The World of Green Eggs and Ham: Embracing Full-Time Motherhood

It's been a week since I have been a stay-at-home mom. This new endeavor was thrust upon me two weeks ago by my being laid off from my advertising job. This is the first time I face indefinite unemployment since my career began 16 years ago.

So how's it going with the little one?

Well, I am not insane like I dreaded I would be. I knew that in order to maintain some kind of sanity, a routine would have to be established. I haven't perfected the formula yet (and how has? exactly) but I think we will find a happy medium. It's all about expectation anyway right? Every morning we leave the house to go somewhere, whether it's storytime at the library, pooltime at the community center, the mall or the gym. It serves to break up the day. The big bonus is Lia usually falls asleep on the way home and sails right into her nap hour. When she wakes up it's lunch time. In the afternoon it's playtime at home and maybe a trip to the grocery store or small errands. It's still too cold to do walks or the park but that will be part of the agenda once the weather gets warmer. And I make sure she gets two half hours of TV time so I can get a shower and do some housekeeping.

I have to admit I love spending more time with her. Daycare was fine but no one takes care of your baby as well as you do. I now have more control over her general well-being. And not be so exposed to the germs and viruses is great too.

Hola Mexico!

We spent one glorious week in the Mayan Reviera in a little bungalow steps away from the beach. This was the first real vacation since Lia was born. My agenda was simple: do nothing. I knew from experience that the more we tried to cram in the more stress for me. We mostly hung out at the beach, and only took to going to Playa del Carmen for one afternoon. The Mayan cuisine we had in Playa was a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it's way better than any Mexican meal that Detroit can deliver. I was surprised nothing much was spicy. I had always expected Mexican food to be spicy, but perhaps they had watered it down for the tourists or maybe southern Mexican is not spicy.

Lia had a great time. The first time she fell on the sand she grabbed a handful and was in awe of what she had picked up. Since then, it was hard to steer her back to our room. Every day was like this: wake up at 6am.. head to breakfast at 7:15.. go stake a shady spot on the beach by 9:30.. Lia nods of to dreamland by 11:00.. lunch at 1:00.. pool time at 3:30.. another nap at 5:00.. dinner at 7:15.. bed by 9:30. Needless to say I was very sad to leave.