Quiet Time

There are no empty seats
so I'll sit on the floor. 
There are books on the chairs
and coats piled by the door.

The counters are covered
with dishes galore
and dust bunnies THIS big
I've ne'er seen before.

But the house has gone still,
there's no noise anymore,
except Max turning pages
and Molly's soft snore.

There's laundry to do
and dishes for sure -
but it can all wait,
or at least until four.

Because Mom needs a break,
she's tired to the core,
and if she doesn't sit down
there'll be no Mom no more.

Naptime

I guess I last posted in December 2012.  Not much has happened since then, but here's a quick recap:  new car, new baby, new job, new house.  Looking back now I guess we've been a bit busy.

It's naptime for both kids now, i.e. the perfect opportunity for me to pick up toys and vacuum up crumbs so that Molly won't eat them as she crawls around, empty the dishwasher, reload the dishwasher with all the dishes piled on the counter, finally clean the bathrooms (we have TWO now!), finish taking care of the laundry, maybe dust the piano, and .. oh forget it.

I'm sitting on my ever-expanding bum browsing pinterest and sipping coffee (cup #3 for the day - I used to be a one cup a day kinda gal.  The first child added a cup and the second child added another cup).  And now, as you have undoubtedly figured out, I am blogging. 

I think I spend more time getting Molly to surrender to sleepiness than she actually spends sleeping.  So by the time she's asleep, chores are the last thing I feel like doing.  It's like a duel:  her eyes grow heavy as I rock her back and forth wildly -- point for me.  She flails to keep herself awake and socks me in the nose -- three points for her.  Bonus points if she gets hold of my hair and actually pulls some out.

Motherhood is amazing.

No, but really, it is.  Earlier today I spread an old comforter in the grass in our lovely backyard and let Molly crawl all over me while Maxwell ate lunch at his little picnic table.  Beautiful breeze, nice cloud cover so I didn't have to worry TOO much about the possibility of sunburn (although, if you haven't noticed, my children and I are pasty and can burn even by moonlight) ...  we watched the fleets of crickets bouncing around the yard and listened to Maxwell's moving rendition of "Let it Go" for the umpteenth time. 

It was really a great two and a half minutes.  Probably the best part of our day so far.  Until now:  nap time. 

And now here I sit, enjoying a moment of peace before a certain boy screams, "Mommy I have a booger on my finger and I need you to get it!" or a sweet baby girl starts crying because her tiny tummy never stays full long enough for a good nap. 

I guess that's where I'll end this.  I really need to get back to pinterest and finishing planning our new decor.  I may actually have to become a DIYer.  I know how to weed now, so anything is possible.  Stay tuned.

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A Rare Perfect Day

Maxwell played happily this morning while I vacuumed the downstairs and got the kitchen cleaned up.  Then as we were headed to the tot lot we ran into our neighbor and her granddaughter Camille and found out they were going to toddler time at the library.  From that point on, the only thing Maxwell would say was, "Mille! Mille!"  So we changed our plans and headed to the library.  Maxwell actually behaved himself and had a great time clapping and stomping his feet to the circle songs.  From there we headed to the tot lot to play with Camille and her cousin Lily some more.  Maxwell loves going to the park, but even more so when the girls are there too!

On top of a wonderful morning with a happy kid, the mail turned out to be filled to the brim with goodies:  my Munchkin Backseat Organizer from YaySave! (FREE by using gift cards from Swagbucks), the set of 5 board books that I ordered Maxwell for Christmas (only $2 through a Swagbucks deal), Maxwell's swim trunks covered in motorcycles for our hotel stay while we're visiting Mom next week, and a packet of Gerber coupons!  There was so much mail for us today, the mailman knocked until I came to the door because it wouldn't fit through the mail slot and he was nice enough to not just leave it lying on our porch. 

After collecting the mail, Maxwell asked for his pacifier and happily climbed up the stairs to find his blanket.  He went down for a rest without a peep, and now I'm sitting here enjoying a (momentarily) clean living room and a hot mug of cinnamon vanilla coffee (which I bought on sale and with a coupon, naturally). 

It's these rare perfect days that make all the crazy tantrum-filled ones worth it.  And the sun just came out and is shining through the beautifully colored leaves on our sidewalk maple.  What more could a mama ask for?

I should probably put this in Maxwell's baby book.

