perfect afternoon

My idea of a perfect afternoon has certainly changed:

Baby awake, lying on the bed (that’s to say: not in my arms), and NOT crying.   Big kid happily singing songs to us (Jingle Bells on repeat, about 40 times).  Two loads of laundry successfully folded in the meantime.

These winter months are tough.  After having an October baby the first time around I told myself that I would have a spring baby the next time.  Too bad we don’t really get final say when it comes to these things.  The cold weather is keeping us indoors most afternoons.  I wish I could be enjoying the outdoors, taking walks, playing at the playground, and throwing the windows to our house open during the day, but we usually find ourselves trying to entertain ourselves inside.  We’ve been doing well, and it’s helped us with trying to find a rhythm to the household.  I try to plan to get out of the house several times a week with both kids in the afternoon.  I’ve graduated from simple errands (like going to the grocery store for a single item) to more complicated outings (like a grocery run, pit stop at the playground, fueling up the car, and stopping in at the bank – and let me tell you I feel like a superwoman on days like that).  But there are many afternoons when we stay at home, because of cold weather or because I have grand plans for getting things done around the house.  Sometimes those afternoons wear on everyone – we get tired of our limited activity options, we get cranky, we start eyeing the clock to see how many hours left until bedtime, we don’t accomplish anything we intended to.  But some days go splendidly, like the one described above.  We accomplished some small tasks around the house and enjoyed each others company.  My twenty year old self would certainly declare this particular afternoon to be boring or lame.  But my thirty year old self will gladly take it.