Combat Zone

Some mornings are smooth and others are not. Today started out well enough. Sophia climbed in bed with me at 6:30 and we snuggled for a half hour before we got started with our day. We laughed and talked. Kees was in bed with us too, he had been there for a while. Sneaky little dude. Sophia is really excited because today she gets to show her class an invention. She and her daddy put together a couple of lights (red and green) that will indicate whether her brothers are allowed to come in her room. The switches will be inside her room and the lights outside.

At 7 I got out of bed to wake Coulter and then I went to take a shower. Still all good. While I was in the shower Coulter came in with his clothes so he could get dressed in front of the heater in my bathroom. Great. Sohpia got dressed too. I got out, got dressed myself and then with a bit of a battle, got Kees dressed. This is going well.....

I start down toward the kitchen at 7:45 to make breakfast and lunches. It's a few minutes later then usual and we have to leave at 8:05. I announce, "You're all having cereal today. What kind do you want?" Coulter says, "I want eggs." Me, "Nope. You are having cereal." Coulter starts screaming at me. Not cool dude! I take a quick inventory and there are only 2 kinds of cereal, Cherios and Chex and there is no milk upstairs. Kees says he wants hot cereal. Actually we do have hot cereal. OK. The hot cereal only takes a minute in the microwave so I pop it in. I start down the stairs. Coulter is following me screaming, "I WANT EGGS." Seriously dude, you are in danger of being in big trouble. When I reach the bottom of the stairs I can hardly move because once again, the kids have taken all of the blankets in the basement, all the pillows, the gymnastics mats and all of the stuffed animals, oh, and a bag of garbage just for fun, and stacked them all at the base of the stairs. I can't get past it. I climb over it all. I get milk, eggs (not for today but we're out upstairs), Smuckers PB and J's (for lunches), cheese sticks (lunches) and drinks for lunches.

As I am going back up Coulter is still yelling, "I WANT EGGS!" I yell back, "It's not going to HAPPEN! YOU ARE HAVING CEREAL!" He'll take hot cereal. I have anticipated this and made enough for Kees and Coulter. As I am divying up the cereal I am yelling about the junk at the bottom of the stairs. "You guys need to pick up after yourselves. It is really frustrating for me when I have to go downstairs and walk into a giant mess. The basement was clean yesterday and now it's a giant mess. I can get rid of all your stuff and it would certainly be easier for me. What do you think of that?" Sophia says, "We're just kids." I say, "I don't care. You need to help. There are 5 of us in this house and I am the one picking up stuff most of the time. Daddy does when he is home but he's been pretty busy lately." Sophia, "I forgot." And I yell, "Stop forgetting!" Seriously, I forgot? Am I suppose to take that as an excuse?

The boys have their breakfast and I ask Sophia what she wants. She says she'll take Life. I don't have any but there is some downstairs. I go back down. I pick up some of the crap at the bottom of the stairs and shove it on the day bed. I then throw the pillows across the room to the approximate location that they belong in. I grab the Life and head back up the stairs.

When I get up stairs Sophia is gone. I yell, "SOPHIA!!! WHERE ARE YOU?" She yells from upstairs, "I am up here." I yell, "GET DOWN HERE NOW!" She comes stomping down. I say, "What were you doing?" She says, "You scared me." I ask, "Have I ever hit you or hurt you?" She says, "No. But I thought you were mad about having to go get the Life and I thought that other stuff was life." She points to the Chex. I tell her I was not mad about going to get the cereal. That I am frustrated about the mess and the fact that they never clean them up. I also don't like everyone yelling at me when I am trying to get them all fed and make lunches. I pour her cereal and they all eat. I make lunches feeling like a total jerk the whole time. I know I shouldn't yell but it just makes me crazy and "We forgot" is such a lame excuse and I know it's BS! "We didn't want to clean it up." That's real. That's the truth.

So now I need to get my child raising bible back out. Taking Charge by JoAnne Nordling is my go to book when I need help. Check it out sometime.

Right before we all walk out the door I collect my kids together. We all group hug. I tell them that being a mom is hard and that I am sorry that I yelled so much. I also tell them that they need to help me. That when they leave all their things at the bottom of the stairs if I am not paying attention I could get really hurt. If I fall down and break my leg who is going to make breakfast and lunches? They look at me like, "Yeah, who?" They say they are sorry too. We all hug and say we'll all try to do better.

So that was my morning. Even though the yelling was 20 minutes of it it takes up 90% of what my mind remembers as this morning. By the time they all went to school we were hugging and kissing good bye. Being a mom is hard. They ARE little or "just kids" as Sophia says. But I know they can clean up. They do it at school all the time. Even Kees and he's 3 so I know it can be done. Taking Charge here I come.

May tomorrow morning be a better morning.

A Conversation With Coulter

When I picked up Kees and Coulter from school today they were full of information. Part of my conversation with Coulter went like this.

Me, "How was your day today Coulter?"

Coulter, "It was good."

Me, "Great, what did you do today?"

Coulter, "We were building a castle."

Me, "That sounds really cool."

Coulter, "Yeah. And when Aparna's watch makes a noise it is 10."

Me, "What? When it's 10 o'clock?"

Coulter, "No, when it's 10."

Me, "Oh. And when it's 10 what happens?"

Coulter Thinking Duh, I just told you that mom.... "Aparna's watch makes a noise."

Me, "And then what does she do?" Thinking maybe she needed to go to the bathroom or needed to take medication or something.

