Mama's Day Out

So on New Years Day this  year I informed  Lee of  our  new rule...or  actually, my new stay-at-home mom "benefits" package LOL.

You see, Lee regularly makes plans  to go on weekend long fishing trips (regular  fishing in summer, ice fishing in winter) or hunting trips (all during Oct, Nov, Dec---which is why we cannot have baby #3 due during any of those  months lol....I still  to this day get crap  for our wedding anniversary being in October!)....and I'm a *very* good  wife and agree to him doing these things, but  the thing is that I never plan anything that doesn't include the girls. I am with them all  week  long and then on weekends they are still  always with me. Sometimes my mom does babysit so I can do Etsy orders or go out with Lee....but *Lee* never watches the girls  alone for  any extended period of time. He avoids  it at all costs.

So this  year my stay-at-home mom JOB has a new benefits package---and that  includes one full  day a month (of  my choosing) where Lee watches the girls while I go do whatever I want--kid free! And today my friends, was my first vacation day of the year. I went to the outlet mall  and had so much fun!

Here were  my thoughts during the  day:

1) It's  wonderful to  be able to listen to MY music in the car (country music is  my music  of choice :-)....as opposed to Raya's favorite mixed cd of kids' sing-a-long songs----which I'm almost certain plays  on a continuous loop in the furthest depths of hell :-P

2) I  had almost forgotten what  it was like to not hear "Mama, I hungry" every 5 minutes.

3) I was able to get from my car to  the store in less than 30 seconds. Carseat saga be damned.

4) Food tastes so  good when you can  eat it while  it's still  hot. No cutting up everyone elses food into a million pieces while yours gets cold.

5) I  sure did pass some knowing glances to  other moms there, dealing with whiny kids at Arbys :-P

6) Did you know that doors are actually very easy to open and walk through when you aren't  pushing a double stroller?

7) I couldn't  believe how  nice  it was to try on clothes  for *myself* for once! And no  running commentary in the dressing room either! ("Mama, I see  your boo boos! (boobies) .....Mama, you have  big boo boos and I have little boo boos!.....Mama, I  see your underwears. Why you not  have Minnie underwears? Mama? Mama? Mama?.....)

8) I had  really missed using the "regular" bathroom stall, rather than the handicapped  one the size  of a small home, with the nasty diaper changing station that  I'm pretty certain is growing any number  of diseases on a given day.

9) It was  really amusing to walk by  the mall  playland (which was packed by the w ay) and just smile at the poor suckers stuck there with their  kids while  I walked on by.

10) .....every time I saw someone  with little  girls I missed mine terribly! :-(

And so it  was that  I  had a WONDERFUL day, but I was so glad to come home to my babies!

One of my favorite blogs enjoying the small things actually just wrote  about this same  topic. She was out of state away from her girls so it was  a little  different obviously than just  a day away, but what she wrote really hit  home for me after today! She wrote:

"my true statement of 'I let go, I enjoyed me time, I knew the kids were just fine without me' can be contradicted by the same truth of 'I missed them and thought about them all the time.' If that makes any sense."

And also:

"I did so well at being present and really enjoying the opportunity to be alone, sleep (for the first time in three years!), move from one location to another without taking a head check, buckling seat belts or making sure to grab a to-go snack; but I missed them, truly. You get to a certain point in motherhood where, no matter how much fun you're having, you just subconsciously breathe your children. You can smell them even when you're not purposely thinking about them. You can feel their arms around your neck, their breath on your shoulder."

It's so true.

And when I  got home to my girlies I  heard all  about their day with Daddy! (Who officially bows down to me now...pretty sure he'd rather be a garbage man working for $2 an hour than a full time stay at home dad LOL)

Daddy was a great blogging assistant today though---he thought  to take some pictures of their fun! :-)

Sissy's hitchin' a ride!

Getting nervous....

Get me outta here!

Daddy burried  her in the ball  basket :-P

And when I got home Raya earned her special prize for  being a good girl with Daddy! (She was horrible before I left and once I got back  home ---testing limits and clearly out of sorts from her abnormal day!---but Daddy said she was good while I was gone so she earned her prize! I got her a $5 birdfeeder to paint and then tomorrow her and daddy will hang it out for the birds!)

If *you* were a bird wouldn't  you find  this incredibly  appetizing and want to eat here?! :-)

Brielle was super excited  to see that mama was  back home!

Daddy said she was also  a good  girl (who only  slept 40 minutes haha....I told him naptime isn't 3 hours of me eating cheetos and watching Dr. Phil....Brielle doesn't  sleep long! :-)

So  Brielle also  earned a reward....a new first words book

And now do you want to see a sampling of my goodies  from today?! :-) I went to the outlet  mall and they had  awesome sales! Lee had  specifically  told me I  better come home with as much or more stuff  for myself as I did for the girls  (because  he gets tired of me only treating the girls to stuff and me always wearing the same old stuff---because my wardrobe is seriously a tiny fraction of what the girls' is lol) ...so I  took  him up on the offer and got  some stuff  for myself, shirts  for him at the Wrangler store (he was pumped), some clothes  for the girls (mostly stuff for  next winter  or even bigger....I love to buy ahead when everything is like  $2)

Here is one of my favorite purchases....a  new purse! Now I actually  hate purses.  I would  rather just throw  my stuff  in the diaper bag. However for the occassions when  I don't have the diaper bag I had decided I wanted a smaller purse, and I had  been eyeing these fossil purses because I loved the floral  pattern and the fact that the  material is like a shiny wipeable  stuff (kid  friendly!). And low and behold they had a super  sale going on today!

Then here  are  two  of my favorite new  shirts (yes, I have a thing for  stripes and "slouchy" shirts you can layer over  tanks lol. But  these were  so cheap...the yellow  one from old navy was $4!)

The  dark blue  stuff is navy lace ....looks cute  with  a grey tank  underneath

Raya got stuff  for  next year  (or maybe 2 years...not  sure when she'll  be size 4) ....It  was all about $4 or less...the plaid skirt was $2 from Children's Place  and I decided she  most definitely  needed a little school girl skirt  for preschool next year  lol.  Lee said I can't  send her  to preschool wearing it (he thinks it's inappropriate or something)....what  does he  know :-P

The bottom two are  Carter's  dresses.

Carter's pjs for $4

And once again Brielle  got screwed on the clothes since  she'll be getting hand-me-downs! But  I  did get  her  a couple things (the skirts were $2 at Carter's so I figured why not!)

Can't wait  to plan my  vacation day  for  next month! hehe. What  about you all? How often do  your  husbands watch the kids so you can have a full  day to yourselves? I think Lee's  getting off easy with 1 day a month :-P But then again, I did spend a good chunk of his money today, so maybe it all evens out LOL. Thanks honey! :-)