Um, no. On second thought, I don’t want her to pour her own milk just yet. I can just imagine how that would turn out. More milk on the floor than in her sippy cup. Too messy.
Michael comes home today, sometime between 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM, depending on traffic and his connecting flight. I can’t wait. I was trying to decide this morning if I was going to blow off the whole routine again. When the alarm went off at 4:45 AM, I figured I’d go ahead and get up and just take things one step at a time until I reached the point where I was too tired to keep my eyes open any longer, then I’d crawl back into bed and sleep. So far this morning, I’ve pumped some breast milk and had a shower. I was going to head downstairs and draw for a bit, but while I was getting dressed, I looked over at Sam in her car seat and saw she was wide awake. Little twerp gave me the biggest gummy grin and waved her hands at me, as if to say, “Mommy, I’m ready for more booby juice now!” So she’s nursing again while I write this. Drawing will have to wait. I’m pretty sure by the time Sam is done, I’ll be ready to go back to sleep. Or else Cassie will be up insisting that I play with her and get her some milk.
But that’s okay, because today is Reward Day. In addition to my Blow Off Day rule, I also have a rule about Reward Day. Whenever I’ve gone above and beyond the call of Mommy Duty, I get to treat myself (using Michael’s credit card, of course). Going above and beyond the call of Mommy Duty usually includes things like finishing a major art or writing project without killing the kids or husband, deep cleaning any room in the house, suffering through a week of nasty temper tantrums, or surviving a growth spurt with Sam (like the one we’re going through now). Making it through the past week on my own with two kids and dealing with the growth spurt while continuing to get some work done definitely qualifies for a reward, as far as I’m concerned. A major reward. So I’ve planned today to revolve around the concept of doing something really nice for ME.
For starters, I’m going to make myself a very nice breakfast, probably eggs with toast and a pot of hot decaf coffee, preferable the fancy whole bean stuff I bought before Michael left, not the ground stuff that tastes like potting soil if I don’t add enough soy milk and sugar to it. Then once everyone is dressed, I’m taking us all to the Y, where I can leave the kids in the nursery for a whole 90 minutes while I swim some laps in the pool. I’m not even going to bother calling this exercise. I’m just going to glide peacefully back and forth for a bit until I feel like I’m done. Then I’m going to shower and dress up, grab the kids and go out to lunch. Preferably some place quiet where I can breastfeed the ever-hungry Sam while I linger over some nice finger food (because I can’t use a knife and fork while breastfeeding - really, I can't). We will not be going to McDonald’s or Chic-Fil-A, I can tell you that. Afterwards, we’ll head over to Borders. This is the highlight of Reward Day, and a stroke of genius on my part. I discovered at the beginning of the week that I can go online and search the inventory of my local Borders, then submit a request via the web to have particular books pulled for me. That way, I can just walk into the store, pick up my books at the register, and take Cassie to the children’s area where she can play while I flip through my selections. This beats the pants off of me trying to hunt for what I want while Cassie pesters me to help her with the headphones in the store kiosks so she can listen to Wiggles music.
So what am I getting at Borders, you ask? What else? Books on drawing and erotica (recall what I do for a living). To be specific, I’m getting a book on dynamic figure drawing and some adult manga (Japanese comics for those of you who don’t know what manga is). After Cassie's had a little time to run amok in the children’s section and I’ve had time to confirm which books I’m buying, we’ll finish off our trip with a stop at the café where I intend to get my own pastry and my own drink rather than split an item between Cassie and me, because on Reward Day I don’t have to share.
Yes, that is the plan. Sam seems to have fallen asleep now, so I’m going to put her back in her car seat and slink into bed myself. Hopefully, I’ll get this entry posted a little later today. My eyes are already starting to close and I don’t think I can stay awake long enough to post this right away. Besides, I’ve earned the extra sleep. It’s Reward Day.
And before I forget... Here is today’s art. It’s a work in progress. The drawing was done in pencil, but the painting is being done on the computer. I’ve still got plenty left to do on this one. It’s something that I’ve been working on while nursing Sam in the evenings.
Medusa - Work In Progress
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