Double Your Fun?

I read an article the other day that purported to have the magic number and gender combination of children to make the perfect family. Any guesses as to what it is?

Many people would probably say a boy and a girl, one of each, makes for a well-balanced, happy family. Actually, it's what I would say. 

But according to the survey conducted, the ideal family is actually composed of two daughters! The reasons include that two girls are "rarely noisy," they "help around the house," and "really like each other".

A boy and girl came in second, while two boys is the third most perfect setup. But if you're a glutton for punishment, you'll be hoping for four girls, the least favorable sibling combination. Four girls are trouble because you'll obviously have to "buy a bigger house," they will "take ages getting ready for school," and you can expect them to "fight and argue all the time".

Growing up for the majority of our lives, it was just my brother and me, and I think we were a pretty happy family. What about you? Any readers come from a family of four girls? Are sisters best? Rather have boys?

A boy would be fun, but I'd double this trouble any day!

On the Hunt

Violet went to her first Easter egg hunt in the neighborhood and met the Easter bunny!

Finding her first egg! (She would go on to find this same egg several more times... we believe in recycling around here.)

Helping dad with the egg stash.

Carefully examining her find.

Sorting through the loot.

Enjoying the magic show. (Girlfriend was convinced the applause was for her.)

Here, mom, have an egg!

Sweet girl.

Hatched

Guess what finally hatched in the front door wreath!

At Home with Violet

So here's an update from pink eye central. The only pink spotted today is what you see on Violet's shirt (and all the cherry blossoms this wind advisory is intent on hurling to the ground behind our house). I thought pink eye was supposed to turn your eyes red... Violet's seem pretty normal to me. We've done a few rounds of antibiotic drops and they are doing their job.

So here's the thing about staying home with Violet. I just don't have the rhythm for it. I don't know how stay at home moms do it - maybe it takes a while to get into a routine? Here's how our day has gone so far: Violet insists I play with her. She follows me around as I attempt to get stuff done and cries if I move too fast. Finally I give up and devote myself 100 percent to her. We have fun and play for a while, and I manage to put in a load of laundry by pretending it's a game and giving her a snack (can't go in the laundry room/pantry (aka: snack repository) without coming out with some "nak! nak!" Bribery at its finest).

Violet insists on going outside. Which we do. Until I'm tired of it, but she is not. We come back inside, she wants out again. We go out again, since she refuses to do anything in the house except whine and point out the window and say "owdide wodide shuff shuff" which I translate into "take me outside, dern it, what kind of an idiot are you?" Because I'm tired and lazy, I finally put her on our porch swing and we have fun sitting and swinging until she decides it's "nigh nigh" and I jump on that cue and march her straight upstairs to her crib. She must have been legitimately tired (despite the fact that if she were at school today, not only would she have gotten up 30 minutes earlier, she wouldn't be due for her nap for another hour and a half - apparently I bore her) because she goes down without a fuss, one paci in her mouth and another clutched in her grubby little fist (because I didn't stop to wash her hands - I barely got her shoes off before I tiptoed myself out of there).

Now, I'm tired. I have a headache. All I want to do is sit and watch some DVRed American Idol and have my own "nak", but what do I do instead? I run around like a crazy woman, trying to take advantage of my kid-free time. I sweep the kitchen/sunroom floor, speed clean a bathroom, do some dust bustering, manage to get the clothes from washer to dryer, before finally grabbing a piece of bread with nutella and flopping into the chair to write this blog, one ear nervously perked up for sounds of Violet's awakening. I still desperately need to dust the living room, but it's suddenly very difficult to pull myself to my feet. And I know that as soon as this blessed nap is over, I'm going to be on again, the multi-tasking mom, cook, entertainer, housekeeper... And I'm only doing this for one day! Seriously, how do other SAHMs handle it?

And slightly off topic - I'm loving seeing how you're answering the poll! Sounds like most of you so far fall into my camp - once we find a good book, we'll read it over and over. If you haven't weighed in, jump on it! (And so far I'm relieved to report that all of you know how to read!) Also, I gained three new followers after yesterday's little pity party/plea. Welcome, friends! Hi Joyce and Jeanette! Keep 'em coming, folks, or I'll be forced to bore you with another request/demand/pathetic beg!

Ay-ay-ay!

Or as I should have put it, eye-eye-eye. Violet and I will be staying home from school tomorrow because she has come down with (ba-dum-crshhh - that's the cymbal noise, duh) pink eye. I got the call after work today and while I tried to play it off like it was just her infected tear duct again, the pediatrician took one look and cheerily said "yep, looks like pink eye to me!" Which means no day care tomorrow, and therefore no work for me. Hello early weekend, it's so nice to meet you!

(The pediatrician, not our usual doc, also said there was no reason for Violet to still have clogged ducts and made me feel rather silly for not having the surgery done already, so I guess I'll be putting that on my to-do list here. And no, I don't mean to say that I felt pressured about it at all... it just confirmed what I've been slowly starting to realize.)

