Top of my list

I made a list yesterday.

A list of all the things I wanted to get done before my hubby gets home.

It's amazing how, no matter how reasonable my list feels like for the day, I rarely accomplish every single thing. 

It can be awfully hard to get stuff done though when...

As if on cue, my lil Jay starts crying, now happily playing on her playmat I am going to attempt to finish this...

As I was saying, it can be awfully hard to accomplish anything when you have kids around. Not just because they cry, or even because they need to be changed or fed. Sometimes because I can't help but get wrapped up in the little moments. The little moments I won't ever get back again.

Yesterday she worked tirelessly on rolling over. She has a system, she tucks her feet in and uses the momentum from that action to turn her hips over. Then she plasters her face into the mat and tries to get the rest of her body over. If only she could pull her hand and shoulder out she would have it.

After a few moments of struggling she squawks into the mat and turns back over. Just to do it all over again.

I watch, I try not to get to close, not to break her focus.

When she gets frustrated I desperately want to help, but I don't. I let her do it. I let her master it, I let her struggle.

Just like us, I do believe that children need those opportunities...to try, and try again, and sometimes fail. (I also believe in parents being close at hand though, I know that if this becomes to much for her, that I can swoop her in my arms and comfort her.)

I know that today, like yesterday, she will try to roll. Maybe today will be the day she gets it, maybe not.

Maybe today I will get everything done on my list. Maybe not.

Maybe I should just remind myself that the top of my 'daily do list' always says 'Jay'...



BTW: Anyone else breathing a sigh of relief after a fairly successful first game vs Nashville?

The trouble with packing...

Easter weekend for us, like many people, means a trip to visit family. A chance to change up the treadmill that we are often on when at home, a breather of sorts.

So here I am, 11:00am in the morning, 4 hours shy of heading down island, and with what seems to be, a mountain of packing and prepping.

Now, my husband and I happen to love road trips. Until this morning I was of the belief that we pretty much had a down-pat system for getting us on the road...

It has now come to my attention that our 'system' is hugely flawed.

Packing and prepping to leave for the weekend is a whole lot more complicated with an infant.

Never mind the odds and ends that you need to remember for them: the bjorn for long walks, the peanut shell for short, her favorite toy so she has something to play with in the car, the blankets, the receiving blankets, the infant Tylenol, the nose baster (I have done everything in my power to avoid sucking the boogers out of my little one)...

Then of course there are the things that you want to bring down to the relatives...

And all of things that must be done to 'close up shop' for a few days so that you don't come home to smelly garbages and rotting food in the refrigerator. Also, we like to power everything off and save us some $$$ while we are away and not using those power suckers...

There is also the items which you must pack for yourself...

All of which I suppose isn't so bad except that I get into 'couple packing mode' and not 'family packing mode'...I have not accounted for the fact that I have to maneuver this around her schedule. Apparently I have not allotted enough time to consider the type of mood she is in. The number of feedings and cuddles she will need in between the chaos. Of course, I should have realized that you need more time that usual because Jay knows that something is going on, and now wants more of my time and attention than usual.

Of course it doesn't help that my list system is flawed in all of this. I have been making list after list for the last few days. An electronic list X2, a few written lists, and now, I can't find the written ones, and the electronic ones are to general...

I'm strongly thinking of running down to my husbands work and laminating a 'must haves' list for every trip and tape it to the back of the front door.

Instead, I'm going to keep packing and remember for next time that I need to approach packing like a marathon---stretching it out over a few days, rather than like the sprint that I am used to.