TGIF

VBS is over at last. And I am exhausted. Don't get me wrong... VBS is a wonderful thing: introducing children to God's love at an early age, giving tired mommies 5 mornings off in a row (unless those mommies are crazy enough to agree to be a lead teacher in a pre-school classroom during said VBS), showing kids a great time... all very good things. But I am spent. And my kids are grumpy. They had a wonderfully fun week, but they are spent as well. As such, I have looked forward to nothing more than the awesome and rejuvenating nap I would get this afternoon after a week of gaining a new appreciation for pre-school teachers who do this stuff all day every day. But, no such luck. We got home from the teacher appreciation lunch and cleaning up my classroom around 3 p.m. Evan - who told me in no uncertain terms on the way home that he does NOT like long naps and would not take one - fell asleep in record time after I put him down shortly after 3. Pressley, on the other hand, fell asleep in the car when we were less than 3 miles from home. Lovely. Though I thought I could move her to her crib without waking her, that was not in the cards either. She woke up, and it would be another hour and a half before the alternating singing and crying would stop and she would finally succumb to the much needed nap as I stood over her crib stroking her. Needless to say, I did not get my nap, even though both of my precious angels are still sleeping as I type. Very disappointing. You would think that the Lord would have mercy on his servant who spent all week showing His love to some very active 3 year olds by letting me have my nap. But, alas, we all know that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

The pizza man cometh

Corin has been working virtually around the clock for over a week now. He basically comes home to sleep for 6 hours and then showers and leaves again. So, I have been a "single mom" for several days now. I've said it before and I'll say it again... those of you who are really single moms... I don't know how you do it. Anyway, my girlfriends and I were planning to meet for dinner, and at some point during the planning, I mentioned that I was in as long as I could find a baby sitter. My sweet friend Shay, trying to be helpful, suggested that they could pick up food and bring it to my house after the kids went to bed so I wouldn't have to hire a sitter. But - and I know this makes me sound like a bad mommy - I decided I would rather pay a baby sitter to have a night off from the bedtime routine, which is not the easiest time of my day to say the least. (I promise I'm getting to the part where the title of this blog entry will make sense. Here it comes...)

As is my custom when we have a baby sitter at the house, I ordered a pizza for the kids and the sitter. When the pizza guy got here with the pizza, the kids were very excited and stood right under foot as I paid for the pizza - as is their custom. You have to get a mental picture of this pizza guy for the rest of the story to be amusing... very burly, very tough-looking, and had a pony tail. So, he turns to leave and Pressley shouts (flapping her little hand in a waving motion as fast as it would go) "Bye! [pause] Bye, bye! [pause] See you laters... al-gigator. " The guy sort of half turns around like he's not sure he heard correctly and and then just shakes his head, chuckling as he walks back to his car. I'm guessing he doesn't get that kind of send-off at every house he visits.

As frustrating as the 2s can be, I do love the things they say and do at this age. So cute. And it continues to be cute at age 4 - just in a different way. We've been going to VBS at church this week, and I try to talk to Evan about his experience each day before he takes his nap. Today I was laying with him and asked about his favorite part of the day. I had seen his classmates riding a "ship" that appeared to be constructed out of a dolly and a giant cardboard box. And there was a paddle. So, I asked him if he liked riding the ship. Of course he did. Big fun. I asked him if he got to paddle. He says, "No. I'm a good paddler, but Ella didn't NEVER let me have a turn paddling [long pause for effect], but I never asked her to give me a turn."

Challenges of a Stay-at-Home-Mom

This morning, it was all I could do to put the kids off until 9:30 before we started getting ready to go to the pool. Getting ready to go to the pool is quite the undertaking. First, I fix the lunches and pack the cooler. Then, Pressley gets a swim diaper and bathing suit on; Evan gets his bathing suit on. Then, we lube up with the sunscreen. Then, we pack the stroller. We have to decide how many pool toys can make the trip because only so many will fit in the stroller basket. Then, I push the fully loaded stroller up the killer hill to the pool. This all takes about an hour. This morning, we got to the pool at a little after 10:30 a.m. Thank goodness that today there was nobody there that I know. Pressley threw a tantrum from the moment we arrived until I finally made good on the threats to take her back home - a little before 11:00 a.m. It was humiliating. You would think that all the threats and the time-outs and the reasoning would have eventually worked, but no such luck. The child was just determined to have one melt-down after another. We were back home and eating lunch by 11:15, and then Pressley went straight to bed for her nap. Thankfully, she is still sleeping. I suppose we will try again this afternoon. Such is life with a temperamental 2 year old.

As a side note, I felt really bad for Evan because he was a little angel throughout the ordeal, even offering Pressley every toy he could get his hands on to try to stop the shrieking. Yet, when both our efforts failed, he had to leave the pool too. If any of you parents out there have figured out how to only punish the offending child without also punishing the innocent child in such a situation, do let me know.

And, finally, just so you know, I do realize that those of you who live from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. under fluorescent lights in an office are thinking, "Cry me a river. A bad day at the pool is still better than a good day at the office." Agreed. I am blessed to have this time with my kids, but this is my forum to vent when things are less than perfect, so indulge me.

To blog or not to blog?

I have been very hesitant to enter the world of blogging because everyone I know who has a blog is either very profound or very funny. I don't know if I have it in me to be either, so I have been reluctant to put myself out there. However, the other day, I was telling my mom a story about Pressley and she said: "Oh, that is precious... You have to put that in her baby book." Ahhh, Pressley's baby book. Let's talk about that. When I was pregnant with Evan, I happened upon this very cute baby book for a little boy, so I bought it. While I was on maternity leave, I filled it with photos of showers, lists of gifts, visitors to the hospital, etc. When Evan turned one, I rounded it out with photos of various milestones from his birth until his first birthday. It is a precious work of love. So, when I was pregnant with Pressley, I became obsessed with finding a book that matched Evan's book. I searched high and low and visited every card shop, stationary store and book store in Atlanta (and on the web) until I finally found THE book. I purchased it and felt that now I was ready to give birth to my little girl. I am sad to report that Pressley turned two about two months ago and her baby book remains as blank as the day I bought it. You would think that as a second child myself, I would have made a point to give Pressley's book the same time and attention that I gave Evan's. But, no.

So, that is a long story to say... I have decided that in the absence of real baby books for my children, this would be a good way to save for posterity all those funny and dear things they do while they are little. I am sad that I didn't start it earlier, because Evan said and did some really cute stuff when he was younger, and some of those things will be lost forever. But, better late than never. I also figure that some of these stories will bring amusement to our friends and family. So, here goes....

The funny thing that led to the blogging:

Pressley had a stomach bug last week. Very unpleasant. I won't go into details, but the funny thing about the ordeal was that Pressley somehow thought that the "spit-up pan" was what was making her throw up. It went something like this: she would start acting funny like she might throw up, I would run over with the pan (or bucket, or tupperware, or whatever was handy), and she would say (crying) "No, mommy, no! No throw up!" If only she realized that I didn't want her to throw up any more than she wanted to throw up. Bless her little heart. I am glad we are over the stomach bugs, at least for the time being.