Alternately titled, hugging your stretch pants back.
I purposely dressed in workout clothes this morning, with the hopes that I would find my way to the gym someway, somehow, even as the odds continued to stack up against it. It wasn't one of those sweatpants-are-all-that-fits-me days, either. I had good intentions. To prove this, I will confess to applying a full face of make up in the car, and blow drying my hair in my sister's bathroom while our herd of half a dozen children ran wild through her living room.
Sadly, I've yet to make it to the gym, but my mascara looks great. And I have high hopes for the post-dinner hour, while daddy does bedtime solo and I can perhaps sneak away for 60 minutes of elliptically infused relaxation.
Sure, it would be nice to put some real clothes on, but I know myself well enough to know that if the gym shoes stay on my feet long enough, those feet will soon enough find their way out the door and headed in the right direction.
(Back to bedtime for a sec - does anyone else hand over the entire routine to their dearly beloved? Or am I just the most heartless wife/mother in all the land.) Seriously I loathe the bedtime shenanigans, while Dave seems to (usually) relish the time to reconnect with the boys. When I have a newborn I feel like I have an awesome 'get out of bedtime free' card, so I just sweetly collapse on the nearest couch with the nursling and mentally check out of hands-on parenting for a while. I guess maybe I'm practicing detachment parenting? Whatever.
So workout clothes. Worn all day, but in the spirit of hopefulness, not resigned surrender. I'm counting this a 'win,' and my one thing for today. We're in the homestretch now!
My husband does the bedtime routine every night. By 6:30pm I am D-O-N-E. And I'm neither pregnant or nursing. I guess I feel guilty on some level or else I wouldn't be commenting . . . . Sometimes he does the dishes, too, but I'm trying not to get into the habit of letting him.
ReplyDeleteI chuckled at "elliptically infused relaxation." Enjoy!
You've got this! Good for you for having the motivation! And, I hand over the baths most of the time too - for some reason, it's just not my favorite time!
ReplyDeleteMy husband does bath and I put our daughter to bed. I hate bathtime. You just sit there while they splash and get everything wet. :-) I much prefer to read her a few books, say our prayers, and then sit by her bed in silence for a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteI totally hand over bedtime when I'm nursing - heck, these days Andrew still does most of it because I'm nursing babies to sleep while he's doing story time... Otherwise we couldn't maintain our delightful "kids in bed by 8" lifestyle :) And I almost never bathe the kids - it's always been his job!
ReplyDeleteI totally do the same thing with bedtime. Maybe I'm heartless too, but I think that I'm blessed to spend every waking minute with all five kids from the time they wake up, do school, and eat two meals without daddy (so roughly 9 hours) - it's ALL him for bedtime - and thankfully he complies with joy!
ReplyDeleteMy hubby does bed, teeth brushing, hair brushing, pajamas, prayers, read stories and bedtime every night. So....you aren't alone there! When he's away overnight for work once in awhile..well, let's just say bedtimes isn't as peaceful as the little bug is used to.
ReplyDeleteI hand off bedtime too! I'm a zombie by that time of day & the boys go to bed WAY better for dad than they do for mom..
ReplyDeletePs. Mid way through this post I popped up and ran (that counts as a workout right?) into the bathroom to throw on mascara! Sometimes you need a reminder to just do it, even if it's just mascara!
I'm completely with you on the Daddy-does-bedtime thing. Once 8:00 or so comes around, I just have no patience left. On the (thankfully, rare) nights that Brennan isn't home in time to put the boys down, I'm a cranky, brittle mess through the whole routine. Brennan, on the other hand, is (mostly) all patience and kindness when he does it. His parenting quota for the day hasn't yet been over-filled.
ReplyDeletedetachment parenting - YES! best of luck kiddos...
ReplyDeleteWe do the same here. Mine are old enough to brush their teeth by themselves, then I go up for a quick kiss and Daddy handles the prayers and tucking in - which always involves a very long and intricate wrestling session. When he's not home, all that goes by the wayside as I rush them through the process so I can turn the light off and beat feet out of there!
ReplyDeleteI think bed time is a great great great time for dads to bond. A great time. No guilt here. Dad's love the time to catch up with the kids while we catch up with our "work" (or blog reading, or whatever). And even if they can't do it solo every night I think it's great for everyone when it does happen solo. They just do it differently than we do it, and that's good. I got the idea from my friend because I am too tired to get to the dinner chores after bed time. John is happy to exchange dish duty for bath time, and I am happy to get a break from those cute little faces.
ReplyDeleteMy husband does bath time and sometimes bedtime. I hate bath time. He picks up my slack because I'm just not very good at my "job". I'm usually pregnant or nursing too. He doesn't complain either. I'm blessed with a pretty stellar husband.
ReplyDeleteBedtime is definitely for Steve. He is leaving to go to the field for 3 weeks and he said, "Just try to remember to brush their teeth every so often? Please?" Because he knows that I am d-o-n-e by that time of the day. And my old standby "their teeth are just going to fall out anyway- I'm not fighting anyone over THAT" doesn't seem to be a good argument. ("Think of their gums, Jenn!") Ugh. I like to practice detachment parenting as often as possible.
ReplyDelete