Accomplishments

This weekend was a test to see if I could handle two kids and a dog alone for three days. (Tom went skiing with his friends - don't feel bad for me, I'm off to the spa with my friends next weekend.)

I believe these weekends are confidence builders to prove to yourself that you really can do it and it's not too difficult. In fact, the most difficult part is taking Austen and Peyton out to walk Adler which would be nothing if we lived in the suburbs. Instead, I get to contend with a three-year-old who likes to walk (and sometimes run) down the sidewalk, not listening and giving me a heart attack when cars are whizzing past us on the city streets.

Peyton and Adler are easy...Austen is the one defiantly eating dirty snow that I'm sure some animal has peed in and now fearlessly walking up to any dog and thinking he/she is as nice as his dog after I've told him many times that he can't just approach any dog because he/she will bite him!

Raising a kid is somewhat like raising a dog. The commands are similar. Stop! Sit! No! They give unconditional love (at least at a young age) and they sometimes wake you up in the middle of the night. Just last week, it wasn't Austen or our newborn waking us up in the middle of the night. It was Adler getting sick because somehow and somewhere on one of her walks she decided to eat a corn cob and up it came in the middle of the night. So there we were in the middle of the night comforting Adler while scrubbing the stains out of our carpet.

Even so, raising a dog is easier - they don't talk back and you can leave them home alone albeit not for extended periods of time. But, I realize not all dogs are as easy as Adler. We must've had a little to do with that. And, I must have had something to do with all three of mine now fast asleep for an afternoon nap - Austen in his bed, Peyton and her crib and Adler curled up in front of the fireplace. Bliss!