Venn Diagram

This post has been a long time coming. I want to start by saying, I am very lucky. I am blessed with a husband who stays home with our children, a mother who helps out and pitches in all the time and an aunt who adores babies and takes our boy once a week. I have come to the conclusion that being parents of two is the quickest and surest way to destroy one's marriage. Why? Why you innocently ask? Perhaps you don't have two children or perhaps you like chaos, but either way, it's a recipe for disaster.

Shouldn't two people be able to care for two teensy weensy people? Shouldn't two parents be able to handle their own kids? Aren't there people out there with four, five, even ten kids? Man, not us...no way...I don't like this needy stage enough.

So, consequently our childcare situation is like that Venn diagram. Sometimes we have one, sometimes we have the other, sometimes we have both. The red area is when we have both. It is those times that truly tax our marriage. We tend to only have both kids on the weekend. I feel like a parent of divorce...and the we haven't even separated...yet.

But seriously, it does get better everyday. Everyday the kids are less difficult. The baby is more engaged and less needy. Coming are the glory days of parenthood. Right? No false sense of security here though, nope...just two kids. I have new appreciation for families who choose to have only children. It's really not a bad idea at all...NOT AT ALL.

You Look Tired...

Thank you, twenty-four year old cashier at the health food store for making my day but calling out the obvious. Yes, I do look tired. There is actually a good reason for that, I AM tired. VERY tired. It's been a long week of working full time trying to get my new job cranking up and taking care of my kiddos in the off hours. This is, not to mention, bottles at 1AM and a great new habit my two year old has of waking at 5:15 every day. Thank you, as well, daylight savings time. Fall back...wish I could...wish someone was there to catch me.

Back-hoe in the Neighborhood

Tonight, my husband noticed there was a back-hoe in our neighbor's driveway. Turns out they are embarking on another mystery home improvement project involving a rented back-hoe with an annoying BEEP BEEP BEEP reverse alarm. Last week, our other neighbors started having their roof redone. Why does this count as "news"? Well, we now are flanked by construction projects and they are consecutive in timing, meaning we have hammering, beeping, chain-sawing and engines running for fifteen hours a day. The roofing starts at 8AM. BANG BANG BANG...whirrrrrrrrrrrrr...ZERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...boom....The evening project gets started at around 8PM.

I think there might be a break from five to seven every evening, but I can't be sure since that is during the witching hours when my kids are screeching and talking in my ears. Add to that the sounds of dinner sizzling, dishes being done, and incessant requests for more food, milk, etc, and I think a mack truck could do donuts around my house during those hours and I wouldn't hear it.

Never has a person been so annoyed with such industrious neighbors. It just makes me feel so darn lazy for just working for a living and taking care of the kids and making dinner. The neighbors with the roofing project aren't necessarily too industrious. They 1) hired someone to do the roof and 2) desperately needed it. The other neighbors though...they take the cake for being the most energetic, hard-working people on the face of the earth. OK, that might be a bit dramatic, but seriously. Since they moved in a couple of years ago, they have done MANY, MANY projects. They do almost all of them themselves, not hiring tradespeople, and they do them AFTER a full day of work.

They are like Energizer bunnies. When it snows, our neighbor shovels his driveway and then moves on to OUR driveway. You might think this is great, and ostensibly, it is, but it makes a person feel very lazy. It's amazing how one can feel so much more lazy when they have over-achieving neighbors. I just want to say, "Pipe down over there. Go take up a hobby or something." A hobby other than showing up your lazy neighbors would be nice.

Happy Birthday

Does anyone remember the Frosty the Snowman Christmas special from when they were a kid? Frosty comes to life when a special hat is placed on his head. Everytime he comes to life, in the cartoon, he says, "Happy Birthday!" He says it innocently like a small child would upon waking.

This is my Happy Birthday blog.
This is a phoenix rising from the ashes.
This is my rebirth.

I have just donned my special hat. Welcome and Happy Birthday!