Vent- I ended up working a lot this weekend, so I’m tired. Also, I have a terrible pain in my neck and one shoulder. I may try to go to The Joint to have someone make it pop over lunch.
Celebration- We had DD’s birthday party and it was awesome! I didn’t stress about it and we kept it really simple. I’m going to try to remember that lesson in the future. And the party was at a Lego place, so the party favor was all the kids got to make and take home a mini gig, and they were nuts about that! So much better than our normal bag of plastic crap.
Plus we had a second party on Sunday to attend, and that was great too. The parents own an art studio, kind of like Painting With a Twist but with more options. The kids painted pictures on small canvases (on their own, not as a “class”) and then made hand-marbled silk handkerchiefs. They turned out so pretty.
Celebration DD and I lived up girls weekend and I had no cranky whiny kid! Friday night we had my parents over to play in the pool and we all ate dinner out side. Saturday we made a quick trip to the coast. Got sandblasted by the wind so it was a short walk but clear blue skies and warm for the Oregon Coast. I'm still digging out sand from my ears. Then we came home and too my parents to the movies to see Hotel Transylvania, it was the first time they had been to the movies in 20 years and they laughed the whole time. Sunday I took DD to Get Air (trampoline park) and then my brother who was down for the weekend came over and played in the pool before we all went over for an impromptu family dinner. We got home at 6:30 and DH was home and cranky.
Vent: DH was pissed off when he got back from his weekend alone paintballing and kayaking. He seemed generally upset that DD and I didn't sit at home waiting for him to get back and that we had the nerve to go off and do stuff without him.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Jul 23, 2018 10:45:35 GMT -5
186momx, that's so weird. He's having fun, why shouldn't you have fun?
We had a great little trip to the beach. All in we probably spent less than 250 dollars b/c it was a free beach house and we didn't do any paid activities other than go out to eat for dinner. Seriously wonderful.
The only down side was that I ate pretty poorly (although it could have been worse) so now I have to get back in my healthy swing.
Also on the upside is I have DS lined up with his tutor for the next 3 weeks. ' He's on his last 2 weeks at this daycare and then he'll meet at his tutor's home for 1 more week. And then school starts at his new school. And we get his diagnosis on Tuesday. Hopefully. I'm looking forward to having a definitive answer as to what, if anything, is going on with my kiddo.
Post by supertrooper1 on Jul 23, 2018 10:48:52 GMT -5
We're flying home today from San Diego. DH has been grumpy most of the trip. I couldn't get him to make a decision the whole week on what he wanted to do, so we would hang around the room until 11 and then go somewhere. He even walked out of a restaurant on me one day because I had the nerve to tell him I wasn't ready to order and he was rushing me. He has cared more about checking FB than being part of this vacation.
Sadly, I don't think his attitude will be any better when we get home. And I haven't told him that I'm helping my mom a couple days this week to get ready for their anniversary party. He's going to do nothing but bitch that I shouldn't be helping my mom.
Post by justcheckingin73 on Jul 23, 2018 11:07:06 GMT -5
We left Thursday evening to go to DHs hometown (5-6 hour drive) for the weekend. It was a good a weekend but SIL, her son, her boyfriend and his DD all stayed with SMIL too so finding sleeping places was a challenge. I didn’t sleep well any of the nights so I’m really dragging today.
My vent is that we went there for the weekend to see his family but also because it was the church picnic and we always have fun...and it’s really cheap! But while he and DD played bingo inside, DS bossed me around outside going from one game or bouncy house to another. I talked him into going into the bingo place and then DH made some comment about getting him a beer. WTF? Get your own damn beer - you’re in the AC sitting down while I’m outside with the bugs and humidity not having much fun. DS finally wanted to leave but DH and DD stayed and I tossed and turned all night with DS beside me taking up more than half the bed. It was a rough night and I’m so glad I got to sleep in my own bed last night.
Had a great visit with DH and the girls! The girls and I were solo on Saturday, so we went for a short hike in the morning and spent the afternoon at the lake. It really felt like one of those "quality time" days that I hope for in the summer. Sunday we just hung around the house since it was rainy. DH was... ok. I called him out on Saturday morning and he kind of turned his attitude around a little. We went to go see a play Saturday night, so that was nice. Although he is complaining that he has so many lines to learn. I have yet to really acknowledge that hardship, mainly because he is the one who was so desperate to be in a show. Now I'm back and feeling totally re-energized. I cleaned and organized a ton of stuff yesterday when I got home and have plans to do even more over the next couple days when I get home from work. I want the house back to a fresh start when the rest of the family descends on it again.
I had a pretty low key weekend. They kids went to play with the cousins all day on Sunday. So I stayed home, cleaned, cooked for this week while drinking some wine, and it was really nice. It was rainy all day so perfect for it.
