Me, Myself and I

Yesterday Evan took these two lovely girls to Elisabeth's swim lessons while I stayed home to clean the house. Julia and I had gone to Parker, CO to visit a place called Little Monkey Bizness with our Mom's group and I hadn't had a chance to do the basic picking up and laundry I do on a daily basis. As he drove off with the girls (full of anxiety about getting both of them to their respective spots in time for the lessons), I realized something--I had never been in our house alone, by myself. NEVER. If I want some alone time, I usually leave the house. I'll go grocery shopping by myself or go on my evening walk or go to the Y and leave them in the child watch area. But, I have never been in my own house with just me. It was so nice. I got all the cleaning done in one hour. One hour, people!! This is stuff that usually takes me lots of time during the day because I have a small toddler that hinders my efficiency. I even got my evening walk started before they got back. I'm not going to lie, it was really nice. If cleaning hadn't been a priority, I could have had a glass of wine and read my book for an undisturbed amount of time. Or taken a nap. Or cooked something without feeling rushed. I'm going to have to try that experience again.

Okay...I have something to tell you all. I am enjoying being a stay at home mom. I know, I know, I have been complaining for months about not finding a job, but you have to realize that I haven't been without a job since I was 16. I was the one making the "big" money (HA!) when we were in DeKalb. But, I do have to say that I like being the one home with the girls. And it does help that we have a set routine now. We walk Ebeth to school every day; Julia and I head out to the Y until it's her nap time; she naps for about 2-2.5 hours and then we lunch; we play/clean/run errands until it's time to walk down to get Ebeth; Ebeth does homework while I get dinner ready; we take Ebeth to whatever sport or activity she has going on; we eat and then Evan takes over for nighttime routines while I go on my evening walk; Evan puts Julia down for the night while I'm reading with Elisabeth before bed. And now that Julia's walking and saying a few more words, she's so much happier. I don't know, I guess the whole transition from working mom to staying at home mom was just kind of hard on me, but now that it's happened, I'm good with it. I'm not saying that if the perfect job didn't land in my lap I wouldn't take it, but I'd really have to think about it. I mean, Julia's never been in day care, and I'm thinking she won't take to it the way that Elisabeth did.

I will say this, though. For all those moms staying home with more than one little kid--BRAVO!!! I don't think I could do it or at least not well. Here I am complaining about the one child I have at home, when I know plenty of moms (mine included) who stay home with multiple children in their houses. I will stick with my sweet but crabby 14 month old, thank you. (But, if anyone wants her, I'll ship her FedEx, with all shipping costs covered!!)