If I Had A Million Dollars

I never understood why people were so impressed that celebrities had children and actually took care of them themselves. For example, I remember reading in a magazine how Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie didn't have a live-in nanny. It seemed like this was a pretty big deal. However, that doesn't mean they don't have a nanny, it just means that the nanny doesn't live with them. I find it hard to believe that anybody with six kids and gobs of money wouldn't have a nanny (or two). Why torture yourself when you don't have to?

On a day to day basis, I try to do stuff with the kids without spending too much money. Go to the park, have play dates, play Wii and whatever else we can find to keep us busy. I find myself repeating over and over, "no, we can't go to Sonic because that costs money", "no, we can't go to McDonald's because that costs money", "no, we can't buy x because it costs money". It's not that we can't do some of those things, but you want to teach the kids that they can't do everything they want to do all the time and that in order to do some things you have to work for it. I'm always telling Andy if he wants to go on nice vacations when he gets older that he needs to study hard so he can get good grades so he can go to a good college so he can get a good job after college so he can make good money to go on nice vacations. Otherwise he's going to go to a bad college get a bad job make bad money and go on bad vacations or no vacations at all (notice that not going to college is never an option in these scenarios). Somehow, with all the great trips that we've been on, this actually sinks in with him.

I always feel like moms get the short end of the stick. We're with the kids all the time, so even when we do fun stuff it gets overshadowed by all the other things we do, like make them go to the grocery store or force them to go to spanish class. Based on the amount of time they spend with us, the rewards are few and far between. Dads, however, are often the hero. When do we go out to eat the most? With Daddy. Who takes them to the museum, zoo and all the other fun places on the weekends (in a very short, condensed amount of time)? Daddy. I'm usually along for the ride, but Daddy is the one who pays and plays and makes it all happen in their eyes.

Whenever I leave town for a girls weekend, which only happens a couple times a year, my husband turns into the single dad with weekend priviledges. They go out to eat, they go do tons of fun stuff and the money flows. Part of it is because my husband doesn't know what else to do with them and part of it is he wants to get out of the house. When I get home I'm so happy that they had a good time, because then I have a good chance of getting to go away again in the future, but I'm also jealous that he has that option to go do things and be the fun daddy while I generally have to say no and be the mean mommy.

This weekend, while he's been gone, I've tried to have a little more fun with the kids outside of the house. While Andy was at a birthday party last night Sarah and I went to dinner with friends at Joe's Crabshack where the adults sat on the outdoor patio and the girls played on the playground. Then today we met friends at the park and stayed for a bit before heading to McDonald's for lunch and to play some more. It was fun and relaxing and different from what we normally do.

If we could afford it, however, it would be nice to have a nanny and a cleaning lady and a chef and all those extra people around that would make my life so much easier so that I could spend more stress-free time with the kids. Or even better, with my husband. Per the Barenaked Ladies, if I had a million dollars we would still eat Kraft dinner (otherwise known as macaroni and cheese), because who doesn't like macaroni and cheese, but we'd be rich. Then maybe, hoping we could still keep that balance so the kids didn't turn into spoiled brats, we could relax a little bit and not worry so much about how much fun costs. Yes, I know that it doesn't take money to have a good time and money doesn't buy happiness, but it sure doesn't hurt.