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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:-)

Conversation with Maxwell

"Oh Doe?"

"We can't go outdoors right now, it's raining."

"La la la la?" (Elmo's song)

"We don't need to watch Sesame Street right now either. Let's just play for a while!"

"No!"

"You don't want to play with Mama?"

"No!"

"Don't you like playing?"

"No!"

I give up.

Whose idea was this again?

Just finished day one of a couch-to-5k program. Whose idea was this again? Oh yeah, the motivated half of a split-personality.

My neighbor caught me coming home and said, "You're not one of these crazy runner types, are you?!?" My response was that I don't think I've run since the year 2000. I must have been a sight: red in the face, panting, and drenched with sweat, because even at 6:30am it was already 75 and humid.

I haven't decided yet if I'll go for day two. I really dislike running.. But I also really dislike being out of shape. We'll see which half wins.