The no-shower, Saturday morning routine

Over the last couple months, I have been solidifying a Saturday morning routine that I am beginning to love. Hubby gets up with Cavan at 8-ish and I sleep in till 9 or 10 a.m. I then throw in a load of laundry, brush my teeth, and put in my contacts before heading upstairs to join the family. We hang out as Daddy makes eggs and toast (and bacon on a good day), have breakfast together, and then Daddy gets to work on his projects for the day. With her full belly, Cavan is content to play by herself or with me verbally interacting with her as I clean the kitchen/living space. After the kitchen is clean, Cavan and I (or just myself) pick up all the toys and random stuff strewn about after a work-weeks-worth of only lazy tidying up, and it's time to vacuum. Which I love.

Vacuuming is so satisfying for so many reasons. A good vacuuming (along with the preliminary de-cluttering) makes such a dramatic visual improvement that it makes Mommy feel like a good housekeeper (at least once or twice a week!) Secondly, emptying the canister is both completely disgusting—you mean all of that dirt and dog hair was on the floor, eeeww—and completely fullfilling—I just eliminated all of that dirt and dog hair from the floor, yeah! Third, Cavan enjoys vacuuming: she has a toy vacuum that she pushes around with me and today when I finished she said, "Good job Mommy!" The best mommy reward.

Then it's lunch time/reading time/playtime, until Cavan goes down for a nap at 2 p.m. or so. Since I can usually count on a two-three hour nap out of her, the monitor goes in the window and out I go to garden. The last week or so I haven't been able to go bananas in the garden because my six-month preggers belly gets in the way and makes me tired, but I'm able to at least be mildly productive. Check out my progress on the veggie garden: "The Almost Green Thumb—More than a box of dirt."

Finally, time for my shower after getting completely sweaty-bug-sprayed-dirty outside. Cavan then wakes up, we have a snack and a sippy (she has the sippy, I should say) and outside we go to play. [By the way, my foot just fell asleep—I hate that!]

I love my weekends. I love when weekends are MINE—no responsibilities or engagements to attend. There is no better feeling than working on your property and improving your home.