Saturday, April 16, 2011

I'll take Epic Fail for $1000, please, Alex.

Right....one of those days...you know...those days that start with you counting the hours until you get to go to bed again...

My first mistake, and I instantly regretted it, was making a deal with Jim that if he got up with Austin when he started screaming (5:28AM) that I would get up with him on Sunday.  GRRR...now I am on the hook for that.

Second mistake was agreeing to take the girls to soccer myself.  Lilli had the meltdown of all meltdowns when her coach nicely asked her to let a teammate take a turn at being goalie.  This, however, I will blame on my brother, Matthew.  He is a goalie.  A really good goalie, for St. Ambrose University. (click to see really cheesy picture of Matthew).  Anyway, Lilli wants to be like her Uncle Matt and therefor thinks that she is already the Star Goalie.  So, when it was Rebecca's turn, she looked at Coach Mike and pretty much told him with her eyes where to go.  Ugg....  I didn't want to step in because of the whole they are learning to respect their coach, but he finally looked at me.  Of course EVERY parent was now staring, and as I got closer she sat her little bottom down in the net and crossed her arms.  Really?  I tried calmly rationalizing with her that Rebecca was her friend and we should share (insert eat S*it and die look).  I finally lowered my voice, got really calm, and explained that it would be ubber embarrassing for her to get carried off the field in front of all her friends and that if she didn't believe me to sit there for a few more seconds and try it.  She stood up, took off the mesh goalie shirt, and stormed off the field.  She then pouted for the next 25 minutes.  She has great team spirit. And I let her sit there.  You know what, little missy, you have to share.  And you have to play well with others.  So there.

Third mistake of the day was making an appointment with a guy about getting new windows.  Our house has bad windows.  They are the original windows, and they only function for keeping large birds out of the house.  They are usually covered in winter-weather plastic because of the leaking factor, and they are not pretty.  We know they need to be replaced.  We didn't know it would take 2 hours of explanation followed by a quote of $14,000 to get them replaced.  I am angry and I would like those two hours back.  (Oh, but if we allow them to use us as an "advertising house", they will knock it down to $11,500.  Yes, they are that bad that the company thinks we would make a good before/after house).

Three strikes, and I am out, right?  A little Target shopping didn't even help this day, but a bowl of GrapeNuts helped a little.  Big sigh....off to bed since I will be up early tomorrow (refer to mistake #1).  Tomorrows fun...Easter pictures at JCP.  Fingers crossed!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Can someone turn off the alarm?

I love Austin.  He is at that fun-it's-all-about-Mommy stage.  He runs up and throws his little arms around my leg when I get home from work and then tells me where to sit so we can play together.  He is learning new words everyday, and I swear he is going to be a musician.  You put some music on and that little 20-month-old-diapered booty shakes it like it's nobodies business.

However....he cannot tell time, and this is becoming an issue.  My Tuesday wake-up call was at 1:00AM, but after about 30 minutes of rocking he layed back down again.  Wednesday was at 4:30AM; today, 5:18AM.  So, we are moving in the right direction, but HOLY COW!  Momma does not like to get up before 6:40 unless the house is on fire.  And, for those who are saying "Just keep him up later", yeah, that doesn't work.  I had every intention of keeping him awake yesterday until at least 7PM, but the kid woke up at 4:30 that morning...so I barely kept him up until 6PM.  Tonight, since I am working until 8, I have made my husband promise to keep him awake on penalty of...well...penalty of something.

Calgon, take me away!

Monday, April 11, 2011

The kind of Mom who...

I want to be the kind of mom who can sit and blog about her warm cup of coffee and how many hours she will get to craft that day.  I am INSANELY jealous of mom's who get to do this, and whose children, I assume, sit for hours coloring and doing other creative and mind stimulating projects while they get to address their own inner needs.  And then they put on their aprons and make a ham and a cake for dinner every night, bathe the kids, then sit and darn socks while their husbands smoke a pipe and read the paper.

It will happen soon is not going to happen.

Right now I am about two loads behind in dishes, a week behind in mail, 7 loads behind in laundry, and about 2 inches behind in dust.  My arts and crafts projects consist of removing stickers from the wall and bedroom doors, and I keep in shape by kicking toys across the living room and doing squats to pick up left-over socks and cheerios.  Dinner for the kids most nights is some version of pasta (with orange powdered cheese or butter).  Jim and I attempt to eat a healthy dinner after Austin has gone to bed and we have bribed with girls with a TV show so they sit quietly for 15 minutes.  I want to be a gardener, and I pray for the new hydrangeas that I purchased hoping to beautify my back yard because I know that I will forget to water them and they will die.

But you know what...my kids go to bed every night (almost every night) peacefully.  Because they know they are safe.  And they know they are loved.  And because they know that they are the best things that I have ever grown. 

The End.



Sunday, April 10, 2011

Did we do anything fun today?

Me:  Lilli, what was your favorite part of today?
Lilli:  We didn't do anything today.
Me: (mouth open) We didn't do anything?
Lilli:  Nope
Me:  We didn't have a yummy pancake breakfast with sausage made special by Daddy?
L: Oh, yeah
M: We didn't go to the zoo on the one nice day of the year and fight crowds and elevnty billion pregnant ladies to see the lions kissing?
L: Hmmm, well  we didn't see all the monkeys like I wanted.
M: We didn't get to ride on the Carousel?
L: Well.....
M: We didn't get a new* playset in the backyard for Austin?
L: (with total attitude) If it's new, then why's it got dirt?
M: (ignoring that comment) And Daddy didn't grill you your favorite chicken legs?
L:  I wanted pizza.
M:  So, we didn't do anything fun today?
L:  No.


This is Lilli not having fun at the zoo....



Or in the new/used playset


Abbi loved it!


So did Austin!





*A neighbor left a Little Tikes Kiddie slide and fort on the curb.  Of course I am going to take it.  Hence the dirt, but we cleaned it and it's just fine!  Oh, and I did let my kid run around outside in his diaper...and he loved it.