Other people's children

Please allow me to preface by saying...I am not perfect. I am far from perfect but when it comes to manners, my children will excel in that!

We moved to our new house about a month ago. In that time frame we have met the neighbors and their children. Who I like. They are nice and friendly and offer to help out when I need my mower looked at or some advice on pool maintenance.

I guess they like me to for my neighbor across the street asked me to look after her almost 3 year old son. I was more than happy to help out. The only catch is...he is still in diapers and has a really bad speech delay that I can not understand anything that he is saying.
When I found out that the older sibling would be staying too, I was relieved.

She was supposed to be home by 8:30 that evening. Well, I have a two children, one which is a baby and needs his sleep. I thought 8:30, not bad I can still manage to keep on my routine.

I cooked homemade soup for the kids (which the mother said they eat anything!) and as I am serving the food, the sister tells me that the boy will only eat Mac and Cheese. Oh, I don't want a hungry kid so I make it. I serve dinner and the boy wants some of the soup too! He ate it and liked it. But I made this mac and cheese and I wont eat it, so I offer it to him and he wants that too. Great!! So he starts to eat it. WITH HIS HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yellow pasta all over my floors and table and him. Gross. I, in a nice way, told him to use his spoon. Well you would have thought that I was yelling at him because of the look. Now I know he knows how to use the utensils because he did with the soup. Yuck. He was a mess. Then in a minutes time he is off the table and starts heading for the family room to play. He is covered in yellow cheese, sticky gross fake cheese. So I wash his hands and he is upset with me...but lets me clean his hands.

Food crisis under control. I have to clean the floor so the baby does not eat it. Gross!!!!

Ok on to the family room where he is taking a little hot wheels car going across my plasma TV screen. I flip. The sister is laughing and I am telling him no. He stops...when my back is turned he does it again...cars get put away! Now it is about 7:45 and I am thinking ok, the mom will be here in about 45 minutes.

No relief, it is now 9:10 pm and still no mom. Ok where are you lady!!! Now he does a smelly, messy diaper. I hate changing poops. Even on my own children I don't like poops. He wont let me change him, he runs away from me. Can you blame him?!?!?! A stranger wants to change his diaper! Double gross because now it really smells.
Sister helps me, still gross. He is tired...thank god!!! I put on Go Diego, Go!! That makes him quiet. Now my baby is fussy so I try to put him to sleep but the boy keeps running up and down the hall...baby still awake! 9:30 pm...WHERE ARE YOU LADY!!!!

I get the baby to sleep, put on the 3rd video of the night and put them all on the couch. I said to the sister, can you get the tooth brush for the boy? She tells me that he does not brush his teeth. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Triple gross. He does not own a toothbrush at 3 years old. I offer him one and I get a negative response. Forget it, not my fight! I let him go to sleep with dirty teeth.

They all pass out on the couch, including my own and I shut the lights and leave the room. I pick up a People Magazine thinking she will be home any minute. Well I drift off to sleep...knock on the door at 10:40 pm! She is here!!!

She says sorry, and leaves.

Next morning outside I am with the kids playing....she did not even explain...so I asked. The recital ran late and that was that. No re-thanks, or I am so sorry....not even how were the kids? NOTHING!!!

Ok lesson learned.....never again!!!

When is it my turn?

July 31st will be my wedding anniversary. I will be married for 9 years. Nine years of a roller coaster ride of emotions. The first 3 years were ordinary...married, moved in together, bought house, had baby...all great things...then the wonderful husband decides to make a life changing decision even though I told him NO...not just no......but a, "what the hell are you doing, NO!!!!!" I was pregnant he joined the Army..to do his part, etc. I don't want to re-live it, but it is in my blogs from a million years ago...if you are interested.

Anyway, years progress...sell house, get pregnant, he goes away with the army, go through pregnancy alone, deliver alone...all the fun things...again, if interested just look at my posts from before.

BUT NOW...he is changing his career....his new venture will make him a pilot. He will give up his law enforcement career, which I am OK with but his school is costing over 70,000 and will take him away for 3 MONTHS!!!!!!! Again he will be away for 3 months somewhere like Arizona or Texas. Did I mention the 70,000.00???

So I asked him..."When is it my turn??"

He said, "I never stop you from doing anything"....
No, he does not but who is going to take care of my children? His response was typical. "Ask your mom or my mom to watch them". Ummmm dopey, they are our children to raise not theirs.

So another year goes by where I put law school off. But come September of 09...I will be in school and after my ultimatum, he will be out of the army.

Boy don't I sound like a cranky lady???

The question is.....Is he selfish, or does he really think this is benefiting our family?

When your baby boy becomes a big boy

I love being the mother of boys. I hear it from people with girls who say..."it must be tough" or "oh how can you deal with all that energy?"

I guess I don't know any better, I suppose.

But I love when they are tough and sweet at the same time. I love when I get flowers from outside in my own yard and the root is dangling on the bottom with dirt dust covering his chubby fingers. I love when I get pictures of Spider man with hearts and smiley faces on them.
You can see that my almost 5 year old is clinging on to being a mamma's boy and being a big boy. He can fall off his bike and not cry but when he sees blood he knows that it is OK to cry like a baby. I love when I drop him off at school and he runs back for one more kiss. I know in a few years that will seem like a life time away. I love that he still wants his teddy bear to sleep with but when it comes to changing in the morning for school, he wants his cool pants with the shirt that makes him look taller. I love my boys!

