Country life

On Friday we went to my parents' house, about 10 miles out of town. They have a fire pit and a nice little building we all call the "cabin." I was actually planning on having people over on Friday at the cabin, but when that fell through we decided to go anyway. My parents are on vacation so it was just my family. We lit the fire and had kabobs. The boys ate good because they wanted s'mores. We stayed until almost 11:30pm. It was a perfect night with no wind. We are not campers, but it was so nice around the campfire. Actually, I'm not sure I would like being at a campground, because just like living in town, there is someone right next to you. At the cabin, it was just us. Fred and I actually got time to ourselves to talk. I can't remember the last time we had a conversation that didn't get interrupted repeatedly. We let the boys runs all evening and didn't have to worry about them once. About 11:00 I asked Rion if he was ready for bed and he said, "yes." I hated growing up out of town. Now I dream of having a house with some land. It was so quiet there and having some more room for the kids to play would be so nice. Someday.

Conversation only a mother would love

After you bring your newborn home from the hospital there is nothing more interesting than your baby's bowel movements. Who knew poop could be so interesting? Is it suppose to look like that? Is that color normal? And yes, it's true. Moms love to talk about it. So here I go. For the past few days, we've been dealing with Cordelia's abnormal bowel movements. She's been a bit constipated. And she has a little diaper rash that just won't go away. I thought she was getting better, but today she threw up for the second time in three days, so I called the doctor. I really like the kids' doctor, but I get so frustrated at the time it takes to get a call back. By six o'clock I had given up hope for a callback. I know doctors are extremely busy and there are children with more serious issues to attend to, but when your child isn't feeling right, it's easy to go crazy without any answers. Shortly after six o'clock we found ourselves in the basement after hearing tornado sirens. We emerged a few times only to hear the sirens again. Finally, the weather cleared and at nine o'clock the boys were settling into bed. Then the phone rang and a private number came up on the caller id. I was getting ready to whip out my "I'm not interested in whatever you're selling speech," but it was the doctor. He was probably calling from home, which then made me feel guilty. After a conversation about poop and feeding habits, the doctor reassured me that she was fine and gave me some tips to get her back to normal. I felt bad that he had to call me from home so late at night, but I'm really glad he did. He's a really good doctor and he keeps proving it.

Soccer. Day Two.

Tonight was only Rion's second night of soccer because last Wednesday got rained out. Rion liked soccer much more today. Although I know he only wanted to go to soccer because he knew he got to play at the playground later. During one of their drills Rion was in line and he looked back at me. "I see the playground mommy." Rion gets distracted very easily. A couple of times the coach had to get his attention because he was watching the team on the next field practice. They did get their team shirts today. Rion is on the black team. A nice color to be wearing in the middle of summer.

Happy Father's Day

To all the dad's out there, Happy Father's Day. In honor of the day, today's blog is dedicated to my husband.

It's seems like I've struggled with the home/work balance since the day Rion was born. I've tried it all. I've worked full-time (while also trying to breastfeed) and didn't like that. I've stayed home full-time, but money got tight and some days I really wished I had a job to flee to. I've worked out of the home part-time and right now that is working really well. No matter what I've wanted to do, Fred has always supported my decision. Right now I'm working mornings during the week, while he is at home with the kids. Rion is attending a summer school program at his school, which means Fred has to take him there and pick him up. On the first day of class, Fred ran into another dad that took Lamaze with us. Now our kids will be in Kindergarten together in the fall. This other dad also has another child that will start Kindergarten in 2009 with Torii. This scene, of Fred talking with this other dad, while they drop their kids off at school makes me smile. A lot of dads are doing the stay-at-home thing while their wives work. I know a few couples that juggle their work schedules so one parent is always at home with the kids. For most of these couples, the dad is the one at home during the day. So instead of mom getting the kids dressed in the morning, making lunches and getting the kids to their activities, it's dad. While I may give Fred a hard time for not knowing which clothes belong to which kid or getting upset that he let Rion watch the bad parts in Temple of Doom, he does a great job. Our family is doing great in a large part to him. Happy Father's Day, Daddy.