Reconnecting...

Today was a half day at school for students. My own kids went home with friends and my husband and I worked all afternoon. Afterwards, we were going to go home, but some people persuaded us to go out for a drink. Wow, is all I can say. There is something lovely about abandoning your responsibilities for a few hours and just having it be the two of you. It's been a while. Clearly, we need to make this happen more often. I remembered how much fun I have with my husband, and how much he makes me laugh and the little inside jokes we share.

I definitely want to remember that feeling when life presses in around us.

Birthday fun...

So, today is my birthday--yay for me! I am a huge birthday fan, whether it's mine or someone else's. I love to celebrate all day (all week? all month?). So, this morning I took the kids out for breakfast and then we came home and are just hanging out (such a luxury!). They came up to get me and tell me they had cards for me. My oldest made my card on Minecraft (I had him take a screen shot of it to save because it was so sweet!) and my other two gave me their sweet cards. Then my two youngest gave me presents. My daughter gave me a bracelet she made for me. Then my youngest handed me something wrapped clumsily in white paper. It actually felt a little cold. I opened it up and what slid out but a can of Coke! He knows how much I love Coke (but am not drinking it as much anymore), so he wrapped it up for me. I have not laughed so much in a while! My three little peanuts--the best birthday presents I could have!

My brain is tired...

So, three days a week my oldest son goes to fencing. I usually drive him there and my husband picks him up. Often, it's just the two of us in the car. You know all those parenting experts who tell you that the car is a good place to have a conversation with your child? Well, clearly, they are right, but does it always have to be at such an existential level? Along with a dose of almost twelve-year-old know-it-all-ness?!

Today's conversation revolved around my son wanting to find a technological way to make people immortal and how that would work in terms of population control (they have just read The Giver at school, so there was a whole side conversation about "releasing."). Then he moved on to tell me that "sometimes I wonder why we're all here, anyway. Is it just to work? I mean, what are we doing here?" Finally, because they are reading Animal Farm at school, we moved on to a conversation about the nuances of totalitarianism and dictators--how they rule through fear, but is that the case in North Korea, where the people are kind of brainwashed into "loving" the "dear leader."

All of this in a span of about 20 minutes, which I spend trying to play the devil's advocate with his positions because he always has such pronouncements to make about his ideas.

Sometimes, it's a release for my brain when we get there and he goes in to practice! Although, I do prefer these conversations to the ones about Minecraft!

Luckily, my husband and I share the car duty, so while I relax at home with a glass of wine, he can delve into the mysteries of the world for his 20 minutes!

Efficiency, or not...

So, I am not making a lot of headway on my report card comments. Why, you may ask? Well, it's very simple.

1.  I didn't get up until 9:00 this morning. (Decadent! Plus, my daughter had climbed in with us in the middle of the night and was sleeping across me and I didn't want to wake her up.)

2.  I talked to my sister at least 4 times already today. (We love checking in a gazillion times a day when I'm on a break!).

3. I talked to one of my friends who has just had a baby and we needed to discuss the sleeping habits of both of her girls. (And also work out the details of their visit over Easter.)

4. I took the little kids out to lunch today since my oldest was over at a friend's house. (They were going stir-crazy after 4 days of being sick on the couch. Yay for antibiotics!)

5.  Working on a computer with Internet access is more than a little distracting to me. (There was waaaay more time than necessary spent checking on the blogs I frequent!)

So, I am going to finish this up and try to make myself write some more comments. Oh, except, I just heard the garage, which means my husband is home (he is working this week), and maybe we should just chat a little bit first...

Things we'll do for our kids...

This was the blurb on someone's slice yesterday, and it got me thinking. When my husband and I were dating, we would tell each other our stories. One of his was how when he was growing up in England, his mother would draw a bath for him every morning and then go wake him up so he could get right into a nice, warm bath. And mind you, this was not as a small child, this was as a teenager! I would always tell him that his mother was waaaaay too nice! Of course, this was also colored by the fact that my mother had decided when I was in 4th grade that I could make lunches for my younger sister and me--can you say lots of bologna sandwiches? So, clearly, I did not have a frame of reference for this kind of behavior (although my mom did all kinds of other cool things, don't get me wrong!).


But then it got me thinking about all of the things that I do for my kids that I totally wouldn't do for anyone else. For example, my two oldest children like to take apples in their lunch, and my son hates the peel. So, I always cut the peel off for him before packing his apples (which my husband would never do, as he rationalizes that he can just eat around the peel on the slices). Or constantly sharing whatever I'm eating or drinking with them, when seriously, when my husband asks me to share something I am usually less amenable. Way less amenable. To the point where he has actually mentioned it before! Or starting bedtimes an hour before lights need to be out so I can spend time reading individually to each one (no wonder I am so tired by the time I finish bedtime!). Or singing each one of them their own special goodnight song. It's amazing how things that you think would be kind of a pain to do for someone else seem totally natural to do for your own kids. How can I resist though, when the thank-yous are such awesome hugs and "I love yous" and "You're the best mommy in the whole wide world." Sigh. Clearly, the incentive outweighs anything else!

Sickness and cleanliness...

First of all, thanks to everyone who made such lovely comments on my post yesterday. Your kind words definitely helped to cheer me up! I appreciate the support. 

Today I am in the process of completely scrubbing down the house. All three of my kids are sick with fevers, coughs, runny noses. They are all huddled together on the couch watching movies. One is finally starting to feel better (thanks, antibiotics!), one is feeling bad off and on, and the other, my youngest, is utterly miserable with a high fever. I am off to the store to pick up anything that he thinks he might like (apple juice and ice cream, although I'll probably go with popsicles). 

But the awesome thing is that while I'm at the store, I will still be vacuuming. How, you ask? Because my parents gave me a Roomba for my birthday! Is it so sad that it is one of my favorite presents ever?! While I have been cleaning out closets, doing laundry, giving snuggles to my sickies, the Roomba has been (happily?) motoring around all of the rooms upstairs. It is ridiculous how much I love it. I'm thinking of giving it a name! Now, if they'd only make one that could clean bathrooms, I would be in heaven!

Hopefully, all of the cleaning and the liquids and medicines will help everyone get on the mend. We are on spring break this week, and I definitely want us to be able to do some fun things! 

Off to wage more war against germs and then run out to the store. We are all thinking healthy thoughts here!

Get Chipper...

Get chipper...that's what my mom used to say to me whenever I was being a sullen and surly child...and teenager...and young adult. (What can I say? It took me a while to figure things out!). And that's what I'm telling myself today. I'm frustrated with my job, some of my colleagues, definitely my principal, feeling like I am being crushed by the demands of the varying levels in my classroom, pondering moving to a smaller place so we can try to save some money, depressed about the amazing job that we just found out we didn't get. Ugh. I can't imagine a more depressing entry to read (let alone write!). And I'm trying to figure out how to get chipper. So here are some things that I am going to try doing over the next few months:

1. Try a yoga class. I have been wanting to do this for a while, and I think I need to do a little something just for me.
2. Get back on my lose it app. Doing so well, but have been stress eating lately. Need some self-discipline.
3. Get outside more. Am taking the kids hiking this week during spring break on various trails around our area.
4. Ok, I think I better just stick with 3 right now. Then maybe I'll have a chance of actually doing some of these things!

Hopefully, these 3 things will help me start to get chipper, which will help me be a better wife and mother as well. And maybe a martini or two also...