Mom Gone Mad?

I am sitting at my kitchen table using my piece of junk laptop. The ONLY sounds are the twins having lunch, and the click click of my fingernails on the keyboard. My older kids have gone for a playdate/sleepover with my in-laws. So riddle me this~why do I feel sort of sad that they're gone? I KNOW, right? Usually I'm bitching because they are too loud/messy/rude, but the minute they're gone, I miss them. And that my friends is the dichotomy of being a parent.

I am sure you're nodding your head in agreement, right? RIGHT? I am sure I'm not the only one who has days when you want to duct tape your children to the wall and chloroform them just for a moment's peace (or am I really the only one? Please don't call CDS if I am, thanks). And then your kids are gone, either to school or a playdate or something else, and you miss them like mad and want them home again ASAP thank-you-very-much. It's a strange sort of balance, being a parent. You want to take care of your children, but also want them to learn to think for themselves. You want them to go off to school to learn things, then lament the non-educational things they come home and teach you (like how to do a monkey bite). You dread telling them about the birds and the bees or smoking, but would rather they be informed than ignorant. You want to hold them close, but know you have to learn to set them free so they can grow into the person you know they can be.

It is amazing how much we can love, and loathe, our children at the same time. How they can make us cry, or laugh, or smile, by sometimes just a simple glance. So I'm going to miss Meg and Drew for the rest of today, and look forward to their arrival home tomorrow. And then I'm sure they'll be home for a few minutes and I'll be searching around for my duct tape.

Oh, hi.

I didn't run away. It's been an insane week here so far, and it's only Wednesday. Oh my.

Yesterday was the Volunteer Tea at my daughter's school. It was just lovely. Every single class came down to the all-purpose room to either sing for us, cheer for us, or give gifts. Her school is only a K-2 school, so we weren't there ALL day. She gave me a potted plant in a clay pot that someone handpainted the name of the school, plus the school year and decorated it with butterflies. It was a nice time. Too bad I was an IDIOT and forgot my camera.

Last night was the Talent Show for her class. Yes, a FIRST GRADE talent show. Her talent......... she made animal sounds. God help us all. She picked out several animals~elephant, cow, horse, rooster, pig, frog~got the stuffed animals for those, and then demonstrated the sound that animal makes. Now, because I am a damn downer, I was convinced that a)she'd get picked on by her classmates during rehearsals and b)she would chicken out at the actual event in front of people. Downers be damned~she had a BLAST! She was so confident up in front of all her friends and their parents. She had trouble using the microphone, because her teacher didn't have them practice with the microphone (duh!) but she was great. I was one proud mama.

Today was Drew's final party for his preschool. It was nutty there with the kids from both classes, parents, siblings, and of course I had two very tired little girls with me. There was a magician there. I can't stand magicians. I know some people don't like clowns, but I don't like magicians. They freak me out. Luckily, I wasn't chosen from the audience and the kids had fun watching him. Of course there had to be trauma~when he pulled the rabbit from it's box, it had peed all over itself! That was the end of the magic act! Drew had fun hanging out with his friends, most of whom are moving on to the 3 day a week class. He isn't because he's only 3 1/2 and that class is designed for kids going to kindergarten the following year. No, I had to have winter babies and he still has 2 more years of preschool to go. Good planning on my part.

Izzie has been giving me all kinds of trouble since the weekend. She has been a sobbing mess of a kid. I don't know if the incoming molars are bothering here, but she has spent the majority of the last few days just crying. If I hold her, she cries. If I put her down, she cries. Harder. If I try to give her Tylenol, she bats it out of my hand. She's been charming to say the least.

That's my week (so far) in a nutshell. Tomorrow is going to be a bit quieter, but then there's a softball game to rev things up after school. Softball ends this weekend, though, and then there's just 6 1/2 days left of school after that. I'm ready for a little less chaos.

If you can't say anything nice

Then don't say anything at all. I've heard that mantra about a zillion times from my mom. I've even started saying it to my kids. And I'm taking it to heart. I realize that my recent posts have been, well, cranky. There. I said it. I'm cranky. Some might even say bitchy. And they'd be right. I am tired and cranky and just want to crawl into bed with a book for several days. But, as that is not an option, I'm going to try to make my posts less cranky-ish for a bit. Not quite sure how, but I'll give it a try. Here is my first crank-free (I hope) post.

We have a vegetable garden. And things are GROWING in it! We've already eaten some of the spinach and butter lettuce. It was so good! And we didn't die, so that is a very good sign. Of coruse, now we have mushrooms that we didn't plant growing in the garden, but oh who cares. My perennial gardens, while being mucked up by the turkey, are doing quite well too. Who knew I had a green thumb?

I am counting the days until I go get a pedicure with my friend Julie. It's a pre-birthday treat for me and I can't wait. Only two more weeks to go until someone massages my feet and paints my toes a pretty color. I haven't been since last summer, so I am quite ready to go.

I decided to put the girls down for nap at a different time today and so far, it is working well. I kept them up all morning, which was so hard for all of us since they get up at 6 and by 10 are so tired, but I did it nonetheless. They had a quick lunch, went down for nap at 11:30 and were asleep by 11:45. It is 1:15 and they are still asleep. I will hail myself some sort of miracle worker if I can get them on this schedule. If they nap in the morning they are so tired when Doug gets home from work that they don't get to spend more than 15 minutes with him before they're ready for bed. That's not good for anyone. Especially me.

Today is my niece's 17th birthday. Doug is getting out of work the tiniest bit early so we can go have a little cookout (assuming the rain holds off) with the family. I'll tell you what I got her for her birthday tomorrow, just in case she knows about the blog and reads it. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

There, that wasn't so hard, now was it? Before it rains again I promised my boy I'd go play outside in the mosquito infested yard with him.