Off Duty

Today was one of those days that make me wish I could clock out...for just a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate, and am fully aware of the blessings I have. I am grateful that I have a three year old that runs me absolutely ragged. And a one-year old that throws tantrums at the touch of a button. And an almost twelve year old that decides 7:59 AM is a good time to pull out his homework to finish- the day it is due.

The day started off as usual. Nathan needed his breakfast right away.

"Momomom" This is not to be confused with Emma's, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"

Nope. Nathan doesn't give me time to answer between his 'Moms" they slur into one long Momomom. Yup- it's enough to drive anyone crazy. He has found it quite effective, apparently, because since it's inception on Sunday, he has used it no less than 150 times.

He chose his cereal- a little of each. The pantry makes for some tough desicions when you are a kid that likes to eat. Nathan discovered quite some time ago that it is easier to mix them all together for a tasty meal: Granola, Cheerios, Cranberry Almond Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruit Loops and some Coco Puffs. To go along with this, there is a magical recipe of spoons. He gets mad every time choose the wrong spoon. As was the case this morning.

I had Primary stuff to do today and a run to the store for diapers, and some TheraFlu for a friend. Why do I torture myself, you ask? Because it's fun.

Upon parking my vehicle, Nathan proceeded to show his German blood. He was not about to unbuckle himself and come into the store with me. Why not? There is candy in there. He knows we always get some. A three year-old's brain doesn't work like that, I have learned.

I really needed diapers, (I have been scrounging diaper bags and using Pull-ups that were too big, since Sunday....) or else I would have just gotten back in the car and headed home. I tried bribery but was unsuccessful, so I resorted to muscle. I wrestled him out of the car and carried Emma and Nathan into Wal-Mart kicking and screaming. Loads of enjoyment. I headed straight to the baby aisle. How is it possible that the store had NO diapers in the package I needed? It wasn't a difficult item. Pampers Cruisers: size 3. I looked for regular Pampers. Nope. Huggies? Uh uh. Huggies Supreme. Nada. Not unless I wanted to by a Super Mega Jumbo Pack. I never buy these. For two reasons: I like to use coupons when I buy diapers and it is cheaper to buy the smallest pack. Also, Murphy's law states that when I buy a Ginormous, Huge, Super Pack, my kid will outgrow that size diaper within a week of making the hefty purchase. So I grabbed the TheraFlu and left the store with no diapers.

There was a highlight to my day: I got my hair cut. Of course, nobody but me noticed.

I got home and got the kids ready for tumbling. This gets better every week. I decided to forgo my work-out today on account of the fact that I just had me hair done. OK, not really. I missed the class (because of my haircut) and wanted to watch the kids tumble. Hailey can land her 'fulls' every time now. WooHoo! She is now learning to tumble into them. We might go to Summer Games if she can get her pass: whip, whip, 4 back handsprings, and a full! She can do whip, whip- she just needs to put it all together. Nathan's tumbling ends 15 minutes before Hailey's. He had to go potty and ran ahead of me. When I reached the top of the stairs, he crawled out from under a bench where he had been 'spying'. He ran down the hall and hid behind things and every once in a while would peek out. We made it to the bathroom where he managed to get most of it aimed into the toilet. As we were cleaning up, one person left the stall next to him and someone else entered it. He walked out announcing that he needed to 'spy' and proceeded to crouch down. I quickly explained that we can't spy in the bathroom, and heard a few chuckles.

It was time to go home now. But not before stopping to color a picture, climb the climbing wall, play a game of air-hockey, and watch a little bit of "Never Ending Story" in the Jr. Lounge. I finally convinced everyone else it was time to go and retrieved Emma form the nursery.

Nathan was not ready to leave. Don't ask me what else he needed to do, because I don't speak Whinese (thanks, Nat!) I passed Emma off to Hailey and threw Nathan over my shoulder like a sack full of sugar...only he wasn't being very sweet, in fact, he was hitting me. We were headed to the car this time- kicking and screaming.

We reached the car, by now, Emma was giving Hailey a hard time, too. Hannah opened the door and got in., and Tyler followed. I stood there, still wrestling, while trying to convince Nathan to get in the car and buckle up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler slap Hannah. She started to cry, I reprimanded Tyler and Nathan, and put Emma in her seat and shut the door before someone could escape. Now I had four crying kids. And bedtime was still to come. I drove home, somehow able to tune it all out. Nathan was yelling at me the whole way home that he hates me now and Tyler's cries got louder by the second.

And I wonder why I have a headache right now.

I'm clocking out.