Today I did some serious damage control in the house. The things a stay at home mother does every day might not seem to be very important, but my absence definitely took a toll on this house. Wow.
First of all, Aaron is a really good dad. He is fun and thoughtful and he partied hard with the children this weekend.
Fun is messy. But I prefer knowing they had fun over cleaning all day. It was like a peek into everything they did while inward gone as I made discoveries throughout the house and cleaned it up.
A 20 pack of chocolate bars was consumed
Dinners were pizza and other dad specialties.
Someone woke up in the night and slept on my side of the bed, then got a bloody nose on my pillow. (Add "buy new pillow" to the to do list)
They kept up with the dishes. (Well done, family! I hate coming home to a dirty sink. Actually, I hate ever having a dirty sink.)
We are completely out of all paper products (making previous discovery possible).
The van revealed trips to jump zone (4 pairs of blackened socks and slush puppy cups, and a trip to Krispy Kreme.
Play dough and Legos were enjoyed on all three floors.
A ping pong tournament happened.
The garage was cleared so my van could fit inside!
The adorable guest room was converted to a man cave. (That one was not a good discovery.)
Water balloons were made in the bathroom.
Cards for grandma were made.
A soccer goal was built in the backyard and soccer was played in the rain on a freshly mowed lawn.
What a fun dad. I know a lot of men who would just go into survival mode, but Aaron seized an opportunity to PLAY with our children and they played hard.
I spent 12 hours straight today cleaning, unpacking, doing 8 loads of laundry, vacuuming, finding candy and snack wrappers in bizarre places and putting life back together after the free-for-all weekend everyone enjoyed. I am so lucky to get to do what I do. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who had a fun filled weekend. It feels good to be back. I like my place in the world as a mother. So many people in NYC seemed so lonely. Loneliness is not something I experience often as a mom. Even when it's wanted, like when I took a shower today.
The mom guilt for leaving my kids must be hitting hard. I cleaned rooms for the kids (I usually make them do this), and I've made an extra effort to make everything special since I've been home. By the looks of my party house, they didn't miss me at all! I packed little penguin shaped sandwiches and penguin crackers in their lunches this morning, and after they went to bed, I had fun packing tomorrow's lunch with mustache napkins, mustache variety cheese slices, salami, crackers, mustache poke for the watermelon, orange slices for making mustache peel faces, and homemade mustache chocolate pops are cooling in their molds. This is as good as it gets and it won't last, but today was too much fun and I know the kids will love it.
Another little thing I knocked off my to do list today while "being super woman" (as Aaron called me when he stopped home for lunch and saw the contrast of cleanliness and order) was to vacuum my bedroom. This meant clearing the clutter piles from every corner, so obviously it hasn't happened in forever. One pile was a stack of mirrors I've collected over the years and added to for the last 12 months. They've only been sitting on my bedroom floor for like a year with the intention to hang them along the dining area and bounce some light into my dark kitchen. Finally done and it only took 20 minutes.
Quincy saw it and stood back to examine it for a minute. Finally, she said, "this is great mom! Good job! I think it should look a lot better with like a table, or a long board with hooks for our backpacks underneath it. That empty part on the bottom is a waste. Is that what you're planning to do?"
Why yes, filling the wasted space with a buffet IS what I am planning to do.
You guys. She is 7.
I. Love. Her little artist brain.
I don't even know how every room got SO disgusting in just a few days, but wow. All I know is it still isn't done, but I'm a nesting mom on a mission. My legs are so swollen my cankles make a crease when I bend my foot. I just sat down and put my feet up and Aaron looked over at my legs and with wide eyes exclaimed, "what happened?!" Because my feet are so unrecognizable. Ha!
Tomorrow might be a keep my feet up as much as possible kind of day. Here's to totally killin' it on my post-vacation-to do list, today and jumping head first back into the reality I love living.
How cute is this little buddy to welcome me home? He was so thrilled to see me when I got him up this morning that he just beamed and held on to me tight for a long time with his hands cupped on my cheeks. I breathed him in and loved it and so did Soren. "Reunited and it feels so good!"
We had cookies for breakfast. I love being home!
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