Staycation

I used to define vacation as spending Christmas in the Caribbean. Renting a house for a week down the shore. Jetting off to Ireland for two weeks when the airfare was low. In my mommy lexicon, however, the definition of vacation is keeping your oldest two children enrolled in preschool for the week, and staying home for "quality time" with the youngest. This quality time entails Peter crawling all around our gated living room and dining room floors as I sit with several cups of coffee and grade essay upon essay upon essay. Breaks from essay grading did happen. When the buzzer on the washing machine went off. Or laundry had to get folded. Or when the UPS man came. Or when it was absolutely time to go to the price club.

Peter makes for great company. He's not picky. All he requires is a smile and a quick game of peekaboo. Even stinky diaper changes had some cute moments. I always hear people tell stories about firstborn vs. second-born and the like. With the first baby, you sterilize the fallen pacifier; with the second, you rub it clean. With the third, you send the dog to go fetch it. The first child gets more pictures, and each one following gets fewer. Everything by the book initially, then throw all the rules away. Some of these, in my experience, have been true, but I'm starting to think that technology is making it possible to bridge these gaps. My dad once told me that there's no need for me to keep baby books, considering the blog I write, and I can see his point. While some of the minutiae that I was great at tracking with just Owen has escaped me with Nicholas and Peter, I don't think it's anything that, in the end, they will miss. I have the locks of hair from their first haircuts, and most of the information that goes into their baby books will be readily accessible if and when I get around to putting everything together. It's true that I had more time to give to Owen and Nicholas, but it makes me value the time I have with Peter all the more. He was happy just having me around this week, and the feeling was mutual.

It does make me wonder how anyone can work from home full time, though. After a week like this, I'm tempted to come home from work at lunch to start the slow cooker and throw a laundry in, just to save some time at the end of the day and on weekends. I used to think it was crazy when I would hear about people who worked from home and sent their children to day care. Wasn't the perk of working from home being able to save on child care expenses? After a Christmas break's worth of swatting my children away from my computer and my pile of papers, I learned my lesson on that one. Just in case anyone out there thinks that teachers get lots of time off, I want to set the record straight. In ten months, I do twelve months worth of work. I have yet to have a vacation that does not include working, lesson planning, prepping for a new class to teach, taking graduate classes or going to professional development workshops. So as much as I wanted to stay home with all of my boys this week, I knew that the stress level in the house would be much more bearable if I just got my paperwork done before more comes in next week. And I am now looking forward to a schoolwork free weekend with my family, which is far from the usual Friday night norm.