Giggle

Does the Weekend...

really need to be coming to an end?

I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow.

940 Saturdays with your Kids, then You're Done!

A few weeks back I was sitting in the waiting room for my quarterly lab only doctor visit and I read in a magazine that we only have 940 Saturdays from birth to age 18 with your kids.

940 Saturdays. {really?!}

It captured my attention and I continued to read.  Again, this was a few weeks back when I read this in March issue of Parents (if I'm remembering correctly) and it has really stuck with me. Partly, because I couldn't remember the number of Saturdays we {only} have with our kids. So tonight I googled it and found this article posted today in the New York Times:

March 16, 2012, 4:31 pm

Childhood: 940 Saturdays, and You’re Done

By KJ DELL'ANTONIA

Nine hundred and forty Saturdays: I didn’t do that math, Dr. Harley Rotbart, author of “No Regrets Parenting,” did. Between the day your child is born, and the time he or she turns 18, you get 940 Saturdays — and 260 of them, Dr. Rotbart just reminded me, are gone by her fifth birthday.

My office is littered with “parenting books.” If we went by sheer number of pages of advice available, I should be the best mother around — something that the kindergarten teacher who, just this morning, told me that if I’d just bring her a comb, she’d do my youngest daughter’s hair, would be the first to say I’m not even in the running for — and that was before we both spotted the giant hole in the same child’s pants. The books, as abundant as they are, aren’t helping.

But Dr. Rotbart’s “No Regrets Parenting” is something special, and something a little different. Dr. Rotbart has nothing to say on the importance of grooming. He’s a pediatrician looking back on parenting his own children, and I think he would let both braids and pants slide. The result is a book that’s less about parenting minute-to-minute, and more about how those 940 Saturdays, or Mondays, or whatever moment you’d pull out of your week, add up.

Dr. Rotbart (who wrote “My Son, the Groom” for Motherlode a while back) has had his Saturdays. His children are grown. But while he’s obviously aware that children don’t stay children forever, he hasn’t fallen into the “Carpe Diem” trap of what the Momastery blogger Glennon Melton wrote so passionately about this past January: that whole, infuriating idea that young parents should “enjoy every moment” because it goes by “so fast.”

Dr. Rotbart knows that the days are long, and that telling a parent to “seize” them — when child A is singing “Come on, vamanos! Everybody let’s poop!” and child B is hitting him with her “Dora” doll in the drugstore aisle while child C wants to know what a “Tampax” is and child D just took off toward the Band-Aids — is just asking to get punched in the nose. It’s the years that are short, as anyone who has ever looked at the calendar and tried to figure out how it got to be March already when it was just New Year’s yesterday can attest. Dr. Rotbart writes to help us turn painfully long minutes into funny moments, and he does it practically, in one- or two-page essays on everything from ice cream sundaes to college counseling. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s more about being a parent than it is about actually parenting the kids themselves — no star charts here.

But even without Dr. Rotbart’s book, you can appreciate his powerful reminder of the inevitable passage of our time as active parents just by reading the title of this post. Nine hundred and forty Saturdays. One of them is tomorrow. So, what are you doing this weekend?

Really, we only have {940 saturdays}.  Zach turns five this August so as stated above in the article 260 of them will already be gone. After August 23 we'll only have 680 saturdays left before he turns 18. Crazy isn't it?

I haven't read the book above; however, I may pick it up and read it as it does sound like a good read and will have some good advice on parenting and living in the moment and creating memories for your kids to think back on.

Honestly, looking back at my own childhood I don't remember it all. I remember many bits and pieces both the good and the bad.  Personally, it is the everyday moments and memories you want to create for your kids. And I don't think you need to do grandiose things either. It can be simple things like...

• Going for a walk every night after dinner -- rain or shine. If it's raining put on the rain boots and jump in the puddles!
• Laying in the grass at night and pointing out the constellations and if you can point out the planets too even better.
• Catching fireflies [My grandpa Mike would burst the bodies of fireflies and smear them on you and you would glow in the dark just like the little beetles butts...but you can just put them in a jar and release them before you go in for the night.]
• Reading books each night before bed
• Being creative together - coloring, building with Lego's, playing with playdoh, painting and so on.
  
