I’m officially turning in my apron. I used to poke fun at my coworkers over the amount they ate carry-out, but after my solo stint a couple weeks back, I’ve decided I just don’t have time to cook anymore. Cooking takes a crazy long time. I just don’t have that extra hour every day to make dinner. Yesterday (Mother’s Day, I know, but it was also Anna’s birthday, and for a whole bunch of other reasons, Mother’s Day is postponed this year) I bought a chest freezer, which I intend to fill with premade dinners, which will be delivered to our house by someone in a uniform. From now on, “making dinner” will consist of removing something from the defrosting drawer and putting in the over, then removing something from the deep freeze and putting it in the defrosting drawer. For the record, I’ve been making dinner for, uhm, EVER. Jennifer could cook if she was pressed to do it, but it’s just not a good idea on a regular basis.

Also, I talked with a nanny placing service today, so we could soon be interviewing nannies. This is a big jump for me, as I was very against the idea of spending more money for someone else to spend more time with my kids, rather than me doing it myself. However, the couple weeks I spent alone with the kids has really opened my eyes to how much work there is to be done around here, and how much more we could be enjoying the time we spend with our kids if we weren’t constantly occupied with the logistics and cleaning that seem to occupy most of our time.

Yesterday wasn’t much to speak of, either in terms of Mother’s Days nor Birthdays… and that fact is as probably as good an indicator as any of how stretched we are. I never have been an especially good planner of surprises, or even of non-surprise celebrations, but every now and then I do come up with a winner. The ladies that cut Jen’s hair still tell (and embellish) the story of how I made an album of Anna’s first year for Jennifer’s first Mother’s Day. In truth, I took advantage of my insomnia to do something useful for a couple months, and sought the advice of a coworker to make a simple album. According to the ladies at the salon, I took scrapbooking classes and popped No-Doz every night of Anna’s life in order to create a veritable monument to babyhood that will one day reside in the Louvre alongside Michelangelo’s Pietá[1].

Anyway, this Mother’s Day was supposed to be one of those grand occasions which would reveal another work that would further The Legend of Dave, that parable of hairdresser culture. So, it’s not done yet. And at the rate it’s going, it’s would likely be next Mother’s Day before it’s unveiled, if it weren’t for the fact that I plan to turn in my apron and hire a nanny. I’m hoping that I can free up some time for the thing that seems to be in highest demand around here: attention.

¹ Yes, I know Pietá is in the Vatican.