Friday Funk

I am in such a funk this Friday. I overslept, had a teary goodbye with E this morning, and a challenging bedtime battle with her last night.

I think we're all just struggling to adjust to this new schedule. She wanted to stay and play with her friends at preschool yesterday, so I let her give me a playground tour, and she was thrilled to show me the bunnies and teepee. Leaving to head home was a little challenging, as you can see below, but I let her have her lay-in-the-grass time. I need to do the same sometimes.

When we got home, she was upset that it was so close to dinner and bedtime, and she didn't want me spending any time away from her. I let her help me with a breakfast dinner of eggs and pancakes, and this made me feel better about my choice to pick her up at 3 instead of letting her go out to the playground until 4 with the other kids each day. And, I realized that, no matter how tired I am after working a full day, I need to give her my full attention from 3pm until dinner time. We both need that time together.

Overall, I think we've done well this week. Mark is taking me and E out to dinner tonight to celebrate. Nothing fancy, of course, but who needs fancy when you're in great company? Not this mama! Give me green grass, blue skies, and some steak fries!

Baby Doll Parenting Fail

No one told me, when I signed on for this parenting thing, that I would also be the sole caregiver and legal guardian of two plastic baby dolls... one of which has faulty wiring and cries all the time.

This morning, I was so focused, on making sure my real daughter didn't fall down the stairs, that I dropped Baby 1 out of her cheap, plastic car seat I was carrying. I didn't think this was a big deal until Ellie saw Baby face-down at the bottom of the stairs and had a mini meltdown.

"BABY!! What happened!?" Ellie rushed to her rescue. I had to act equally horrified, make crying noises, shush her, and rock her.

I looked up to see Mark frowning at me. "We better wait awhile before we try for a second..." he said.

Baby 1 and Baby 2 spent the entire day with us, in and out of shopping carts, buckled in the car, eating dinner with us. I had to feed them!

And at bedtime, as if I wasn't exhausted enough, I had to hold all of them to read a Clifford book and interact with each child.

"Mama, make sure the baby asks questions," instructed Ellie.

Me: ...Clifford went to the firehouse.
Me as Baby 1: Oh no, will there be a fire!?
Me as Baby 2: I'm scared of Clifford!! He's a big scary dog!

Ellie: Babies!! Babies. (sigh) Clifford is going to get some water and put out the fire. Clifford is not scary. He's a big dog, but he's nice. He's a *hero*!!

Me (silently): Yeah. Stupid babies.

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In other news, this is my last day of part-time work. On Tuesday morning, I start bright and early, at 7am and will work until 3pm. It hasn't really sunk in yet and probably won't until the 7am-alarm goes off.

In other, other news, I'm having a blast migrating art stuff and posting new "Today in the Studio" updates over at Kids Art Source. If you haven't yet, check it out! Like the Facebook page to get local art updates and project ideas, Follow us on Twitter, and check out our Pinterest board for more art ideas!

Photo Friday Princess

On this Photo Friday, I woke up to E half-dressed as a princess and asking for me to make her a dress. So, I found another use for those scarf-wearing tutorials floating around Facebook. She donned these play glasses, and sock gloves, so that no one would be hurt by her magic powers, a la Elsa from Frozen. The next, most-obvious accessory choice was a harmonica. Her day care teacher, Sam, confirmed what we all have known and cherished about her all along. On Wednesday, he told me, "Your daughter is... hilarious."

Photo Friday 2

One photo to sum up my week of toddler disobedience, chaos, and "I just want to be a baby again" whiny-ness?

This is it.

Photo Friday

Yep. I'm really doing a photo for Photo Friday. Just a photo, well, photoS. Well, and this text. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wreck It!

The wrecking continues... I just love this pic! More Wreck This Journal posts to come!