{"id":2595,"date":"2008-09-17T21:16:15","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T02:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2018-03-11T08:28:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T13:28:31","slug":"what-i-learned-from-five-days-with-the-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2008\/what-i-learned-from-five-days-with-the-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learned from five days with the girls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jon was out of town last week for five days &#8212; my first time with both girls alone for that long. We managed pretty well, but it was definitely a learning curve. Here are some of the facts, tidbits, observations, and whatnot that I picked up during that week: <!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/img_6788.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"img_6788\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/img_6788.jpg 300w, https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/img_6788-128x96.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I tried to keep my expectations low. We had five days where everyone ended up fed, clean, and loved &#8212; a success. But it was certainly a lot of work!<\/li>\n<li>We actually did some other things, too, which pleased me. I made a list of &#8220;hope-to-do&#8217;s&#8221; and checked off almost a dozen things, including:<br \/>\n** fold laundry<br \/>\n** re-organize Rosie&#8217;s dresser<br \/>\n** wash &#8220;kitchen&#8221;:\/news\/2008\/mopping\/ &#8220;floor&#8221;:\/news\/2007\/operation-clean-floors\/<br \/>\n** &#8220;vacuum&#8221;:\/news\/2007\/whatever-blows-your-hair-back\/<br \/>\n** make &#8220;banana muffins&#8221;:\/news\/2008\/banana-butterscotch-muffins\/<br \/>\n** make &#8220;scotcheroos&#8221;:http:\/\/allrecipes.com\/Recipe\/Chocolate-Scotcheroos\/Detail.aspx<br \/>\n** tidy up the &#8220;fun&#8221;:\/news\/2008\/pretty-big-boots-for-a-little-girl\/ &#8220;room&#8221;:\/news\/2008\/she-needs-a-cordless\/<br \/>\n** make baby food (sweet potatoes)<br \/>\n** bake lemon cake<\/li>\n<li>It is almost impossible to go on an errand in the car with all the naps. I kept thinking we might get to Target, but we just couldn&#8217;t swing it. When Jon is home, I can often dash out with Lucy while leaving him with the sleeping baby (isn&#8217;t he great?).<\/li>\n<li>However, all this time at home definitely helps with the cleanliness factor. The kitchen was getting pretty scary.<\/li>\n<li>Although it was difficult to run errands, we did manage to take a walk just about every day &#8212; good fun for all three of us.<\/li>\n<li>Frozen meals are a blessing for both the time- and weight-conscious. I don&#8217;t usually like to eat frozen stuff, but it was definitely worth it to not have extra dishes to wash after the girls were asleep.<\/li>\n<li>Nighttime is the toughest. Having to listen for both girls while I&#8217;m sleeping kept me on edge. (Rosie, of course, still needs night feedings, and Lucy has been waking up about every other night &#8212; perhaps from nightmares? &#8212; and requesting snuggles.)<\/li>\n<li>A good night&#8217;s sleep cannot be underrated. I slept so soundly when Jon got home &#8212; it made me even more glad to have him back!<\/li>\n<li>Gene Kelly can be a toddler&#8217;s best friend. We rented &#8220;<em>Singin&#8217; in the Rain<\/em>&#8220;:http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00006DEF9\/octothorppres-20 while Jon was away, and Lucy is a huge fan now.<\/li>\n<li>Now that Papa is back home, my life feels like a piece of cake! (But, as Grandpa Marcel would say, it&#8217;s like hitting your head against the wall so when you stop it feels good.)<\/li>\n<li>I love my girls. We definitely had our less-than-perfect moments, but I&#8217;m grateful for the opportunity to be their Mama.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We had a special celebration for Jon&#8217;s return, as his birthday had fallen in the middle of his trip. Lucy was very enthusiastic about helping to make a lemon chiffon cake with me, and she welcomed Jon home with open arms and a whole lot to say. It&#8217;s good to be together again! (Click the &#8220;play&#8221; arrow to witness the scene.)<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 525px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-2595-1\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/MVI_6799.M4V?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/MVI_6799.M4V\">https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/MVI_6799.M4V<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jon was out of town last week for five days &#8212; my first time with both girls alone for that long. We managed pretty well, but it was definitely a learning curve. Here are some of the facts, tidbits, observations, and whatnot that I picked up during that week:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2595"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9701,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2595\/revisions\/9701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}