Bah-humbug

I don't think that I will ever understand why the holiday "season" must be such a rush. All I feel like I do is run around and prepare and attend and get and plan. I think the only one who can enjoy this season is the kids. They are the true beneficiaries of this preparation. This past weekend for Thanksgiving I washed and cleaned and cooked, then shopped and hid toys and made lists. Whew! Now I am hiding at the library because the house is too distracting and I am supposed to be studying. But what is my problem? All I can think of is the many things that I have to do for my kids/house/husband. Do this, be there, get ready for that... it never seems to end. NOW I understand why people go away for the ENTIRE 2 weeks of Christmas break vacation instead of staying at home. There is no work on vacation. You pay someone to do it all for you. WHAT A FABULOUS IDEA!!! Maybe next year, now that the kids are old enough, we could do that. Just the 5 of us somewhere awesome and all inclusive. Ahhh, it's good to have a goal.

Do they still make Calgon?

Let me preface this by writing, most days are not like this one. That being said, today was a day where I feel physically drained and totally hoarse from all the yelling. NO ONE wanted to listen. A threat was not enough to keep the kids in line. Grounding was not enough, impending hot sauce in the mouth was not enough, a threat of the spoon was not enough. It is as if they KNEW I was physically too tired to take them on. *sigh* I hope tomorrow will be better. The only thing that has kept me sane through this busy day, is the knowledge that as my kids were being a handful, no matter where we were, there was always another mom who would catch my looks of frustration, and nod her head in understanding. Thank God. There are others out there. Other moms who have been where I was today and didn't judge my threats issued through clenched teeth and furrowed brow. I think we should have a secret handshake and meetings where we could compare horror stories and brainstorm ideas to keep them in line.

transferring it all over...

I have finally figured out how to get from one site to the other.. forgive the confusion, but I could leave the posts over on that other site unattended. I like this one much better...

I have a boy turning 7 on Friday. I am astonished by this for several reasons.
1. That 8 years ago I started thinking about trying to get pregnant.
2. That 8 years ago I thought I knew what I was doing.
3. That I have a 7 year old son, when there are days I don't even feel capable of child rearing.
4. That he has made it this far and is reasonably normal and healthy.

These seem like strange opinions but they couldn't be more true. He is a wonderful, loving, ENERGETIC, curious, inquisitive kid, who will go far in life if only on shear perseverance alone.
We lovingly call him the "litigator" because no "no" is too final. I watch him with other kids,playing and am proud of the way he is. He is not into sports like the other kids, he may be a little geeky, but I am okay with this I hope he looks back and is okay with it too. Ahh Tanner, you are the best first kid ever.
Love you!




I have finally got to a place in my life where I can do a (small)something just for me. I have made the leap from mom to student. I am going back to get my Masters after 8 years out of the loop. I alternate between feeling really happy I am doing this, to feeling so out of my element that everyone is just shaking their heads and wondering what happened to me. I have only one class right now and after 4 assignments,2 tests and one paper, I also am beginning to question my sanity. Who is going to do all the things around here while I need to study? Will the house collapse around me? Will the children need therapy to help them cope with all the changes? I hope not. There are days when I feel like I have shouldered myself with an impossible task. When I feel like breaking down and just twitching. "My plate is TOO full!", I want to cry out. But then I have days when the well oiled machine that is my house, has no hiccups and it all starts to make sense. I am doing this for me. Because I can. Now where can I buy a bigger plate to fit it all on?

It's Friday, and at our house that means it's movie night. Tonight we are watching Transformers 2. This is not a kids movie. In fact G.I. Joe was more acceptable than this movie. It had way less bad language. We loved Transformers and when this one came out I took both boys. Both boys ages 7 and 4. They were so excited to see it in the theater. Then it began and in the first 5 minutes there was so much cussing. By no means have my kids never heard it before, but still. The ambiance of the theater negates a lot of what they heard but here in our basement, its a little different. If you have met my kids you know they tend to focus on things...like bad words. They are fascinated lately by any word deemed unacceptable. What do I do with this? What do I do when they are screaming "poopy head" at each other? Nothing. I am tired of yelling at them to behave. I am to the point of least resistance with them so I am hoping and praying that they just don't do it around their teachers, old people, family, and church. Everyone else can just think we are raising them from under a dumpster. For now they are enjoying watching movies, and I am enjoying hanging out with them. I know that like the shock value of blurting out bad words, the hanging together won't last much longer either. And everything else I can overlook.

