Today.

Rhys painted a drum...

Rhys held his brother...

Kyle posed for a thank-you card...

Kyle looked adorable after his bath...

Not Awful. ( changed title)

I have been a Negative Nelly lately.

At a dinner party the other night I was asked "So, how is it now that Rhys is home full time?". "Awful", I replied. Everyone laughed and I proclaimed myself The World's Most Honest Mom. Everyone laughed some more.

But deep down, I regretted that answer instantly. 'Awful' was simply the wrong word. It's not awful at all. I mean - from a purely selfish perspective, it's just really, really, REALLY hard. And frustrating. And often overwhelming. And exhausting. But, the truth is... (and this is VERY hard for a mom who chose to go back to work to admit)...the truth is, Rhys is THRIVING lately. He's happier at home than he used to be. He laughs and smiles more. He's not tired and worn down at the end of the day. His imagination is exploding. He's playing with more of his toys and watching less TV. His linguistic skills are improving everyday with new words, longer sentences and better pronunciation. It's been really wonderful to watch. A far cry from 'awful'. But, it's not easy engaging with him and remaining patient with him while I'm nursing or burping or rocking a baby to sleep at any given moment in the day. And it's easy to focus on the negative.

Last night, as I nursed Kyle at 4:00am, I started to feel incredibly guilty that he would not be getting a full year with me like this, when he's a toddler. And sad that I won't get a year like this with him.

The good days aren't without their bad moments. And the bad days aren't without their good moments, either. The secret is knowing which moments to focus on, I guess.

Looked Good On Paper.

Before Kyle was born, I was freaking out a little about what the heck I would do to keep Rhys occupied during the day once he was home with me full time.

So I downloaded this book: 365 Games Smart Toddlers Play

Aside from the pretentious title, I really like this book. It's full of everyday, simple, cheap ideas of fun things to do with young children (like hide stuffed animals all over your house, give your child a flash light, turn out the lights, and let them go an a safari hunt! Brilliant!). And on my iPad I can 'bookmark' the games/craft/activities/tips that I like and refer back to them later.

One activity the books suggests, is a 'sorting' game. You use multicoloured items, like buttons or coins or whatever and have your toddler sort them into clear jars. "Your toddler will love the sound of the items falling into the glass jars! " the book boasts.

Sounds good on paper.

In our case, we used uncooked spiral noodles that came in green, yellow and orange.

These pictures depict a well behaved young chap in his lovely plaid pyjamas, enjoying the wonderfully fun, yet educational, game that his perfect mother facilitated for him:

What the pictures don't show is that he was interested in the game for about 3 minutes, then had a full on 'on-the-floor-whining' tantrum while he screamed 'Dieeeeegoooo! Don't want to play with moooommmmmyy!!! Dieeeegoooo!", followed by an eventual 3 more minutes of playing the game (because a bribe was used, I'm almost certain).

SIGH.

Well, at least the noodles tasted good at lunch time.

Day One.

Today is March 1st, and this marks the first day of the rest of my mat leave. Yesterday was Rhys' last day of daycare, and today is the first day of being full time with both boys.

His last day was a bit surreal, and anti-climatic. We took Kyle with us in the morning to drop Rhys off, so he could show everyone his new little brother. We gave the staff a small gift to say thank-you. We left our contact info for Jasper and Maya's moms, so that maybe Rhys can still see his little friends again. Warren said at the end of the day, when he picked Rhys up, he had to empty out his cubby and they had another child's things waiting to fill it. Rhys cried out, saying 'that's my cubby!'. Sheesh. They could have waited until he was gone...

Since Gramma Patsy is leaving for sunny Phoenix tomorrow for a week, we spent the day with her. Coffee and Scream in the morning... Where we ran into Rhys' cousins Elizabeth and Kaitlyn by total fluke!

Today also marks day one of something else. I am going to blog every day in March, even if it's just posting a photo :)

So, three cheers for March. Here goes nothing!