Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Day 3 of Daddy being gone -- so far so good!

Today, I owe a debt of gratitude to my wonderful MIL for taking Alyssa for most of the day for me! Then, she came over for dinner and put the kids to be while I went to my book club.

I made the most of my day -- starting off with a checklist of my intentions and activities and crossing them off as I went along -- the ultimate in productivity! Don't you love it when that happens?

Looking forward to tomorrow. Going to hit the gym first thing in the morning! Then, I'm taking Alyssa to a pottery painting studio with a friend or two from her class...then later in the day from 4-6 a babysitter will come over to play with the kids while I get some work done for my clients.

Hoping to keep the spirits up! But I better get to bed so I'm rested!

Monday, May 18, 2009

So, how are we doing without Paul? Eh. OK. There has been one small disaster after another, but I'm keeping my cool so far...

Last night I was too lazy to make a good, healthy dinner, so I made one from the freezer -- it wasn't very good. The kids didn't care for it, and neither did I. None of us ate much. But, I still let them have dessert (I normally would not), and I even offered a bowl of cereal before bed as an extra-special treat! My mom tells me I used to have cereal before bed quite often.

Today, Alyssa was a crab. She did not want to go to the gym with me -- but I didn't give her a choice. Today was one of the only days I might make it there due to my schedule with my clients, Tyler's school and Paul's absence.

Then, she didn't sleep during nap time, which made dinner a real bear for the rest of the day. I tried putting on some fun music to lighten her mood and get her to eat -- no luck. I took a "mommy time out" in my bedroom for 3 minutes -- no luck, still crying. Then, I put her in her bed for a 3 minute time out -- you guessed it, still crying.

I sent Tyler in to try and calm her down. I think it helped a little. She then ate three more bites of her dinner and had some pudding for dessert. Whatever.

Her next demand was to take a shower instead of a bath. At first I said, "no," but then decided to take one with her since I hadn't had time to take one myself yet. It worked out just fine and helped her mood quite a bit.

I read a blog posting from MOPS today about taking mothering too seriously. I am so guilty. I tried to keep that in mind as I went about the bewitching hour tonight. It helped keep my spirits up!

It's only 7:13 and both kids are in bed! Time for me to journal, read and work a little. How can I complain about that? Hopefully the kids can't complain either.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

A full week without Daddy

We are about to embark on a full week without Daddy -- he's off to California on business. I think I've got the week planned out to successfully keep my sanity!

My wonderful MIL will help on Tuesday, then a babysitter from 4-6 on Wed. and Thurs. so I can get some work done for my clients (I've got a BUSY work week this week), then another sitter for Bunko on Thurs. night.

(All I see are dollars flying out the window to the teenagers! But, it's for my sanity, so I say it's priceless!)

We're armed with a brand new security system, so safety shouldn't be keeping me up at night this time!

Plus, it's the last week of school for the kids, so there should be some excitement in the air surrounding that!

We'll find a play date for one of those days -- maybe Monday or Friday.

Wish this mom luck!