The original "Because I said so"

So tonight I was reading bed-time stories to the kids. Oscar chose the Adam & Eve story from his childrens Bible. The following conversation took place between Oscar & I after the story:

O: what was God's rule?
Me: God told Adam & Eve to NOT eat the fruit from one tree
O: why
Me: why what?
O: why couldn't they eat fruit from THAT tree
Me: It doesn't matter why. They disobeyed God by breaking his one rule.
O: buy why couldn't they eat that fruit? Was it bad for them?
Me: Because He said so.

Berries!!

So we went berry picking this morning. Me & all three kids. It went great. Here are some shots. We actually came home w/ some berries. And Oscar only had to pee once & did okay w/ the outhouse (more on that HERE).

Here are Jack & I

Here is what we all looked like... Oscar was a great picker.

And Calvin ate & ate & ate.... I was glad they didn't weight HIM before & after.

You know a good time was had by all when the 2yr old falls alseep in the car on the way home at 10 am.

Jack's 1st meal

I fed Jack rice cereal for the 1st time this morning. He did good!

I've done the math

So one night recently while I was rocking the baby to sleep I started doing some math in my head. I was trying to figure out how much "alone" or "kid-free" time I get each day.

I get up at 5:30am so I can be ready to go before the kids are up at 6ish so that is 30 m of "me time" - which as a side note shouldn't really count... nor should cleaning alone... doing laundry alone... or grocery shopping w/o kids - those are all part of "the job". Anyway, so then the kids are around me all day, etc... The older boys are asleep by 8pm & the baby usually by 8:30pm. So if I head to bed at 9:30 that is 1 hour. So we are at 1 hour, 30 m. Now - lets subtract the two times I get out of bed to tend to the baby at about 45m each for a grand total of zero. Now before you argue that naps should count, it is a rare day that all three are sleeping at the same time & if that occurs I am most likely cleaning, doing laundry, or cooking and we already talked about that... beside I added shower time to my alone time so I'm taking naps as a wash. Oh, and before you say I'm shorted because of Darren's travel schedule please note that my schedule is the same regardless of what city he is in at the time. So this math is for all you stay at home moms. So we left at a total of ZERO me time. This scenario has been about the same for the past 4 1/2 years & will not change until Jack, our youngest goes to preschool in another 4 years. For a total of 8 1/2 years.

Now I think it is reasonable for all people to expect 1 hour a day of time for themselves w/o little kids crawling all over them. That is 365 hours a year, or 22.8 days (assuming 16 waking hours in a day). Multiply that by my 8 1/2 years above and you get 193 DAYS or 6 1/2 months.

Now before you get all preachy on me I'm not saying I don't LOVE my "job" because I so so so do. Or that my husband doesn't help enough (he is an awesome hubby & dad and helps more than most). I'm just saying that stay at home moms get a tad shorted on the mommy time. And this blog is all in good humor so if you are feeling yourself being offended or upset I'm sorry.... go have a drink it sounds like you could use one.

To conclude, now that I've done the math, I'll be saving up my 6 1/2 months of alone time and will take it at some point in the future - maybe on a cruise around the world... although I'd get bored w/o Darren. So more realistically, I'll divide it up in weekly chunks starting when Jack starts preschool. I'll be expecting all the other stay at home moms to join me on my weekly luncheons that we are due. Tell your husbands we've earned our lunches.... and show them the math if neccessary.

Mark your calenders... for 4 years from this sept.

Recent activity at the Lewis house

Darren's b-day was last weekend. The boys had fun w/ the party hats....

We went to the zoo this week (first time I took all three kids) w/ our friends the Bailly's

The big highlight this week has been an overnight trip for the two older boys to Grandma & Grandpa's house. Here are some shots of that...

While they were there, I took Jack berry picking... yes that is a stoller & starbucks cup in the midst of the berrys.

And of course Granny came over to play!

And I'll leave you w/ a wiggles dance!