Apple Car

Life on maternity leave is odd. I am bored- like REALLY BORED- a lot of the time. But because my day is consumed for the most part by nursing and changing diapers, I don't really have big chunks of time to do things for myself (like update the blog). When I do have a predictable hour or two, I am generally doing dishes or the laundry or making dinner- which I dont mind at all (actually, I enjoy it). But people keep asking of I am "relaxing with the kids" or if I am "being pampered at home" or if I am "having fun without the burden of work" and I have to assume that those people have never parented two children under the age of three... and likely have not experienced a maternity leave at all. Because while it has certainly been a time to heal and a time to bond with my family, I cant exactly say it's a lavish vacation!

I think I am being a bit negative about it lately because this is Drew's last week of paternity leave and I am FREAKING OUT. I know I will figure it out eventually- that the three of us will find a groove- that it could eventually even be enjoyable. But right now all I can see is that we've made the care structure work with BOTH of us home. And that I feel helpless in parenting Griffin while Evelyn is attached to me- which is so much of the day. So I am sort of dreading Monday since it will mean SUCH a huge change when life in of itself is already so different.

But I am already making plans. Griffin will still go to school a couple of days a week which will give me time to catch up on house work. I thank god I made all of those freezer meals- I didnt need them so much after being discharged from the hospital, but I will DEFINITELY need them as a single parent of two! The weather (which has been MISERABLE all month) is slated to change and we should have much warmer weather from here on out. That means I can take the kids for long daily walks. The local coffee shop has story time for kids on Wednesday mornings and the library has toddler story time on Fridays. And Drew will be home by 3:30 every day. It will be ok. It will.

All the nervousness aside, we have had our moments of beauty lately. This weekend we had a rare gorgeous day and we took full advantage of it by taking the kids on a long walk. We ended up at the playground while I basked in the sun as the boys ran around and Evvie slept in the stroller. I even ended up with a bit of a welcome sunburn! Ah, the benefits of vitamin D! We've also been doing a lot of laughing. Drew recorded Avatar to watch with Griffin. Griffin misheard and now thinks the movie is called "Apple Car". Also, because Griffin is a sponge, he has figured out that his boy part is now and forever to be referred to as his "wiener" even though we originally taught him "penis". He's been demonstrating that by standing up in the bathtub and loudly announcing "DITTIN WEINER!!!" as he points to his crotch (in case anyone involved in bath time was wondering).

Griffin is also TOTALLY Drew. He gets mesmerized by Super Hero or Star Wars videos and then all of a sudden no one else is in the room. He was watching the big Darth Maul fight and I kept saying "I love you, Griffin" to no response. Finally I said "HEY! Griffin! I love you!" to which he responded "I love Daddy". Oh, snap.

Evvie has been doing great. All of this feeding is making her grow like a weed. We had to take her back to the doctor last week for a minor eye infection and found out she had gained over a pound in a week! She's also spending much more of the day awake and alert (and making awesome facial expressions) while closely watching her mama, daddy & brother. Griffin's new favorite thing is is announce "I'm big brother, Evvie!" and then explain some random Star Wars fact to her. Pretty cute, actually.