Should be doing laundry....but I'd rather be blogging

So when I went to get baby girl up from her nap it seems she had gotten into her sister's nail polish. This has happened once before and I have been very dilligent about making sure sisters closet is closed and locked before nap time. I forgot one time, ONE TIME!

The last time I forgot to lock the closet she got the nail polish and put it all around her lips. When I went to wake her up I thought she was foaming at the mouth and paniced for a moment before I realized what it was.

Even Superman had his Cryptonite

I have made an observation lately. When I get into my bed in the evening I am exhausted. I collapse into the comfort of my covers and easily fall into a deep sleep. Now, I remember when I was in High school or even college. I would go to sleep because it was time for bed and I was a bit tired. A far cry from barely able to move your extemities exhausted after you hit the sheets.

I have come to the conclusion that children suck the energy right out of you. They don't have to do much, juat merely have to be in your presence and they will channel all their energy right out of your body and into theirs. This is mostly done through the whining method. I find that whining for more than a minute is the most effective way render me exhausted. Whining is like my cryptonite. Just as Superman would, I begin to curl up into the fetal position on the floor and wince in pain when they break out the dreaded whining.

The second energy sucker is the asking for something multiple times. They use this method in the hopes that I will a.) eventually give in or b.) tune them out (as occasionally happens) and agree without fully knowing what I just agreed to. I am bound and determined to be consistant with them, so if I tell them no that is the way it is going to be. I use my consistancy as a sheild that I hold up whenever I feel a no coming up my throat and out of my mouth. It turns out, however, that my shield is weak and has may holes and will not protect me from losing my most valuable commodity, my energy.

Unfortunately, just because I recognize what is depleting me of my energy there is nothing I can do about it. If I am going to look on the bright side, I should be happy for now that I can fall asleep so easily. I imagine when they are teenagers whatever they are doing is going to be keeping me up all night.

Don’t Fight the Justice

I don’t understand how it happened, but I guess Lady Jane has officially become a tween. How do I know this has happened you ask? Because she has a new obsession with a little store called Justice. Apparently, if you are cool, you shop there.

One fine evening, hubby was away at work, and Buster Brown was on his very first sleepover. Lady Jane and I (and baby no pants) found ourselves alone. “A girls night!” Lady Jane declares with fist high in the air. “Lets go to the mall!” She announces with the conviction of judge. Finding myself with no reason not to go to the mall (despite the potty training tyrant) we load ourselves into the car and head over to the mall.

“CanwegotoJusticefirst?” The words explode out of her mouth as she hops out of the car. Fortunately for her, I do speak tween and I agree to her barely comprehendible request.

As we stroll the mall trying to determine where said store is located, Lady Jane declares, “I smell Justice!” as the store comes into sight. Unable to fight the pull of the neon colored clothes and teenybopper music she breaks into a run and nearly knocks over the poor elderly person who happens to be in her path to coolness.

I enter the store and my senses are assaulted with Justin Beiber playing so loud I quickly check my ears for blood. The shockingly neon clothing that makes me want to grab my shades. Then I realize when they were planning the layout, they really did not care if a stroller would fit through their maze of day glow.

I did, however, have to take a moment to recognize that the clothes were strikingly similar to what I wore when I was growing up in the ‘80’s. The neon, the peace signs, the three ruffled skirts all look like what I wore when I was, gasp, her age. While none of these fashion statements appeal to me now, I am nostalgic and reminded that at one point I wore clothes like this and sprayed my hair for height, so I must be patient.

I push mini tween through the store who now has her arms out intending on knocking as much as possible off the racks as we pass. Needless to say, it took me a good ten minutes to make it all the way into the store because I had to keep picking things up and hanging them back on the rack.

Finally! I find Lady Jane browsing the crap table. You know the one, filled with light up journals, nail polish, and glitter lip-gloss. Girlfriend NEEDS clothes! “Lady Jane!” I bark as I park mini tween and walk over to help redirect her to the clothing. We discuss outfit options for a moment, which goes a little something like this:
How about this one? No.
Do you like this shirt? No.
I begin to wonder if she really doesn’t like them or if it is the mere fact that I liked them that makes her decide that they are not cool enough. I surrender and walk back to mini tween in defeat. I notice that I did not pay attention to the fact that I had parked her in front of a bracelet display and she is now up to her elbows in glittery bangles.

