So earlier today (or call it yesterday if you want to keep it real) my little three decided that if they all behaved equally naughty, mom would allow it with retribution, because of safety in numbers, right? *insert melting brain here*

It felt like a country western song. Mom wanted to sleep, the phone was ringing, the baby was whining for breast milk, the 6 year old was wanting to tattle, and the 2 year old wanted a “poopy prize”. I thought everything was settled back into place, and I was going to try to get a few more minutes of sleep, when the baby boy decided he was fat, full, and flippin’ jubilant! There goes my lazy Saturday.

I should have known it was going to be one of those days, everyone was crying and fighting. It took me a full hour to get a sip of my then cold coffee. By lunchtime I was DONE. I put the sleeping baby, and the 2 year old down for naps. The 6 year old was soon sent to nap too after he demonstrated his own fatigue. However, no one napped! All three were exhausted, but no one napped. By around 3pm, I was in tears.

Of course, as soon as I had sufficiently filled my bladder with iced coffee, and was about ready to start dinner, not only did the baby, but also the 2 year old fell asleep. Thankfully the 14 year old walked in from playing to get a drink, and I asked him to hold the (now crying) baby so I could make Fra Diavolo Sauce With Farfalle Pasta, and broccoli. I changed it up a bit, I used fresh tomatoes and added some white wine. I also used only shrimp (doubled), cooked it longer, and served over farfalle (bow tie pasta) instead of linguini. I thought it might be too spicy, so I made some Cabernet Marinara with Herbs for the little ones, but offered them both. I think they favored the spicy shrimp sauce. I had to giggle a bit because they started fighting over who could have the last of the broccoli, they all decided they had not had enough, and Austin rushed in to make sure everyone got two more pieces.

We made a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, and at them hot, with cold glasses of milk. We were all sleepy, and I decided after everyone was in bed, that I would slip into a hot bath and then go to bed early myself….. but first let me just fix this spam problem real quick. Real quick. Famous last words.

At 10:19 PM, my darling husband gets on Skype. I tell him “Don’t laugh, but I have such a headache. And it is all from reading confusing stuff.” He reassures me he is not laughing. “Owie, hurty head. .htaccess is so confusing.” He tells me he doesn’t know what .htaccess is (I didn’t either until today. I explain what it is, what it does, and what I am using it for. I will not quote what I said because it consists of several F bombs, and other colorful expletives… and I would like to remain classy.

I tell him “Half my face is limp. I must have stroked out somewhere between .htaccess ssh and ftp”. My darling husband says “I want to see”, and starts a video conference. *sigh* At 10:44, about the time I told him my brain was made of pudding, and drool was dripping out of my half-limp stroked out face, the butt tells me “I have worse problems btw. I can not find my hair brush.”

While his hair WAS quite poofy, by this time I was ready to hang myself by my shoe laces. I had no less than 15 tutorials open, terminal, my ftp, a glass of wine and my sanity was long gone. Four minutes later, he proclaims all is right in the world, he has found his hair brush. Well lah dee freakin’ dah! He then asked me if that was my soul he saw leaking out of my eyes. Well yes it is.

At 11:36, he tells me he has to go to work. And I tell him I have to bash my skull in with a baseball bat. A little after 12:10am, I figure out the problem. The file I was looking for could EASILY be created by opening a simple word processor, uploading it to my ftp (server), renaming it, and then editing it with the script I wanted, and voila, spammer would be 404ed. I have no idea if my 2-3 hours worked, but I guess I will find out soon enough when my spam folders keep filling up. AHHHH, what a nightmare!

So now that it is 2am, I can finally climb into bed, and in 4 hours I can start this all over again. Sleep deprived and crabby. As soon as I finish knitting this last row real quick.

Lynne offered me her shoulder and then kicked my butt into action. She gave me some ideas on how to make this year easier on all of us, some of which I have already set into action.

• Find a church family and attend regularly
• Join the YMCA for the kids & I to have an activity together & apart
• Find someone to help me with the kids, a babysitter, mother’s helper, or drop-in daycare
• Find someone to help me with household chores, someone to help me clean

The day after I spoke to her on the phone, I attended a church I have been wanting to visit for years.
I have found a neighbor who is a member of the YMCA, and I have found another friend who said she would join if I did. I have not found childcare yet, but I have a few ideas for help with housekeeping. I hope to continue to make positive changes in our lifestyle that nourish our minds, bodies & souls.

