Last night Aubrey came down with a stomach bug that landed her in my bed for the evening with the coveted "throw up bowl" (an actual symbol that the bearer is indeed sick and therefore subject to preferential treatment for the duration of her illness). You'd be amazed at how excited the girls get when they receive the throw up bowl and the remote control to mom and dad's tv set. It almost makes being sick worth it. ;-)
But I digress. The point I intended to make as I started this post is that, as terrible as it might sound I was actually looking forward to a day of staying home and taking care of my baby today. I figured it would be a slow work day anyway because I've only got one offer out today and not a whole lot else on my professional plate at this instant. Lots of business is coming up in January but I've just decided to step back and really enjoy this holiday season while not worrying too much about next year. I know it's a terrible theory to follow but I figure December is for me the equivalent of summer vacation for teachers. I work so hard all the rest of the year that sometimes it's nice to just relax for a few weeks.
Again, I digress. Goodness gracious! Anyway, in my mind I'd planned a whole day of hanging out on the couch and cuddling Aubrey. We'd probably watch some Dora and I'd watch her sleep for a good part of the morning. However, as the morning began I realized that there were 4 loads of laundry to wash, 3 books to wrap for Ali's book exchange at school, the whole house needed vacuuming, and about a hundred other things just crying out to be done. Not to mention that I really did want to follow up with a few clients who are hanging out there waiting to get moving in January. I simply couldn't sit still. As I was writing my list of chores for the day I wondered "When did I last have a whole day of doing nothing but cuddling those girls? When will things slow down?"
I wanted to revolt! Refuse to do anything but park myself on the couch all day. Order in pizza and read books on my Kindle while Aubrey watched her videos. Of course I couldn't do exactly that so I made myself a compromise. I washed and folded 2 loads of the laundry, vacuumed the living room and wrapped the books. I also did follow up with a few of those clients but did it in emails so that I could just enjoy the silence of sitting in an almost empty house with a sleeping kiddo. Now that those items are completed I will watch a Lifetime movie and not feel an ounce of guilt about it.
And once the big girls have completed their homework I will invite them to join me. We will cuddle and just enjoy each others' company for 90 minutes. I've decided that the thing that needs to slow down every now and then is me. I once read to think of housework as painting the Golden Gate bridge. Did you know that they never stop painting that behemoth? They literally have a crew that starts at one end, paints the entire bridge and then has to go back and start again because it takes so long to get the whole darned thing done! I've decided that we will take a break from painting this particular bridge for a little while today.
And then we'll get moving again because tonight is the multicultural fair at school. And goodness knows we can't miss that...
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