...and a gallon of milk

Mothers Day for me was very nice. For the third year in a row, My Aunt, Delilah and I walked in the Network of Strength's Breast cancer research walk-a-thon. This requires us to get up at 4:45 a.m. to get to Downtown Chicago in time, but it is worth it. I am glad that I am taking the moment to do this with Delilah so she can see how awesome it is to help. I would LOVE it if I could talk the boys into it also, but a part of me truly loves that it is just us girls. We walked and walked and then we always go to a Nice restaurant for brunch. The one we wanted wasn't open yet, so we chose another. ATWOODS was decorated with the 20's art deco and was very stylish. Unfortunately I had packed by snobbery in my other bag. The staff there was trained in the "look". The " you are not good enough look" . Throughout the meal I just wanted to start banging my head on the table or scratch something to give them justification for acting this way. We came home after that and the boys had gotten me a card and a flower that Bobby could plant. Very sweet. Bobby heated dinner up for the kids and I, and then when I was tidying up after dinner, I saw the best gift. Not the one that is coming in the mail that I am also excited about, but the one that I received without ANY asking, nagging, or reminding. The one that Bobby saw and said she needs that, and with all his own initiative, he bought it. A gallon of milk. I think I might of teared up a bit.

It's not a full day without at least one call to poison control

A typical day for us does not include doctors or panicked phone calls to poison control, but as my kids get older and more active I realize that I should probably put them on speed dial. My oldest went to the doctor yesterday morning and was diagnosed with the flu. Why, you ask, would I pay to have someone tell me what I already should know? Isn't the flu obvious? Well , no, its not. I know the flu as the puke-y diarrhea-y sickness. Apparently that's not "true flu". True flu is when you are feverish , achy, and whiny. And that is what he has. Yesterday afternoon my middle baby started getting it, so I passed out doses of children's ibuprofen. They are good medicine takers and I try to make it fun by adding a little cheer, "Through the lips, over the tongue, watch out tummy! Here it comes!" (I knew all those years in a sorority would finally pay off). As I sat back down in the living room my oldest comes out to tell me that his little brother is drinking from the medicine bottle. I laugh because I remember putting the lid back on, but go to look anyway. And there he is, in the middle of the kitchen, OPEN bottle in hand, and some on his lips. Now I figure that he on top of what I gave him probably has 3tsp or there abouts in him. I call poison control and they tell me what to look for, said that he might gt a little sleepy and to just tickle his feet if he does sleep to get a reaction out of him. Really? Sleepy? Hm. Okay. So she tells me to watch for the peak in 2 hours.
2 hours later, he is running around in circles playing. Sleepy? I think not.

I left the house...

I left the house one day leaving my husband as warden to the duo of destruction. I left for 23 minutes.23. When I came back my husband was walking around wiping black marks from the wall. When I walked into the house both babies greeted me happy and chattering about soap and washing hands. I came around the corner and he looked at me, as if what happened was my fault for leaving him in charge, which it probably was. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Well the phone rang, (translation, I left the room and the children unattended) and when I walked back in they had gotten into your make-up. (Again I might add he knows they have done it before) They took the mascara and drew all over the doors and each other. Wow honey, you aren't kidding when you call them the duo of destruction." NO kidding.. All I could do was laugh. If I took any of his dirty looks seriously I would never be able to leave the house. Its ridiculous but true. This is a picture of my little rock star.

Just because its easy for me..

I have found that when I want my husband to do something for me I am taking it into my own hands that when I get back there will be something for me to clean up, rearrange, fix, console, or put away. Because I am the only one who can do all that, apparently. Once, when I left, the babies got ahold of some vasoline and rubbed it all over the couch. Another time they got into the dryer and emptied all the clean clothes onto the floor. And another time the oldest ordered an adult movie off of the satellite. Now my question would be the obvious, where the HELL was the father?? He says he was just in the other room. I know they are quick, and can get into something before you blink somedays, but I have seen him holding our oldest while talking on the phone to his dad, and Tanner totally ordered WWE while Bobby was looking at the t.v. HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS CAN THIS BE???? And Bobbys excuse?...I was on the phone. Well HELLO its called parenting, everything, EVERYTHING you ever do from the moment the first one is born you HAVE to multitask. Have to. What makes him think that it is okay to talk on the phone in the other room when all the kids are awake and be excused from the things going on in the house? Why is he exempt and then I have to multitask for us both. Are you Freakin' kiddin me? Because I can give birth makes me more capable? Whatever.