The fourth of July has become, for me, a fabulously simple weekend, fabulous because it’s three whole days, and simple because I just stay around the house.
See, I have this problem? With weekends?
This problem where I put a lot of pressure on them? To be fabulous?
When Mr. B was born, I used the weekend to exercise, go to the grocery store, feel like a separate entity from the baby who had become attached to the crook of my arm. I looked forward to my husband being home because, I loved him, sure, but also because he was an extra set of hands to help with the baby. I hoped he might give me a chance to nap. (He did.) I longed for someone to answer the baby’s cries or put him down for his own nap. (My husband was that someone. I’m glad I married him. He’s good.)
Two and a half years later, Missy Mae was born, and our world became a bit more turbulent. When one of us would normally rest, she (or he) was now dealing with child #2. We had acquired different rhythms in our two occupations–one as tired mom/referee/cow inside the home, the other as tired dad/worrywart/marketing-type-guy. We didn’t know how to be mom and dad with two kids just yet (or, really, mom and dad of one kid and one redheaded squiggly thing that cried a lot and slept for very short periods).
I still don’t know that we’ve achieved perfection (believe me, I will), but our weekends have become much more laid back, gloriously low key. (Who wants to go to see a rated R movie and eat grilled snapper and sip French wine at a fancy restaurant in the city? Not me. Nope. No. Hand me a towel for this spit-up on my pants, will you?)
Lately, I’m finding that a lazy weekend, a simple weekend, is often the very best kind. Hanging out as a family at a park, having a picnic, watching World Cup Soccer after the kids nap might actually be the best weekend we can hope for in this family of three and a much less squiggly, much better sleeping pretty little thing.
In honor of Momalom’s !!! series, here are a few captioned photos of my fabulously simple three-day weekend:
Friday morning. (Okay, not weekend, but almost.) I had the very fortunate opportunity to go for a morning jog, and was granted a little bit of magic in the suburbs. After stretching in my back yard, I turned to find a deer, gracefully bounding over the coin-size lawns of my neighborhood. I stared at her in awe. She stared back. Then she scuttled down someone’s driveway. I looked around for someone to tell, anyone. But the street was strangely and beautifully quiet, the fresh scent of our purple butterfly bush wafting through the air.
I did the only thing a technology sort-of-savvy mom would do. I grabbed my camera phone.
Look closely. You can see her.
All day, I couldn’t help but feel mystical.
Saturday morning, Grandmom came for time with the kids. The horrible, devil-spawned heat hadn’t arrived yet. Husband and I sat in a park and looked at old trees while sipping mint iced-tea infused with hibiscus.
Sunday, the fourth of July. Happy birthday, America! So glad you were created so I could adorn my kid’s naked arm with a glittery tattoo and a bright red popsicle. (Oh, and my arm, too, but only because he insisted.)
Monday morning. Husband let me sleep in. Just wait until you hear how late. Nine. Nine o’clock. As in, one hour before ten, as in the hour before the hour I woke up in high school. (To be honest, I can’t believe I slept that long.)
I came down to this.
A kitchen almost completely painted the beautiful color “Geranium.” I have always wanted a red room–sans The Shining influence. And now I have it. It’s beautiful and fun. It’s Geranium.
How would you enjoy a fabulously simple weekend? Wouldn’t you work longer during the week to have three whole mother-f*$#-ing days off? (I’m only being patriotic.) !!!
Read more of Momalom’s !!! (Intentional Happiness) posts here.
Feature Image: “American flags in the breeze” by royal19 via Flickr using a Creative Commons license.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Ooh, I am totally loving the RED ROOM! I also have a red kitchen and I adore it. It’s said to inspire good cooking and great digestion, didjaknow? And also, methinks, conducive to wine drinking. What’s better than that?
And weekends? Oh weekends. I think I’ve given up on my idea of what they are supposed to be. It sounds sad, but it’s actually a good thing. I used to want them to be fun-filled family time, or relaxing time, or Sarah/alone time. But none of those things ever came true when I wanted them to. So now I just give in and give way and let them fall where they may. Perhaps I get a run in: a great day! Or we head out of the house successfully as a family: another great day! Perhaps I get some down time: not likely. But more than anything, I just want to drift through the hours without expecting too much. I’ve found that’s the best way to enjoy them and find, come Sunday night, that I’m happy with how things went.
And sleeping in until 9? !!! to the nth degree, my dear! (Yay husband!)
That is stellar advice, my friend. The more I’m willing to go with the flow and not have too many expectations, the more I enjoy the weekend. (I didn’t know all that about red kitchens. But I did digest pretty well these past few days. Hmm… Good to know!)
How fabulous is 9am?!?! Yay! And that kitchen…. I’ve always wanted a red kitchen :) Enjoy!
Geranium. Benjamin Moore. I highly recommend.
Don’t you just love sleeping in? Hubby let me sleep in this weekend too, til 9:30. I haven’t felt that good in a long, long time.
9:30! Woah! You beat me! (The hardest thing is to not feel guilty. I hope, like me, you woke up to the sunny morning guilt-free.) The morning sure does go fast when you wake up late, though. Before I knew it, it was my kids’ nap time!
That kitchen is totally !!! And how exciting about the deer–my parents have them visit sometimes and I love it.
Can I tell you, our lives are so parallel it’s crazy. The quiet weekends at home, I SO GET THAT. I was just thinking about it myself this weekend. Mine was 4 days, and we had so little planned we just went with the flow. And that’s so unlike us. We’re usually moving and shaking and doing stuff all the time. And the more I just leave my free days unplanned the more I like the simplicity of it. Sometimes I feel like we should be planning learning activities with the kids, you know, going to more museums and stuff, but when I ask my son he always says: Let’s just stay home mommy. Okay I say.
Loved the photos, thanks for showing us all your weekend.
9am – ah…the good ol’ days. And lazy simple weekends are the best. No agenda, just go with the flow – no expectations, no disappointments, and a good time is had by all :)
Glad you had a great 4th of July weekend. And I SO agree with you. ALL weekends should be three-days long.
So, um, YES. I was just doing four-day-week math this morning after I heard from girlfriend that she’s switching to a workweek with longer days and a three-day weekend. Does that make me patriotic?
I love my simple weekends so much that I’ve developed an almost fear of those that are full of plans. Right now ours are full of hammering and plumbing, but that happens locally and in play clothes, so it feels simple. And really, it’s my husband who gets the short end of that stick – I get Jack, and our plans revolve around trains, slides and watermelon.
Lazy weekends are the best!
I love Benjamin Moore paint colors – geranium looks beautiful. I’ve been searching for a good color for a couple of rooms (still builder white after 7 years), so I’ll have to check it out.
Congrats on sleeping in. I’ve been letting my kids stay up later this summer so that they’ll sleep later in the mornings. Kind of cheating, but it doesn’t really feel that way if it’s 8 am and we’re all still in bed.
How wonderful to have seen that deer. Beautiful.
Awesome red color and those tatoos – how cute are they?? And the whole long weekend, thing. I am SO with you!
BTW, loving your new WP site!! Looks fabulous!
9 AM freakin’ rocks. So does a morning jog. Sans kids. Top 3 reasons for a 3-day weekend.
I have a feeling I won’t be waking up at 9 a.m. again for a very, very long time. (Sigh.)
Thank you so much for this. Really encapsulates a lot of feeling, which is the nature of a good holiday :) I love how you describe settling into your relationships– good stuff to know love and have peace in your daily living.
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