My next appointment is March 4th, I will be almost 28 weeks. At this appointment we will also get to have our 3D ultrasound, I can’t wait to see my little girl in 3D, I LOVED the 3D pictures I had of Matthew. After that I will be starting to go every 2 weeks and then weekly. I love when the appointments get closer, just because it means my baby is getting closer too!

Bobby left for the CO/NM area today, he’s gone until Friday. I am so tired from lack of sleep and then having to get up early, that I am not looking forward to having to do the parenting thing alone this week. I have my three, plus the two I babysit from 4:45p-12:15a, when I want nothing more than to just crawl into my warm bed now until tomorrow and not have to worry about anyone else.

Today, I knew it would be a difficult day from the start. The dog and cat kept waking me up, first when the cat was licking a plastic grocery bag, next when they started fighting, again when the cat wanted out, and finally I just gave up and got up when the dog started nosing around and whining.

The day started out normal enough, A. cried for a while, laid down for a nap before Matthew awoke, so I was able to sneak in a nap of my own. The phone waked me up once, but I was able to fall back asleep for a few more minutes before Matt started crying. His leg was still not any better so I called the doctor to make an appointment for 1:20, the only appointment left for the day. Of course, at the time it totally slipped my mind that I had furniture I ordered over a month ago coming from Denver between 11:45 and 2pm and it was too late to cancel. I figured I could get A.’s dad to stay if I needed, but then he called around the time he was supposed to be here to inform me he would be late and to take A. with me to Matthew’s appointment if he was not home.

By this time, I am in total panic mode so I call Bobby begging him to come home and help, but he has an appointment at 1 pm also with a General. While all this is going on, I remembered that I had forgotten to deposit a check yesterday and I had not balanced my account, so it was really no shock to learn that I was $12 overdrawn. While I was trying to get both babies ready to go the furniture arrived so I was thrilled one thing was taken care of, but I also had the matter of having 15 minutes until I had to leave, the check needing to be deposited and the little ones to keep occupied. Thank goodness for the Deposit at home feature, even if I did keep giving me error messages. A.’s dad arrived when I was depositing the check, I had to set her down on the carpet for a moment and of course, she screamed like a banshee. Matthew had managed to crawl downstairs in the meantime, so I carried him back up in major panic mode that it was 12:55 and we were supposed to be there at 1:05 for our 1:20 appointment. I came up to my diet peach tea spilled all over the carpet I had just cleaned, put the dogs outside and rushed out to the van.

To Be Continued…

If you are reading this entry hoping for a happy story of butterflies or cute fuzzy puppies, you better hit your back button right now, or better yet, click the X in the upper right corner of your screen.

In order to tell you this sad tale of woe, I have to go back, back to Saturday the 19th. The day started out ordinary… I slept in, woke up and ate lunch, went to my acupuncture appointment and then came home to relax on my day off. We had turned down the request to baby-sit baby A. that evening because we had plans with our dear friends to have a Chili potluck and we have not seen this group of friends in almost/over a month.

To Be Continued…

On top of that I am exhausted and have an upset stomach. I started a new medicine last night for my PCOS which always makes me so sick and tired. I guess it is not new, since I have started and stopped it two other times in the past, but new to my system since it has been a year since I tried it last.

I can also smell pee in my house, but I am not sure from who, or where it is and it is driving me insane… it is not strong, but it is there and it will be the cherry on my “I’m going crazy Sundae”.

I know in time it will all get better, but for right now I am just sick of everything I want a break. Of course I also know that it is how we handle adversities that make us strong, so I keep reminding myself that next week this will all make us better people.

So, I get up at 5:40 and shower, just like I always do when I have baby A. coming over. At 6:00am I wake up the boys to get ready for school. At 6:10 I learn that their school is on 2 hour delay, which means we ALL could have slept in two hours later :sigh:. Baby A. will not be here until 8:15-8:30ish, the boys will leave an hour later. The funny thing is, the boys’ school RARELY closes/late starts, I was honestly only expecting to see Ft Carson closed, however Bobby has to go in at the normal time, and we get to stay in late… of course HE is still sleeping, and WE are all awake.

Who would’ve thought…it figures.

Make sure you include everything your child needs, from necessities like diapers, milk, and a change of clothes for younger children; or snacks, and entertainment for the older child. Also, if your child is young, or prone to missing the parents, include any comfort objects like special blankets, toys or pacifiers.

Find out ahead of time what your sitter would like you to do for meal times, if your children will be there for a meal, and feed the sitter too, it gives them energy to run after your children!
If your child has been feverish, or gassy, include a fever reducer, or simethicone drops, along with written instructions on dosage and the time the child can take it again.

