropping them both off somewhere at 9am every day, and coming back to get them at 5pm. They are just driving me crazy that much. I love them so much but I'm not a good mom to them when I'm getting mad and yelling every five minutes. And I spend so much of my days completely frustrated.
I was thinking.....when we're at the house, we are truly having fun probably 10-20% of the time. When we go out, it's more like 80-90% (as long as I pick somewhere child-friendly and don't try staying at the mall for 4 hours). So I do think that as it gets cooler, we'll be able to make more trips to town to do fun outdoorsy things (on days that Grant doesn't go to school). Maybe the key is just getting out of the house (which is just plain difficult in the summer....it's nearly impossible to go play in the sprinkler in the backyard before 4:30pm, let alone anything else).
Okay, this is way too long but I needed to get that off my chest. I could go into so much more detail but will keep it (somewhat) short for the blog. The boys have actually been doing some fun stuff too, so I will write about more lighthearted topics next time!
Even though his face is probably a bit too much out of focus, I still love this picture. About a week ago Grant was playing outside on our playground, and we noticed this weird bug. It just sat there while we stared at it and took pictures of it!
And here are a few more funny pictures. The other day Grant found an A/C filter in our closet and decided it was a guitar (not sure how he made that connection!). I heard Jesus Loves Me from the other room and came in to see him singing and playing the "guitar." Kids have such an imagination......
And last, here he's throwing a complete fit because he can't get his hand out of his pocket. We were playing and having a good time, and he'd stuck a race car in his pocket, then couldn't pull his hand back out. When stuff like this happens, it takes about three seconds to go from being completely fine, to being mildly frustrated, to throwing an all-out fit. It's funny how he seems like he's becoming such a big boy, yet at times like this he seems like such a baby, laying down on the floor crying when something doesn't go his way. I wonder when these crying fits end?? Surely he won't still be doing this when he's 10 (please, God?!)?
Grant has had a blast while we've been working on our bathroom for the past few months. He is such a little handyman.....I've said before that one of his all-time favorite activities is helping Daddy with projects. Actually, it's more that he likes to have access to Daddy's tools while Daddy is working on projects.....he loves walking around holding screws, nuts, bolts, and sockets. They are just the most magical, amazing things to him. At Home Depot and Lowe's, he'll walk over to the bins and just grab a couple of bolts to carry around while we're at the store. That's such the little boy in him....he probably knows more about tools than I do!
About a week ago Dean was hanging our new light fixtures in the bathroom, and Grant grabbed the instruction sheet and started saying what we needed to do. He'd point and say, "this one goes here, and this one goes here." He'll also now walk into his "train room" (our formal living room), and walk to one side of the train table and pretend like he's talking to someone at the other side of the table. He gets embarrassed if we see him do this, but he'll say things like, "I need some nails and some screws to fix this. Yeah. Okay, bye bye." Or "Hi, I bought this, but it doesn't work. No. Okay, bye bye." Can you tell we've been to home improvement stores too many times?!
And here are some pictures of Drew talking on the phone.....he picks it up and immediately says "da" or "dada." That's all he says into the phone (actually, that's pretty much the only word he says anyway!).
First, I have to note that it's not even 7:30pm and both boys are in bed! This doesn't normally happen, but we went to Palm Beach today (at Moody Gardens in Galveston). The boys were totally worn out, and they both had short naps because the ride home isn't very long. Grant's behavior tonight proved that he was tired, so he actually went to his room before 6:30 (although he didn't go to sleep right away). And I just put Drew to bed. Yippee....lots of free time!
Anyway....
In mid-July, we got our electricity bill and I almost gasped when I read it. Four hundred and twenty one dollars! That is by far the highest we've ever had....I know last summer we spent a couple of months in the $300s, but nothing this high. But it wasn't too hard to believe. The previous month we'd kept our A/C pretty much constantly at 75 degrees (which we don't normally do in the summer). And at times it was even lower (esp when we had company). It's always a couple degrees warmer upstairs than down, so even at night it was around 77 in our bedrooms when it was 75 downstairs. Frustrating. (By the way, I will never buy a house again without asking first whether there's a separate A/C unit upstairs!)
So I told Dean that we had no choice but to notch the A/C up a little after that ridiculously high bill. And pretty much constantly this entire month, it's been a little experiment of mine. Instead of being constantly set at 75, we set the thermostat at 77, and that's where it stayed pretty much all month (except for a few hours here or there when we either set it higher or lower by a degree). And......we also didn't run our dishwasher on heated dry (which I probably did 50% of the time the previous month). Aside from those two things, we didn't do anything differently. And I think the outside temps were pretty much the same from mid-June to mid-July as they were from mid-July to mid-August.
