Right now, if you know me or have been reading my blog, you might be thinking “What?! Going Dad had a donut after talking so much about eating healthy?!”
Well, it’s not that kind of donut, so you can breathe again; or go on not caring in the first place. 🙂
After an already seemingly long day out with Avery on Saturday, I walked out of the Tom Thumb to find my precious Subaru with a flat tire. Good thing I didn’t have any frozen veggies or anything perishable. Oh wait, I DID! At least Avery thought it was funny….
Luckily, I’ve put in my time working on several types of cars and had the spare (a.k.a. donut) on in no time.
So yeah, I’m not a hypocrite because IÂ didn’t have one of those sugary fried dough confections. Of course they taste good, but I simply don’t derive satisfaction from something that’s non-nutritive and even harmful to my body.
Backtracking to Saturday morning, Going Mom and I were treated to a longer than usual sleeping baby which gave us an extra hour’s sleep! Mornings like these have become scarce, but they’re always well received.
When she finally woke, we went about our normal Saturday routine; Kelley fed and changed Avery as I made a batch of chocolate banana protein pancakes. Kelley brewed our black gold in the French Press which we both readily consumed…..maybe too fast. After a couple hours, it was time to grab the Fiskars Reel Mower and kick some grass.
After kicking the grass, I then mowed it. Since Kelley was home and kept Avery, I didn’t wear her in the Onya, so I wore my 20lb vest instead. Just preparing for when Avery hits the 20lb mark; I’ll be ready!
Several areas in the house have been bothering Kelley, and I told her I’d take Avery out for some errands while she cleaned to her liking. I try to keep a clean house so she doesn’t have to worry about these things on the weekend, but in reality, I suck at most cleaning. Literally, I vacuum a lot.
I’ve been wanting to make an activity board for Avery for a while, so I went to Home Depot to find a few items that would be great for her to play with. I wasn’t exactly sure what all I would find, but door stops were an obvious choice. Every time we set her down in her nursery, Avery will head right toward the door stop and pull it and release.
One of our neighbors had given me some extra MDF to use for the board, and bought another piece from the scrap wood from Home Depot. Have you ever checked out the scrap section at a hardware store? You can get some great deals on quality wood!
After we left Home Depot, we went to Tom Thumb where I came back out to the flat tire. The culprit was a shiny screw from all of the new construction around our neighborhood….yay. I’m going to Costco today, so hopefully they can patch it to be good as new….or close to it!
Going Mom was still “going” with the cleaning when we arrived home, but she had a lot done and we just needed to finish a few things. We did our best to keep Avery entertained the rest of the night, which is getting more challenging than usual.
After an already long day, we pushed our luck and tried to see if Avery would improve her new crawling skills before bedtime. Nope, she was tired, fussy, hungry, and wanted nothing to do with us. So off to bed she went and with how tired she had to of been, we were sure we’d have another day of sleeping in.
Silly parents, when will we learn? Avery was up talking to herself and moving all over her crib nice and early. We laid in bed, listening to her noises until they turned into cries, at which point I brought her to Kelley to eat.
It was a perfect lazy Sunday morning with cloud covered skies and rain falling steadily. I cooked pumpkin teff and my wife, knowing the key to my heart, brewed coffee in the French Press. We sat outside to enjoy the coffee and watch the rain with Avery. She kept pretty active as Kelley held her squirmy body, but eventually she gave in to her tiredness and was out fast!
Kelley was able to carry her inside and put her in the crib without waking her, so we did what any couple would do with a sleeping baby; Kelley cleaned and I went for a run in the rain.
6.5 miles plus 31 burpees, pushups, and squats later, I returned, drenched from non-stop rain, to find Avery awake and with Kelley in the kitchen. The nap was short-lived, but both girls seemed to be in a good mood. Phew!
Besides going on a long walk together after the rain cleared, we hung around the house the rest of the day and finished a few chores while having classic Donald Duck cartoons playing on YouTube through our TV. Donald Duck quarreling with Chip and Dale are the cartoons I remember growing up on, and hope to get Avery into watching them more often with us. So far, we’re off to a bad start as she doesn’t understand she needs to face the TV to watch it…
But I’m not too concerned since we don’t want her having a lot of screen time anyway! Once again, we pushed our limits with our daughter and tried capturing her crawling in action. This time was better than Saturday night, and I went a little video crazy on Instagram. But hey, our little girl is getting the hang of this crawling thing!!
She wasn’t fussy, but it was late, so we called it a night and Kelley laid her down to sleep after feeding her. Now it’s back to Monday and Avery and I are already missing Mommy; hopefully she’ll be home on time!
Even as a stay-at-home parent, I still feel the dreadful effects of a weekend coming to an end just because I’ll be without my wife/partner in crime the next day. But we can’t sit and sulk, instead I’ll celebrate the fact that we had a pleasant weekend together and look forward to another great weekend ahead!
Are you an at-home parent who is still affected by a typical workweek?
Ever have to change a tire, or something worse, in the middle of a parking lot…..with kids?