Munchkie and Mommy Monday

I am very slowly adjusting to city life.  I can get where I need to by bus or by subway.  I'm learning to walk to the Family Dollar down the street or popping into a CVS I pass by instead of hopping in my car and going to Target.  I love the convenience of being able to walk most places.  I love that we're hardly ever filling our car with gas.

However, I do not like the fact that I have to wake up at 5:15am and leave the house by ten til six.  Or that IF I get off my twelve and a half hour shift on time I can hope to be home by 8:30pm.  I do not like that these days are long and tiring.  I feel like I have to spend a day recovering from them, which to me defeats the purpose of working only three days a week.

So on my days off, I try to give myself at least one recoop day.  We are paying for Munchkie to go to daycare five days a week, but I keep her home with me at least one day each week.  We need our time together.  Time to do fun things and spend time together.  Today started off a little rough, I had a hard time pulling myself together, but once I was up and going, we made the most of our day.

 We walked to the neighborhood square, mailed some packages at the post office.  Then we picked up some pull ups for big girls at night and stopped at the little ice cream shop.  There's a crate full of games in the corner to play while you're eating your ice cream, homemade soup or fresh lobster roll.

 We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and headed home, with a little hand in the box of cereal to help erase the phrase "I hun-gee Mommy"

 Apparently I wore her out.  I arrived home and this is what I found.  Hand still in the box.

 I had to go in and wake her up after a three hour nap.  Then we went for a walk, bus ride and two subways to meet Munchkie's Daddy after school.

 Watching out the window is so much fun!  Especially when there are sailboats out on the river we're crossing. 

 My plan was to arrive downtown, take a picture of a recipe in a cookbook at Barnes and Noble, pick up Munchkie's Daddy and head home.  Well, it took us almost two hours to get downtown.  There was a really cute little table set up in the kids section with scrap paper and crayons, so we sat and colored for a little bit. 

 And the apple must not have lasted too long because the phrase "I hun-gee Mom" returned.  So we ended up walking to a nearby Chipotle to fill those empty tummies.

 And we couldn't pass up the ice cream store we went by.......

this one had a cow on it

 While eating her apple cider ice cream Munchkie says: This ice cream tastes like a mountain.

What does that mean?!?!?

Apparently I had been taking too many pictures today.  Munchkie says "Smile Mama!  I taking your picture!"

MY Mama Never Said There'd Be Days Like This!

Well, at least if my mom did tell me there would be days like these, I didn't listen to her.  To start, I am writing this at 2:09 am.  I worked Friday night through Wednesday night with Monday night "off", which means that I spent at least part of the day sleeping for work, working or sleeping from work, Friday through Thursday and spent over 63 out of 133 hours at work.  Ugh!  Today I intentionally only allowed myself a few hours sleep in the hopes that I would be able to sleep tonight.  Nice try!

While working so much there was absolutely no way that I could even fathom thinking up, making and cleaning up after a meal.  I have never been so thankful for Chipotle in all of my life.  I was able to "provide" a meal that was full of veggies, beans, and meat free of hormones or antibiotics.  It was a delicious meal that fed us that night, then Munchkie and Munchkie's Daddy the next day for lunch as well.

I just don't ever think that I realized how tired a person could be.  Emotionally and physically.  All this work, prep for traveling to the in-laws this weekend, more work, traveling 17 hours to the family lakehouse, more work and then moving is a lot for one little family to handle!  I just never expected my life to be like this.  So busy all of the time that I can barely keep my head on straight, let alone do things that are enjoyable.  On Tuesday when I woke up I took Munchkie to daycare, Munchkie's Daddy to work, came home, got a quick work out in, showered, dashed off to the dentist, came home, tried to sleep for a couple hours, got my dinner and Munchkie's lunch ready for the next day, laid her outfit out, while trying to have some quality time with the family at the same time as I was getting ready for work.  Whew!

So how is it, that after this exhausting week I cannot fall asleep?  How is this possible?  Probably a lot of it has to do with the fact that when my head hits the pillow it starts running like crazy.  Making lists for the store, making lists of things to pack for this weekend, making lists of things to pack for two weeks from now, figuring out what days I can get all of the laundry done, plotting out a Word document of all the things we need to measure at the new apartment next week, who I need to call to catch up with and meals I can put together or bring with me to keep eating healthy during these busy times.

Throughout this I am finding it even more important to deliberately spend time with my family.  Something I thought just happened.  I never realized that you have to specifically set aside time to spend with those you live with.  Through all of this we are trying to make time to get a little movement in together.  This actually works out beautifully, we go walking on paths by our house laughing, talking and playing together.  We look for animals and identify different sounds we hear.  Then we sit on the rock and watch for boats to go by before heading back watching out for rocks and roots.  Taking this time in the quiet, peaceful outdoors has really showed me how great it is to spend time moving as a family, it makes those busy times just melt away for a little while.