Making a grand exit

Let's travel back in time to April 2001. Eight years ago. I saw one of my bands perform seven shows within ten days. It was almost like a part of my daily routine. (Or maybe a bad habit. Depends on who you ask.) Some people watch television at night to relax - I went to shows. The best part of those shows was knowing that the band knew that I was there. I remember specifically for those shows having seats in the pit or standing in the front. For every single one of those shows, the guitarist would sing a certain line to a song to me. That was how I knew that they knew that I was there. How cool was I? (Yes, I am laughing at myself right now.)

I always told myself that after I was married and started having babies, I would still keep my little rock star lifestyle - scaled back big time, of course. I wasn't going to be one of those lame ones that flaked out. Well, look at me now. I can't even remember the last show I went to. (Well, I actually can remember but it was such a disaster, I don't want to.)

If I had to bow out, at least I did it big. Death by triplets. The end of my rock star life.

Now let's compare to my life now.

Saturdays and Sundays are family days with Rich and I both at home at the same time, usually, and Grammy on break. Here's an exciting recap of our past Saturday.

The guy who delivers the newspapers in our neighborhood needs a new muffler. He's needed a new muffler for the past eighteen months. I can't even be mad at him because I'm sure that he can't afford a new muffler. If I had any extra cash lying around, I would gladly offer to pay for parts and labor. It's not unusual to hear his car speeding throughout the area at four o'clock in the morning.

We've noticed on the weekends that he delivers the newspapers later than usual. This Saturday was no exception and at six o'clock, our quiet street was disrupted. This caused a little one to awaken, which caused another little one to awaken, crying in anger and sleepiness. Oh, crap. I thought about opening my eyes and getting up. Thought about it. And then suddenly, miraculously, the crying stopped and silence ruled the house again. The girls slept until 7:15 and woke up chatting and laughing, always a good start to the day.

The Fence Guy was scheduled to arrive at 9:00 to meet with Rich. I was on Mommy Duty in the house while Rich showed him the yard. The girls kept saying, "Guy, guy," and trying to find them out in the yard. Here's a cute picture that I snapped of them looking out the window. This window doesn't have a step under it so they have to stand on tip-toes. As you can see, poor Anna has fallen behind a little in height as well. She has her head twisted to the side, trying to see over the sill.



After The Fence Guy left, we packed the girls up into the van (a ten minute process) and headed out to run some quick errands. Rich needed to run into a nearby store for a few "manly house" items. I ran into the home improvement store to pick out which carpet I wanted for the hall stairs and then we all went into Kohl's to look for sweaters to match the girls' Easter/birthday dresses.

We arrived home in time to feed the girls lunch. Here's a super adorable picture of Em.



After a brief nap (the girls, not us), Rich took the girls out for a walk so that I could clean the downstairs bathroom and laundry room. Don't they look thrilled?



Grumpy and serious.

Saturday night was extra special in that Rich and I went out! One of his sisters was hosting "Game Night" and we decided to join in. To sum up Game Night in a nutshell - some of Rich's siblings and their spouses get together to play board games, etc. (By the way, I am horrible at Trivial Pursuit, especially the edition released in 1981.) I'm lucky to have such great in-laws. We get along well and I usually have a fun time at family gatherings. But Rich and I hardly ever go out alone so when we jumped in the car to head over to Game Night, I said to Rich, "Why don't we just blow off Game Night and go the The Cheesecake Factory for dinner instead?" He was tempted. But we went to Game Night.

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Seeing that we are such night owls, we left Game Night at 9:00 and crawled into bed a little after 10:00. It's impossible for me to stay awake past 11:00 these days.

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Yes, life is much different than I ever expected it to be but if I had the choice, I wouldn't change what I have now. This is so much more fulfilling - having this wonderful little family.