Things to look forward to

As you could probably tell from my pity party post last week, things have been a little hectic around here. There's nothing exciting or dramatic going on at all, in fact, I've found that my days are all the same:

• Care for baby
  
• Care for toddler
• Laundry
  
• Care for baby
• Clean litterboxes
  
• Care for toddler
  
• Care for baby
• Laundry
  
• Care for toddler
  
• Figure out something for dinner
• Feed cats
  
• Laundry
  
• Care for baby (once Kevin gets home and takes over Anna's care)
  
• Care for baby
  
• Care for baby
• Shower
  
• Bedtime
• Wake up and do it all over again.

In the midst of this schedule, I don't get to talk to Kevin about anything of interest (or importance) anymore, the songs from Yo Gabba Gabba are on continuous repeat in my head, my shoulder is perpetually encrusted with baby vomit and it's really beginning to wear on me. I'm one of those people who desperately needs something to always look forward to--a light at the end of the tunnel, per se. Lately, there's been no light at the end of the tunnel--it just feels like my little train is going around and around and around in circles.

Also, we have piles of gift certificates and gift cards for restaurants, (un-kid-friendly ones) stores, etc. that we just can't manage to use. I keep checking the expiration dates on them to make sure that we don't let them expire. I was finding myself envious of my Facebook friends' status messages that went something like this, "Can't wait for date night with the hubster--yum, sushi!" and "Can't wait to see such-and-such movie tonight on my date with my hubby!". Sushi? A movie? How's that even possible? It made me want to cry. Then, like a lightening bolt (or, probably more accurately, a sharp blow to the head) it hit me: We could actually hire a babysitter to watch the kids so that we could have a night out.

We're very fortunate in that we've never really had to pay for babysitting. True, our beloved housekeeper has kept both kids as babies for me, for a few hours every other week just so that I could run to the grocery store quickly or fit in a dentist appointment, but this didn't feel decadent, necessarily--more like a helpful hand in my chore-doing. But, by and large, family and close friends have always been the ones to offer up their baby sitting services. After having Jack though, everyone has skirted away, scared of the prospect of caring for both of our kids at the same time (believe me, it is scary). So, I remembered a mom in the mom's group posting a recommendation for her aunt, who does babysitting. I emailed her, she came over to meet everyone and BAM!--we suddenly have a babysitter on retainer AND plans for a date night on Saturday night! Kevin and I haven't had a meal alone, at a non-kid-friendly restaurant in months and months and months--like I think I was a month or two pregnant with Jack, the last time we had a "date night" (if you do the math, that was 1 year ago). The best thing is that, now that we have a regular sitter, we don't have to automatically decline invites to adult parties anymore. We might (just might!) actually be able to get out a little, have adult conversations (I'm going to need some practice with that) and relax a little.

Another thing that I'm excited about:

In case you don't know, that little beauty right there is the Dyson D17 Animal vacuum. We finally bit the bullet and ordered one. After going through, I-don't-know-how-many cheapo vacuums, we decided to invest a little money into something nicer, not to mention specifically designed to suck up pet hair (of which we have copious amounts). We're also getting new carpet in the bedrooms, so I like the idea of starting fresh with new carpet and a new super-awesome vacuum.

So, as you can tell, I've changed my tune a little since last week. Things are looking up around here, yes indeedy do.