Shopping

I know that I am a girl and girls are supposed to love to go shopping. I hate shopping.

Maybe I would enjoy shopping more if it weren't for a number of factors.

1. Things cost money.

I probably wouldn't mind shopping if I knew that I didn't have to pay the bill that came later. I was raised to be thrifty (my husband's word for cheap) and it is very hard for me to spend money on myself. I have friends that are not so financially encumbered as I am and I find myself on occasion wishing I were them.

2. Nothing ever fits.

I have a weird shaped body (read that as fat) where the clothes I want to wear just don't look right on me. Trying clothes on in a dressing room with the extremely flattering florescent lights just enhances the experience.

3. I have no time.

I don't live super-close to any mall and have to battle traffic and/or miles in order to do decent shopping. Very hard to squeeze in shopping when I work and have 3 young kids. I'm sure if numbers 1 & 2 were not a problem, I would probably find the time.

4. I have 3 young kids.

Last night I went to the mall with all three kids. I clearly am in need of a lobotomy, or heavy drugs! Sarah is fine (behaviorally), it is just that she is now in the tween (can it be-she is only 7.5) I like to be pretty & fashionable stage. I spend much of last night telling her that she can't get things. Megan is getting better, but it is hard to keep a 4.5 year old's attention when there are so many distractions. The baby just is too needy at this point. Try maneuvering through stores with a full size stroller, it is impossible! I knocked half of everything on the floor. It is so not worth it.

The main goal of this shopping excursion was to get Sarah her Halloween costume and to get outfits for our upcoming family picture. The outfits were easy; I had already scoped out

what I wanted at Gap Kids (the only time I have purchased anything at this store other than things on clearance). I wanted nice outfits, but did not want to go for the typical "holiday look". The girls will be dressed in outfits with similar colors of white, pink, orange and black. the look is based on this dress that Megan will be wearing.

The Halloween store was pure torture. The aisles were ridiculously small and crammed with crap. Sarah went into the store wanting to be a "Army girl". When she saw the soldier costumes and they were too "boyish", she changed her mind. We then had to spend the next 30 min trying to find something that was appropriate for a 7 year old to wear. (Don't even get me started on the state of Halloween costumes these days- everything is way to revealing and "mature"). We finally settled on a costume that looks like a cross between a witch and a vampire. Megan has been telling us for weeks that she wanted to be a cheerleader (or "cheater leader" as she says). I was thrilled because that is a costume we already own! Of course, while in the store she changed her mind. I did all I could to get her back on the cheerleader bandwagon, but she was having no parts of it. At least she chose to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We already own a dress, so I only caved in and bought the tiara and shoes to match!

This painful experience was capped off by Megan's tantrum when leaving the mall because I didn't let her play in the germ-infested kiddie play space. I got an odd look from a female security guard as I told Megan, who was laying on the floor, that I was leaving whether she was coming or not. I made it about 10 feet from the doors to the parking lot before she yelled after me to stop. I did have to listen to a chorus of "I hate Mommy; Mommy is a meanie" the whole way home, but at least we all survived.

discovered

While cleaning out the van this weekend I found the following items:

7 pre-school projects (5 of which were done in some medium that left debris in the car- the evil person who invented glitter needs to die a long and painful death)
3 socks (not pairs, but individual socks)
1 Empty snack-sized Doritos bag shoved into an arm rest
1 pair of flip-flops
Assorted hair bands and pony tail holders (I swear they reproduce on their own but the minute you actually need one, they are impossible to find)
1 amazing dream jacket

This last item was a product of pre-school Sunday school. Megan walks out of her Sunday school class last week so excited. She is carrying a paper grocery bag and promptly shows me where she had colored it on the back. I asked what it was. She replied matter of factly, "a jacket". Intrigued, I asked what they learned about. She proudly said, "Jophus and his dream jacket".

Too cute!

Before the butt crack of dawn

Ok, I have officially become one of those employees. You know, the one that ducks in the back entrance just so you might not notice how horribly late I am. We are five weeks into the school year and I have been back to work for the past 8 weeks. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have been on-time for work. It doesn't help that "duty-time" is the ungodly time of 7:10 AM. It is just wrong!

I guess the only option I have is to get up even earlier than I do now. Tomorrow the alarm will be set for 4:45. Of course, I need to NOT hit the snooze!!

My mom has a jungle gym in her bedroom

Megan has a boyfriend. Actually she has lots of boyfriends. When she tells me that Matty, the boy across the street is her boyfriend, I have absolutely no problem with their 4 year-old love. It is when she tells me that the banister pole, upright vacuum or the broom is her boyfriend, that I begin to worry.

I am not sure where she got this from, but she actually stands there and pretends to kiss, french kiss, the item. It is disturbing on so many levels. We are obviously encouraging this behavior in some way, because I CAN'T GET HER TO STOP.

