Good morning. Its Monday morning on the last day in April. Wheee!

I probably sound like I'm full of fake cheer, or full of something anyway, but what the hell. I'm tired. Anyway, it occurred to me over the weekend that I have been blogging for just over a year. Yep, my first blog came online mid April 2006. I set myself a goal of reaching 100 posts by the end of 2006, and I am still not quite there. Hopefully I will reach 100 posts by the end of this month but perhaps I will refrain from promising anything.

Reading back over a few of the posts over the last year has been amusing. Its interesting to see how my two children have grown, both in stature and in mental development. It is also interesting to note how DW's and my life have changed in twelve months. Not much, it seems. However, I should note that while things may seem to be the same, they have actually changed. Twelve months ago Little Man could not walk and knew only a few words. Twelve months ago, Princess was slightly shorter than she is now. Twelve months ago DW was still employed.

You see, just before Little Man was born, DW went on 12 months maternity leave and was still on leave a year ago. After the twelve months expired, she extended the leave to 24 months (which her employer permits under certain conditions). So while she did receive payments for the first 12 weeks, she has been on unpaid leave ever since. We have satisfactorily balanced our budget to ensure that the decision to return to work was not dictated by financial concerns. And so, after much consideration, DW decided that in the best interests of Princess and Little Man, she would continue to be a full-time home-maker (I believe this is the politically correct term - if not, please substitute as appropriate). This meant formally resigning her position which was not easy for DW to do, as she has long prided herself at being extremely good at her job.

Anyway, DW prefers not to think of herself as unemployed, but rather that she now has someone to work for her. I think she keeps herself pretty busy at home. Princess is only at Kinder 3 half days a week and Little Man does his best to fill the void. He has become quite adept at creating almost as much havoc as she could. I sometimes envy DW as I walk away from a slumbering house on a cold morning, or like this morning, when they were all up and waving goodbye as I left. Sometimes I wish I got to be more involved in the day to day living.

But by the end of the day we are all tired and from when I get home at 6pm, its nice to see just how excited my arrival is for the kids. They both come hurtling to the door to see me and basically swarm around me until dinner is on the table. DW doesn't get to experience that and I know she wishes she did. That is one of the sacrifices she makes. By being home all the time, she gets taken for granted, and in a strange way, that's what kids need. They need to be confident that mum or dad will be there for them, so they can focus on living rather than surviving.

Its a tough job and I'm not sure I could do it. DW gets frustrated with me when I look after the kids on occasion and manage to do the housework as well. But I have explained that it is not just the doing of these tasks that is challenging. Its that these tasks are now your entire job, they are how you spend your working time. I can sweep, mop, stack, wash, hang out, fold, vacuum, make meals and tidy up just about as well as anyone on any given day. And look after the kids. But when people ask me what I do, I think of how I spend most of my working time. DW has had to give that up to be taken for granted by two little kids and a much bigger kid. Well, maybe not the latter, at least not all of the time. I guess my job, in part at least, is to make sure the kids remember to say thank you. I guess its lucky then that Mother's Day is coming up. Nothing says thank you like not having to sweep, mop, stack, wash, hang out, fold, vacuum, make meals and tidy up. Some breakfast in bed and a special dinner might help also. Maybe a present or two...

Ciao!

Thought for the Day: Barney from "How I met Your Mother" makes blogging look uncool.