• Letting your kids kick your butt playing Wii.
  
• Turning up the music and dancing your butts off in the living room
• Inviting friends over and just hanging out and playing and barbecuing
• Soccer and baseball games, dance lessons, gymnastics, swimming in the pool.
• Taking oodles and oodles of photos of them to capture the everyday moments {giggle}
  

And the list could go on and on. You get the idea.

But I also think as Zach gets older after he turns five of those 680 saturdays we have left with him he will want to spend time without mom and dad. He'll want to do sleep overs at friends houses during the elementary years and when he becomes a teenager staying home with mom and dad on a Saturday will become few and far between due to friends, school, activities and so on. 

So in the end you really do not even have all of those 940 Saturdays.

As a parent is my job to make the time I spend with my kids memorable -- the every day simple moments are really what matter most.

Humm....tomorrow is Saturday. I wonder what we'll do?

Catching Up on the Blog...

I have not blogged since January 7 when I was busy getting the laundry all done and packing for my week long work training trip to Chicago.

I left for Chicago the evening of Sunday, January 8. Dave, Zach, and Elaina drove me to the airport and dropped me off. While Mommy Megan was checking in and waiting to go through security Daddy Dave was driving a sobbing Zach and Elaina home. Zach did NOT want mommy to go to Chicago for work. Zach was crying so hard that it brought tears to Dave's eyes just listening to him. Poor daddy Dave!

Daddy Dave was great and made a Mommy comes home count down for Zach on the white board in the back hallway so Zach could cross off the days until mommy came home from Chicago. Dave is a smart dad!

Now, I typically do not talk about work in my blog. Typically work topics are off-limits as it is just safer to do so. However, I'll touch on it here a little.  The company I work for purchased another billion dollar company that specializes in water treatment. Which caused the division I work for to go from being one of the smallest divisions of my company to the largest division. So we are currently going through the transition of being reverse integrated into the company my company just purchased. So I was sent down to Chicago Naperville for training on the new IT systems and so forth because we'll be using those systems instead. Which is a good thing!  I was in training from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM every day with dinner and functions in the evenings as well. Needless to say, it was a LONG week; however, it was a good week and I learned a lot. I will probably have to go back for training at one of the National Meetings for additional training on a new system they are continuing to expand that relates directly to my team. So I may have to go to either Orlando or Dallas in February/March for three days. Now you may think I'm excited about that; but in actuality I'm really not. Sure being somewhere warm is nice -- but we'll be INSIDE all day in meetings and training. Sure the evening activities will be fun BUT to be honest I didn't really enjoy being away from Zach, Elaina and Dave for that week while I was in Naperville. I now know I would not enjoy a job that took me away from family on a routine basis at this juncture of our family timeline. Maybe someday down the road - but not now. This time when our kids are young is much too precious to miss on a regular basis. But that's just me and how I feel.

I do have this frivilous idea that Dave and the kids could meet me in Orlando on Thursday after the meetings and we could have a little mini-vacation. As long as my airline ticket didn't cost more to extend my visit we could save the cost of one ticket because my work would pay for my ticket because I would have had to fly anyways.  However, Dave flying alone with two kids on the way south doesn't seem like a fair option. We could leave Elaina at home and just take Zach or leave both kids at home - but for either of those options we would need a little help from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Linda. (My parents aren't retired yet) But if I think like Grandpa Jim and Hubby Dave -- we are in a recession and shouldn't be spending money on travel when we need to spend money on window treatments.

But I digress...

While I was gone at training for a week Dave did a fantastic job being home alone with Zach and Elaina. Everything went very smoothly. So for all of you who raised an eyebrow about Dave being home alone for a week with the kids he did a FANTASTIC job and didn't need help from his mom to get through the week. *giggle* He was creative with Zach with creating a count-down of when mommy will be home to help with Zach missing mommy. I have a wonderful husband who is great with our kids.