Yesterday, after an afternoon of dress up and "make-overs" with the 12 year old neighbor girls, Megan was outside playing in a cheerleader costume and tons of blue sparkle eye shadow. The Cul-de-sac was filled with kids and parents playing and we all catch Megan hanging on the light post hugging and kissing it. It was a bad stripper joke just waiting to happen! The outstanding parent that I am, I had to make the joke myself!

Coincidentally, Pat came home from a late night at work with a related story. He was talking with a co worker's wife when she announced "***** just got me a pink stripper pole for my birthday!" I'm not quite sure how that comes into conversation and why she felt the need to tell my husband this information. When I started to think about it, I remembered that they have two elementary-aged children. How on earth do you explain that to your kids? I would love to be a fly on the wall when one of those kids announces in class, "my mom has a jungle gym in her bedroom!"

Back to School Night

Last night was the back to school night for Sarah's Elementary school. As an educator, I tend to see these types of events from a different perspective than a lot of my fellow parents. I always get a kick out of the "dog and pony show" that it usually is. For me there is rarely any new information disseminated that is earth shattering, but it is almost always informative.

Since I did not get a chance to attend the pre-school open house, this would have been my first meeting with the teacher. My Dad watched the older girls (bless him) and I decided to take Emma with me (see earlier post regarding supply issues). She decided to sleep through the Principal's presentation as well as the introduction of all the teachers and the PTA. Not the most exciting part of the night. If I could have gotten away with sleeping through it, I would have too!

After commiserating with another new mother about lack of sleep, I headed down to the classroom. Emma was happily sitting on my lap until about half way through the teacher's presentation. She started to fuss and the pacifier wasn't helping too much. I spent the last 10 minutes hiding in the coatroom trying to listen but not disturb too much. I eventually had to head into the hallway, but managed to get the gist of everything. I like the fact that Sarah has a young teacher who is enthusiastic about teaching. They spend a great deal of time on reading and math, but unfortunately only 30 minutes a day to devote to either science or social studies.

During the question and answer portion of his talk, the teacher was questioned about parent volunteers. The culture at the school is that parents sign up to volunteer in the classroom on a regular basis (every Monday morning for math groups, etc). It always made me feel guilty since I couldn't commit to a schedule like that. Well, this particular teacher did not put out a request for volunteers, nor did he have a sign-up sheet out at the open house or back to school night. Many of the SAHM's were expressing their concern and listing all the help they gave previous teachers. Even from the coatroom, I could sense the teacher's frustration. He is one of those teachers that likes to have his stuff together, he gets to school two hours early to make sure he has everything worked out. Sometimes it is easier to do things yourself than to explain it and put it in other's hands. Plus, I get the feeling he realizes that these parents aren't necessarily volunteering out of the goodness of their hearts. By being in the classroom they have the inside scoop on what is going on with their child as well as everyone else's. As I listened to the discussion, I couldn't help but laugh inside. Some of these parents need to have such control over what goes on in their kid's lives, it just makes me sick. I often just want to shake them and say, "let the teachers do their job"!!

My level of respect for this teacher totally jumped a notch or two.

Meltdown

Ok, I totally had a meltdown today. I feel as though I am totally coming unravelled. I am barely keeping my head above water at work. My house is a mess, My kids are living on spaghetti and chicken nuggets. And I have turned into the white trash neighbor that lets her kids run around unsupervised.

I am trying to remain committed to breastfeeding Emma, but the lack of sleep and stress has reduced my supply drastically. I cannot pump enough at work to provide for her the next day. I will use up my freezer stash much sooner than I thought.

Thank God for good friends to help talk you down. I realize that I need to re-order my priorities and get a grip. If Emma has to get formula, it will not be the end of the world. I am going to start her on cereal soon and hopefully that will help as well.

Deep cleansing breath.....phew!

Supermom

Who is this woman and how can I be like her?

I swear, I cannot get my $#!% together.

I knew that having a third child would be difficult. However, I didn't realize that I would have NO time to do anything for myself. I really figured that by now, I would have gotten our household into a solid routine and life would be pretty smooth. Suffice it to say, we're not there.

The past week has been the worst. With Pat's new promotion also came a new rotating schedule. Three weeks of day work, one week of midnights and one week of evenings. We are coming off of the midnight (6pm - 4am) shift and starting the evening shift (3pm- 11pm). It has been a few years since I had to deal with this type of a rotation and I am so out of practice.

Emma won't let me set her down for more than 10 minutes at a stretch, therefore, dinner has been a crap shoot all last week. And without Pat here in the evenings again this week, we are in for more of the same. Of course, if I were Supermom, I would have made meals in advance and all I'd have to do is heat it up.

My house is a wreck. I try to straighten up at night, but I'm exhausted. I try to get the kids to clean up their stuff, but end up "helping" which really means mom does it while they complain! The girls want to play outside with the neighbors, which is great! Part of me wants to just let them go out without me, but the other part of me realizes it is so not fair of me to always let the other parents watch my kids.

I now know why my parents drink coffee after dinner. If I brew myself a pot, I can actually stay awake through putting Emma to bed at 9!