Time for a holiday

It looks like I am moving from being a stay-at-home mom to being a stay-at-home and work-at-home mom. This is a good thing. I'm pretty sure.

But it has really ratcheted up the tension around here. I'm not too sure why. I guess there aren't enough hours in a day, and without any convincing childcare arrangement yet in place, we are both anxious to carve out and protect our time - work time, together time, sleep time, (free time - ha  ha!), defensively marking out our territory. Or maybe that isn't really it at all. I don't know.

But I am headed off on holidays tomorrow for a week of cousin-bonding and outdoor play, so there will be some down-time - with no work obligations and no computer in sight - for us to figure things out. And we will. I am really looking forward to the re-connect and all the family time.

I'm also looking forward to some time with my beloved notebook.

If nothing else, blogging has helped me find a good reason to have a notebook. I've always wanted a good reason, a purpose, for a notebook.

Now, when the power is out, when I can't get to the computer, when it is too nice outside - I've started jotting down ideas and writing parts of blog posts in my notebook. They don't have to be complete, or edited, or follow any logical flow, because the notebook is supplementary to the blog; it is not a reflection or an expression of me, and it does not have to be anything more than a behind-the-scenes tool and accessory.

This is a total breakthrough in my perfectionist little world, and I find it incredibly liberating. I really dig my notebook now.

... In other news, although I won't be able to contribute this time around, I thought I would mention the upcoming deadline (Feb. 2) for the new Carnival of Natural Parenting. I hope to participate eventually (I'm slow at these things), but the February carnival has a great theme:

Love and partners: How has a co-parent supported your dedication to natural parenting - or not? 

Go check it out.

Okay then, I am off for a little holiday. I hope to to prepare a few quicky blog posts for my absence, but with packing and cleaning and nursing my teething toddler and playing dinosaur with my needy preschooler, this may or may not happen.

I will return, though, with some fresh perspective and hopefully with some bloggable scribbles in my notebook. I already have a few that I'm working on...