Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Good and the Bad: Weekend in Review

Weekends, I long ago decided, aren't what they used to be. Somedays I just want an old weekend- full of sitting, watching movies, doing errands or just exploring my local community. But other days, our full weekends of errands, kid wrangling, make believe, nap schedules, castle play and arts and crafts just rock.

So it is with kids. There are never any bad 'days'- just bad moments. The same is true for good 'days'- there are just awesome moments. Because two kids and two parents means that no one is in a stellar mood for very long. The opposite is also true: it is hard to be grumpy for a long time.

I am doing a lot of solo parenting on the weekends (two down, five to go) because Sam is studying for the PA/NJ law bar. It is life consuming. I don't know how he does it. He takes care of the kids during the days (preschool, naps, meals, etc) and then studies law at night- usually until midnight. Then we wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 and repeat the whole thing. It is insane. The bar is February 23, 24th and 25th. THREE fun filled test taking days! It makes me break out in hives just thinking about it.

All that is to say that I'm "on" during the weekend so he can catch up on studying and try to make some headway. I have had fun! We have gone to a fun place called the Little Treehouse. And this weekend we did a whole bunch of fun things.

But, as I said, there is always good and bad moments.

The GOOD:
- Spending three whole DAYS with my little people.
- Deciding to not be too productive regarding the house and just focus on PLAYING
- Wyeth took a nap on me on Sunday which caused me to nap. Nothing like a big baby sleeping on you- that never happens any more and watching his cute, chubby face at rest was just awesome. My nap wasn't half bad either!
- Seren and I attended a friends' Princess bday party. Visualize 12-14 kids dressed up as Princess characters dancing! Seren held her own in a group of older kids and just LOVED being part of the excitement.
- I was able to relax at my parents' home all day Sunday. They fed me thai food. And brie. And later we had homemade cookies in front of the fire. Hello? That's awesome!
- Time to be with my friend, Whitney. We spent the day together Monday and took our kids to Panera for lunch. At one point, back at home, all three kids wore aprons and cooked us pancakes, soup and ice cream. Awesome time!
- I love my kiddos and love spending time just being 'MOM'.

The BAD:
- Wyeth is dropping his first nap which is turning out to be a long, painful process. Sometimes he naps. Most times he doesn't. But the more tired he gets, the earlier he wakes up. Ya know, because it makes no sense. Which brings me to:
- Waking up at 4am for the DAY on Monday. I managed to convince Wyeth to go back down for 30 minutes but I was awake. So my day off included not waking up at 5:30am with my alarm but waking up at FOUR!
- Seren didn't nap on Saturday due to the party and was TIRED for the rest of the day. (Read 'tired' as a being a pain in the tush due to exhaustion!)
- I worry that I may not be the best at saying 'no' to Wyeth. I can't help myself. He is too cute. And he is my baby. But I need to work on this because that kid can climb stairs, put his fingers on all types of electronics and just bring chaos to our home if we don't give him some limits.
- I was tired. Thank god for coffee and diet cokes!

Last night, I wearily put Seren to bed knowing that I faced a sink load of dishes and 10001 blocks on the floor downstairs. But Seren continued to stall. It was closing in on 8:45 and it was time for her to sleep. But she has a way of talking all day. All night. So Sam came up with the idea that if she wants to tell us anything else, she could just say it into the monitor and we would hear it. She likes this. So I reminded her of our messaging system.

I kissed her again, closed the door, went to the bathroom and went downstairs to the kitchen. I turned on the monitor. There she was, talking up a storm. Then I hear something that just about melted my heart.

"Ok. I have one more message for you. Just one. Ok. Ready? If your name is M-O-M, I love ya. That's it. That is the last message. The last thing I'm going to say. Ok? Ok? That's it. Bye. If your name is M-O-M, I love you. Ok? Ok. Bye."

And with that, the weekend was complete.

5 comments:

Laura S said...

What a great message from Seren. I hope your weekends of watching the kids are worth it! Go Sam! Things are good here, except Joshua has been sick since Sunday. As for saying no to Wyeth--I stink at it, but a good read is the book "How to say no to your toddler". It is helpful if you can stick to its advice (which I stink at ;) Love you, hope we can talk again soon!

Beth said...

I so relate with the saying "no" to the second kid. Just do it, though. It gets easier. Seth is such a fit-thrower, and William wasn't. So I have to squelch my instinct to give in and make everything better. He needs the firm limits and the consistency, and the more I stand my ground, the better things are. Soooo different from William. But it's a learning process for everyone, I guess! I love your description of good and bad moments versus good and bad days. Sooo true. Good luck to Sam as he studies for the bar. Ed is studying for Java certification. I imagine it's not nearly as hard or intense as the bar, but it's still time that he needs solo on the weekends and at night. Hope you guys have a nice short week!

Whitney said...

Aww, that is sooo sweet!! I have tears welling up in my eyes! Can't have a better message before bedtime, that's for sure!!

Beth H said...

Love that Seren story. Kids really do make your heart feel so good-most of the time :)

Jessica {Team Rasler} said...

Aw, don't you wish you could be recording Seren's end of the day messages?? So adorable. I totally agree about days vs. moments. I have to force myself not to tell my husband it was a good or bad day, but just to pick some key moments to relate. Thanks for the reminder!