Home Bound

Hola Lovelies! It's July! Summer is in full swing, the temperatures are rising. You can feel the energy levels rise, as we all see more sun.  Every body's got their plans for activities to do to "beat the heat". Except me. You see, we're usually pretty home bound. It's rather tough to get out of the house with one child, let alone two. Add to that, an autistic princess.

You see, the normal things that people do as families, we don't. The King and I have always been more prone to the comfortable night home, in our comfy clothes. All we needed was a good show or movie to watch, and we were set. Little did we realize that it was all in preparation for what's to come. Grocery shopping is almost always done by the King. He's the one who's out with the car at work, so this is just much easier. We don't go to restaurants much because of the fact that the Princess doesn't feed herself, or eat table food, so there's really little point. Quite frankly, because I'm home with the beauties, I'm worn out by the King's days off that I really have no desire at that point to do much of anything. But there's more to it than that. Outings are never a single person job in this household. You always need back-up and an extra hand with the preparations.

The average outing for us require a lot of planning. Planning what outfits the little royals are going to wear, what shoes, which toys to bring, etc. We end up adding a couple of other plans to our array. First, we plan on how things will time out with nap time, as the Prince is still in that stage. The Princess, on the other hand, usually forgoes naps. We plan on when to leave, and what's our latest time we're comfortable with leaving. We usually plan on arriving late. Not because we want to be trendy, or whatever, but because there are many variables that may set us back. We can never guarantee what mood the Princess will be in on any given day. The final two preparations that we set out are the plan of whom to call and what to say to them should we need to back out last minute. That usually consists of "It's just not a great day for the kids." The toughest plan for me is the exit strategy.

The thing is, any and all trips out of the house usually end abruptly. By the princess having a meltdown. Honestly though, the outing was most likely so eventful, that I almost don't mind the quick departure. Let me give you an example of a most recent outing that we experienced.

It was my mother in law's birthday party; and since we don't get to see all of the family much, we had set out to go no matter what. Since it was at a restaurant, we figured the Prince could eat with us. We made sure to feed the Princess before we left to avoid having to bust out a jar of baby food and spoon feed our three year old daughter. Of course, we did pack extra jars just in case. The Princess was in fine form for the car ride down, save for the last 10 minutes, where she screamed bloody murder. Once we got there, we discovered that the birthday party had reserved a room to itself, so that was a bonus for us! The Princess was excited to run back and forth... Back and forth... Over, and over again. Actually, I don't think she really stopped the entire time. The Prince was a little dazed by the sudden outing, as he isn't used to leaving the house, but seemed amiable enough.

About five or ten minutes into being there, the Prince decided he wasn't happy. The King and I took turns either keeping up with the Princess, or walking and trying to soothe the Prince. Finally, we discover crackers, and this keeps the Prince very happy the rest of the outing. The Princess was still getting her energizer bunny on, running back and forth. At some point, orders were being taken-- And I came to the realization that I hadn't even looked at the menu yet!-- I over hear the King ordering, and tell the waitress I'll have the same, with a few minor alterations to my liking. This is of course the one moment that I had the Princess in a seated position on my lap, and the waitress looks to her for a moment. It dawns on me that she is wondering what the Princess might like to eat.

"Oh," I reply to her unspoken question, "She only eats baby food, so she's covered." I'm met with a shocked look and two words "OK, then." She then looks to the Prince with the same unspoken question, and I just let her know that he'll eat off of our plates and if we could get a spare plate that would be great. I never got that extra plate. Oh well.

The food takes a long while to start to arrive; the Prince is still happily munching on crackers, and the Princess is still running back and forth. I see a few family members attempt to keep up with her, but the truth is, she's hard to keep up with. So the King and I continue to switch between royals, mostly because one is sitting, and that's just a little nicer. The Princess needs a diaper change, so the King directs me to the bathroom that has a changing table, upstairs. Funny thing that I should have thought about ahead of time was that the Princess is too big to fit on a changing table, so we changed her diaper with her standing in the middle of the bathroom floor. As I'm coming back down stairs, I realize our food has arrived. The King and Prince are happily eating. Alas, I have the Princess who has resumed her exercise regime.

After the King has completed his meal, he takes over the Princess duty. I sit down and scarf about half of my cheeseburger-- That's what I get for ordering the same as the King.-- all while trying to keep the mess the Prince is making to a minimum, when suddenly the Princess goes into full meltdown mode. The King-- ever diligent to make sure not to disturb other diners-- whisks her out of the room quickly. I assume things are good for a bit, until a few minutes later I receive the text that we need to go, the Princess is just not having any more of this outing.

Thus, my dilemma. Why we are home bound. It's just so much easier to stay home and try to keep the children entertained, than face the big crazy world out there, where we'd only be gone for a few hours at most anyway. I suppose it's not such a bad life. I do enjoy my surroundings, and clearly we were homebodies anyway before we had children. So I will embrace this life. I will enjoy my homebound-ness with a smile on my face. I will go out only when the occasion occurs. I will bask in the glory of the smiles on my children's faces... Until the next meltdown happens, then will somebody please get me out of here??

Just kidding.