Saturdaze

I, personally, love Saturdays with kiddos.I mean when I’m lying in my comfy bed and I hear “Oh Moooommy!” come sweetly through the monitor my first thought is usually 'boy, it had better be past 6:30 am.'  Then I smile, because for how much longer will I hear that? It’ll soon be his fingers in my eyeballs when we get him a ‘big-boy-bed’ and he discovers the art of escape.But that’s not my favorite part.My favorite part is when, after hearing him start to call, Daddy goes to get him out of bed.I could turn off the monitor, but I don’t. If Little Bear is sleeping I stay in bed for just a few moments longer, listening to them talk.“It’s my Daddy! Hi, Daddy! I wuv my Daddy.”-“Hey, Bud. I love you too. Ready to get up?”Now this is special because of the happiness I hear in Bubba’s voice. He’s so used to me getting him out of bed during the week, that when Daddy gets to do it- best-day-ever.“Daddy, I get outta bed. Where Little Bear? My Mommy? I Need Diaper. Garbage truck? I wook out da window.” and it continues. Listening to it from the other end is what makes me smile. You can hear how much they love one another, first thing in the morning.Not a bad way to start a Saturday, no matter what the time.Since Bubba’s arrival, weekends have taken on a different tone. Less gallivanting around the county to wineries and events, that’s for sure. We tend to spend the time together, running errands, visiting family- just doing things. Some weekends we have concrete plans but we usually try to keep them open. Even more so since Little Bear burst onto the scene. You see, things change when you have kids, even just one, I don’t mean in the -you’re-a-parent-now- kind of way, but for us, it is how we spend our time.What exactly were we so busy doing before kids?There is this awesome bagel truck called Bada-Bing Bagels >check them out here< that boasts NY Style bagels (be still my gluten-loving heart). We’ve gotten into the habit that on Saturday, Daddy & Bubba go to the farmer’s market and pick up a bag of bagels and some fresh stuff. Today, the woman who owns the truck recognized them and got excited that Bubba likes to talk about bagels. Little does she know, he talks all the time. When they returned, he burst into the house and announced “Mommy! We got da bagels!” then Daddy made a homemade breakfast-eh to be honest, more like brunch. Regardless, yum. Our days revolve around nap time- that rare span of time when Bubba is quiet in bed and Little Bear is asleep in her swing or crib. Ahhh quiet. Now I said rare, this is because for some reason, during the week, they don’t nap at the same time. Yet on weekends, the stars align and we tend to get about an hour when both cherubs have closed their eyes and found some time to recharge. I would love to tell you I spend that time in a warm bubbly bathtub, enjoying the quiet in pure mommy-bliss. Eh, no dice. Usually, I’m catching up on laundry, taking a shower longer than 4.5 minutes (I can deep condition the hair- score!), straightening the disaster of a family room post-toddler-playtime and planning what happens when they wake up. Look, there went the hour. One of these days, I’ll get to where the house is always clean, you can still see the vacuum lines in the carpet and the possibility of toys erupting from their baskets is all but a whisper of a threat.Both kids will probably be in college by then.  Until we reach that point, we’ll paddle on. Embracing the crushed crumbs in the carpet, the PJs until naptime and the constraints of a choppy schedule. Before we know it, they’ll be out at early Saturday-morning sports and the monitor will be long packed away. Ahh Saturday.Be Great,M