Include phone numbers (or cell phone numbers) and locations you will be going, as well as show times, if you know them.

Give notice, at least 24-4 hours, to the sitter so they know what time to expect you, or what time to be at your residence.

Don’t change your plans without notifying the sitter. If you say you will only be gone 2 hours, don’t change it to 4 or 5 hours without letting them know. An impromptu visit to the diner for steaks and eggs after a late night show may be fun, but remember, as parents, your responsibility to your children come first… and your sitter may not be too thrilled about your change of plans also.

Remember, sitters are people too and deserve a little common courtesy.

I am still sick and when I am not pulling my hair out I am in the bathroom. I started taking my new blood pressure medicine and it is making me dizzy. I have the baby for 8 hours today and she is whining and crying (Bobby said it sounded like someone was trying to kill a cat in my house. I got MAYBE 3 hours of sleep last night. Matthew is into everything, he has gotten in some sort of trouble in every room of my house today. As soon as I bring him in here with me, he wakes up Crybaby who then gets pissed she was disturbed. My house is TRASHED…. after company on Wednesday, being sick yesterday and having both kids and both dogs being needier than normal and my patience being shot to hell, it’s taking all my strength to keep from snapping.

Calgon, take me away!!

I did not want to get up this morning at all. I woke up at 5:20 after a bizarre dream that I just cannot seem to remember right now; but instead of going back to sleep I laid awake thinking maybe I should get up and shower a few minutes early, but I could not bring myself to it and went back to sleep… that was my first mistake. I did end up falling asleep for 10 minutes and then when my alarm went off I felt like I had just been hit by a semi-truck. I hurriedly dressed just knowing baby A. would be here early and got the kids up and going. It would just figure she got here late, I would have loved to hit the snooze button, just once.

So now the dogs are at my feet, the baby is on the floor (she rolled over last night, yay! But now that means no more naps on the chair.) and I am yawning my butt off trying to get up the gumption to make a fruit smoothie for breakfast and figure out what I should tackle for today….if the baby ever naps that is!

On a bright note, Terri’s birthday is today! Go wish her a happy birthday, and admire her beautiful flowers.

It works out OK, since she naps so long lately I was feeling rushed trying to get her changed and fed before 10:30 and then waiting for 45 minutes for her dad to show. Now I can let her sleep when she wants, eat when she wants and then have plenty of time to play with her.

Today Matthew went up to her on his own and kissed her on the lips and said “ni-night”, it was so sweet. He always asks for her by name and speaks her name very clearly. I just wish we would hurry up and get pregnant already, I feel confident that I can handle another little one right now. Maybe I will sit down with my Osho Zen Tarot cards that Terri got me and ask if there is a lesson I am supposed to be learning in this, or if I am missing something I am supposed to do first.

I have been watching a baby for about 3 weeks now. Last week they dumped the news on me that they were bringing her at 6:30am and leaving her for 2 extra hours, without an increase in pay. I told them that would not fly… get her early or pay me for 6 hours. They decided $100 more a month was just too unreasonable (I charge waaaaayyyy less than 50% what they would pay elsewhere, probably closer to 30%).

So today is day three of the new change… should we see if they will get her one time? Monday dad had training, he got her 3 hours late. This was pre-arranged so I was only slightly irritated.

Yesterday, 10:30am came and went… no pickup. FINALLY at 11:15 they come get her… I bit my tongue, he bitches the entire time how tired he is… wahhh, YOU asked to work nights, you CHOSE to not increase the 4 hour agreement, you picked up late and you STILL got more sleep than I did.

Today if he is late, I am not biting my tongue. 4 hours of listening to a baby cry for no reason is my limit. Yesterday my baby sat in a shitty diaper for 30 minutes because I was waiting for him to get here and I didn’t want my options to be either change him while holding her, or change him while listening to her wail.

Saturday we had friends over, we played the new Monopoly “Here and Now” Edition. This reminded me WHY I hate Monopoly so much, I have ALWAYS hated the game, it bores me to tears, and people tend to take it to far.

Sunday I helped Bobby with his website.

Monday the kids FINALLY went back to school, thank goodness, they were driving me nuts!

Tuesday we took Christopher to the Pediatric Neuro-Psychologist for his testing, it lasted from 9-4 and we will be going back in a few weeks to finish up. No diagnosis yet, but it is not Asperger’s, so I am quite relieved since that was kind of the “worst case scenario” in my mind.

Today I had baby A., and when she went home, M., who is 4, came over so I can watch her while her parents go out for their anniversary.