No Nap Joe

Kenny is napping AGAIN!   Having this blog to look forward to during “naptime” has suddenly caused me to develop some super-powered baby mojo, and I have actually been able to get him to sleep and down in the crib without a peep!

We are leaving for England tomorrow and there is much to do, but I can’t resist stealing a few minutes to write… that’s what this is for, right?

(For all of you who are finding this site, please note that my writing here will be quite limited for the next 10 days or so during our trip, but please continue to post comments, submit stories or write to me!   I will continue blogging as I can.)

Life as a stay-at-home wife/mommy is so much fun.   Like, fun-house fun, carnival fun,  and funny-I’m-going-cuckoo fun all rolled into a 24/7 job with no lunch break.  

Since I will be writing here about  my  life and  little boy, let me clarify why I will never use the phrase “Stay at home Mom” or “SAHM” in my posts… I am and will forevermore be, first, a Wife.   Isn’t it interesting how our grandmas and moms all refered to themselves (if they didn’t work outside the home) proudly as a “Housewife” in their day?   There was no such phrase as “Stay at home Mom.”   Where did that come from?   I got married, and so my first attentions will always go to my amazing hubby.   Then, we found ourselves with sweet little Kenny, and I am honored to be able to stay at home and raise him.   So I’m a woman, a wife and a mommy.   What Joy this life is!

So here’s a question for all you moms out there… when you really have to get things done, i.e. pack for a 10-day trip to England, clean house, do laundry and on and on, what do you do with a 9 1/2 month old ball of energy that crawls faster than a sprinting weimaraner,  walks himself not only around the furniture but behind that little space by the couch that you can’t even fit the vacuum into, is starting to figure out that the doggie door might be fun to wiggle through and who wants, more than anything, to reprogram your TV by teething on the universal remote control?   Do you let him play in the floor while you keep one eye on him and the other on the dog trying to  bury his bone into your suitcase while you fold his tiny, sweet little pjs?   Do you put him in the pack-n-play and pretend not to hear his cries of “Mommy, why aren’t you playing with me?”   Do you try to race around while he’s napping and get it all done so that you are 100% focused on him when he’s awake?  

I always struggle with this.   I LOVE playing with Kenny.   He is a real hoot.   I would be content to do nothing but play all day with him.   But remember that mini-essay up there about being a wife first, and all that about running the household?   When do you guys get that part done?   I so often find myself stuck somewhere in the middle and not doing the housework well and not playing with Kenny with all of my brain, and the poor dog is no longer even playing second fiddle – he’s stuck in the back by the xylophone player.   This Mommy stuff isn’t for wimps, that’s for sure…

So I  need to get back to the housewife part of my life now and get us ready for this trip!   By the way, we are going to Oxford to attend a week-long summer session with Ravi Zacharias and his evangelism team.   Click on the RZIM link to the right if you are interested in reading about it.   I am sure I will have many stories to tell of our trip, my parents (who are coming along to keep Kenny company) and much more.

And that really is true about the dog door… he discovered it this morning and it’s all I can do to keep him away from it… hm… maybe he can teach Dudley how to use it…