All By Myself

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for us. We've sort of settled into a pattern\routine....at least as much as you can do with an infant. Because of that, we've been getting out of the house more, being more productive at the house and, in general, feeling like real people again (aka out of sweatpants purgatory). This keeping busy thing has also kept me from blogging about it all. I hope to get a few posts up this week about what we've been up to the last couple.

In the meantime, I wanted to put a quick post up about today. Now, I'm a pretty "spoiled" Mom in regards to how our parental situation compares to many others. By that, I mean that I know I'm ridiculously lucky to be home on maternity leave with my husband also at home with me. Two full time parents for two very busy kids. By no means do I ever think I have it bad. I know we've got it good. Having said that, being a parent is never an easy job.

Well, soccer season is quickly approaching which means Mike will be gone for the good part of every Sunday. Today, the team actually got together for their first practice which meant I was solo with the kids for the first time. Okay, not really for the first time. I've had Cade solo quite a lot both at home and for different outings - trips to the airport, errands, play dates and many doctor's appointments. I've also been the solo care taker for both Dylan and Cade while Mike has been busy doing things around the house or out at appointments. Those times that I had both of the boys to look after alone were not more than a couple of hours. So, I was a little nervous for today when I would have both of them all by myself for a good chunk of the day.

This morning, I put my big girl pants on and faced the situation bravely by planning an outing with Dylan and Cade. After getting everyone dressed and ready, then undressed for diaper changes, dressed again,  then jacketed and shoes on, in the baby Bjorn and into the stroller, we set off on a 1.25 mile trek to the nearby bagel place. Dylan was happy in the stroller, Cade was happy looking around until he fell asleep a 1/2 mile into the trip and I was happy to be out in the nice weather getting a good workout by pushing a toddler and carrying a baby.

They did great at breakfast. Dylan, who's decided after a year of barely eating a morsel to start eating a lot, ate a whole bagel (as did I) and Cade slept soundly. Then we walked home. It was a very drama free trip. We did have a little unexpected mileage added to the trip to double back and find Dylan's Yaya (lovey) when we realized it had gotten dropped along the way but it was found so no harm done.

Mmmmm.....His Last Bite of the Bagel

Since Cade was still asleep when we got home, the weather was lovely and I needed to cool off from my little workout, we stayed outside and played in the yard. Dylan's new favorite game is dueling like they do in Harry Potter. This basically involves two people, two sticks and pointing them at each other while saying spells from Harry Potter. After we dueled all over the yard, we headed back in so Cade could have some brunch. Dylan decided he wanted to try on the Bjorn. He had the best time running around the house in it (and was super cute doing that I might add). We chased each other back and forth for a while. I felt like I got a 2nd workout from that fun.

He wanted to carry Cade but I convinced
him a stuffed animal would be better.

He also needed to try on my flip flops and sunglasses!

Pretty soon it was nap time. Dylan went down at his usual time and, after eating yet again, Cade fell asleep again as well. The house was quiet when Mike got home from his soccer practice. In fact, both of the boys slept just over 3 hours....an hour longer than either of them ever sleeps during the day. Amazing! The morning couldn't have gone any better.

With the weather still wonderful once they woke up and still several hours of daylight left (thanks to springing forward), we spent more time outside. Mike needed to fertilize the yard so I pulled a trick out of my fun hat and made a car wash for Dylan. Cade watched us dip the cars into the shaving cream and rinse them off in the water. Dylan loved it and kept playing even after we had to move it inside on towels to escape the dusk mosquitoes.







All of this fun was followed by a lovely dinner that Mike whipped up on the grill. I think this house is going to be a lot of fun in the Spring\Summer weather and I'm looking forward to spending more days like this with my boys.

Now I've got to run. There's a screaming baby looking for some dinner!