Flying Solo

Today is my first day alone, all day, with all my boys. I say "all" instead of "both" because I also have my 3yr. old beagle Hadley to manage and tend to. He sleeps most of the day (as long as no one rings the doorbell) but still has occasional needs and crazy times so he counts as someone I have to take care of. I was admittedly a little nervous about my first day by myself but also excited to start living normal life with Caden part of it.

The day started well. Lucas is in that stage where he would rather play than eat so getting him to sit at the table for any meal is a challenge. I chose not to fight that battle this morning and I brought him occasional bites of oatmeal and strawberries as he played with a sticker book on the kitchen floor. I then sat and nursed Caden while playing cars with Lucas and "talking about" where each one was going and what they were doing. Lucas and I also played while Caden took his post-breakfast nap. Around 10:30, we were all getting a bit restless. I made the risky decision to shake things up a bit. When getting into a cold pool, the best thing to do is jump in and get your whole body wet at the same time. Shouldn't mothering a toddler, a newborn, and a dog be the same way?

I loaded all three in the car and drove to the vet... yes, the vet. We had been needing to get Hadley's nails trimmed for awhile and there is no time like the present, right? Call me crazy. I called myself that a few times, including when we got stopped by a ginormous freight train and Caden was screaming in the car seat so I pulled into a church parking lot to give him some "nursies" and the dog starts going insane thinking we are getting out there and Lucas is asking 5 million questions about said freight train.... o.k., maybe I am a little crazy. But all other outings from here will seem calm. That is my logic anyway.

We picked up lunch on the way home and came home to eat. Lucas actually sat in his chair without a fight. We had some good Mommy-Lucas time reading stories before nap and he went down relatively quickly. All marks of a good afternoon.

Overall, I think the day has gone well. It is 4:30pm. Lucas is just waking up from his nap (apparently he was worn out by our outing too) and a friend is bringing us dinner. We have yet to live through the toddler twilight zone of 5-7pm but hopefully hubby will be home for a good chuck of that. Tomorrow, my mother-in-law is coming to help out a bit in the morning and we have a play date in the afternoon so we are set. The rest of the week, we will take as it comes. At least the first day is under our belts. And we all survived. Better than that, we did well. I was some-what productive (did I mention that I cleaned the kitchen and had time to blog), Lucas and I had some good play time, and I got some good time with Caden while Lucas napped. No shower or nap for mom, but we are working up to that. Can't do it all the first day!!

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P.S.~ NONE of this day would have been possible without my sling. Seriously! Caden lived in it for at least half the day. I made breakfast, I played with Lucas, I nursed Caden, I cleaned the kitchen, I managed a crazy pup at the vet.... all because of my beloved sling!! This is not s plug for my business. This is real life and it would have been 10x the crazier if not for my sling. Do you need one? (ok, that was a business plug! :) )