Staying home with Mommy? Aw yeah!

In other, random news, I put a new poll up on the blog. This one is unrelated to Violet or children in general, but I'm still rather interested in what you guys think. Personally, I'm the type of girl who rereads books. If I find a good one, not only am I oddly compelled to own a copy so I can display it on my shelf in a self-righteous manner (no Kindle for me! Paper all the way!), but I also will pick that same book up maybe a year, maybe a decade later and savor it all over again. But I know some people who never read a book twice. Which type are you?

Speaking of books, I finished One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) about three days after I first blogged about it. SO. GOOD. If you don't remember, this book follows two characters through life, devoting each chapter to the same date, another year later. It took me exactly one chapter to get into the characters and voices, and then I was hooked. Sometimes British novels make me nervous because they seem to be trying so hard to sound all English and proper, dropping their slang and inside jokes. But this one didn't have that problem at all. At the end of each chapter I would eagerly turn the page to find out what happened next, forgetting that an entire year was about to flash by in the turn of a page. I'd start reading again, becoming instantly overjoyed or disappointed at where the characters had brought themselves over the year. And that's what makes good characters in my opinion - when they things they do make you so mad, or cause you to wish you could take them to a bar and laugh yourselves silly together. But as Reading Rainbow would say, "You don't have to take my word for it..."

And finally, my dear husband asked me the other day why I don't have more blog followers. I told him it's because you lurkers won't take the plunge and sign up. So if that's you (ahem, yes YOU) do me a solid and hit the follow button so Matt will actually believe that someone other than flesh and blood relatives read this thing. Sorry to beg. I feel weird asking and it's usually why I don't. But hey, the count has been stagnant for a while so I guess it doesn't hurt to drop an oh-so subtle hint hint. Alright, groveling over, back to your business folks. Nothing to see here!

Backyard Fun

Serenity Be

The Inn at Serenbe, a renovated farmhouse and our B&B.

Well, our first night away from Violet was a fabulous success! Here's to many more in the future! But for right now, allow me to take you on a little tour of Serenbe. We dropped Violet off at her Mimi's in the early afternoon and headed off on our mini-vacay. I have to say, it wasn't so bad leaving her in the care of her wonderful grandmas... I knew Violet would be well entertained and cared for. Plus, leaving her every day while I head off to work has helped when it comes to working through our goodbyes. Anyway, in about 30 minutes, we had arrived at Serenbe and checked into our room. It was so cute! The best part was the huge window seat (seriously, I could have slept right there) with a beautiful view of the grounds.

My favorite feature - the window seat! Great for reading and relaxing before dinner.

Once we were all checked in, we decided to take a tour of the town. We stopped in a few shops and then headed into the greenspace that Serenbe is surrounded by and known for. The beautiful path you see below was just steps from the center of town, although it was so peaceful and serene, you wouldn't know it. The weather was perfect, all blue skies and cool breezes. After we wandered around enough, we headed back towards the town and bought some snacks at the Blue Eyed Daisy bakeshop, just enough to hold us over until dinner.

Exploring.

In town.

Pomegranate or clementine - it was hard to pick a favorite!

Once back at the Inn, we enjoyed afternoon tea on the wide porch that wraps around the building. Beyond the white picket fence is a private pool, and our room overlooked these same grounds.

The porch in the afternoon.

We wanted to explore a bit more before dinner, so we walked around the farm and stopped to visit with the animals, including two precious lambs named Pearl and Phil. We found our way to the labyrinth, which I thought was going to be a crazy maze of hedges like in The Shining, but which turned out to be a stone meditation garden. As you walk in, you are supposed to think about whatever problem is weighing on your mind that you need help with, as by the time you make it to the center stones, you should have your answer. To be honest, it was hard for anything to weigh heavily on my mind in a place as relaxing as Serenbe (the name is a combination of Serenity and Be, hello!) but it was cool to realize that when you sit on the center stones, your conversation has an echo. Perhaps we are meant to listen to that voice  inside ourselves?

The labyrinth. Find your way to the middle and listen for the echo.

Ah, vacation!

The rest of our stay included a scrumptious dinner (and breakfast) at the Farmhouse restaurant, which featured many ingredients grown right on the farm, and a hayride around the property to feed the animals (including Pearl and Phil, who were more excited to see their bottles of milk than Violet ever was!)

It was a wonderful little get-away, and as much as I missed my little girl... I didn't. I knew she was in good hands, and I was able to really relax and let my mind have a little vacation from the usual mom worries. We realized, however, that Serenbe is actually a great place for families. There were probably 15 kids staying on the property, ranging from a few months to five or six years old, and they were having a blast helping feed the horses and lambs and running around exploring the different tree houses on the grounds. We even hatched the idea of taking Violet on a return visit (when she's a little older and can really participate in everything). But it was a nice luxury to be on our own for once, and here's hoping the grandmas are up to babysitting again in the future!