Friday, July 23, 2010

Summer Break: Day 50

So today I was at a luncheon at the church for a friend who is moving to Idaho. I sent the crazies to play in the gym with about a bazillion other crazies. I got interrupted from pleasant conversations by my older two...that I HAD to see what Grayden was doing.

I found him in the men's bathroom; naked and sitting on a urinal.

It's been one of those weeks. The kind where even the sound of a child's voice makes me break out in hives.

Adding to it all: Two power outages. Not like a little flicker, but no power well into the wee hours of the morning. AT&T trouble; no phone or Internet for SIX DAYS! Grayden went five days without napping. He's two. Oh yeah, Grayden is two. That definitely added to my difficult week. Spencer's fully loaded school schedule is really starting to take it's toll. There are too many days where he leaves for work at 7:00am and doesn't get back until long after bed time. And a power outage when your husband is gone is really boring.

Plus the rest of the week was chalk full of late nights and early mornings, doctor appointments, watching friends kids (don't worry friends...I'm happy to watch your kids...it means I get to reciprocate), and the usual obligations. Blah, blah, blah, wah, wah, wah. I certainly am not implying that I have it any worse than the rest of you.

On the upside, I anticipated the entire summer to be this hard. I don't think this week was much worse than any other. I've just reached my limit. I've made it SEVEN WHOLE WEEKS without loosing my cool. Sure, there have been grocery trips from hell and all around bedlam for moments out of each day, but I've pulled myself together throughout.

I think at bare minimum, I deserve a nomination for Mother-of-the-Year. I don't expect to win. Once I can make it to eight weeks, that's when I'll start writing my acceptance speech.

12 comments:

Kris said...

Poor Katie! Having your husband gone so much has to be hard!! Did you take Graydon home and disinfect every sq. inch of him???

Jake said...

Autumn here...NO INTERNET for that long?!!!!!!!!! Good grief. Definitely worth going nuts over!! That's just impossible. And the pic below, yeah that's fun too. So did you grab a flashlight and read or WHAT?!!

The Patterson's said...

Wow a mothers job never ends and thats a fact! I think your awesome Katie, and mother of the year might be right around the corner. Good luck!!

jeanine said...

I can't even imagine having Rich gone that much! Plus, TWO power outs? That's awful!

Kelly said...

You didn't mention your giving blood fiasco!! You had it rough, girlfriend!! But so glad I got to hang with you for a couple days this week- please come and sit in our air house next time!!

Traci Elizabeth said...

Oh, i actually laughed out loud picturing gray on the urinal...

I wish we were neighbors and could go through this together. We also had an outage this week for 4 hours, and my hubby was at work too. SO BORING.

And the two year old stage? Boston is totally in the midst of it too and it is funny at times but so annoying as well....but I am sure you would win the mother of the year award over me :)

Genn said...

Oh Katie. Sounds like a hell of a month or two. And no internet? That's the worst right there. It must be really hard having your husband gone such long days. I wish we lived closer and we could trade crazies for the day!

Hang in there. And go ahead and write your speech. You deserve it.

Kelly said...

awwww, katie. i would vote for you for mother of the year! 7 weeks and you havent lost it, im so impressed. especially with your husband gone for such long days. that's how i am over here too. i agree with genny, i wish you lived here. we could just hang out everyday and let our kids run wild. i bet they would sleep so good at night!

Tammy said...

Oh poor naked urinal-sitting Gray! That's so hilarious! Do you get Parenting Magazine? I got a free subscription when I bought a stroller last year - Anyway, there's this whole article this month about getting a group of friends together and doing a Summer camp thing so each parent takes a day (Or a few hours in the day- or whatever.) so that you have a little break and you don't go crazy. The article had all these fun ideas for themes for the day and games and activities and snacks. I would totally do it if Bri was older.
My mom had 7 kids who were under the age of 7. When Brian is being hard to wrangle in the store or something, I remind myself of that and it doesn't seem so hard. I don't know how she did it. "I was just really organized" She says. Amazing.

Amanda B. said...

I am still laughing about Grayden on the toilet. ha ha! You have had a crazy busy time for sure! You are awesome! :)

J, E, S & L said...

You need a girls night...just sayin. At least there's hope that Gray is ready to be potty-trained :)

Natalie said...

lol! I have had a daughter on a urinal at the grocery store once... makes for a funny story at least.