So.....I got an email notification of our new bill last night.....it was $319! Yay!! I'd say that it's worth sitting in a little bit warmer house if it saves you 100 dollars per month (of course Dean might not agree!). I've never been able to see such a direct relationship between thermostat settings and electricity bill, so I thought I would share!
Also, here are some pictures of our snazzy new couch. I think it looks so great in our den and I'm always happy when I walk in the room and see it. It's just fun getting new stuff, especially when it's cheap (and nice)! Our old couches still felt brand new after 10 years....the cushions weren't broken down at all. But they were looking dated, and it was becoming a chore keeping Drew out of the corner table between them. We went through this stage with Grant, and it was starting to get annoying with Drew wanting to be on top of (or inside) that table all the time. Plus, we felt like that room would be the perfect place for a sectional, and that it might open up the living room to the kitchen a little better.
Old couches:
New couch!
Now I just need to go look for some accent pillows. And this is what's so great about Craigslist....we bought this couch for $375, then we sold our old couches the next day for $100. I would have asked for more, except that there were quite a few cat scratches on the back of one of them. Plus, with two babies who spit up a lot, I knew all the stuff that was embedded in the cushions and my conscience couldn't let me ask for more!
I really don't like getting this far behind on the blog, because then with each passing day, I wonder how I'm going to explain in a nutshell all of the notable things that have happened in the however many days I've missed. But I've done it again.....last week was a good week, but I always had other things to do while the boys were napping. And I don't like being a complete hermit after the boys go to sleep, working on the computer for an hour and then going downstairs, only to find that Dean's on his way up to bed!
Anyway, here goes a short synopsis of last week. We had a fun time at a playdate on Monday with Melissa, Evan and Torin. Evan is a year older than Grant, and Torin is a few months older than Drew. Evan has tons of cars and trains, which of course thrilled Grant (and Evan loaned him a few cars when we left, which is nice because it's like getting brand new toys!). And Drew just LOVED Torin.....he is totally intrigued by other babies. They're close to the same size, and Drew kept crawling over to him, grabbing Torin's feet, cheeks, eyes, and anything else he could! He wants to play and make friends with every other baby he sees....I don't remember Grant being this way.
On Wednesday our friends Shannon, Graham and Kate came over. Grant and Graham always have fun playing together, and little Kate (3 months) fell asleep when we put her in the Bumbo chair....so cute!
Then on Wednesday during the boys' naps, I did my routine Craigslist search.....yes, I am a total Craigslist junkie when I have something on my mind that I want to buy. We had been looking for a sectional couch for our den, and I found one that day that was exactly what we were looking for. So I emailed the girl, and afraid that it would sell quickly (this happened to us the previous weekend), I packed the boys in the car as soon as their naps ended to go see the couch. Of course any time I find something on Craigslist, the item is either in Katy or north Cypress......both of which are about 50 miles away. This wasn't quite as far......and Dean was working late that day anyway, so I thought it would be a perfect time to go.
So we saw the couch (it was perfect and we went back the next day to pick it up), then I had also found a toy for Drew for his birthday that was literally down the street from the first house. Afterwards, we went to Nottingham Park......it's near Kirkwood and the Beltway for anyone reading this in Houston.....SO much fun! I wish we lived near a park like this.....there was a fun little kids' playground (with a place you could "order" food and sit down to eat). And the best part was a fun splashpad. Grant got himself soaking wet, but he loved running in the water. This was far different from last summer, when he was apprehensive of things that squirted water like this.
And then (I know this is getting very long but I want to record this for my own sake) we stopped at Memorial Park to have dinner on the way home. This is one of my top 10 favorite places in Houston.....before we got married, I lived close and went there to jog all the time. I hadn't been there in over 4 years, and it felt a little strange showing up with two small kids (just because my life was so much different the last time I was there!). Anyway, we found this new playground, and the boys had fun.....Drew enjoyed crawling through the tunnels, and Grant was riding down slides head-first.