Lady Jane finally finds an outfit that she deems acceptable that, of course, has the words Justice splashed all over it. We head to the counter to pay for our purchases, only to discover that there are no salespeople. We wait, and wait. Finally, a girl walks up. She looks as though she is even less thrilled than me to be in that store. She actually acts like she is doing me a huge favor by allowing me to buy the clothes. I am tempted to walk behind the counter and remove the stick from her ass, but refrain as the last thing I would want to do is embarrass Lady tween.

As we are about to walk out of the store, Lady Jane is so excited about her new outfit she asks if she can change into it right now. I reluctantly agree, not knowing how much more of this store my body can take.

Lady Jane walks out of the dressing room so proud of the way she looks. I can’t help but smile 1.) Because she actually cares how she looks, perhaps this will even lead to more teeth and hair brushing, gasp! 2.) Because I can’t believe how big she is getting.

It was all worth it to see her so happy. Even if this store doesn’t hold a candle to my beloved Target. I think I am beginning to understand where she is coming from.

Who are you and where are my children?

Last night the kids were very well behaved, I mean very well behaved. In fact, they were being so good it was making me uneasy. As I was making dinner and they were all in the family room playing with the Legos.

For a moment it was so quiet I had to peak my head in the room and make sure George was not smothering Sammy in a pillow and that was the reason for the silence. The art of peaking your head in a room has to be done very delicately. If they spot you the moment is ruined and the chances that they will go back to what they are doing is slim to none. My swift glimpse into the room confirmed that they were indeed playing nicely together.

They actually built a Lego village and let Sammy be a part of it and build her own little contribution. Things were going too smoothly. I thought to myself, if they eat my dinner I am really going to wonder if they are my children.

To my relief they turned up their noses at what I had spent the last hour making for them. Homemade mac and cheese. WHY WILL THEY ONLY EAT IT IF IT COST $.5O AND COMES OUT OF A BOX? But I digress. They redeemed themselves for being too good and all is right again in the world.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I find myself wishing and counting down the years until all my kids are in school and I will have all the free time to pursue whatever avenue I choose.

Sometimes I just get tired of my spending my entire day making sure that everyone else's day runs smoothly.

Sometimes I wonder if cleaning my house is a HUGE waste because it will be trashed as soon as I turn my back.

Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it to spend so much time planning and making dinners that my children rarely eat.

Although, lately I have noticed how fast time is flying by. I recognize that I do not want to wish away these precious years with my kids. In the grand scheme of things 10 years is not a long time to set aside my goals in an effort to make their lives better.

I am thankful that I am allowed the opportunity to stay home for them and be sure that their day goes well. I am thankful that they can always count on me to be there to pack their lunch and pick them up from school if they are sick. I am there for them when they leave for school and I am there to pick them up. It is worth it to me to know that if everything else in their world is crashing down they will always know I will be there.

That is more valuable to me than any doubt that may cross my mind about my career. My time will come to follow my dreams and when it does I will be thankful for the chance I was given to stay home with them.

Reasoning with a Two-Year-Old

Recently, while driving with Sammy Rose, she declared, "I want a cheese stick!" I look to my left and right for the refrigerator. Oh, that's right, we are in THE CAR there is no refrigerator here.

I calmly begin to explain to my sweet toddler that I don't have a cheese stick and since we are in the car I can not get one. She seems to be satisfied by this response...for a second. "I want a cheese stick!"

I begin to feel a little desperate. How exactly do you reason with a two-year-old as to why you can not just pull a cheese stick out of thin air? Then I realize that you can't. There is no explaining to her. Two-year-olds are tricky. They have the ability to articulate what they want, but not the ability to understand explanations such as time, or that you are in the car and it is simply impossible.

I decide to just submit to the screams and continue on my way, defeated.