Tired Tuesday

I had originally started this post in a grumpy mood, rambling about being tired, too much to do around the house etc. But, the day is nearly over, 3/4 of the kids are in bed, so this is my time of night to chill out and just reflect a bit. I usually end up looking at the really bad "mom moments" and beat myself up for them, then go to bed feeling as if I could have done so much better. Well, not saying that I didn't have enough of those moments today, but I am not dwelling on them right now.

I was in the laundry room today when I heard that sound that a mother of a toddler never wants to hear, a kitchen chair crashing off the kitchen table. Why was it on the table, you ask? Well, because if we leave it on the floor, Millie climbs onto the table and dances. So, we put the chairs on the table and the bench under the table and that usually works. Not this morning! Millie pulled the bench out just enough to get on it and then climbed on the table. When I heard the crash, I knew all the dogs were outside and I knew the twins were playing in their bedroom, so I knew it some how had to involve Millie. I didn't hear her crying, which is another thing a mother of a toddler in this situation does NOT want to hear, silence. Keep in mind I am about two steps away from the door to see what happened, yet there is enough time for all of the scenerios to run through my mind: 1) Millie was on the chair when it fell, she isn't crying so she is unconcious 2) She reached up and grabbed the leg and it fell on her head, she is quiet because it landed on her and she cant cry 3) She pushed it off and isn't crying because she is enjoying her new found room to dance on the table. Thank GOD it was option 3! I went rushing in, already about in tears, to see my Millie Magoo, dancing away on the kitchen table in her diaper.

Another opportunity I had today to take the high road and not have a bad Mom Moment: I was SO tired earlier, so I layed on the couch while the kids did whatever they were doing in the living room. Keep in mind this entire story takes place over the span of a commercial break during Days of Our Lives. I am not like Tom, I can't lay down on the couch and actually sleep while the kids are up and about. So, I heard Millie go into the kitchen and I immediately do my mental run down: 1) knives removed from the middle of the floor: check 2) bench in it's new storage place: check 3) fresh bowl of dog water picked up so she cant play in it: shoot! So, I lay there. Maybe she'll miss the huge popcorn bowl size dog water dish that draws her in like gravity.Wrong. Next thing I heard was her notice the bowl Next I hear is the 'swoosh' of the water being dumped all over Millie. She cackled, the twins ran in and the splashing and dancing began. As I layed on the couch, keep in mind this is all happening during ONE commercial break of Days of Our Lives, I knew I had a decision to make. 1. I could jump up and be Maniac Mom looking at the mess before me: three wet kids, spilled water, soaked floor 2. I could pretend I didn't hear anything and wait for the Dog Water Fairy to appear and clean up the mess 3. I could relish in the idea that I now have about five minutes of peace to lay on the couch, watch Days, and know exactly where the kids were and what they were all doing! I picked 3, who wouldn't!? I think they pulled out every kitchen towel to dry up the mess. No big deal, I am constantly doing laundry, what's a few more 20 dish towels. When they had it cleaned up, Nick stripped Millie down to her diaper and sent her to find me. The major upside of this: the dog bowl was sitting in front of the kitchen sink, so the huge amount of water spilled all over the high traffic area of the kitchen, so when it was all said and done, the dirtiest part of our floor, sparkling! Priceless!

Don't worry, I still had my Maniac Mom moments of the day! This afternoon when I asked the kids to clean up the living room and they scooped everything and piled it onto the couch, yeah, didn't go over too well! When I asked the twins to pick up the silly domino truck toy that had about 200 small dominoes scattered about the house, they ignored me. After those two events, the kids were told they would go to bed right after dinner and the domino truck would be posted on freecycle for some other Mom to enjoy!

New Blog Home

So, I decided to try out a new spot for my blog, so here I am. I like Myspace but I mainly use it just for my blog, so I figured I might try out a spot that is just that, just for my blog. I also wanted to be able to embed photos into my blog and myspace didn't seem to offer that option.

So, this weekend we had one last shindig for Harrison's seventh birthday, so it is officially over now! The party actually turned out very well, considering I sent out the e-vites on Wednesday for a party on Saturday! We had 18 kids show up! The park was packed with soccer and football but we managed to take over the playground and picnic tables and have a good time.

Each birthday that comes and goes, I add to my mental list a few more things that we will change or do differently. This year I added to my list that I will be in charge of buying beverages and bringing them to the party location. I put Tom in charge of it, thinking it is an easy task. Well, we ended up with enough water bottles for adults to have one each and drink boxes for the kids to have one each. Not a HUGE deal, but still, the NM sun gets pretty warm, toss in kids running around in the sun and they get thirsty and hot! So, one small warm beverage per person just doesn't cut it! Sorry guests! I hope you have all rehydrated :)

My mom graced us with her presence. I don't know what I have done to upset her universe but good grief. Tom went over today and dug some holes for a few plants she bought and did a few other things for her, so perhaps beating her at her passive aggressive game will bring her back into proper planetary alignment.

Abigail is going to be a doctor for Halloween and one of our friends brought her some cool accessories for her costume! She has a cute face mask, peds size, a stethoscope, a hair net and some gloves! Thanks Friend :) I'll leave your name out so if the powers that be stumble upon this, you can't get in trouble :)

I hesitantly joined facebook a couple weeks ago and it is growing on me. Some of the silly applications have also started to grow on me. At first I thought the cyber garden idea was just silly and the puppy that you feed? As if I need another mouth to feed! However, both have proven to be a bit addictive, not for me though! My kids LOVE them! Abigail weeded Lisa's garden this morning and sent a few people another plant. Millie cracks up at the puppy, we have to spend so much time on it, finding other puppies to feed and pet just to keep her happy. She giggles and yells at the computer! She calls all of the other puppies "baby" but when the black labs come on, she yells "Elbo!!!" which is what she calls Elbert. It is pretty darn cute!

Enjoy the pictures from Harrison's various birthday celebrations! Next year I am declaring it a party free year!

Ok, I just discovered why I am going to like blogger better than myspace! I clicked a tab to check something out and when I returned, my blog had cleared! This has happened on myspace before and there was no way to retrieve the lost information! With the autosave function on blogger, all I had to do was retrieve! Yeah! One less gray hair for me today