On Saturday, January 14 Dave, Zach, Elaina and I were supposed to go over to see my friend Carmel and her hubby Dale. The original plan was to venture over for dinner but then Carmel had some family dinner plans pop up so instead we planned lunch and an afternoon get-together. I COMPLETELY forgot about Zach's afternoon swim lessons. (Silly mommy Megan!) So we rescheduled for Monday instead as Sunday was her new nephew's baptism. Which worked out because frankly I was exhausted from my week of early mornings and late nights during my week of training so it was good that we moved this.

We pretty much spent the weekend at home just being a family. Zach and Dave went to swimming on Saturday and then to the library while Elaina and mommy hung out at home and snuggled reading books, napping and playing. 

Elaina playing with her Abby Cadabby doll.

Later that evening Zach finally talked Daddy Dave into hooking up the Wii. Yes, we've lived in our house for an entire year and haven't hooked up the Wii. Yikes! Zach LOVED playing the Wii - espcially sword dual on Wii Sports Resort...

Zach in action playing Sword Dual

Or you can watch him in action....

Zach all smiles after winning 10 games straight on his first try! He was a bit upset when he lost his first dual. He's learning the lesson of win some - lose some!

Elaina developed a cough while I was gone - but Elaina getting sick is out of anyone's control. On Sunday, January 15 I brought Elaina to Priority Peds to see what was up with her cough and her new symptom - wheezing. We left with a prescription for Zithromax and a diagnosis of an ear infection and walking pneumonia. (Elaina doesn't even walk yet so how can she have walking pneumonia?! It must be crawling pneumonia. Sorry couldn't resist!) We were instructed to bring her back if we didn't see an improvement in three days. Just to be safe we made an appointment for her to be seen the following Thursday by her regular doctor.

The evening of Monday, January 16 I drove across town after work to get together with Carmel at her mom's house. We decided it would be easier for Daddy Dave and the kiddos to stay home for the evening and for me just to go. Carmel made dinner for everyone and I sat in the kitchen chatting with her and her sister-in-law Margie while she cooked. It was a nice, relaxing evening. Thanks Carmel! (and Patricia too!)  It was fantastic to see you!

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of catching up on work after being out of the office for a week and catching up on spending time with the kids and doing laundry.

This past Thursday, January 19 Elaina had her follow up doctor visit for her walking pneumonia. Apparently for toddlers walking pneumonia/RSV/bronchitis are all interchangeable for an upper lung respiratory infection. Elaina was still congested and wheezing so she was prescribed nebulizer treatments. She also had an appointment with the ENT that same afternoon and she will have tubes put in her ears this coming Wednesday due to the number of ear infections she's had.  That same evening we order in pizza from Carbone's and had chocolate cake for dessert because it was my birthday. Zach helped me blow out my candles on my cake. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday on facebook as well. It always makes a person feel good with all the birthday messages on your wall. *grin* All the birthday cards in the mail were much appreciated as well. Yeah!

On Friday night Dave and I went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday at Axel's. I joined Axel's bonfire club awhile back and had accumlated over $30.00 in points that we redeemed that night. So Dave was a happy guy when the check came after our two steak dinner night. *giggle* We were going to catch a movie as well - but didn't want to wait until after 10pm for the movie to start. It had been a long week and we were tired. So we went home and relieved our fabulous baby-sitter a bit earlier than we anticipated. Oh well.

Yesterday, we relaxed around the house in the morning. Then Zach and Dave headed out the door for swimming and a trip to the library while Elaina napped and mommy enjoyed a nice long soak in the bathtub. Ahhh.... After naps Zach and Elaina read the books Zach picked out from the library and played together. I love how Zach and Elaina play together so well. (I know this won't last forever, but I love how sweet Zach is to his baby sister!)

Elaina checking out one of Zach's library books

Zach and Elaina sitting back to back reading books in the foyer. Zach checks to see that Elaina is being gentle with the library books.

Elaina is on the move - all done with reading books.

Elaina looking at me after reaching to play with the Christmas tree (yes, I know...more about that in a bit.)

Elaina does not like being told, "NO" and will cry to see if she can get her way. But this mom doesn't give in.  So she moves on to climbing...

She loves climbing up onto the kid sized chairs

A different perspective - looking down into a toy bin.

