Secret Agent Josephine

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I used to whine about wanting more kids. I was so sad when I went through menopause and the role of motherhood seemed to be ripped out of my identity long before I was ready. Time is ruthless that way.

Queue five years later: A two-year-old moves in and it alllllll comes back to me.

I don’t want more kids! Sixteen-year-olds are a breeze compared to toddlers. I totally forgot what it was like to have a bin of colored pencils dumped on the floor every time they want to color. I forgot about keeping breakable things above four feet. I forgot about cleaning soggy cheerios and mushed banana bread from between the spokes of my dining room chair. I forgot how much water I used cleaning up messy faces and messy hands and messy bellies and messy high chairs… I bet my water bill has doubled. And then there’s the skipping naptime and all-out war when it comes to bedtime. I totally forgot about that.

Don’t get me wrong. I am loving having my niece stay with me for an extended period of time. I just need to get my mommy-grove back on.

In other news, I rearranged my office and I’m getting used to my new hair. I like it. I think I might keep it.

I’m popping in to say I’ve been a little busy! My niece Amber, aka Rapunzel, has been staying with us, and her little girl, “Bean” is taking up all my time. I say that in the best way BECAUSESHE’SSOOOOOOOCUTE!!!!! but I’d be lying if I didn’t also mention that it’s making it hard to stick to a work schedule, which I desperately need to do to keep us all afloat.

So this post will be about Bean time. We’re going to call her Bean. Not because we’re worried about her privacy so much but because we’ve learned it can be kind of a drag to grow up and suddenly have all your friends in high school google you and find a zillion blog posts about you. Will that be a thing still in the future? Who knows. Maybe it will be clout. Could go either way.

Anway let’s talk about Bean!!

She is two and absolutely adorable. I’ve been missing little Bug for so long and now it’s like I get to do little Bug things all over again. Storytime!

Mall time! And falling asleep in the stroller time before we got a regular nap routine down…

Lots and lots and lots of pool time. I am so glad my apartment complex has a really nice pool because this kid is a water bug! She loves the water so much and will just throw herself into it without any fear. We are quickly trying to teach her how to swim because if we don’t keep hawk eyes on her she is in there splashing around. Maybe she’ll be a swimmer when she grows up. If you say anything near the word “pool” or “water” at any time of the day she’s off looking for her bathing suit and trying to walk out the door. It is a concern. But I’m happy to say she’s getting pretty close. She already likes to dunk her head and knows how to hold her breath. We’re just trying to teach her how to float now.

Of course, we’ve had lots of cardboard forts and naptime crashes.

And eating…it’s fun to have a big family again to sit down at the table and really enjoy time together. This kid can eat.

Rapunzel time! I am so glad to be connecting with Rapunzel. Lots of years have gone by when I haven’t been able to be there for her in the way I wanted to be so I’m trying my best to make it up to her. Since she’ll be here a while we are both trying to create routines and quiet time so that we can stay on best of terms for however long this living arrangement lasts. She’s trying desperately to save up enough money to move out to Iowa with her husband but hard times are hitting everyone and even though he’s found steady work, they haven’t been able to find a place to rent.

She’s trying out a bunch of crafts and we might open up my etsy shop so she can sell some things for extra walking around money. Stay tuned. If you are looking for early holiday gifts I’m hoping we can come up with something special. She crochets and is learning how to sew but she has pretty bad fibro myalgia so you know how that goes. If you have any special requests, shoot them my way!

Lots of park time, and sun time…