in the name of sanity, amen.

the one thing I miss about having family close by...

wait.  let me try that again.

one of the things I miss about having family close by is being able to call on them for help, say like after having a baby.  (hey, that's going to be me soon, what a coincidence!)  I mean, to be able to dump off my toddlers at their cousins' house for a day or two is like indulging in a slice of New York cheesecake; heavenly.

because as those of us who've had babies know, the first couple of weeks postpartum can be a little well, rocky, to put it mildly.  hormone changes, coupled with sleep deprivation can leave us absent-minded and not quite "all there."  getting that extra noise and chaos out of the house for a few hours in the afternoon allows us to kick up our feet and rest a bit, which in turn, helps us recover faster and alleviate some of that dreaded "post-baby fog."

also, it never fails.  the second you sit down to feed the baby, it's like the signal suddenly changed from red to green.  immediately, the toddlers are off and running with one sole purpose in mind: search and destroy.  in other words, mom's occupied-- let's take advantage of it.  before you can even say, "holy guacamole!" they're on top of the refrigerator practicing their new juggling routine.  with your freshly sharpened knives.

why are you guys looking at me like I'm making this stuff up?

anyway, with Alfred due any day now, I had this sudden panic attack.  with my sister-in-law Ruth gone, who can I possibly call up to take Rowan and Scarlett off my hands? sure, Gary will be home for a few days, but then what?  shove them in straight jackets?

this got me thinking.  with all the entertainment I've provided you guys by sharing my crazy stories and whatnot on this blog, I figured the least each of you could do in return is to take these two hoodlums angels for a day.  ONE MEASLY DAY, that's all I ask.  I don't know the exact number of blog readers I have, but I'm guessing if everyone took a turn, Rowan and Scarlett would be out of my hair for oh, close to a year!  hey-oh!

that sounds fair, doesn't it?  I mean, just look at these sweet toddlers and tell me how you could not agree?

and this guy, well, he's as innocent as they come.

so, who wants to get it ove... um, go first? ;-)

-jessica

*disclaimer* this post was not written with the intent to make you feel sorry for me, but was rather a product  of (yet another) one of my hair-brained ideas.  we'll manage just fine.  uh, I think?