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20 January 2010

Makin' it Work

Marriage is hard.  Raising a nine month old is hard too.  Making time for each other and for quality time as a family?  Yep, you guessed it, HARD.  Our days pretty much consist of Olivia and me doing our thing either here or out and about and David working in the office and then running necessary errands or working out at the gym or going to other appointments he can't get to during the day.  So, sometimes it's 6 or 7 at night before we are all home together.  And, by that time, I'm ready to hand Olivia over to him and have 15 to 20 minutes to do some things I can't get to while I need to keep a watchful eye on her.  So, we've had several nights where it seems like we are ships passing in the night, handing off Olivia to each other while we try and get things done.  Well, that's not getting us anywhere.  Not anywhere good, at least.

So, we are trying to do some more things that are focused on our family, even if it's 20 minutes of uninterrupted playing time with Olivia and her beloved grocery cart.  This last weekend we had a fabulous time celebrating Olivia's 9 month birthday with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese on Friday night and an awesome hike (go ahead and pick your chin up off the floor, yes, I hiked) at Rattlesnake Canyon in Santa Barbara.  Olivia LOVED the Chuck E. Cheese - all of the bright lights and the little kids running around.  She wasn't as big a fan of the hiking, although she did really enjoy it -- she just got fussy when she was tired and didn't fall asleep as easily as she does on our normal walks.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.  (I used my point and shoot so they aren't as sharp as with my Canon.)


How cute is this?  Look at the difference in their hands!


Don't go getting any ideas, Olivia!


Probably her most favorite ride of the night.




Ready for the hike - definitely a little harder with 18 pounds of goodness on my front.


The family - with a little Pepper in the mix.


Right before Papa lost her cupcake barrette - no worries, I ordered a few more! ;)


Our hiking guides.  They did so well.



4 comments:

Band of Mothers said...

OY do I EVER feel your pain. I would say at least five nights out of seven a week, Jeremy is gone before we get up and we are all in bed before he comes home. But you know what I tell myself sometimes? At least he's not in Afghanistan.
Marriage, for me, much like parenting, is VERY hard and very rewarding.
My Mom told us when we first had Ellie how important it was for us to make time to be alone together as a couple. And it makes a HUGE difference just being able to carry on an adult conversation twice a month, hold hands in public, and pretend like we're still that 20 something couple of nearly a decade ago.
YES it is HARD...but then I watch The Bachelor and see all these poor dotes bumbling through that awful dating scene and I am SO relieved that part of my life is over.
Good for you for making family time! Olivia will reap the loving benefits of having both parents spend good, quality time with her.
Now.......I want to hear about date nights. I need some inspiration other than dinner and a movie.

Irma said...

Good for you having family time. It is all a very hard balancing act. Although hard to plan, don't forget to have 1:1 time with just you and Dave being a couple doing silly fun things together. You will all be the better for doing so.

Marissa said...

It's so tough balancing family, work and couple life and I feel you on the ships passing in the night thing. With all Scott has going on right now we really have to carve out time for each other as a couple and again as a family. But the effort is always worth it! :) Nice family outings. So fun.

BARI said...

You two look super-cute in your hike picture!!