Mr Mom

I am not built for this, being Mr. Mom that is.  I always loved the Michael Keaton movie about it, not ever wanting to try it out myself.  There are plenty of other movies I wanted to try out, like Red Dawn...but I digress.  Rebecca took off with Haylee to Buffalo last Thursday and left me stranded here with the other two kids for the weekend.  There is a reason Dad's are the breadwinners.  I know I am being very old-fashioned and stereotypical on this point and am full aware of the various life situations that make each family unique and different and that there are role reversals and so on and so on.  Call me prejudice, whatever.  For me, personally, I am happy to be the one to go to work each day and leave the majority of home parenting to Rebecca.  We have covered in past blogs my inability to change diapers.  That is a whole other story.  

So this weekend has been rough, and fun all bundled up into one.  First off, who knew that a five and three year old would have such unbreakable habits?  "Daddy, we always do this first and then that!"  "Mommy makes my sandwich this way!"  "Mommy lets me do it like this."  Either these kids take me for a sucker or they really have some nuances that need breaking!  

I realized also that this would be a great opportunity to get a few notches up on the "who's the favorite parent" counter.  I unofficially joined the parenting Mafia.  In other words, I used Wendy's as bribes for everything I could.  "Kids!  Do this and you get another Frosty!"  Works like a charm for those that are looking for that last little motivation to get your kids to pick up the toys or clean up after themselves.  I think the teens at Wendy's now know us on a first name basis.  

I think I did score major points with this one though.  

Yep, I turned the living room into a fort!  Tierra and Eli got to sleep in it for two nights.  They were loving it.  Every kid loves a fort, 

especially one made out of the living room furniture right?  Rebecca will have a lot of catching up after that stunt.  Ha ha ha.  It was suppose to be a surprise to her, as in I didn't want her to know about it until she read the blog post about it, but Tierra and Eli both spouted it out first thing on the phone last night.  

A quick word on cribs.  HOLY FREAKING HECK!  So we got this crib from friends, but they had lost the hardware.  No big deal, we call the company and order replacement hardware.  Thinking that it would be a no-brainer once said hardware arrived... WRONG.  3 hours, a scratched mouse pad on Rebecca's laptop, and pages of internet searching for downloadable instructions, the crib is reassembled.  Hopefully when Haylee returns and  sleeps in it her first night, it won't fall apart on her. 

This said, we made it.  The house didn't get remodeled to badly, the kids made it without any major injury, or better yet, food related illnesses.  We survived.  The house is not clean by any one's standards, but I did get the yard mowed, some laundry done, and made it to all the scheduled events for these rugrats.  Baseball, Preschool activities, and even a day at the park yesterday.  Yes, I am looking for props.