Author: Melissa

My week is not going as planned. Everything I set out to do is being sabotaged by the universe.

• Sit down to upload items to the store : Internet connection dies.
• Kids occupied with video. Bit of free time to sit at the sewing machine and finish that onesie I started. Sit down. : Power goes out.
• Sit down with a cup of coffee to prepare Bible Study : Colin wakes up screaming, just as Grace spills her juice. Rescue Bible just in time.
• Begin to nurse Colin : Phone rings. Someone knocks at the door. Kids start fighting
• Come up with cute design, begin to sew it on a onesie : Sewing machine becomes suddenly possessed by the devil. Refuses to sew properly. Naughty words muttered. Seam ripper liberally used.
• Husband begins to mow lawn before his trip, as requested by me : Sudden downpour. Huge storm blows in. Tree at the top of our street falls down.
• Finish up dinner dishes. Stand back and appreciate clean kitchen : Grace yells that mud room is full of water. Washing machine has overflowed. Again. Due to the stupid garbage disposal. Again. Naturally.
• Aforementioned husband takes girls to run errand. Cranky baby finally sleeping. Very excited for a few minutes of peace : Car pulls out of driveway. Baby wakes up screaming.
• Seriously, y’all. Its only TUESDAY.

I’m so frustrated. And most of it is being channeled towards my kids. Its like they have radar. I HAVE to get sewing done for this wholesale order. Normally I just sew when inspiration strikes – whenever I can squeeze it in. Only when I have custom orders do I work on a schedule or deadline. So NATURALLY when I am working on a deadline the kids totally go crazy. I’m having trouble sitting for long enough to sew something on a onesie. Colin is wanting to eat every two hours, the girls are constantly interrupting me, the house is a total disaster and I feel like I am making zero progress. In the last two days, I have sewn exactly 3 onesies. That’s it. If you are not a sewer, let me just tell you: THAT IS RIDICULOUS. If I could just about about 3 hours alone, I could get this order done.
Perhaps I’ll just need to stay up one night and sew until the wee hours of morning. At least then no one will bother me.
Ugh. I’m going to bed.

Tonight is my girls FIRST dance recital.

Deep breath. Exhale.

I’m totally nervous for them. Mainly because they have NO IDEA what is going to happen. They’ve only rehearsed to an practically empty room.  I can see them getting up and seeing all those people and saying, "No, thank you! I don’t want to dance!"
(And by "No, thank you" I mean "freezing or standing there crying.")
(And by "them" I mean "Ellie." Grace is a true performer, who LOVES to show off in front of large crowds. This includes doing ballerina spins in front of the church while her brother is getting baptized.)

Anyway, I’m trying not to be a stage mom. But I love dance. I vividly remember MY first dance recital when I was 5. (I can still sing the song we danced to!) I want them to do well.  I want to help them and be supportive.
It has been SO HARD to RESTRAIN myself from making them practice their dance, going over it until they know it perfectly, talking to them constantly about smiling and not picking noses (or wedgies) on stage. It is seriously hard to watch them doing it wrong – I want to run up there and correct them. When they come over after performing their dance, I want to say "Great job! But next time, remember to…."

But I’m not doing it. I will NOT be THAT mom. I will let them do this on their own. I’m not going to be concerned about their performance right now. Or how they are learning the positions, what method they are using, etc. My goal is for them to have lots of fun. I want them to love dance, to really enjoy it and want to keep doing it. Not be anxious about their performance and thinking it has to be perfect and making them practice and practice until they hate it.
I will remember they are only 3 and 5, not auditioning for the New York City Ballet.
I want them to know I am proud of them – even when they trip, bump into each other and pick their noses on stage.

I know that’s an awful title. But this is an awful story.

Kids had to finish all of their meat to get up from the table. Apparently Beef and Broccoli is a form of torture, judging from the moans and groans at our dinner table tonight.

But I digress. They both ate all of their dinner and ran upstairs to get their jammies on for movie night. (Daddy’s gone. Can you tell?)

After the movie was over I noticed Grace was chewing something. What was it? BEEF! FROM DINNER!! THAT SHE HAD BEEN CHEWING FOR AN HOUR! LIKE IT WAS GUM OR SOMETHING!! Ick ick ick GAG!

Kids can be SO gross.

I’ve been slacking in the blogging department. Life around here has just been so busy and so… full lately. Good busy, good full, but I’m not finding much time to sit and blog thoughtfully. (Or do anything thoughtfully, actually.) But I do have several questions to pose to the universe.

1. How do small children make HOLES in the WALLS? Their room has like ten holes. Are they getting up at night and playing with drills while we are sleeping? And when you ask, "How did that happen?" they say something like "I don’t know! I was just reading a book!"
2. Where does the time go?
3. Does anyone else feel incredibly inadequate when they watch commercials for landscaping products? Those ones with guys bragging that their lawns don’t have crab grass? Whatever. We don’t actually have any grass. We have a mixture of dandelion and clover that we mow.
4. Why don’t children take naps? If someone forced me to take a nap, I would say "Thank you."
5. If exercise is so good for you, why is it so hard?
6. Can I just take a tiny peek into the future? So I can see how this thing I’m obsessing over is going to turn out and stop worrying about? I don’t even have to see it – just send me a fax saying "Yes" or "No."
7. Why does it inevitably rain on the nights I plan on grilling?
8. Seriously, WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? How is it THURSDAY already? How is it JUNE already??