Author: Melissa

“Its not a craft, Mom. Its ART.”

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And another quote:
“Mommy, only Mommies and Ellies have Gracies. I don’t have a Gracie. Because I am Gracie.”
“Wow – you must be lucky!”
“Yeah. I am.”

Stone Harbor, NJ 2005

* While making my kids smoothies for breakfast, I turned the blender on and was instantly covered in yogurt. As was the kitchen.

* Upon realizing I forgot my cell phone, I say to myself “I’d better call Husband and let him know I forgot my phone!” Then proceeded to look for the phone, only to remember I had forgotten it.

*After Sunday’s game, Husband comes into the room and says, “Well, it looks like its the Giants and the Patriots!” I say, “For what?” (Insert his humongous eye-roll here.)

*Poured coffee on my cereal and milk in my coffee cup. And didn’t realize it until after I started to eat.

*Saying, “I need to take my shower!” Then noticing my hair was wet. Because I had already  taken one.

Seriously. It is only a matter of time before I do something really dumb.

I could entertain you all with a great story of how my children acted like total hooligans in my doctor’s office today. And how they embarrassed me beyond belief. And how they are now in their room with to door shut, with orders not to reappear for at least an hour or they will face my wrath.

But, honestly, I am waaaaay too annoyed and angry to write that post right now. It will not come off with any of us looking very good. So just imagine what happened. And trust me… it was worse.

First, the update on last week’s goals:

1. Exercise. Not happening. I’ve beed doing a couple leg exercises to help with RLS, but contractions are preventing me from really exercising. I guess I will have to just enjoy the next 3 months of guilt-free non-exercising. Dirty job. But someone has to do it!
2. Keep playing with my kids for an hour a day. Sort of kept up with this…
3. Sew up three new collections for Eliza Grace.  Almost done! I should be able to finish this up this week without too much trouble.
4. Work on my kids attitudes. Can you believe this didn’t correct itself in a whole week? 5. Not go shopping. Except for food. Done!

This week:
1. Finish up my sewing projects for Eliza Grace and fix the curtains I bought for my family room in India.
2. Redecide on a paint color for the master bathroom, since Husband almost fainted when he saw me preparing to buy the paint. (“You’re buying what color??!?!”)
3. Play with my kids. Work on their attitudes. Not slack off all week just because Husband is traveling all. week. long. That’s not an excuse for me not to parent.

Grace: “Mommy, will our baby be born in a manger in a stable?”
Me: “I sure hope not.”

I hate it when my ipod acts up and stops working. Then I have to go to apple.com and try and reset it. All the while, little dollar signs are flashing before my eyes….

When it starts to work again and I see that glorious little opening screen my heart breathes a sign of relief. Its due to break soon. But not today. Thankfully. Not today.

Oh my word, Praise the Lord that today is Friday.

This was a rough week, as you may have picked up in my last post. (It was pretty subtle, but its there.) Things just hit us this week, big time. Husband was gone all of last week, we had another really busy weekend and then he is working much longer hours on top of everything. (And he has a cold. Poor guy.) It all caught up with us. We were both super tired this week, as were our kids. And tired parents + tired kids = unpleasant household.

Today, though, I feel like things are settling. The kids are adjusting much better to Daddy being at work more (like not crying for half an hour because they didn’t get to give him a kiss goodbye because he left before they woke up). I’ve had to be more deligent in planning activities for them in the afternoons – especially because they’ve both stopped napping – since that makes for a loooong afternoon. And we’ve adjusted dinnertime and bedtime a bit so that they actually get to spend more than half an hour with him at night. He’s leaving next week for 6 days – including the weekend 🙁 But we have lots of activities planned and they seem pretty excited about them, so that should help the missing Daddy part.
I’m working really hard to rest and not try to do too much, since I’ve been having lots of contractions already. (Don’t worry – doctor is aware, we are taking precautions, I’m not lifting anything, etc) The house isn’t very clean, but I’m okay with that. I’m not working as much as I’d like, but I’m okay with that. I’m not exercising, but I’m sort-of okay with that. The kids are very understanding about Mommy needing to lay down and rest the baby. Since that usually means they get to watch the Food Network, which they strangely really enjoy.

All this today, we’re adjusting. Not always gracefully, but its happening. I’m just looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend with only dinner with friends planned.

I am not dealing well with my kids today. While they are being exceptionally whiny and bratty lately (this is not an excuse, I know), they just seem to be pushing my buttons. Even Mommy’s afternoon break rest time in their rooms included me yelling twice. Once because they took out every single toy and stuffed animal and piled them on the floor after I told them not to make a huge mess and once because they were jumping from bed to bed and crashing into the walls, causing pictures to fall off the wall and the family room light to rattle.
I fully realize I should have handled both of those situations better. And the huge fit that was thrown after rest time by Grace.
Now we have a few hours of afternoon left. I really need to pull myself together and show the same self-control that I am always telling my kids they need to show. These pregnancy hormones are really getting the better of me lately – I’m having huge mood swings (Ecstatically happy to crying in less than 3 seconds! You really have to see it to believe it!) and I need to get myself under control and show at least a teeny-tiny bit of patience with them.
And I need a nap. Definitely a nap.