Skip to main content

Reflecting on a Summer at Home with my Daughters

It's true folks. The time has come for me to slap on a pair of pantyhose, a pair of heels and my flashiest smile and head back to the office. It sounds so cliche to say that time flies when you are having fun but it's just so true. It's amazing how long the days can be when we aren't doing what we truly want and how quickly the minutes pass when we are too busy to care what time it is. Each minute of the last fourteen weeks has been just this way for me. When many people hardly have the opportunity to take more than five days away from work, I was fortunate enough to spend three whole months away from the daily grind. I openly admit that I spent little time focusing on my life as a 9-5 professional and instead whole heartedly dedicated myself to being a 24/7 mommy. Here's a taste of the things I did during my whirlwind summer with my girls.
  • Becoming a night owl again;
  • Learning, after a few weeks, that I didn't need to change Charlotte's diaper every 2 hours during the night;
  • Learning that I could feed her laying down (why, oh why did I not do this the first time?) and feeling her body next to mine as we drifted off to sleep;
  • Feeling the sun on my face while playing motor boat in the lake with Caroline;
  • Making sand castles with our friends;
  • Watching Caroline become protective and motherly with her little sister;
  • Becoming the center of Caroline's life again and getting lots of hugs and kisses from her;
  • Singing songs with lyrics like, "My sister's got a pig on her head. She keeps it there all day";
  • Waving to Caroline as she rode the carousel by herself for the very first time;
  • Making silly faces to get Charlotte to giggle and squeal;
  • Listening to Caroline spill her juice and say with a perfectly Minnesotan accent, "Oh Crap! I spilled my juice!";
  • Hearing Caroline say Mr. Table Head (potato), zucchina and carsodo (tricycle);
  • Counting the rolls on Charlotte's legs and arms;
  • Teaching Caroline to pump her legs on the swing;
  • Getting dizzy playing Ring Around the Rosey;
  • Taking long walks and long naps;
  • Knowing we were going to do it all over again tomorrow.

Going back to work is cruelty to mothers. This morning, I packed several new framed photos of the girls, and my pump, and reluctantly left them behind. As I drove to work, I cried a bit but laughed more, thinking about all the silly and wonderful things I experienced with them this summer. Nothing is better than watching your children grow right before your eyes and wanting to tell everyone you see, "I love them! I love them! I LOVE MY KIDS!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TomKat or AndMel?

Over the weekend I had "my hour". Sixty whole minutes at the gym including 30 on the new treadmill and the latest In Style magazine to read while I sweat it out to my itunes. I happily flipped and thumped along, checking out the latest hand bags and arm cuffs until I got to an article about Katie Holmes. I had to flip back and forth several times to admire one of my favorite Hollywood pieces of eye candy. How can she and I have children almost the same age and she can look like that and have run a marathon this year? No matter what we all tell ourselves about celebs, we still envy them or just can't help but stare at their image in a magazine and read all about how they've found themselves via religion, rehab or marriage to Tom Cruise. My favorite part of the article was Katie recalling Suri's birth story. She says something about how supportive Tom was by placing candles and picture frames around the room. That's helpful? If Andy was lighting candles during ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spoiler Alert!

It's no big shock that I opened my mouth and got myself in trouble earlier this week. This time it was my virtual mouth, and we all know that can be the worst. Saying something stupid, online, is like spreading a highly contagious virus. Speaking of which, with all of my recent coughing and sneezing, I've been really good at spreading a germy virus around. I teach students to be social media savvy, and gosh darn it, I did so as recent as yesterday. I provide them with some rules to protect them from looking like a virtual ass, but low and behold, I fall victim to assiness every once in a while. How am I supposed to know every single rule in life, and particularly online? I'm just a simple human being, with a big mouth, who wants to over share! So, here's what went down, if you didn't get pissy pants over my FB faux pas. I watched the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead on Sunday night. Andy was in the can and I just needed to talk about the episode. I needed t...
2 comments
Read more

LAX

Some people may think that Andy and I are "lax" parents. Our house isn't a free range farm by any means, although just throwing food on the ground, and letting the kids wander around and pick it up when they are hungry, sounds pretty enticing. It's true that we aren't the strictest parents and that, regularly, there is mutiny on the bounty and we are held hostage by little pirate people. The drill sergeant in our house is 3 feet tall and belts outs commands like, "Get me a drink!", "Turn on Netflix!", or "You will not wash my hair!" while wearing only a pullup, squinting her eyes, and pointing an accusatory finger in our direction. Our kids are often in charge. I'm not going to lie to you. The dog may also be in charge from time to time. That's just the way it goes. As more and more of our peers have a third child, we are, unfortunately, asked if we, too, plan to expand. Are these people insane in the membrane? Have they been...
2 comments
Read more