Vent/celebrate. Dh and I plan on cooking nice dinner at home tonight. We haven't been able to do that since before vacation. Mom wanted us all to eat at her house, but we all need a night together. This will be our only night in this week. DH is working 12 hours all week. DD and I have volleyball Wednesday and Thursday night. Tuesday night I have a former state legislator coming in to speak to one of our local fiscal courts, so I will need to be in attendance and won't be home until late. Plus a week full of meetings and presentations. Thankfully off a half day Friday.
Another vent: My extended family treats the brother's children as pretty much interlopers to the circle of 4 sisters and their families. We are usually excluded from most events. My brother's kids are here for 2 more weeks. My aunts say they want to see them and have a swim party for them since they haven't seen them in 2 years. I say great. I am off half day on Friday the 27th or the weekend, I can bring them then. So the party is August 3. The Friday I an not off, like most people. None of these women work. They can do any day. I guess they didn't want to see the kids after all. There is no way my mom will take them anywhere near them. She divorced out happily 20 years ago.
@heartofcheese... did I miss an intro/re-intro? Never mind...I see now
I haven’t been around much the last few weeks. Work has been rough. Last Monday we were hit with a huge unexpected budget task (normally don’t see those until September) and I worked my ass off. Plus yesterday we dropped DD off at sleep away camp so I had to prepare for that.
I can’t believe DH actually let her go, and she is actually gone. And we both have to work all week!!! We should have taken some time off, but now I am playing catch up from last week and all that. I miss her so much already. Going to be a long week.
Post by covergirl82 on Jul 23, 2018 12:19:31 GMT -5
Celebrations: DS had a great 'friend' birthday party on Thursday evening and we had grandparents and my sister over for cake on Saturday afternoon. DH and I had a nice anniversary (# 12) dinner on Saturday evening. We actually celebrated a day early because the restaurant we wanted to go to isn't open on Sundays.
I spent most of the afternoon on Sunday cleaning, and did a bit of decluttering. It feels nice to have a (mostly) clean house and the reduced clutter is also nice. I'd love to either be clutter-free or minimal clutter by the end of 2018.
On Saturday, we visited FIL to see how he was doing. He seems to be doing well. He's keeping busy by cleaning out the house which is so cluttered.
On Sunday, DH and I dropped the kids at my parents' house and went on a midday movie date. We had fun watching Princess Mononoke and went to an early dinner at PF Changs. It was so good to reconnect since we have been so tied up with MIL's illness and passing.
Post by judyblume14 on Jul 23, 2018 12:48:21 GMT -5
I'm back from a 2-week vacation and in the office for the first time in almost 3 weeks. Ugh. I did work a few half-days during vacation though, so it's not like I'm coming back to a crazy backlog of tasks.
We had a really nice time - spent the first week with cousins and kids - so many little girls! Ours are the youngest and had a blast following the older girls around. Week 2 was at my FIL's/his wife's house. My H was on cloud nine spending time with his dad. They even watched the girls one night so my H and I could go on a date!
Question - Do you all feel like you get quality time with your partner on vacation? Maybe it's just the ages of our girls (1.5 and 3.5), but I feel like we just spend most of the time with each of us solo-parenting one kid. There were a few activities as a family of 4, but still all focus was on the kids. When does this start to shift?
Post by judyblume14 on Jul 23, 2018 12:53:22 GMT -5
Oh! I have a ridiculous update.
So, our second week of vacay was hosted my FIL and SMIL. They have a beautiful new house, and I was taking stock of all of their decor. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
The day we were leaving, as I was packing up, I checked under the bed in our room to make sure I didn't leave any socks behind. And something caught my eye. There IT was...
In all of it's crib-packaging, cardboard-splinted glory... the masterpiece from ChirstmasPuzzlegate 2016!! Frankly, I'm shocked it wasn't proudly displayed in plain sight, seasonality be damned.
Celebration: This weekend was good, we did a mix of need to (like going to Costco) with fun stuff (like going to the Zoo). But I am tired.
Vent: DH is traveling this week, which is fine. But it looks like they will pouring the foundation for our new garage this week, which DH should be here for. They have had our contract for 6 weeks, and this is the one week he is traveling in the last 6 months. These folks need to get it together.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Jul 23, 2018 13:00:27 GMT -5
judyblume14, having just got back from vacation I would say no. We were even at the beach and I sat a couple times for a full half hour in a chair watching the kids play and listening to a podcast, but DH felt like he needed to be right on top of them. I didn't as long as they were playing in the sand and not in the water.
Then when we were back at the beach house, we were all together and the kids were playing and we were watching kids movies. When the kids went to bed (and they went to bed pretty late for them), we basically went to bed too. I can stay up later than my kids but apparently only about a half hour later if all I'm doing is sitting and watching TV and drinking wine.
