How can you be "into" a hobby and still care for preschoolers? . . . Harlock?

Well, my wife helps with the housework, my five year old is very well-behaved and I generally post when the sixth month old is asleep or my wife is home. Also, I have a pretty good chance of remembering anything I read and Google has lots of information right at my fingertips. I swear, Google's slogan should be, "We even make idiots look good." 'Cause hey, it works for me!

Pretty much everything I do right now revolves around the children. The baby can't crawl yet, and you can bet when she starts, I'll likely find even less time to post. She sat up Sunday night all by herself! Today after Pre-K we went to the park with some of the other "moms". Then it was lunchtime for the five year old, nap time for the baby and reading and posting for me. I dunno how I am doing it. Blame the bipolar?

Heh, I was a Psych major in college. I learned some good stuff regarding consistency. I learned a heap of crap as well, but the good stuff I practice and use. The five year old listens so well to me, but you should see what he gets away with when Mommy is around. She isn't as consistent. I'm not griping, I'm glad and he probably views her as the more nurturing parent, which is fine with me as well. When the baby hits the crawling/toddler stage I am likely to divise a way to keep her in one area quite a bit. Also, so far her nap time is very very easy for me. She ikes to sleep in, wake up, eat play for a couple hours, then have a nap. This suits Mommy as well, as she gets more awake time with her in the early afternoon and evenings and it is certainly easier on the two of us to share the majority of her waking time. All in all, I am really blessed.

Well, maybe my kids are just extraordinarily well-behaved, but I have a lot of spare time despite having a 5 1/2 year old and a 23 month old. Of course, I am not keeping huge tanks... just two 25 gallon tanks... 1 planted... and a 20 gallon goldfish tank. The kids like to browse the fish store. Also, I usually don't attempt water changes unless my husband is home or my busy toddler is sleeping. Still, my planted tank gets two 35-40% water changes per week, and the other two get 35% changes weekly. It really doesn't take a lot of time to maintain tanks once you have them cycled and a routine established.

For me, it's all about having a great spouse and naptimes and bedtimes!

I'm a stay home Mommy of 4 year old and 21 month old daughters. My hubby and I split all the housework... He was a stay home Daddy for 5 months when he lost his job and I went back to work when our first child was 2. So he knows I work as hard at home as he does at work and would never leave all the housework for me alone to do... We usually do our housework together on Saturdays and I do my weekly tank maintenence on Sunday when my youngest is down for her nap. Our 4 year old will either help me with my tank cleaning or be hanging out with Daddy while I do it. I also do scrapbooking (during naps or late at night) and I belong to a ladies Gourmet Group that meets once a month... These are my little breaks from being a 24/7 Mommy and my husband would never keep me from enjoying them!

I know what you mean about the brain fog though... I used to feel very smart and on the ball. I have some NASD securities licenses (which are going to lapse soon, if I don't go back to work) and worked with mutual funds and retirement plans. Then we had kids... now the extent of most of my conversations are along the lines of "Ok, who wants grilled cheese?" or "Hey, look at this rash on her chin! What do you suppose that is?" or, uh, someone's recent diaper contents... But for now, i'm happy that i'm the one who's teaching my kids what's important and how to be decent people. I always wanted to be a stay home mommy, and I feel very lucky that I can be.

I can be smart and on the ball again in a few years... if I remember how!

aknif said:

I know what you mean about the brain fog though... I used to feel very smart and on the ball. I have some NASD securities licenses (which are going to lapse soon, if I don't go back to work) and worked with mutual funds and retirement plans. Then we had kids... now the extent of most of my conversations are along the lines of "Ok, who wants grilled cheese?" or "Hey, look at this rash on her chin! What do you suppose that is?" or, uh, someone's recent diaper contents... But for now, i'm happy that i'm the one who's teaching my kids what's important and how to be decent people. I always wanted to be a stay home mommy, and I feel very lucky that I can be.

I can be smart and on the ball again in a few years... if I remember how!

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ROFL!

*sigh*

My friend and I were discussing chronic constipation in children last week. Isn't it amazing and scary how you get a few parents together and eventually you start talking about diaper contents and BM schedules... without flinching.... while eating dinner. :laugh:

Obsidian said:

ROFL!

*sigh*

My friend and I were discussing chronic constipation in children last week. Isn't it amazing and scary how you get a few parents together and eventually you start talking about diaper contents and BM schedules... without flinching.... while eating dinner. :laugh:

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Ah, but it's so true. My wife and I often forget. We have her little (but grown-up) sister and her sister's fiancee over every Saturday for some social time and Roleplaying games. It's funny, my wife and I will lapse into a discussion about our baby's diaper business (when there is a berak or dice are being rolled, etc.) and we'll forget there are uninitiated folks around until we stop talking, hear nothing but silence and stare into their slack-jawed, wide-eyed faces. They need to hurry up, get married and have soem kids so they can relate, dangit!

It truly is frightening the conversations I overhear at Pre-k dropoff, at the park, in line at the grocery store... and at my own table during dinner with other child-having friends... and no one even bats an eye! But, my younger sister, who is also engaged, SAYS she wants to have kids, and then she comes over to babysit. My oldest is a mellow kid, my youngest is, uh, spirited. (Which I believe is the new PC term for screamin' twerp) Anyway, by the time she leaves, it seems that she's convinced to put off kids for a while....