Reflections on time

This week has absolutely flown by for me. Maybe it's because after a week off work, I had a TON to do and respond to as a result of the rest of the world continuing on as usual. Maybe it was because I felt we had a lot going on at home since Erik has been home every night this week. Without at least one night where he didn't get home until 10, it must have messed up my week chronometer. Maybe it was because the weather is absolutely gorgeous and life just seems to move by more quickly when the weather isn't gloomy and depressing.

Whatever the reason, the weekend is here and I'm ready for it, but unfortunately, the forecast says that even though I'll have the time to enjoy wonderful spring weather, mother nature has a cruel sense of humor and will probably dump rain on us the entire time.

Last week seemed to fly by, too. But I can't think of what kept me so busy. With a week off, I had hoped to come back to the blog with a great post of all the things I'd accomplished, enjoyed, and participated in. Somehow, things never work out how we hope.

I did leave the Valley for a couple days to spend some time with my mom down in Utah County. Lillian came with me of course, and we had a fun time just hanging out and keeping it very low key. We spent Monday afternoon wandering around Ikea, and all I can say is, I'm lucky there isn't one closer or I'd be there all the time. As we eyed everything, my yellow shopping bag was getting pretty full, and I was sure I was going to end up spending a ton more than I wanted to. Truth be told, I only spent $25 and walked away with lots of fun stuff to show for it. Of course, I took Erik back with me on Saturday so we could get a new entertainment center, so I guess if you add that in, I spent way more than I planned on. :-) Because of the snow storm Monday, we stayed another night and came home on Tuesday.

The rest of the week was pretty unproductive. By the time Sunday night rolled around, I realized I hadn't accomplished half of what I had originally planned on; where had the time gone? I felt like I spent the first few days like I was on vacation, and I didn't want to do anything. By the time I hit my ambitous groove on Thursday, it was really too late.

But it was fun to spend an entire week just being "mom," without having to worry about email and projects even when I'm at home. When Lily asked me to read or play, I could do it right then and not have to tell her "in a minute" or "let me finish this first." And I felt I was enternally more patient with her in the evenings than I am when I get home from work. I'm not sure how spending all day with her made me more patient with her at the end of the day, but that's how it seemed.

This week, Erik started working up in Logan as the new Wal-mart is now getting ready to hire. It's been so nice to have him home every night, and he doesn't have that 45-minute drive to get here. We also found out he'll have weekends off for the next 6 weeks, so we're thrilled. Next weekend, we'll be heading up to Jackson for the snowmobile hill climbs and a mini vacation.

We also found out he's been assigned to overnights. That I was not so thrilled about. With my addition of another day in the office starting in April, we had planned on Erik taking Lily as many as two days a week to help keep daycare costs down. Now, depending on how they do the schedule, he may only be with her one day, have to go without sleep to get back on a normal schedule but still be with her two days, or not be with her at all. I like that they've been able to spend some one-on-one time together for the last two years, so the chance of that disappearing and the idea of sleeping alone for the next year had me pretty bummed. But it will mean that he'll be home every evening, so that's something we haven't had for a while and it will be nice.