One funny thing......at one point we were walking past a picnic table (with a lady sitting there), and I looked over to see Grant's hand inside a plastic bag, grabbing a chip, then sticking it in his mouth before I could tell him to put it back! I was flabbergasted.....I yelled at him a little bit and profusely apologized to the woman, who was gracious and just kind of laughed. Well, Grant just started sobbing.....I thought it was weird because he normally doesn't get upset like that when I get mad at him (usually he responds in anger). He didn't stop crying, so finally I picked him up and carried him back to our spot. Then I noticed that he'd spit out the chip (it was stuck to his face), and he told me that his mouth hurt. I smelled a strong hint of jalapeno right at that same time. I felt bad but couldn't stop laughing! I finally got him to drink some water and eat some grapes, and he was fine after a minute. But hopefully it was a good lesson for him!
Okay, that is enough for now! That was much longer than I intended, and I only made it through Wednesday (although that was, by far, our most exciting day). A picture of our new couch coming soon.....
Just a couple of new things the boys have done today:
- Grant discovered the joy of Pez candy! We went to Kroger this afternoon, and he noticed a Lowe's 18-wheeler toy (not realizing it was a Pez dispenser). I figured that would be a nice surprise for him (not only a truck, but one that holds candy too.....right up his alley!). So I bought it for him, then in the car I told him the truck holds candy, and we'd get some when we get home.
Immediately when we got home, he went over to the place on the counter where I keep the candy, and said he wanted some to put in his truck (not realizing you can't just put any kind of candy in there). I opened one of the packs of candy that came with the dispenser, and showed him how to open the truck and put the candy inside. He was in heaven! He took it into the train room and showed Drew (and ended up giving him a piece, which Dean had to fish out of Drew's mouth). Then when I came in, he showed me the truck with the front piece sticking up ready to eat, and he said, "pop goes the weasel! That's silly!" At dinner, he was showing Dean how it works, and was so excited to have such a cool new toy. It's fun when Grant finds joy in these little things that I remember fondly as a child too.....and to watch his fascination over something that's no big deal to us, but new to his little brain.
- Drew and I were playing this afternoon while Grant slept, and I put my hands over my face to play peek-a-boo. While my hands were in front of my face, Drew reached up and grabbed them and pulled them down. He laughed and laughed, then he pulled my hand back up to my face again. He did this time and again. He is definitely getting a little personality and starting to show his independence. If he crawls out the door when I'm feeding the kitty, and I grab him to bring him back inside, he's not afraid to express his displeasure! And he'll sometimes go limp when he doesn't want me picking him up to take him away from something. He is becoming a pesky little brother too.....he loves crawling up and bothering Grant while he's getting his diaper changed; he'll grab Grant's hair or try to pinch his cheeks or nose. Grant gets irritated and I really can't blame him! But it's hard to keep Drew away......I only have two hands (which are busy with a diaper), so there's not usually much I can do. It's funny, though....Drew laughs and thinks it's so funny, even when Grant pushes him away or comes to lay on top of him after his diaper is changed. Basically, I think Drew's going to be an instigator of a lot of fights with his big brother!
When Drew gets the chance to swing, he LOVES it....but unfortunately we only have one swing (we threw away the big kid swings that came with our swingset because they weren't in the best shape and I assumed they'd only cost $5 to replace. Actually, they're more like $25.....oops). And Grant tends to be very possessive of his swing....if he sees Drew in it, all of a sudden there's nothing more important to him than riding in it himself.
So, the other day (the same day as the poopy fiasco), I found a swing just like Grant's on Craigslist and took the boys to Pearland to buy it. So now Drew has his own....and he has so much fun in it. The past couple of nights we've gone outside to play after dinner, and tonight Drew actually crawled over to his swing and pulled himself up on it, as if to tell us, "this is what I want to do now." I've taken some better pictures the past couple of nights, but here are some from the first day:
Grant looks HUGE in his swing.....he actually does great in the big kid swings, but I'm not sure when we'll buy one of those. Plus, his little red swing has gotten so much use and has spent so much time in the sun that the straps are falling apart. So I figured Drew could use a new one anyway.....
In these pictures Drew is watching Amminadab.....he gets SO excited and starts squealing when he spots one of the cats.
Grant got into the shed (a favorite place to explore) and decided he needed to fix this window screen. Here he's thinking with his hand on his chin. He loves doing pretend play like this, where he acts like he's talking to people about things he wants to buy. Here he was pointing and saying to me, "I need that nail and that screw so I can fix this window."
Taking the "window" outside so he could fix it. I swear, he is such a boy......he loves tinkering with tools and finding things to fix (especially these days, while we're working on house projects so much). I know it makes him feel like such a big boy....
