Even though I don't have a formal job, I don't wake up each and every day with the feeling that I am on vacation. I occassionally think, though, that I ought to more than I do.
I have virtually no schedule imposed upon me, other than meals and naps, which can be skipped or delayed or snacked right on through. The two days of school Andrew attends at the homes of friends is pretty lax about arrival and departure times (we are always late to arrive, usually late to go). In between, we can do whatever we please.
I woke up this morning feeling like I was on vacation, a feeling left over from the family dinner party the previous night and Brigham's 6pm arrival time. The anxiety-driven dreams that Emma had awakened Andrew at 6am and taken him downstairs to play and watch tv were nothing more than that. In fact, Emma arose at 8 and I had to rouse Andrew at 9. He was grumpy only until he registered Emma at the foot of his bed.
Dressed in matching outfits (well, I was not wearing navy shorts with red bikes on them), we bought doughnuts ("choc-let! spinkles!" demanded by Will) as we blew out of town on our way to the zoo.
The stop at my parents' house to meet up with my sister and the rest of her kids proved fatal to the journey. The kids ran through my parents' backyard, discovering "secret passages" in what my dad terms the "wild" parts of the property (they are), jumped on the tramp and hit each other with foam swords. I mostly sat on the deck in the sun and talked with my family.
My favorite image was of my dad sitting out in the yard in a lawn chair spraying the kids with a hose as they tried to run past. It turns out that he used the "power wash" setting when they tried to obtain the "gold." Games with dad always involve an element of terror and potential physical injury. "Andrew was very brave. He ran right through the power wash," he reported.
After I coerced Will into sleep, Missy and I watched probably 30 minutes of Jim Gaffigan videos on youtube (which I tried to add here but am unable to) while we occassionally glanced out the window to see that the screaming and crying we heard was just Tommy.
Right now, the kids are playing ("I'm going to shoot you in the face!"), my parents are lying in bed watching a true crime show about a murderer, and I am playing on the computer undisturbed.
Meanwhile, Brigham will be home in a few hours from a long day of work and two hours of commuting via three different modes of transportation.
Poor sucker.
6 comments:
I love Jim Gaffigan. Did you see the one about cake? Awesome!! Somedays are great and feel like vacation, so why do some other days feel more like work?!! Wish I could figure that one out.
you crack me up! I love it!
I spend most of my days trying just to get presentable enough to enter society. But that's normal with a newborn, right?
P.S. How long will that excuse be viable?
It's true that being a stay-at-home mom with toddlers is in many ways like a vacation. I didn't realize it at the time, but being a SAHM to just Theo was definitely a vacation! I slept all night and since he was in a crib and mostly content to lounge around for a few minutes upon waking, sometimes I wouldn't even get up until like 8 a.m. He only took one nap and for the rest of the day we could go anywhere, or not. He didn't need to burn off quite as much energy as he does now, so if we didn't make it to the park he was OK.
My life is different now but still very laid-back. I have never been able to figure out why what should be such a cushy job is sometimes so hard to handle. A friend once put it into words for me when she said that as a SAHM it's like I'm a CEO. I'm my own boss and I'm in charge of everything. If I don't make the right choices, then it's very possible that everything will suck. If I make the right choices (often involving some major sacrifices) then it will be a lot more like a vacation a lot more of the time.
Good point. I need to acknowledge my carefree lifestyle more. Only the carefree part should be clarified and includes: to prepare meals or not, to get dressed for the day or not, or my favorite - to eat junk food all day or not.
Let me rephrase this - I appreciate my lifestyle and shouldn't be so "carefree" all the time.
I do have to remind myself that Eric enables me to stay at home, which I am grateful for. We have fabulous husbands.
I should go make cookies now.
Eliza, I am trying to just find the vacation-like aspects of being home, because we all know that it is not really a vacation to be home. It is a lot of work, too. I wish that I had known more about parenting when I had Andrew, because that could have been way more of a vacation than it was. The learning curve was really steep for me.
I feel that Brigham is treated to two vacations a day when he gets to sit all by himself on the train and listen to whatever he wants on his ipod without having to worry about kidnap, wet underpants/dirty diapers or tantrums. I am on vacation when I get to go to the dentist by myself and have my teeth drilled.
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