Another year wiser

Belated Happy Birthday to my "patna in crime," my beloved, the person who I'm happily in the foxhole with, my Mr. Fliz. That's right, forgive this Mama for not posting this earlier. It had been a grueling week without my "patna in crime." Mr. Fliz was out of town visiting family and it landed on a week jam-packed full of get-togethers. This Mama was "bizzaay."

However, the mister got back just in the nick of time to celebrate his birthday with us. A simple celebration of just us four. He's been busy the past few months prepping for yet another CFA test. With warm weather on the horizon, the kids have kept busy being outdoors and just this past week, we hit up the pool. The sun blessed us with a few really warm days that demanded us to take advantage of our pool. Though Mr. Fliz missed out on our first pool excursion of the season, I know he's looking forward to enjoying more water time with the kids this year. Micro did surprisingly well in the water and remembered a lot of his torpedo dives, floating on his back, and managed to stay calm in the water. Micron, well, she's a California girl at heart, so being in the water is in her blood. Both kids will be in swimming classes this summer, and Micro did so well last year, that our goal is to have him swimming properly by summer's end. Micron is a fast learner and watched her brother all last summer learn how to swim, so I'm hoping she'll advance quickly. 

This time of year is a rush of birthdays, holidays, and summer vacation planning. Oftentimes, I forget how important my partner in life contributes daily to helping me function as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. As each day passes, Mr. Fliz and I grow stronger as a couple. We continue to embark on this journey together in raising a family, learning and accepting challenges that test us emotionally, mentally, and physically that will help us to grow individually and together. So here's to another year wiser, my beloved, and hope that the good times keep rolling. Thank you for all that you do. I <3 span="" you.="">

SAHM--Such a misnomer

The past seven days, my in-laws are visiting from out-of-town to spend some major quality time with Micro and Micron--and to actually provide some "relief" for this Mama. Isn't that the sweetest?! How lucky am I? Each day I get to spend a few hours to myself to do something "fun" (grocery shopping and running errands only count for so much, they insist I do something to treat my soul-smart people they are). I owe a great deal to my father-in-law who is doing most of the childcare during the day because my mother-in-law is working remotely, and he now knows what a portion of my day looks like. Scary, huh Dad? 

The funny thing is, though us parents who are not actively part of the workforce and doing most of the child-rearing are called "stay-at-home parents," we rarely stay at home to do much of anything. In fact, our days are full of running around (in some cases, "running after" our kids) dropping kids off at school, doing errands, meeting up for playdates, picking up kids from school, then dropping them off at extra-curricular activities/sports, and picking them up. And somewhere in between, we are moving and grooving in our houses, picking up toys, making crafts/lunch/snacks/funny faces, wiping up spills, doing laundry, and handling poop, all day, EveryDangDay. We are not "staying at home" on our butts all day to all those clueless peeps. In fact, child-rearing doesn't involve much "staying at home," unless you have an infant less than 3 months old, because once babies stay awake for longer periods of the day, being indoors all day isn't very conducive to maintaining one's sanity. Maybe for a select few.

What would be an appropriate alternative to calling ourselves SAHM/SAHD? I'm not sure, but "staying at home," should not be part of it. I'm rather fond of, CEO of the Household, but Mr. Fliz continues to remind me that there's TWO CEO'S in this household. It's ok, let him think what he wants, we all KNOW THE TRUTH.