I Forgot What It Was Like

Thanks to the bubonic plague that's been turning my Princesses into complete cranky nightmares and filling my home with nasty germs, last Monday instead of babysitting my charge, Miss E. at our place, I went to her house instead. Hubby had the day off so he stayed home with the coughing, feverish, and short-fused Princesses, God bless him.

And oh, how heavenly my day was. I didn't realize I had completely forgotten how wonderful it is to have just one baby. I watched daytime TV (and it wasn't Sesame Street). I READ (yes, an actual book, like with pages and everything!). I ate bonbons (OK, not really, but I did have a Girl Scout cookie, so I think it counts). I did actually care for Miss E. as well, but since we were working on man to man defense rather than zone, well, my day was SO easy!.

Funny thing is, although I don't really remember what it's like to only have one baby around, I don't actually remember it being quite that carefree day in and day out when I was home with my first princess. I was working fulltime at the time and took 10 weeks maternity leave. I do remember taking naps with her on the couch, and watching A Baby Story on TLC (I was obsessed, admittedly. I cried every.single.episode). But I also had bills to pay, laundry to do, dishes to clean, meals to make. I also had a baby that liked to wake up every three hours at night, so I was working on little sleep. In other words, real life.

When E's mom got home from work on Monday, I told her I wanted to do this at least once a month. Just suspend reality for 8 hours a month. Just to hold a baby, sit and read or watch TV, eat cookies and for 8 short hours pretend I have no other responsibilities in the world. I love my life, responsibilities and all. But sometimes it's rejuvenating to leave it all behind for awhile. So if I claim the reading and cookie eating makes me a better mama, then it's OK, right? That's not too much to ask?