What I don't enjoy is when I walk into the bathroom and it smells like a bar bathroom and the floor is wet from pee and I have to break out the bleach and mop and wash the floor in the middle of the afternoon!

As a mother of boys, another thing I was not prepared for was driving in silence and looking in the rear view mirror and noticing that he is looking at something like a science project and then he belts out....hey mom, want to see my scab?! Here is a piece, you can hold it if you want to? YUCK! Then I had to explain what a scab is...double yuck!

I love that he thinks I make the best pancakes in the world! Especially since I put rainbow sprinkles on them ( i think he thinks they are candy)
What I don't love is that he is growing up right in front of me and there is nothing I can do to stop it. What I am grateful for is the amazing memories from his babyhood and I look forward to many, many, many more years to create more.

I am also grateful for the gift from God. My baby son that is only 9 months old. I am so happy that I have another little man that I can do all this stuff over again with.
At night I look forward to rocking him in my arms and he drifts off to sleep, and he is still clinging on to me. And I smile at his chubby cheeks and soft hair and his breathing. He relaxes me and I just stay in the rocking chair and just stare at him.

My boys are the best thing I did in my life, my greatest accomplishment....for that I am grateful!

Stamp it, send it and be done with it!

With another "Hallmark" holiday done with, I gotta ask........

When you send a card for an event, do you have to call on the day?

Let me clarify.......

Mothers Day. I am a mother so don't get me wrong when someone wants to send me a card or take me to dinner to celebrate the stretch marks, hemorrhoids and sleepless nights...I am all for it but I guess I want to know if I am obligated to make 500 zillion phone calls on the day to make the mothers in my life smile, even though I mailed a card? This goes for birthdays, anniversarys, holidays and so forth!

I guess it could be guilt making me pose this question. But I really think I need some clarification.

Last night after I got the children to bed, laundry in the dryer, dishes done and lunch made and packed in the Spider Man lunch bag, I decided to sit for a second and watch a minute of TV. 8:30 pm and I am ready for bed, and clear the mind!!!

Oh no, my mother has other plans! The phone rings...she had little kids at one time...did she forget how the slightest ring could startle a 9 month old?!?!?!?!?
anyway....
not a hello, not a how was your day...not a how are the kids...it was...(note the capital letters...this should explain the volume she spoke in) " WELL, DID YOU FORGET TO CALL ME? I AM SO SHOCKED THAT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE DID NOT CALL TO WISH ME A HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!

After the initial shock of being screamed at and put in the category of my crappy sister (long story) I had to remember who was on the other line. I wanted to yell and say ok so what the heck do you want?!?! But instead I lied and said I tried to call and no one answered. Well, caller id was not a good alibi so I blamed technology and said her phone log was wrong.

So, was I obligated to call even though I sent a card? It is not like I was sitting on the couch eating bon-bons!! I was cutting the grass, emptying boxes, teach my baby to walk and making snacks! (great mothers day!!)

So what I say is....

Stamp it, send it and be done with it!!!!!!

Manners!

I don't have a huge blog about this but just a question....

What happened to everyday manners?

I hold the door, say thank you, please and I don't pick my nose in the line at the salad bar. So why is it, no one holds the door for me? I am not asking for someone to open the door for me, just hold it when I am behind you! I got it slammed in my face way too much today!!!!

Not just a common cold

If anyone has read my blogs from way back when you will read that one of my pet peeves is when people send their sick kids to school. Thankfully, I have not had to deal with that this year, people are getting wise.....or something!

Now I have to target my frustrations at the sick adults who contaminate my air at work. We have a very lovely woman who handles our mail daily. She is a sweetheart and a very friendly face and I have nothing bad to say about her except....FOR THE LAST 3 WEEKS SHE HAS BEEN HACKING HER GERMS ON MY MAIL!!!!!

I am not a doctor but the sound of her cough and voice indicates she is ill. So I today kindly said, "boy, you sound awful still, what did the doctor say?" Her response was simple, "oh, I have not been to the doctor, but if this keeps up, I will call on Wednesday."

OK lady you have been hacking a lung for the last 3 weeks and you are going to wait until Wednesday???? YIKES!!!!!!
Just talking about it makes me want to wash my hands!!!!

A new house

After renting a house for almost 2 years, we decided to take the step and purchase another home of our own.

STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was me screaming, if you could not already tell :-)

My wonderful husband I feel sometimes is clueless!! I think I am realistic and sometimes I think he lives in a world of fantasy and candy canes. I think he feels we have unlimited money and time.
Why is that? Oh, I can tell you that...because he is clueless.
I do the bills, take care of schooling for Trent and have been dealing with real estate agent, the inspectors, the bank and the attorney! My fault! I take on too much and assume to much responsibility. I guess that is because I am a control freak. I like my fat little fingers in everything and to be able to control it all. I am sooooo weird!

Although I may be a stress case, I could not be happier with our (my) choice. It is 2 miles from my sister and in a great school district a deadend and a pool. I just have to find a new school for Trent, a babysitter for the baby, make sure that my schedule will allow me to get to work on time, etc....but I think coming home to my own house on a summers day and taking off my work clothes and jumping in the pool will make it all worth while. But I will miss my mother who is 2 seconds from me now....but maybe she needs a break too!!!

Now, just to figure out what to make for dinner tonight :-)