Trapped in the Office

The title of today's post is not a title of a song, but actually the truth about my life at the moment.

Brian's father, brother and nine year old nephew came into town late Friday night to help Brian remodel the master bath. What this means is that we have not had water in our master bath since Friday morning (Brian took out the sinks and disconnected the toliet) and that our house is a mess. Let me say that again: our house is a MESS. Any remodel project, no matter how small, tears up the whole house. In addition to this, Ruth is not sleeping in her crib since the guest bed is located in the nursery. (We didn't want to give up our office) Ruth is sleeping in the pack and play in the office. She also is not wanting to nap so, after 30 minutes of fussing, she has finally gone to sleep and I am at the computer, stuck. If I leave the room, I am afraid she will wake up and then were will I be?

But this gives me time to update the blog and then work on my lecture for class on Tuesday.

I have learned a few things this weekend: my husband really, really hates to paint, Ruth needs her schedule, and I am not cut out to parent or babysit a boy.

We primed the bathroom during Ruth's nap on Friday (no vistors yet so she slept in her crib). Then after she was in bed we painted the bathroom. We had picked out paint that we thougth was going to look like a cool cucumber, like a spa. But instead, it looked like a clown had sneezed. Way too minty. So Saturday, we (and I mean Brian and his brother) painted again. This time we choose a green we knew we liked, one shade lighter than our dining room. Perfect.

As far a me not being a mom for a boy, this is not new news to me. But this apparently was for Brian. I guess Brian had seen me with my nephews. When they were little (Before Brian), I would play with them and love on them and when they were bad, I got on to them or sent them to my sister. It was fine. They yelled, I yelled back. Now that they are old, they pretty much get on my nerves all the time. They are 14 and care mostly about video games and being loud and the center of attention. When the whole family is around, it is just too much. Now Brian's nephew is similar in that he wants to either watch TV or play video games all the time. But at nine he is still pretty quiet and well behaved. However, the constant motion that is a nine year old boy and the video games and cartoons were enough to make Brian realize that I have no idea what to do with a little boy. Plus, since Christian is Brian's nephew and I am relatively new to the family (remember, his family lives six hours away) Christian is not the type of boy to let me, a practical stranger, love on him the way I used to force kisses on my nephews at nine.

To everyone that says "boys are easier to raise than girls," I say what I have always said: phisha. I think that is in the mind of the beholder. Personally, I think raising anyone or anything is hard. I can't get Ruth to eat a bite if she doesn't want to eat. I am sure it isn't different with a boy.

In short, do not push your ideas about girls being more difficult than boys. (Or your ideas on giving birth with or without drugs, but that is for another day) Maybe girl A was harder than girl B but boy C is harder than girl A. I think a lot of it stems from society's stereotypes. And if stereotypes aren't cool for races, then they shouldn't be cool for genders.

I am off my soap box. I am sure you ALL want Ruth to sleep in her crib tomorrow!!!!