Long Days, Short Years, Stiff Drinks

Every parent has been there.  You're just sitting there being a nice, normal family experiencing what you think is nice, normal food digestion when WHAM! Your little one turns a ghastly shade of pale, gets super quiet, and blows his insides up all over the room. You immediately begin fooling yourself, wishing, hoping, begging in vain.  Maybe it won't happen again.  Maybe it was just a one time thing.  Surely it's possible that this was a singular, thoroughly disgusting event. But you've been to this very messy and smelly party before.  And deep inside you know .  This isn't over.  This is just beginning.  What you've got on your hands is a stomach bug and the only question now is who will fall next. Every sloppy and sad episode leaves you pondering, for the love of all things bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, when will this end?!  You're down to your last set of sheets and your industrial supply of Clorox wipes is running low.  Ev...

We recently made two short trips as a family of four.  These were our first attempts at travel together and we have questionable mental stability so we decided to plan these trips back to back.  Spending a total of 12 hours in transit and 5 nights sleeping in the same room in 2 different locations not only solidified our standing as looney tunes, it catapulted us into elite status as frequent parent travelers. Taking mini-vacays can be an economical and quick way to renew your spirit, connect with your loved ones, and let loose for a few days.  The picture is less than perfect, however, when taking these trips with your preschooler and baby on board.  Our adventure was filled with a series of highs and lows, of victories and defeats, of successes and failures.  We enjoyed moments of pure joy and relaxation and nearly (or in my case, actually) cried during moments of intense challenge.  In short, it was a hellish heaven. Heavenly: watching my seven mo...

Listen.  I'll be the very first person to tell you that, despite my recurring complaints and sometimes excessive level of stress, I love my job.  I wouldn't trade being home with my boys for any other job in the world and I feel very fortunate to have the option to do it.  I do not take that for granted, believe me. But mama needs time away.  Or I'm gonna snap. The Man and I are very supportive of each other's needs in this regard and for that, I am extremely grateful.  With this supportive spirit in mind, The Man and I agreed that I could go on a week long yoga retreat so long as it didn't mean he would have to take a week off work to take care of the kids and we wouldn't have to spend a fortune on babysitting.  That left us with his parents or mine. Not only are his parents willing to take them, my MIL is rearranging her own vacation in order to be available and she is really stoked about having them spend a week in her home. Hells to the yea! ...