Reflections on being Mr. Mom

I'm just entering day 2 of my 3 days as Mr. Mom. I'm surviving, but have definitely had to scale back my aspirations for these 3 days. We were going to go here and there and do all these fun things, but honestly, by the time I take care of the basics: meals, dishes, laundry, walking Cheerio, and trying to keep things picked up, I'm pooped. I don't think I fully appreciated how much energy it takes to do those things - I certainly appreciate Carrie a lot more now and will be much more empathetic and appreciative when she's tired after a long day. I hardly believe how well she keeps the house picked up and usually has dinner ready when I get home from work. While I think I'm doing okay, she would probably walk in and classify this place as a pit. There have been small victories. I took Nicholas to his 2nd swim class. He basically cried through his entire 1st class, and I was wondering whether things were going to work out. He did really well yesterday - of course, I did bribe him with going out to ice cream afterwards if he was good during his class. Then we managed to take our old camera in, that was still under a warranty plan, and see if they could fix a problem with the battery compartment. Turns out they couldn't and gave me a new camera instead. We had 6 days left on the 2 year warranty. That was a stroke of luck. I just happened to come across the warranty yesterday while sorting through a pile of papers. Well the boys are about to drive me crazy. Cheerio needs a walk and Nicholas really can't leave me alone for 10 min unless he's watching a show. He just destroyed the pile of laundry I just folded up. Now, I also understand why Carrie just wants to have a little peace and quiet sometimes without Cheerio staring at her and Nicholas climbing on her. I'm off to try and walk off a little of their pent-up energy.