My Blown Cover

As record snowfalls hit our area yesterday, Mark was lucky enough to have the day off. It's very rare that we all spend an entire day in our house together, as weekends are usually spent rushing around somewhere. Besides having another adult in the house for company, I was hoping that Mark would get a little taste of my day.

More often than not, my day goes somewhat like this:

"Mommy, I want orange juice."
"Mommy, get me chocolate milk."
"Mommy, I have to pee."
"Mommy, I have to poop."
"Mommy, get me my monster trucks."
"Mommy, I want to play downstairs."
"Mommy, I want to play upstairs."
"Mommy, mommy, mommy."
*cry, cry, cry*
*whine, whine, whine*

And that's all in the first five minutes of waking up.

And then he wonders why I'm exhausted and crabby when he gets home from work.

Game on, buddy. Now you get to spend a day in the life.

I don't know if the kids were hypnotized into real life snow angels by the falling flakes, but they certainly didn't live up to their Mamma's barbarian hype yesterday.

From the moment they woke up, they played so nicely and independently. No fighting, crying, whining. They shared. They spoke nicely to each other. They painted the dining room. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But they were little angels. They even took a 3 hour long nap. I had to wake them for supper.

"Wow, you have it tough here." Mark said, around 5PM, as we lazily laid around watching trash TV for a second hour.

"Really, it's nothing like this. Trust me." I pleaded.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Way to go, guys. Thanks for blowing my "you-don't-know-how-hard-it-is-all-day" cover. Couldn't you have saved your angelic performance for a day when it's just Mommy?

Oooohhh, gotta run. Jillian's calling for her dolls and Max just took all the stuffing out of a pillow.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...and the house a whole lot cleaner

Today I was lucky enough to have a day to myself, courtesy of my in-laws. I dropped the kids off at 9AM and as I sit here nearly 6 hours later, I'm exhausted from my whirlwind day.

Instead of jetting off to the spa or to the mall, I spent the day cleaning. It was much easier to clean without two little ones at my feet, or to stop to referee every 15 minutes, or to examine the loud bang in the next room. However, I miss the little buggers. Maybe I subconsciously planned this day to see how the three of us would do without each other for a day, in anticipation of my inevitable return to work. I called my mother-in-law three times today and each time she revealed what fun they were having. Meanwhile, I'm covered in dust-bunnies and have a scar from a battle with a non-cooperating tension rod.

Life at home with the kids is bizarre. There are so many days when I wish I could get a break from them, but now that I have the time apart from them, I want them here. There have been so many days when I wonder what it would be like if I worked away from the home full time, but I have to keep on telling myself that this situation is fleeting. But, for now, I'm thankful for an abbreviated break from the kiddos, but look forward to seeing their smiling faces in just a few short minutes. I think we'll all appreciate each other just a wee bit more today!