I still had a fabulous time, but it wasn't like we had a great time connecting.
judyblume14, I never felt like we got much quality time together when the kids were that age. We'd always go to the beach, and by the time DD1 was old enough to skip her nap and not be a total disaster by dinner, we had DD2. So for all those years, we'd rush to the beach early, then I'd go back to the house for nap time while DH spent time with his family at the beach. Then kid would wake up, and I'd try to rush back to the beach for a few mins. Usually I'd walk out to find everyone walking back, having packed up for the day after so many hours of awesome beach time.
I posted about Friday with DH elsewhere. The rest of the weekend was... exhausting. We got a lot out on Sat morning, then DD2 had a pool party to attend. I've been having some anxiety around swimming lately (nightmares really), so I watch like a hawk. She is a good swimmer, but too many kids + too many floats + not enough supervision + bigger kids nearly jumping on top of the little ones was enough to drive up my blood pressure and have me nearly in the pool fully-clothed on more than one occasion.
Sunday DD1 and DH had a movie morning together, while DD2 and I hung out. Then DH left for a week-long work trip and I took the kids to see my dad. I barely slept last night due to drowning nightmares again, so now I'm dragging despite loads of caffeine.
judyblume14, I would say not much but I have an only so unless I can find a sitter DD goes everywhere with us. Actually DD asked over the weekend if we could have a mommy and her vacation to Hawaii so we could walk the beach and just chill. She was very adamant daddy didn't come with as she didn't want to have to be busy all the time.
The lady that gave DD privates at gymnastics is starting up a daycare with her daughter and I helped her out getting all the start up paper work going because her CPA was too busy to help. She is going to be one of my clients, now! They are having this big open house for the daycare and DD & I got invited. I asked her if she would be interested in DD's big play kitchen as she doesn't play with it and is too old at 7. She said yes and then asked if I had anything else we were done with. She is taking all my baby stuff (pack n play, high chair, swing, bouncer, stroller, exersaucer, etc.) and the best news is she is giving DH and I 2 free 3 hour date nights and giving DD 2 free private lessons at the gym. The daycare is going to be open for date night events on the weekends and for football games as an extra. It's not cash but the value is way more than what I would have gotten at a garage sale. Now too pull it down from the attic and give it all a bath
judyblume14, apparently not a 13 and 15. I don't think DH and I had a one on one conversation the entire vacation. The kids were always with us, or we were planning the next days activities. Only downtime we had together was a few minutes the two nights we grilled out when the kids were in the room, and we were cooking.
Post by traveltheworld on Jul 23, 2018 13:18:21 GMT -5
I finally didn't have to work the past weekend. I slept 12 hours on Friday and Saturday nights, but somehow am still tired. DH was in classes all weekend, so it was just the kids and I, but both kids behaved reasonably well and we had fun.
I'm going to try and take it easy this week and hopefully spend more time hanging out with the kids.
We still don't know if before/aftercare is going to have space in their program for DD. It is killing me. I can't get a person on the phone, can't get a voicemail, can't get a response to email. We have... not very much time until school starts (middle of next month) and I have gotten... nothing.
judyblume14 , I never felt like we got much quality time together when the kids were that age. We'd always go to the beach, and by the time DD1 was old enough to skip her nap and not be a total disaster by dinner, we had DD2. So for all those years, we'd rush to the beach early, then I'd go back to the house for nap time while DH spent time with his family at the beach. Then kid would wake up, and I'd try to rush back to the beach for a few mins. Usually I'd walk out to find everyone walking back, having packed up for the day after so many hours of awesome beach time.
Post by judyblume14 on Jul 23, 2018 14:18:18 GMT -5
Ok - so I feel better knowing that we don't suck at vacationing. We had a nice time, and even when I was in nap jail at the house, I was able to sit next to the pool and read. I just didn't connect with my H.
For vacas, a couple years ago we started leaving the oldest in charge so we could have drinks. That’s super nice. But until about age 10 it’s all kids all the time —- the upside for us is the kids always had a decent bedtime so we could play games or watch movies without the little ones.
I survived the weekend, got DD picked up from camp and haven’t really seen her since except to drive her places. The kids are all at the same camp 8:30-5:00 all week and it is SO nice.
Booking a beach bonfire in San Diego - excited about it! Ideas for things to engage the kids? Cards, s’mores, music are on the agenda. These kids don’t really do “sit and chill” so ... we will see how this goes.
We are camping in Williamsburg. Yesterday we went to Virginia Beach and today we went to Colonial Williamsburg. We are all pretty tired. I’m sipping an ice cold Diet Coke and eating lots of carby snacks in my camping chair while the kids are playing on the playground right next to our site. So relaxing!
Post by judyblume14 on Jul 23, 2018 14:38:13 GMT -5
2chatter , i live on the east coast, so I only know Atlantic beaches. Can the kids hunt for ghost crabs with flashlights? I mean, I don't know what kind of beach animals are out west. Also, definitely get glow sticks/ glow necklaces!