Hits and Misses

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were full of hits and misses:

HIT: We stayed in town this weekend, so I messaged Andi Friday afternoon asking if he'd like to go swimming with the kids after work. I'd heard good things about a splash pad not far from his office, so we agreed to meet at 5:15pm. Turns out, the place I was thinking of was a regular swimming pool, but we took Tory and Aden anyway and had a fun time together. Bonus points for the front desk worker who let us in for free since we arrived an hour before the pool's closing time!

MISS: We stayed in town this weekend so I could attend Andi's sister Lindsay's bachelorette party on Saturday night and because Andi had to leave for a work trip early Sunday morning. Any weekend we're not at the lake cabin is disappointing, especially a gorgeous summer weather weekend. Our family dynamic is "off" when we're at home on the weekends. It seems like a weekday when I usually do the fair share of parenting, and the kids default to me for every request. When Andi jumps in to assist, I inadvertendly shun him for doing things differently than our normal routine. We went to the Minneapolis farmer's market Saturday morning and after we arrived, we realized Tory wasn't wearing any shoes. I never forget to put shoes on her when I'm loading the kids out of the house for an outing by myself, but for some reason having Andi there to help clouded my focus in getting out the door. Anyway, our family mojo was off all weekend. Ugh.

HIT: So, Lindsay's bachelorette party was fun! She has such a lovely group of girlfriends and I never realized how many of them I've gotten to know over the years through her. We socialized at a friend's house over cocktails and gifts first, then headed to Cooks of Crocus Hill for a private cooking class. What a fun, non-traditional way to celebrate the bride-to-be!

MISS: I was very ready for a cocktail when I arrived to the party because Tory was in a terrible mood all day Saturday. There's a methodology we talked about in Tory's preschool classes last year that essentially says children function in a spiral of development. For several months, a child may be agreeable, pleasant, obediant, and even keel (equilibrium), then at some point turn a curve to disobey, act out, test boundaries, etc. (disequilibrium) in the areas of living such as eating, sleeping, and behaving. I noticed a positive swing in Tory's behavior around age 2 1/2 and partly attributed her change in attitude to a better adjustment to life with Aden. Lately, I've noticed a swing in the other direction -- more whining, tantrums, a sassy attitude. Saturday was a tough day with Tory.    

HIT: Andi left bright and early Sunday morning for a work trip so on the upside, Sunday was basically a regular ol' day around here. It felt like Monday to me, so I got jump-start on laundry, grocery shopping and meal prep for the week. In turn, our "real" Monday morning (today) was a lot less chaotic.

MISS: I gave the kids baths last night after dinner and Aden wet on me for the first time ever! Note to self: never remove the baby's diaper in his highchair after dinner because he will whiz allllll over the place and create even more mess to clean up. Then, a few minutes later Aden pooped in the bathtub and I have even more mess to clean up and disinfect. Yuck!

HIT: Meal time with Aden is really throwing me to for a loop since I'm discovering his many food sensitivities. More on this in a separate post because I have plenty of thoughts floating around in my head on the topic, but simply put - feeding him isn't as simple as tossing food on his tray and letting him try it. I have to be very mindful of the foods I give him, read labels, etc. So, even though I wasn't going to make my own baby food this time around, I ended up steaming, baking and freezing various fruits and vegetables for him to eat in an attempt to make meal times less hectic for myself.

MISS: It's been a long couple of days around here with a baby boy who prefers not to sleep all of a sudden. It seems just when Aden gets a sleep schedule down pat, he changes it up again. For the last week or so, he's waking up WIDE AWAKE at 5:00am. Luckily, he's in a good mood. I've tried to leave him in his crib for a while to roll around and coo, but the silly boy is so noisy! He wakes me up and I definitely don't want him waking Tory up at 5:00am (gosh, no! There's hell to pay if the princess of the house doesn't get enough sleep) so, I've been getting up with him around 5:00am. It makes for some seriously loooong days of parenting.

HIT: Since Andi was home Saturday morning and Aden woke me up so freaking early, I plopped Aden in the jogging stroller and went for a morning run. The weather was gorgeous and so peaceful that early in the morning. Sometimes when I run, it feels like I'm floating on a cloud and other days like I have lead in my shoes. This was one of those awesome days where it felt so good to be outdoors with my thoughts. And, I loved having my workout done before 7:00am!

MISS: Unfortunately, Miss Tory woke up prematurely when I left for my run and that's what started her incredibly bad mood on Saturday. Big mistake to (accidentally) wake the princess. Big. HUGE.

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We've got good friends joining us at the lake cabin this Friday, so I know the weekend ahead will be a good one. Looking forward to good company, many drinks by the bonfire, belly laughs playing Cards Against Humanity, boating, drinking and floating in the lake. Crossing my fingers for beautiful weather!