Wednesday, September 5, 2007

More Birthday Shopping...

Today was another day of errands. Nathan's car was making funny noises so I had to drop him off at the shop early this morning, then pick him back up at 5. Since I was passing by Kohls and needed to take some of Elon's birthday clothes back, I decided to stop there and look around a bit. I was able to exchange the too big shorts for another pair and for just $5 more was able to get two more Osh Kosh shirts that coordinate with shorts he has for next summer. A pretty good bargain, I thought.

I also wanted to look around for some birthday clothes for Nathan since his b-day is in a couple of weeks. I found some nice jeans and khaki pants for $7.99 a pair. Since Nathan's jeans are looking pretty raggedy (even for him), I decided to buy him a couple of pairs. This, too, seemed like a pretty good deal considering the fact that men's jeans can be quite expensive. These pants, along with the shirts and 2 dvds I purchased, will be Nathan's birthday gifts from Elon and I. Thankfully, birthday shopping is done for awhile.

I find that it is really hard to get chores accomplished when I have errands to run. By the time I load up the kids, drive there, do what I need to do, then drive back, I'm usually pooped. Then there's lunches and clean up and diapers and naps. During nap time, I try to do something relaxing or nap myself. A lot of times, I use this time to blog. I really don't like to use the time for cleaning. I used to do that and it seemed to lead to burn out. So I'm curious, what do you do while your kids nap? It'd be nice to know how old they are and how long they usually nap, just for comparison sake.

5 comments:

Davene said...

Depending on the day, I do a few things...

If I'm tired, I nap. I find, like you, that if I have a morning out of the house running errands, by the time the boys are fed lunch and in bed, I am wiped out...and more than ready to lie down, too.

If I am not too tired, I stay up and usually do something quiet. Computer time is common, whether it be blogging or organizing endless picture files or things like that. But it might be reading a book or magazine, writing in my pregnancy journal, or paper/book stuff like that.

Occasionally, I tackle a household project, but it's not usually something too strenuous or noisy. Although the boys can sleep through the vacuum, I tend to recharge my own batteries better if I get a break and do something more for myself.

My boys are 5 and 2, and interestingly the 5 year-old still naps. I tell him he doesn't have to nap; he can stay up and have quiet playtime instead. But he always decides to nap, and usually falls asleep pretty quickly so I know he's genuinely tired. I can count on 2 hours of time for myself before my oldest is awake; my youngest usually takes longer to go to sleep, but he usually sleeps later. After my oldest is awake, I get some one-on-one time with him which is nice.

Davene said...

I take it your husband doesn't read your blog??? Because you're letting the cat out of the bag with his birthday gifts. :)

New Mom said...

No, he doesn't usually read my blog unless I have a specific post I want him to read. But just in case he should get curious, I warned him against looking at my blog upon threat of death.

Anonymous said...

i'd like to nap while my kids are napping, but i'm just not much of a napper...even when i NEED to.
lately, i've been giving myself a "naptime project", since my kids are 2.5 and 15 months. i try to do things that i just can't do when they are awake (organizing closets, cleaning the fridge,etc.) really boring stuff, but it just won't get done if i don't do it while they're sleeping. however, my goal is to start having a rest when they do. i think its really important. :)

New Mom said...

I know how you feel Melanie, it's often hard for me to fall asleep also. Often, by the time I'm just falling asleep I'll hear Elon stirring! However, I find that when I do take a 20 minute nap it really helps my level of energy.