Winner!

Congratulations to Kathryn C, who won the $25 Publix gift card!

Bloggers: No Cost Event Sign-Ups

The Ultimate Baby Shower is hosting a giveaway event that will run from 4/4-4/11. The prize is $100 in PayPal cash. Bloggers can sign up to be part of the event for free! This is a great way to grow your Facebook fan base. You can sign up for the event at this link. 

Things I'm Loving This Thursday: Our New Driveway

Our kids love to ride their bikes & scooters outside. At our first house, we lived at the top of a very steep driveway. They were allowed to ride in a small portion of the driveway and inside our basement, but that was it. The next house, they had a little more space. We had a decent sized flat driveway and our house was on the edge of a cul-de-sac, so it was relatively safe for them to ride in the street. We didn't let them go past our driveway, though, so they were still somewhat limited. 

Not anymore!

Our driveway is huge. We actually have two. They are both flat. There is a standard driveway in front of the house. Connected to that is a sidewalk that leads to the other driveway. The second driveway is more like a street. It starts at one end of the road frontage of the property, goes all the way behind the house, and comes out at the other end of the property. It's very long. The kids have had a blast riding their bikes on it. The picture above really doesn't do it justice. 

It's really nice to not have to worry about the kids watching for cars or cars watching for them. When I take Jaxon outside, it's also nice that he has tons of room to roam without being near the street or a neighbor who might not be watching as he backs out of his driveway. It's a little thing, but we are really enjoying our driveway! 

Picture taken from behind the house (so there is even more driveway behind me)
...the driveway goes all the way down and then turns toward the road 

A Realization

Back when I was working, my friend K and I would often go out for lunch. One of our favorite places to eat was surrounded by shops and so you'd often see people who were out shopping stop in for lunch. I worked in an upper middle class area that had lots of moms who stayed home with their kids. We'd often eat out and see groups of these moms meeting for lunch with their babies and preschoolers. Think 3 moms and at least 6 kids under 4. Their tables were loud. This drove K crazy, especially when we had to wait on a table. She's childless and thought it was rude of moms who "could eat at any time of day" to go out to eat during a time when working people had to eat at a specific lunch hour (11:30-12:30. She thought they should wait to eat or at least pick a more kid friendly restaurant (basically fast food with a playground, lol). She would never get annoyed by kids being around when we were at one of those places. But when we were at a place where business people dominated the clientele, she was annoyed by the presence of children, especially children who screamed or got upset. While she was annoyed by their presence, I was always a little bit jealous that these moms were out with their kids instead of working. Seeing them made me miss my kids, who were in daycare while I was working.


Yesterday, I took the kids to the McWane Science Center for Pirate Day. Normally we either eat before we go, or we eat at the cafe inside the museum. But since yesterday was a special event, I wanted to get there early so we didn't eat on the way. When we got there, it was very crowded, so I didn't think eating inside the museum was a good idea. I had a coupon for a free kids meal at a nearby restaurant and decided we would walk there for lunch.


When we got there, I quickly realized that I was the one there with kids. I was also the only adult eating in the restaurant who was not wearing a suit, skirt, or high heels. To make matters worse, I had to ask a man to move his chair so that I could get my stroller through the aisle to a table. We ate right at 12 and sat at the last table for 4 that was available. Jaxon screamed like 4 times in frustration at not being allowed to have my entire plate on his stroller tray. We stood out. Really, really stood out.


It's one of my favorite places to eat and I haven't had their food since before I had Jaxon, so I was really enjoying my food and was glad that the big kids were behaving. But as I looked around, I realized I had become that person K used to hate. A person I used to be a little bit jealous of. 


And I smiled.