Maxwell's Vocabulary in no particular order

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Nanny
4. Pops
5. Gramma
6. Bribri
7. Taytay (Tegan)
8. Dave
9. Camille
10. Uncle
11. Nellie
12. Bubba
13. Grampy (dddddd)
14. Liz
15. Izze
16. pacifier
17. milk
18. water
19. cracker
20. cookie
21. pasta
22. apple
23. banana
24. grapes
25. motorcyle
26. jeep
27. blanket
28. ducky
29. moo
30. baa
31. neigh
32. ee ee (monkey)
33. quack
34. Andy (his elephant)
35. Elmo
36. Cookie monster
37. Grover
38. Pooh
39. Mickey
40. no
41. outdoors
42. all done
43. up
44. vroom (car)
45. door
46. ding (doorbell)
47. noodle
48. peas
49. ball
50. bath
51. squeezie
52. uh oh
53. hot
54. puppy
55. Max
56. baby
57. wild
58. twinkle twinkle
59. Bible
60. mail
61. more
62. booger
63. dip dip
64. applesauce
65. please
66. Bart
67. Raffi
68. boots
69. bike
70. TV
71. puffs
72. teeth
73. button
74. bottle
75. digger
76. buckle
77.  

Things a Housewife Should Be Able to Do

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be a housewife.  Some girls dream of being a famous actress, the first female president, an Olympic athlete, or Oprah.  I dreamed of being Lucille Ball, polka dot dress and witty comebacks included.

Of course when I graduated high school I was single with absolutely no prospects for marriage in sight.  So I did the next best thing and went to college.  By the time I graduated college I was still single and marriage was still a distant and almost forgotten dream.  Since a B.A. in Mathematics doesn't really prepare you for much other than graduate school, I went to graduate school.  It was there that I finally met the love of my life and miraculously tricked him into marrying me.   When he finally finished grad school himself and I no longer had to be the breadwinner, I had a baby and became a housewife.  My dream was finally reality.

I thought that being a housewife would be instinctual.  Every room in my house would be immaculate and decorated just like a page from Better Homes and Gardens.  I would be like Betty Draper (minus the depression) and always have an amazing meal on the table when my world-weary husband arrived home from work. 

Oh, the naivety.  Being a housewife is not instinctual, and it is not easy.  My house is a disaster-zone, my child always has dried-something-or-other on his face, my husband regularly goes to work in a wrinkly shirt, and by the time he arrives home from work I am often lying on the floor in the middle of the living room letting my child climb on me like I'm a piece of furniture.  It's a tough gig. 

So this leads me to the point of this post: Things a Housewife Should Be Able to Do.  Clearly I will never be the picture-perfect magazine-cover homemaker.  But there are a few things that I think it's high time I learned how to do.  So I've written down a few goals, and maybe I'll blog about how they turn out.  And maybe I won't.  Knowing my commitment to regular blogging, probably the latter.

Things a Housewife Should Be Able to Do.

1. Cook a pot roast.
2. Roast a chicken.
3. Bake a pie (including homemade crust).
4. Establish a regular cleaning routine.
5. Give her child a haircut.
6. Look presentable after a long day of toddler-chasing and housework.

I'm not sure #6 is actually possible.  If you are a housewife and you have accomplished this, please leave a comment with specific instructions on how I too can accomplish this. 

I've attempted #5 a couple times now, and still haven't mastered it.  I think I'll get it though with more practice.

Today I tackled #1, but I'll leave the details for a future post. 

So, dear reader(s), did I forget anything vital on that list?

Sick and Tired

I've had a cold for a week now.  This is frustrating for a few reasons.

First and foremost, being sick is just plain annoying.  I have no idea where I caught it from, or how to get it to hurry up and go away.

Secondly, I'm the mother of a very energetic and busy toddler.  Maxwell doesn't get that I'm not trying to be boring and mean by not playing with him, I just happen to feel like I got hit by a truck.  Mothers' Immunity to Sickness should be a Law of Nature.  Seriously.

Finally, I was just starting to get into this whole jogging thing!!  Crazy, right?

In my last post I mentioned the Couch-to-5k program.  Yeah, it's pretty great.  Especially for someone like me who thought she HATED running.  Turns out that the real problem was that any time I tried to run I pushed myself too hard too soon.  This program has me increasing my running time bit by itty-bitty-bit.  I'm up to 3 consecutive minutes of jogging.  Doesn't seem like much to real runners, but it's a HUGE accomplishment for me.  So not being able to do the program for almost a week now is seriously bumming me out.  I'm afraid when I'm finally feeling better I'm going to have to start back at square one, i.e. only 60 seconds of jogging at a time.  And that's just embarrassing.

Trevor and I had found a 5k scheduled for the day after we would be completing the program .. but now I'm a week behind!  I did some digging and found another race a little further away that takes place a week later.  So that's the new goal - by November 3rd, I should be able to run (or, more accurately, slowly jog) a 5K without taking any walking breaks.

Turns out I have a lot of people rooting for me which is pretty cool.  I like the encouraging little notes and words of advice that keep popping up on Facebook.  I figured letting people know about this would make me more likely to stick to it.  I guess we'll see!

Being sick has had one small upside:  I've had an excuse to sit around a lot and earn a lot of Swagbucks.  And Trevor has been changing a LOT more of Maxwell's diapers ... 0:-)