On an Island, Where We'll Meet: Challenge Accepted

October 23, 2016

Challenge Accepted

The week after we returned from our beach vacation was our county's Fall Break. This was also my very last week of maternity leave. Honestly, my maternity leave absolutely flew. It makes me sad how quickly it flew and how busy I actually was. But I suppose that this is my new reality with three young children: a "break" isn't really a break. Other than our week in Florida, I didn't really feel like I did much with the boys while I was on maternity leave and I felt guilty and sad. I know, I know. I just had a baby. I used that excuse for 11 weeks. I felt like my boys deserved some fun and mommy-time, too. So I made myself a challenge that week of Fall Break: I was going to focus on my boys and do something fun with them every day...and Maclyn would just have to go-with-the-flow. (She did great, by the way.)

Monday: I started the morning texting friends who were in town to see if they wanted to meet at the playground. No one could but my friend Dana was camping with her family and invited us to come hang out. We ended up out there for the afternoon and evening and had a fantastic time. They boys played like boys and I got some girl-time in. We also ran into Heather. The three of us all have "new" babies and older boys...so while the boys played at the campground playground we sat with our babies and fed and changed diapers and laughed and commiserated over the difficult phase of a young infant. It was wonderful! (side note: since then we have had a fantastic group text between the three of us... we send pictures back and forth, give each other "high-fives" and support through the tough times of our new babies. We hashtag #momlife on our funny moments and pray for each other during rough ones. It was been a glorious relief and good-for-the-soul outlet. A misery-loves-company kind of thing. Not that we are miserable all the time...but new baby should tell you enough.)

Left to Right: Heather (with Levi - 2 months), Dana (with Eleanor - 2 months), and me (with Maclyn - 3 months)

Tuesday: The kids and I went out to Mike Miller Park and met up with some friends for playtime and to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, my friend's 5 year old little boy got stung 5 times by wasps so that kind of put a damper on their fun. We played a little while longer after they left, then went home and took naps while we waited for Daddy to come home.

Wednesday: The day before, I promised the boys each five-dollars to spend at Wal-Mart if they could not fight. I honest-to-goodness didn't think I would be dishing out any money. But they didn't fight all day. (Which tells me they DO have control!) So Wednesday morning we loaded up and went to the toy aisle of Wal-Mart and spent an hour trying to figure out how to spend $5 and still be happy. Whew, that was exhausting! I was very patient with them, even when Maclyn got restless. They ran through the aisles and quickly realized that 5-bucks doesn't go far. But lo-and-behold the Clearance section did not disappoint! They each got some kind of (originally $20) art thing for $2.50 and then a sticker/coloring book for $2. I was proud of them for deciding and this opened the discussion of money management (saving!) and shopping sales to get more bang-for-your-buck.

After our longer-than-ever Walmart trip, we went home and played with our new toys. Finley's was an airbrush marker set and Keagan's was a crayon carving kit. We made homemade chocolate chip cookies and I ate way too many, then we went on a walk with Stacey and Annie. Our walk was more of corralling the kids and encouraging them to "come on" or "stay close" but they had fun and I got some much needed girlfriend time with Stacey.

Thursday: I won't lie. By thursday I was pretty worn out. Going going going with 3 kids is exhausting. Especially when one of those 3 kids is a baby. But must.press.on. And so after breakfast we headed to the library. Maclyn wasn't really thrilled with the library so a big portion of my time was spent standing outside quieting her while the boys played in the rocks. Babies don't understand how to whisper. The boys love the iPads and computers, I was excited to get a new book to read. I'm trying to do better in this area. After the library we went to McDonalds to eat lunch and play in the Play Place.