On My Own

I'd love to say that my first solo outing with both of my kiddos was a smashing success. But here's the real story. I did manage to get all 3 of us dressed and out the door by 10 am (small victory). Cate's been a little stir crazy lately, which means she has a TON of extra energy since she's cooped up all day-- which means she's not really napping and going to bed later. So I figured the perfect destination was the indoor playground at our church, Kid City. Kid City is open every day and our church always has free, fresh brewed coffee. The plan was to head the 1.6 miles to church, grab a cup of decaf, and hang out on the benches with Brennan while Cate wore herself out in Kid City.

What really happened? This girl...
...who normally runs into Kid City and cries when we leave wouldn't even go in without me holding her hand. The playground is a couple stories tall. I couldn't just leave Brennan. I decided the best move was to just go home. But Cate didn't want to leave either. She threw a small tantrum to let me know this. I'm learning a lot about grace and patience as Cate continues to transition into her role as big sister to this guy:When she sees that Mommy's or Daddy's hands are free, she wants to fill them. And we do want to hold her, play with her, and just cherish our sweet first born. But that doesn't mean we can just leave Brennan two stories down below on a busy indoor playground. We finally did leave and we went for a short drive on which no one cried (another small victory). As Brennan gets bigger and the weather gets warmer and Cate settles down even more (she's doing great though, better than I expected, but it's still hard), I know things will get easier and we'll be out of the house and playing at Kid City, the park, the museum, the library, the zoo, etc. with no issues. But for now, we'll probably spend most of this week at home again. And I'm totally okay with that. I'm okay with curling up on the couch to read...
...and watching my girl prance around in her fairy wings (thanks neighbors)...
...we'll play with Play-Doh......and other fun "prizes" that Mommy stocked up on prior to Brennan's birth in order to reward good, helpful, big sister behavior (shown here with her prize of Button Art)...
...and there are always puzzles to put together (just got another one today from another awesome neighbor)......and if it wasn't evidenced by some of those above photos, we'll spend quite a bit of time in our jammies.

I don't want to rush things. And surprisingly, I'm in no hurry to get out of the house...it's just downright cold out there. Eric is fantastic about giving me some time to myself. On Friday, after this epic fail of an outing, Eric took both kids after I fed Brennan and allowed me a couple of hours at Borders to just browse all of the yummy books. We may try Kid City again at the end of this week, but it's supposed to be cold, so we might just stay home too. At least at home, things are going well on my own.

~Melody :-)