Coulter, "She pushes a button and it turns off."

Ahhh... Thanks for the information dude.

So these are the days of our lives..... And just one of many interesting conversations I get to have each day.

Just One More Thing

Sophia's birthday is today and she is having a slumber party. 5 little girls, pizza, movie, cup cakes and a couple of brothers in the mix. When they were watching their movie I asked, "Who wants popcorn?" I received a resounding, "MEEEE, MEEEEE" from all of them. Kees was yelling, "I want some cockporn!" We're so proud....just had to share.....

I'm sure I'll have more to blog about tomorrow. Gawd I hope they sleep.

In Sickness and in Health

When you get married you take the vows. In sickness and in health, for richer for poorer (please not for poorer), in good times and in bad etc... I don't remember doing the same when the kids came along. Maybe that is all just assumed. If you are willing to do the deed then you have to accept the consequences. Last night I did.

At about 8:30 Kees came downstairs for the second time. When we heard him crying we just assumed he was half asleep and would have some lame excuse for coming downstairs. Bob met him at the bottom of the stairs and by his words and tone I could tell....Kees was sick. Bob stripped him and sent him into me so he could assess the damage and get some new PJs. Kees had thrown up all over our bed. He was able to hit every soft covering on our bed...NICE! Bob brought down PJs but Kees needed a bath, I was cold this was a no brainer.

Kees and I went up, I ran a bath and I cleaned him off. Just as we were about to get out, Kees threw up in the tub. GROSS! We got out and dried off. Bob set Kees up in his bed with towels under him, around him and a bucket just in case. When I was in my PJs I went in to check on Kees and he was coughing into the bucket. The way he was holding it it would have gone in, hit the back and then dumped all over him. No, no, no this was not going to work, "Come on Kees. Let's go to mommy's bed." I didn't have any sheets on the bed but we covered the bed in towels and I pulled the comforter up with no cover on it. He had his bucket close and I had a bunch of small towels at the ready.

I turned down the lights, got out my book and laid with him. And it was a good thing. 20 minutes later he threw up again. I cleaned his face, rinsed out the bucket and he laid back down. I picked my book back up. 20 minutes later..... This cycle went on for almost 4 hours. It was torture. Even worse was the thought of doing this all night! Luckily his stomach quieted down at about midnight.

When he woke up this morning he seemed fine. I have to admit it was really hard not to send him to school. I so wanted to have today to myself. I had a doctors appt and today is Sophia's 8th birthday. There are things to do to get ready. But I didn't do it. We went on with our day and Kees went with me. He was a bit wimpy but he seemed fine.

At the doctor's office he started to fall apart. You know when your 3 year old starts saying, "I'm tired. I want to take a nap." he's serious. We hopped in the car at 11:15 and he immediately passed out. He's still sleeping and it's now almost 3:30. I guess he was still getting over it.

So when it comes down to it, we don't take an official vow but we know, all the same stuff goes for kids as marriage. And even though your husband acts just as wimpy when he's sick he doesn't need you as much as your sick baby. In sickness and in health...... I sure hope health returns soon and that the sickness doesn't spread! Stay tuned......

Obama From a Kids Point of View

So my kids have been very aware of the presidential campaign and now the change of hands of the government. We have talked about voting and why it's important. I don't think they will ever take it lightly. I explained that we as Americans (BOB....GET ON BOARD!) have the power to change the course of history by voting. And that if you don't vote you don't have a right to criticize. That you are responsible for how things go by how you vote. We all need to know that is not only a right but a responsibility. I think my kids in their little way understand. As a matter of fact, Sophia and I went through the issues and candidates together and she helped me vote.

Yesterday Sophia and Coulter were in school. Lots of kids stayed home during the inauguration. I had a party to go to and I thought that we should all be with our peer groups to share in the experience. Both Sophia and Coulter were able to watch the ceremony in their respective places, with their friends and from their different perspectives. Kees sat on my lap at the party. Upon seeing Barack Obama Kees yelled, "It's Orock Obama momma!" He was very excited.

Sophia came home and reported about her day. Some of the moms created an environment of excitement by bringing popcorn and lemonade and making it a special time. One of them even brought a card board cut out of Obama. Sophia thought it was real and was VERY surprised to see the president at her school. After watching the inauguration she reported to me that, "We got to see the president swear. He messed up when he was swearing. Ha ha ha ha" We laughed together that even the most important people in the world mess up and do it in front of EVERYONE! And if ever there was a time where more people were watching one event I'd be surprised.

Coulter was asking if Barack Obama will be president tomorrow. I told him that yes, he would be and that he'll be president for a long time. "How long mom?" I told him that he'll be president for at least the next 4 years and quite possibly for 8 years, and that he'll be 13 then....almost in high school. Coulter's eyes got big and he was very interested. He couldn't believe that someone could be president sooooo long. That is like, forever.

So they are all on board. They're excited because everyone around here is excited. I believe that this presidency will change the course of our country and history. I am hopeful for Barack's vision and for our country's future. The fact that volunteerism is being called on and that we all need to participate in our country's progression is exciting to me. When you are invested in moving things forward you feel a sense of pride and ownership. We are really missing that as a collective whole. Now is the time.

So that was our day. We are all excited and looking to a better, brighter future.

Wormytails Bad Adventure

Coulter's class did a play today. Preschool plays are ahhhhh, interesting to say the least. Coulter and his classmates wrote, casted and acted in Wormytail's Bad Adventure. I have to say, it was hilarious.

Enjoy.....