SAHM (for the day)

I love Saturdays. The work week is over and it's nice to wake up and not have anything on the agenda. I woke up last Saturday with the thought "I'd like to pretend that I'm a SAHM (stay at home mom) for the day and find fun things for us to do!"

This past Saturday, Randy had to take his truck in for servicing so EG and I had a mommy and daughter morning out! We had breakfast at McDonalds, went to the library (her first trip!) and got groceries. Emily was so good during the entire adventure. She loved exploring the puzzles and books at the library. I think if I had let her, she would have pulled every book off the shelf. She chose a few books (she picked one about hide-n-seek polar bears and another story about a mouse who flew with the Wright brothers) and we grabbed some DVDs of Clifford and Author. Cleary, this kid loves some animals. She even made a new friend (see the bottom right picture :)) and wanted to sit with her while she read one of her new books. We had such a great time but I was exhausted by the time lunch rolled around!

Saturday funday! 

Sunday was a busy day of church, cleaning and resting. I noticed at lunch that Emily felt warm and had begun breaking out into a rash all over her body. I called the nurse hotline at our wonderful pediatricians office. They told me to keep an eye on it but sounded like she was coming down with a virus. It didn't seem to be bothering her that much and I thought we were passed the worst of it.

Then she woke up yesterday with the rash all over her face and redder than the day before. Ugh! After a quick call to the pediatirians office, we decided to take her in. Randy had a busy day at work so I was a SAHM again! I was determined to make it a good day together, even if we were home because she was sick. The doctor couldn't see us until later in the morning so we did a quick errand and then went by a local park to see if we could spot some ducks. We brought bread for them but no luck! They must have been sleeping in on a lazy Monday morning. Emily loved the swings so we played on them for a while and then went to check out the waterfall.

Still looking for those ducks

After our morning adventure, we visited our Dr. W (our favorite pediatrician) and it was determined that Emily had a reaction to her vaccination last week AND an ear infection! Poor thing just can't catch a break. Luckily, some antibiotics and an afternoon nap seemed to kick off the healing process. While she napped, I tackled the mountain of laundry in our spare bedroom, vacuumed, mopped, changed our sheet and started another load of laundry.  And after Emily woke up, we took a quick stroll around the neighborhood, colored and I even cooked dinner. I was so proud of all my accomplishments! Gold star for my SAHM day!

So, on days like today, when we are back in the grind and I'm trying to get myself ready for work and Emily ready for school, packing both our lunches, realizing I don't have what I need to put together an easy dinner in the crock pot, rushing out of the house to beat early morning traffic and doing it all in a dress and 3 inch heals....I'm reminded that I can and DO have great days as a mom, a wife and employee. They usually don't all happen on the same day. But I can make the best of the time we have together and enjoy the little things without worrying about what's next on my to-do list. I'm thankful for my "pretend SAHM days" because they remind me of what's important in life and hold me over until our next fun adventure together.

*M