Friday Photos

Playground of DOOM!

The shadows are trying to tell us something.  Something creepy.

Seriously.  It looks like an evil alien skull.

I don't think I'm letting Miles sit in that swing anymore.

Stuff

Miles is two years and seven months old.  If you were to look at his room, though, it looks like he has been collecting toys for more than twenty years.  Blocks.  Trains.  Stuffed animals.  Action figures.  Random toys with no apparent function.

At least, that's what it was like before yesterday.

Yesterday, while Miles was at daycare, I boxed up 95% of his toys and put them in his closet and under his bed.  Now, he has only a few toys out, with the rest within easy reach for rainy day emergencies.  And so far, I LOVE it.

My favorite thing is the new reading corner.

That's a tree trunk.  It will be more obvious when I have time to add the
branches and leaves.

Ah, quiet reading corner.

A little tent for the stuffed animals, made from the base of the tree trunk.

Stuffed animal storage inside
the tree trunk.

Insomnia

It seems to be rampant in this house.

Miles cannot fall asleep unless Mommy or Daddy lays next to his bed until he's out.

I have been exhausted, but then go to bed only to stare at the ceiling for hours.

Patrick has been working his tail off at all sorts of weird hours, trying to finish up some projects.

And I think Stacey still lives with us.  Her stuff is still in her room, and I occasionally catch a glimpse of her car in the driveway in the middle of the night, while I'm up wandering aimlessly about, looking for my lost ability to sleep.

Anyhow, fair warning.  If I start blogging about flying green unicorns (Pegacorns? Unisus? Unisi?), please forgive me.  I'm obviously hallucinating from lack of sleep.

Technology Tuesday

That's what I've decided today is.

I had planned to go to the gym today.  Miles was dressed, I was in my sweats, my tennis shoes were laced up. I was just doing a load of laundry and dishes before we left.

And out of the clear blue sky, a crash of thunder rumbled through the house and brought Miles screaming into the kitchen for a hug.  We talked about rain, and thunder.  We ate popsicles on the kitchen floor.  We opened the front door and watched the rain.

And then, we broke out the electronic devices and started playing.  Miles is watching videos of himself on my phone while I blog, and prepare for rehearsals, and generally, just re-connect with e-life.  And when we're done with this, we might we just find some Veggie Tales or Super Why on Netflix.  Or go for a car ride.  Who knows.  On a quiet, rainy day like today, all bets are off.

One thing is certain, though: it's bound to be a quiet day.

Hitting Our Stride

I can't lie - this stay-at-home mom gig doesn't come easy to me.  I get bored easily when Miles is playing independently, but if I leave the room to do something productive, it usually ends in disaster.  So, I end up sitting here in my chair goofing on the computer, and keeping half an eye on him.  Which makes me seem unapproachable, and honestly, leads to me being somewhat less. . .involved with my child.

I always pictured my days like a mini-preschool, only cooler.  We'd get up and have breakfast, do some awesome learning stuff all morning, play outside, nap, have snack, do art projects, and generally just be awesome.

In reality, it's more like barely-contained chaos.  We get up, whine through breakfast (me as much as him), and I sit in my chair gulping coffee until I feel human while Miles watches PBS.  We go out.  Or we stay in.  We play.  We work on colors or letters or whatever he's interested in while we play.  Art projects rarely happen, because that would require him to sit still for five minutes.  We kinda do whatever seems like a good idea at the time.  There is little planning-ahead.  Each day, we focus on what we're going to do right now.  We get through the day, and if we're both still happy when Daddy gets home from work, it's a good day.

And finally, finally, I'm realizing that this is better than what I pictured.  Most of the time. :)

Dear New Mommas,

First off, I am impressed with your ability to find time to read this.  I would have fallen asleep before I finished the first line.  Or, maybe not, considering all those times I had to sit and rock him to keep him asleep.  I found it's difficult for me to sleep sitting up.  Not impossible, though.

Anyhow, that's not the point.

You know those first few days, when you have nurses tending to everything and all you have to do is sleep and feed and cuddle the baby, and catch up on your soaps?  Enjoy them.  Because they're short-lived.  Soon, all too soon, you get home and your entire life begins to revolve around this tiny person who screams at weird times and yet is so incredibly cute that you can't actually go through with tossing them out the window.  And yes, there will be times that you just wish they would sleep, for goodness sake.  And then, you'll get up and feed them and change them and cuddle them.  And wonder if you were crazy for having a child.  I mean, you were so happy before, when sleep was something you took for granted.  Why, oh why, did you decide to go through the nine months of distorting your body for this?

Here's the answer.  Because you wanted a child.  Not a newborn squealing-machine.  A child.  A little person who looks like you (or doesn't) that you can teach about the world.  Someone who you can love completely, no matter what.  Someone cute, and sweet, and smart.  And trust me - it will come.

One day soon, far sooner than you expect, that little person will appear before your eyes, spouting cute little mis-pronounced phrases, and wrapping little arms around your neck to say "I love you."  And you will look back and wonder where the time went and what happened to that tiny squealing newborn.

Though, if you're honest with yourself, you may not want to go back to it.  Because this is so much better.

It gets better.  Promise.