Sorry, folks, it's been a rough few days. ROUGH. Shaun's car died on Friday. One car for a family of six is kind of ridiculous. I'm sure lots of people do it, but maybe those people don't have four small children. Or maybe I'm just spoiled. If so, fine, I will admit to it. It's not even like Shaun drives his car all that much, but he was on call this weekend and actually got called in both Saturday AND Sunday. Plus he got called out for a quick side job. Add to this Zoe's extreme fussiness, the boys' extreme restlessness and wanting to get out of this house, MY extreme short temperedness coming off a long week. Yeah, I'm sure you can "do the math".
Today has been interesting. I knew coming in to this day, that things would be a little off - we had to drop off Shaun at work by 8 and Zoe's doctor appointment wasn't until 9:15. The boys were super good for these two things...well, "super" might be an overstatement. The doctor's office was a little frustrating. The thing is - the kids are really good, but only if they are getting 100% attention with everything centering around them. Easy enough for a daycare to provide, but not so easy when I have to actually live my life at the same time. The doctor wants to talk about Zoe, but I have three others tugging on my pant leg and trying to show me various things in the doctor's office. Not anything important, of course. Never is. Sorry, but it's true! They will "mommy, mommy, mommy" for thirty minutes all to say, "Hi." Literally. Or, "um, um, um. What you doing?" Annoying. Not cute.
Anyway, after the doctor's visit including two shots for Zoe :( , I decided we would head to the YMCA. Then Zoe fell asleep in the car, so I switched directions and went home. Zoe stayed asleep and I set the boys up to paint with marshmallows! That was fun. Unfortunately, fun doesn't last long in this house. 30 minutes was great and then they were just making as big a mess as possible. When I didn't get mad about this, they went to the bathroom to try to create some mess in there. I swear they enjoy being in trouble. SO, "paints" (condensed milk and food coloring) were cleaned up and the painting hung outside to dry. Zoe was still sleeping, and the boys had eaten lunch, so I turned on a movie to see if they would fall asleep? It was only 11 am, but early nap was sounding good to me! Sigh. No such luck. Zoe woke up, I tried to nurse her back down, but no. Since everyone was awake, I took them to the Y then. At noon. On the drive there they started telling me they were "tired". Awesome. Still went and I got in a good thirty minute workout and shower. Feeling refreshed! Ready to hang out with the kids! Ready to get them to nap!
Fast forward a little bit to now. Conner is up. Jack is up. Zoe is up. Sweet boy Henry is napping and has been since 2:30 (it's 3:30). Zoe was nursing like a champ after a big lunch of ravioli, and she was totally asleep when Jack began yelling from the bathroom, "Uh-oh, mommy, it's spilling." Yeah. The toilet was spilling. AKA overflowing. Fantastic. I jumped up, waking Zoe, ran into the bathroom and totally ruined the excitement of Jack pooping in the potty by himself (for the second time today!) by yelling at him for using about a quarter of a roll of toilet paper to "wipe". I do have to admit, however, that he did a pretty good job of wiping. Ha. It's how I get through these moments.
Now I'm dealing with three crabby kids who are pretending to not be tired by running up and down the hallway and laughing. They have told me they will NOT go with me to pick up daddy in an hour and they don't care if the tv is off because they will just go to my room and turn on that tv. So, I unplugged all the televisions and am about ready to just set them outside...let them run free and move in with a new family.
I am just so frustrated!!!! People are forever telling me what great kids I have. Yeah, sure, they're great. Not to me. They treat me AWFUL. I'm sure some expert would say it's my fault. Somehow I have "ruined" them and spoiled them and that is why they have an inability to speak to me with any amount of respect. Thing is this - I use please and thank you all of the time when speaking to them. I ask them to do things in a very nice tone, ask them several times in fact. Always using "please". Saying "thank you" when they (finally) do something I have asked of them. This is what I get in return:
Conner yelling: I'm hungry!!!!!
Ignoring...
Conner yelling: MOM, I SAID I'M HUNGRY!
Me: Conner, I heard you, I just don't appreciate your tone of voice. You know the correct way to ask for something.
Time passes....
Conner: Mom, I said you better get me something to eat! I'm hungry!!!
Ignoring...
This goes on and on and on. If I say (again, for the umpteenth time), "Conner, you need to ask me nicely." He will very rudely huff a big sigh and yell, "PLEASE!" Yeah, that doesn't count. The kid is four years old. He definitely knows better. Not to mention his daycare teacher would never allow him to speak that way, so I know he doesn't say it that way to her.
You know what? Even typing this pisses me off. These kids will be lucky to make it to 5.
Talk soon.
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