Erin and John came over today to play.....Erin is GREAT at photography and tried teaching me a few things. I have a good camera and a lot of my pictures happen to turn out well, in spite of the fact that I don't know the first thing about aperture, shutter speed, or any of that. But Erin knows her stuff.....and she has an amazing camera on top of it. Drew was clingy to me all morning (he was like this yesterday when my parents were here too.....), and this is a perfect picture to show it. All the credit goes to Erin for this one! I told her that I was glad I shaved my legs this morning (but my goodness.....does my knee look dirty or what?!).
Something not so super cute......Grant didn't have such a stellar day. He's been fighting going to sleep lately.....he'll play up in his room before naps and bedtime for hours (literally) sometimes before finally going to sleep. Today I thought he was asleep for his nap when I heard him making noise. So I come up to see him 1) out of his room, 2) without a diaper on, 3) talking loudly under Drew's door (which caused Drew to wake up and start crying after only sleeping for an hour). As I walked up the stairs, I smelled a strong whiff of poopy. Grant had removed his (clean) diaper, then proceeded to go poopy on top of some of his toys. Then he stepped on it, spreading it across the floor when he walked.
Man, was I fit to be tied. Not only had he pooped on his floor, but then he came out of his room (he's figured out how to break the childproof door handle cover) and purposely woke Drew up. An accident like this would be one thing if he was 18 months old, but he definitely knows better (and is capable of controlling when and where he goes to the bathroom....at least better than this!). I was so livid.....I don't think Grant has ever seen me so mad. Hopefully I scared him enough to deter him from ever doing it again.
Kristin mentioned yesterday putting him in some kind of preschool.....he did this last year and I've definitely decided to do it again (I was on the fence earlier this summer). I'm counting down the days until August 26 (and today I considered enrolling him in the four-day-a-week program instead of just two!).
I am so beat.....these two little boys of mine take so much more out of me than I ever would have imagined before having kids. The past week I've had a hard time coming up with blogging topics because, well, we just haven't done much worth blogging about!
Last week was not our best ever. It always seems to go like this....we'll have one great week, followed by one (or more) really crummy ones! Grant is so wild and crazy. I think some days go by without him sitting still for more than 10 seconds (except during his naps and meals). He's climbing on top of things, pushing cars off tables, running around, riding on his scooter and tricycle, opening drawers and taking things he's not supposed to have (many times this is my fault because I'll open a locked drawer then leave it ajar), yelling at the top of his lungs (often just being playful), playing with Drew in a not-so-nice manner, and throwing fits when things don't go his way. In the past two weeks, we didn't have our TV for a combined 10 days, so I didn't even have Curious George or Handy Manny as a temporary distraction for him (unless we happened to be in our bedroom and I thought to turn it on for him).
The summer is so hard because it is almost impossible to be outside in the daylight hours. They have limited patience when we go shopping somewhere (although they're both getting better, especially when I bring lots of snacks). And I don't know if he's a boy or because he's still too young, but Grant is NOT into crafts or structured activities of any kind. He'd rather be bouncing off the walls!
So days just get very boring (we have so many toys at our house, yet Grant just gets bored with them and ends up getting into tools and other non-toys), and even getting together with friends can be difficult because it seems impossible to have a complete conversation with the other adult(s) there! But don't get me wrong.....days always seem to go MUCH better when we have plans with friends, or when I take the boys on a random outing (I love finding cool things to do that aren't just typical activities). It's just that many of these non-typical outings tend to be outdoors (which is an impossibility in August). I love going up into town (there are so many fun parks and things to do), but I just don't know many good indoor things to do up there (at least that are kid-friendly!).
So.....all that to say.....it's just a frustrating time for me. My goal earlier this summer was to do one "fun" thing every day......which could even be something like playing in the sprinklers, getting a treat from Sonic, or going to a kid-friendly store we rarely go to. I've definitely gotten away from this. If I can think of something to do the night before (when it involves getting out somewhere), we tend to get an early start and we have fun! But if we just sit around the house while I try to think of what to do, those days almost always end in disaster.
And the one thing that I still haven't fully accepted (or realized) about being a mom is that my list of projects will continue growing much faster than I am able to keep up. I so desperately want to work on a picture wall that I started in January......and I would love to get caught up on scrapbooking and putting pictures into albums......and about a thousand other little projects around our house. But my free time every day is so short....I think one of the hardest parts of this "mom of young kids" stage is the feeling that you're not really able to pursue things that interest you personally. I feel like I do a pretty good job playing with my kids (and I love doing this), but it would be nice to have a small break from them every day to work on something that doesn't involve them!
