Family Weekend

This weekend was a family weekend. I think we always mean for them to be, but by the time the weekend is over we’ve barely tackled any chores, we haven’t gone far and both hubby and myself are wondering if we ever get time to do what we want to do, as a family or by ourselves.

This weekend we made a better plan. And while we changed it around a bunch, we managed to still do the basics and then some.

Saturday saw us booting out to Sidney. Oliver was yawning away in the backseat despite only just having woken up from a nap and by the time we made it to Sidney he decided he’d have nothing to do with the stroller. I usually use the stroller every day during the week, but the snow had it packed away for the last week. Perhaps he had been happy to be free of it, perhaps he was excited to see his daddy or perhaps he’d had enough sitting after the car ride. In any event I pushed the stroller around Sidney while hubby carried Oliver. Good thing they are handy for loading up with jackets and bags.

First stop was the Sidney bakery. I won’t lie, that wasn’t for Oliver. Hubby and I love it there and didn’t feel too guilty indulging in a donut and cinnamon bun. Mmm…. Nothing for Oliver there though.

Next up: Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre. I purchased a Groupon for there ages ago and we just hadn’t made it out yet. It was small, but for a little one, it’s great! Oliver is too young to fully enjoy it I think, but he got a kick out of the elevator down and was very enthusiastic about the fish tanks. The only time he got upset was when he couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t grab the star fish on the glass and then again when I moved him away from the whale bones he’d been touching (don’t worry, they are there to be touched; I just thought he was done). It was great, and thus, we ended up with a yearly pass. Guess we’ll be going again.

After the fish we were off the toy store. Buddies Toys provided more entertainment for the wee one and we purchased two cute wooden cars. So far they’ve been a hit, but mostly because Oliver loves to chew on anything.

Of course, no family outing is complete with a trip to the bookstore (or so I say now before Oliver can run up and down the aisles screaming). We were so pleased to discover Hairy Maclary at the Children’s Bookstore out in Sidney. These are great books written by Lynley Dodd, who lives in New Zealand. We picked up three more to add to our collection of six, but still have many more to get. We added a few Robert Munsch books and presto: a perfect Saturday afternoon.

Today we took a trip to the IMAX and survived. Hubby and I used to have annual passes but stopped for a few years. In December we thought we’d give it a go again this year, but I was sceptical of how well it would go. Turns out, not so bad. Sure, hubby had to stand on the steps next to seats and bounce Oliver for part of the show, but he was very well behaved and even watched some of the show. Oliver spent the rest of it snacking on food we brought for him and chewing his toys.

At any rate, a family weekend was had, and for that, I really can’t complain. Next weekend’s goal: another successful family weekend, but perhaps without the seemingly regular weekend tiff hubby and I have. More on that another time.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Respect. It’s a big thing. Aretha Franklin would agree with me on that.

This was a week were I didn’t feel like I was getting any. It started off with the CRD, Aggressive Excavating and the rail trail (a wonderful story there involving five months of my driveway being blocked by trucks, the Commissionaire, and a giant concrete block in my driveway, plus several episodes of being yelled and sworn at). Since I’ve already endured several months being asked if I’m enjoying my time “off” (taking care of a baby is like being on holidays after all) and it is the that wonderful time of the month for me, I was feeling a little less than appreciated and certainly in need of my hubby showing me a little TLC; a little support; a little respect.

On Friday hubby went in to work some OT as we both agreed the money made it worth doing. We had my sister coming over that night and so dinner needed to get finished, the house tidied, the laundry finished so the bedding could go back on the bed, that sort of thing. Some of this is impossible to do with a little guy attached to you and my shoulder was really sore this week to the point that a chiropractic adjustment and a one hour massage only made a dent in the pain on Friday morning. Also, since I’d had an appointment that morning for my shoulder, I was working with one nap to accomplish everything, not the usual two.

Hubby calls me at 4pm to say he’s heading home, do I need anything. “Nope,” I say, “Just your help”. He assures me he’s heading home right then and will see me in half an hour. When it is almost an hour before he arrives home and I’m now attempting to sweep the floor with a clingy almost twenty pound baby in my arms, I’m a little upset. Of course, I’m waiting for a good reason, like he made a stop to get me flowers for my tough week, or the bridge was up and he couldn’t get across or…. Something…. Nope. He got side tracked talking to a friend for twenty minutes after he said he was on his way.

I know: he has a right to talk to people. I’m not saying he doesn’t. He has a right to friends, I’m not disagreeing. But listen, if your wife has a bad week, if she needs your support, if you have people coming over and if you say you are on your way home, get your butt home boys. Show your lady a little respect when she feels the rest of the world has been dumping on her.

He is still oblivious to why I’m so upset and thinks I’m overreacting for being upset about a mere twenty minutes. Perhaps I am. Or perhaps it has to do with a man’s ability to forget things from earlier in the week and he doesn’t see why it’s a compounding thing, why I needed him to come help me, to show me enough respect to follow through on what he said he was doing.

Perhaps like most mothers (or maybe most women) I should just be resigning myself to the fact that I will never be fully appreciated and I won’t be getting the respect I think I deserve anytime soon.

How about you? When was the last time you felt like someone should have shown you a little more respect than th