It is summer. Some of us work from home and may want to call upon “the babysitter” to help us us get through the long days with all the children in the house. Here’s what we’re watching at our house basically all day every day when the need arises:

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends is a favorite of my 10-year-old and 8-year-old. It includes plenty of all the things they find funny: bullies showing themselves to be stupid and ugly, prat falls, crazy-looking creatures, plans going comically awry, pranks, spitting, insult humor, burping, jokes, everyone saying everything in a screamy hysterical voice. …Come to think of it, I don’t recommend this one. Never mind.
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I try and eat healthfully, although god knows I’m not always successful at it. It’s awfully tempting to dive face-first into my favorite junk foods at the end of a long, stressful day, especially when the kids have been performing Tantrum Relay Races for hours on end. (The preschooler is screaming because the toddler touched his blankie! Now the toddler is screaming because the preschooler ripped the blanket out of his hand! Now they’re shoving each other! Who will drive Mommy up the wall first? This is going to be a photo finish, folks!)

Despite that oh-so-confident blog title up there, I don’t actually believe in “must-haves” when it comes to diet and exercise. Like most things, what works for me may not work for you. However, here are a few of MY must-haves for staving off that daily desire to strap on a Frito feedbag, in case you find them useful:
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I know you and I live in different cities so I can’t make generalizations, but in MY city it is mid-July. STILL SUMMER. And yet all my favorite stores are clearing out the summer stuff. Some people roll their eyes at summer clearance and school supply sales in mid-July, but I say WOOOO: it’s generally right around this time of year I’m finding out that a handmedown swimsuit isn’t going to last through another kid after all, or that for some reason a child has only two pairs of shorts in his size, or that a 2-piece suit might have been a better choice.

The Children’s Place has their summer stuff on sale, plus an additional 30% off. Here’s an outfit I bought for Elizabeth for just over $10:
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Before my first son was born I was working full time, we had no childcare costs, my husband was well-rewarded at his job, and our investment portfolio had yet to begin its terrifying toilet-bowl downward spiral. I only have to consider the stroller we got back then in order to truly visualize how things have changed. It’s not that we’re in trouble now, it’s just that with my 3-day-a-week salary, my husband’s exciting-but-scary startup, two kids in daycare, college savings plans, and a staggering monthly grocery bill (the children eat NOTHING, and yet I keep TRYING TO FEED THEM!), there’s no way in h-e-double-hockeysticks I’d buy such a spendy stroller today.

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Years of my own experience should have clued me in, but until I had a daughter and bought her a cute 1-piece cherry-patterned swimsuit from Target, I hadn’t fully realized that 1-piece swimsuits are REALLY CHALLENGING to pee in. It can be a little tricky to find a cute non-bikini 2-piece for a toddler girl, especially at the BEGINNING OF JULY when summer is OVER.
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