going commando

(Things that Made Me Happy this Week)

I haven’t initiated a break-up in 13 years.

Until last week.

When we dumped cable.

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The first week was great. We did EVERYTHING together. We cleaned,

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…we play-dated, we took walks, chased butterflies and all that happy, girly stuff.

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But by the end of the week it fell apart.

Because I realized there was much more time to fill during the day than I originally thought. And that the activities we usually reserved for when things got batty were used up by the time they melted down. It dawned on me that I’d been lying to myself for years. YEARS. That very strict way I “monitored” their TV time? Turned out it fluctuated with how my day shaped up. If I finished my blog post before they woke up, was caught up on my blog reading, or they weren’t driving me up a wall, I monitored their intake just fine.

But the rest of the time I indulged in a babysitting service that was neither billed in emotions nor personal time. And now our babysitter was gone. Needless to say, this week started off with fighting and arguing and boredom. Until I finally stepped up…and shut off my computer.

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I arranged 1-2 playdates every day. Talk about !!! Why is it easier to have one or two extra kids at the house instead of just your own?

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We went on trips looking for new parks

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We played more games, which I actually enjoyed enough that I was excited when we found a missing piece.

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We spent more time at the pool, which resulted in the girls BOTH wanting to practice what they’d been learning at their swim lessons. Now they can BOTH do this:

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There were many spontaneous, “I like-a-you, Mama. So much.”

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They had so much time with their respective friends that they actually wanted to play together when they were alone.

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We did lots and lots and lots more of this:

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Which led to the realization that ONE could read. I couldn’t believe I’d missed that. I have no idea when it clicked in her brain, but it did.

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The fiber optic detox has been rough. I mean, it SUCKS to lose what little “me time” I had left during the day. And it’s kind of sad to fall asleep super early because I’m as exhausted as they are, therefore losing out on the “me time” I would’ve had at the end of the day.

I haven’t had time to be as organized as my Type A personality demands. Many of these shots don’t have !!! tags and the lenses are all wrong because I didn’t have time to be intentional. But I didn’t need to be. I couldn’t even keep up with all of the new little bits of !!! I got to experience this week because I broke up with cable.

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What makes you

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!!! = Intentional Happiness

Check out more !!! at Momalom, and link up below and we’ll check you out!

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