The SAHD Way

Having a SAHD provides our family with some unique approaches to day to day life. I will try to share some of them from time to time as I come across them.

The other day I was amused to walk into our kitchen and find Dash peeling an orange with my husband's shop safety glasses on. Dash had complained that it stung when he got squirted in the eye with juice as he was peeling an orange. My husband came up with the creative idea of using his safety glasses to keep those juicy oranges from stinging Dash's eyes. If it were me I probably would have peeled the orange for him, but my husband hates to peel fruit. (If it has to be peeled, he wont eat it.) His solution worked out great. Dash now thinks it is really cool to peel oranges with his safety glasses on and my son eagerly seeks out oranges to peel and eat. He even told me today that I needed to buy more.

The safety glasses have now found their place in my kitchen utensil drawer.

If it makes peeling and eating oranges more fun for my son then I am all for it. As long as my husband doesn't arm Dash with the cordless drill to core an Apple!

Maternity Leave - Goals and Surprises

As with my last Maternity leave I had all of these great plans for what I would accomplish during my 4 months off from work. Since I'm a little more than half way through my leave I though I would do a progress check before my time of slips away and I find myself back at my paying job.

During my first leave with our son Dash I spent the first 2 months in awe over having a new baby and really didn't have much desire to do anything else other than take in every cry, coo, and smile of our newborn. I managed to make curtains for my kitchen, but that was about it.

This leave I vowed to get myself moving quicker, and although I still cherish every little sound and move that my baby makes I have also realized I can do that along with many other things too. My original goals for this leave were as follows:

1. Improve my French - Since I am living in the French part of Switzerland I thought I could spend more time studying and practicing my French about town.
2. Spend weekends getting to see more of Switzerland.
3. Read a long list of books I've been meaning to get to.
4. Lose my baby weight!!

So what have I actually accomplished so far? I am just getting back into studying my French and the list of books just aren't getting read. The book reading is probably better saved for plane rides when I go back to work. We have done a good little bit of exploring over the past couple of months. Some of it has just been around town getting to know the local area a little better. We have done some hiking with the baby in his Bjorn carrier and gone to see some sites around the country.

Most surprising though are the things I have done and learned that I had not planned on.

• I Started my own Blog! Here I am. It's a fun experience. I'm not sure how many people read this other that friends, but I am enjoying it.
• I have learned all about Webkinz thanks to presents for my 4 year old from his Grandma and a friend's children. This is a marketing phenomena I knew nothing about, but man is it a great enterprise! They have me hooked!
• I learned how to ride a scooter. I even went out and bought one for myself. There is nothing like sharing outdoor time with your kids and what a better way to do it than riding side by side with them on a scooter - that is along as I keep upright!
• Learned the names of Batman's arch-enemies. More fun time with my 4 year old!

So, although my experiences to date may not be very scholarly I feel like they have enriched me greatly. I'll try to focus more on my French over the next 2 months and vow to read at least one book, but I wont feel guilty if I don't. I'm having fun with my kids and my Husband. That is something I would never trade!

Oh, and the weight. I'm not doing too bad, better than last time, but I still have work to do. More time on the scooter will help.