Hi Elaina!

Elaina climbs down from her perch and waves "hello!"

I want that!

Zach brought over Elaina's doll stroller...

Getting a grip on my stroller and...

Away Elaina goes!

following her big brother Zach!

Zach helping her out so she doesn't get caught up on the chair. Zach really enjoys helping his little sister.

Later that evening we all packed up and headed over to our friend Valerie's house for her graduation party from Bethel University. It was a FANTASTIC party! It was great to see so many people and meet Valerie's friends whom I haven't met before from out of town. Zach and Elaina had a good time too.  Elaina was a little social butterfly eating up all the attention from Valerie's parents and friends. *giggle*  We left the party early as Zach was tired and we knew we were on borrowed time with Elaina. We were home by 9pm and the kids went directly from sleeping in their carseats to sleeping in their beds. The night was still young so I FINALLY took down the Christmas tree and all the assorted decor around the house. This morning - that was the FIRST thing Zach noticed when he got up this morning. "MOMMY! The Christmas tree is gone! The Christmas tree is gone! Is the Easter bunny coming now?" *giggle* 

Well that is ENOUGH for now....you are all caught up on the happenings of Dave, Megan, Zach and Elaina and I even included a few cute shots of the kids! I hope you enjoyed the post.

Thanks for reading!

 

First Day of School

I took today off from work because I knew I was going to be tired this morning after going to the Maroon 5 and train concert last night.

However, I was still up early to help Dave get Elaina and Zach ready for school. Sure I could go back to bed, but I decided to check Facebook first.

I know...so much for going back to bed...

While sitting at the computer I can see all the kids walking smartly down the street to the bus stop wearing their new school uniforms. Most of the kids were walking with their parents. I can almost feel the excitement in the air of the parents and the kids. The kids for anticipation of what the new school year will bring and the parents are just giddy to have their kids back in school again. (Yes, if only Minnesota would change to year-around school like they have in North Carolina where my sister lives. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.)

The bus just swung by and picked up all the kids.

Now all the parents of the neighborhood are huddled together talking while walking down the street. I can see the plan brewing from sitting in the comfort of my PJs while sitting in our office. I would assume they are planning where to go grab coffee, go out for breakfast or what have you.

I'm now just realizing with this simple obervation that the day after Labor Day for many years to come will probably become a vacation day for me. Get the kids off for their first day of school, take photos, go out for coffee or breakfast with fellow parents then the rest of the day who knows?!

Well today I DO know what I'm going to do. First I'm cleaning our bathroom. Then I'm going to soak in the tub for a bit. Call me odd but I love to clean the bathroom then take a bath in the freshly cleaned tub. Only to wash it out again as I get out. *giggle*  THEN - I'm venturing over to Edina to the Container Store to pick up a few organization items for the house. I'll probably swing by IKEA as well. I will be in that end of town after all. I also need to pick up a few more pairs of khaki pants for Zach for school. (He now wears a uniform in pre-K.)  Humm....maybe I'll see if my friend Valerie can grab lunch today too.I know she has class today but that's later tonight. *giggle*  I have to swing back to Woodbury by 3pm because Zach has his 4-year check-up at 3:30pm today.

Well so much for going back to bed and sleeping in today. I have too much to do!!

ugh....

Okay - so yesterday I posted I didn't feel guilty about not working because my kid was sick. So why do I feel guilty about not going into work when I AM SICK?! How messed up is that?!?

My head feels like it is going to explode

I'm FREEZING yet my whole body is HOT even my eyeballs feel hot

I'm conjested and my nose and eyes have become a drippy faucet

Yet I am second guessing my decision not to go into work today.

I tell myself - it's only a little cold I can get through the day.

So I called a good friend and told her and she told me essentially I was nuts and to stay home, drink some OJ, pull the covers over my head and go back to bed and sleep until I was better. Especially since the kids are all better and I can actually stay home and be sick without worrying about taking care of someone else.

Yes, even mommies need to be told it's OK to stop and take care of yourself and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.

Ok

I need to finish my OJ, change my voicemail at work and go to bed.