The Perfect Date

Haven't been on a date with your husband in 8 months or so? Here's the solution:

When the clip board is past around in Relief Society advertising a concert with the Portland Mormon Chorus and Symphony, don't wait to ask your husband about it...just order 2 tickets. He'll appreciate that you took the initiative to make it happen. Cause then he didn't have to. Done.
Get the babysitter arranged.
Done.
Night before the big date: Go to the church Christmas Party and stay out WAY past your kids bedtime so that they'll be extremely charming the next day!
Done.
It will all be fine. The 3 oldest kids will be asleep before the babysitter even arrives and she'll just have the pleasure of June's company.
Lucky for her.
Day of the concert: Grouchy kids, grumpy parents, too many chores on the "to do list", etc.
Mom says, "I don't care if you're tired and grouchy...you're not going to ruin this night for me! We're going on this date!"
*Normally, the boys don't take naps and are in bed by 7. But they are so tired and grumpy that I'm tempted to let them nap. But no! Then they'll be up for the babysitter and I just can't let her have to deal with all 4 kids...at bedtime! No, no naps!*
3pm: Dad takes the boys to the hardware store for a few items on the "to do list" and to get the boys out of the house. He's gone for about 10 minutes when the following occurs.

Nora is happily watching a show and I hear June screaming upstairs, so I run to get her.

In my younger days, when I was skinnier and didn't wear p.j's everyday, I was told, "you're so tall. you should be a model." As if that's the only requirement. Well, my response was always, "Oh, I'm much too graceful for that."

I'm quickly going to retrieve June. Quickly because I didn't put the gate up at the stairs when I came up and I didn't want Nora to follow me. In my haste, I forgot that I have size 11 feet and an abundant amount of "grace." So what happened?! Tell us already! OK! June was asleep in a bouncy chair next to my bed. I ran in the room and kicked the bed post - HARD! And in one fluid motion flung onto the bed. And as I'm trying not to scream out in pain I think that the loud crack I heard was either the bed post or my foot. I'm guessing that the bed won that contest. But because Pat isn't home and June is still crying and Nora downstairs able to come up at anytime, I still have to pretend I'm fine. Nope, the pain is awful! I hobbled to find the phone to call Pat and have him hurry home. And then I managed to scoot down the stairs to make sure Nora stays safe. That stubborn girl. Why won't she learn how to use the stairs safely?! She thinks that should be able to walk up them like her brothers. She can't. She falls a lot. It hurts. Doesn't seem to matter.

What about the date? The tickets? The babysitter?!

Because I'm the mom, I still have to function. I still have to change diapers and make dinner and get kids to bed. Of course Pat helped. He's awesome. But with 4 little ones, it takes two people. The kids were still rotten but we were able to get them to bed early. Pat went and picked up the babysitter while I showered and got ready. We still left together, without kids. We just had a different destination. The 24 hour Urgent Care. We still sat next to each other and held hands while we watched some gross Law and Order. Then went for x-rays to confirm 2 broken bones. How Romantic!

All along I was worried about the kids ruining the date. Guess I took care of that just fine. In my last post where I was whining about Pat working too much, the last sentence was me saying I needed a break. Not literally!!

I'll spare pictures cause no one needs to see those - yuck! I didn't need a cast. Just a lot of tape and a special shoe. A real cute number that is opened toed. Perfect for the snow yesterday when we went to church and the 25 degree weather today. I have to wear it for about a month. Suppose I should buy thicker socks? No worries. It doesn't really hurt. Until the end of the day after I've gone up and down the stairs 30 or so times. And met all the other needs around here.

*SIGH*

Maybe its better if we don't go on any dates. No Way! Ones of these days...when the kids are grown and we're empty nesters?! That would be cool.

The End

venting room

Just to preface: Majority of the people Pat works with are in Germany, or Taiwan, or India, Spain, CA, etc. So, he spends a good deal of time on the phone for his job.


An Email I would like to send, but obviously can't:

To Whom It May Concern,

My Husband tells me that he has been receiving calls informing him that he needs to be nicer on the phone and more patient with others that don't understand things as well as he does.

What do I have to say about this? First of all, he works ALL THE TIME! Except maybe a total of 3 hours every day. He does get a little sleep. Often interrupted by a new(ish) baby and a little boy who hears every sound and sees a lot of "bad pictures" or dreams.

Second, He hasn't had a day off since JULY! JULY, folks!

That means when our baby was born in September? Never took a full day off. When he had minor surgery a couple of weeks ago? He worked from his bed. Our Anniversary last night? On a phone meeting!

If you would like him to be more patient, nice and productive...unless there is a "fire" or an "end of the word" catastrophe - he'll be back Monday!

Regards,

A Tired Wife

*** In case anyone thinks I have completely lost my mind, I am very grateful that he has a job. And that he does work so hard for us so that I don't have to. He just needs a break! Guess I do too!

5

Its true...today is number 5
Years that we've been married

5 years
4 kids
3 moves
2 tired parents
1 crazy yet very happy family

Happy Anniversary To Us!


I LOVE YOU HUSBAND!!!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

These kids sure do love their daddy.

Especially watching basketball together. I'm pretty sure June is saying, "Go Zags!"
How cute that they're holding hands!

While Pat was gone, I busied myself with making this skirt for Nora. My intentions were to wait and give it to her for Christmas but I thought it was way too cute (and I was a little proud of myself for doing it) that I HAD to give it to her right away. There are so many things you can do while wearing a big puffy tutu!



This last time of Pat being gone was surprisingly easy. Not easy really, but went really well compared to other times. The kids were we'll behaved, we played a lot, and basically just tried to have a good time to make the days go by faster. Which they did.

My new trick is to not let them have naps anymore
(not that Kyle would be cooperative to the idea of a nap anyway)
that way, they are asleep by 7!
You'd think that I would be able to get so much accomplished in those hours before I go to bed.
Not if June has her way!
That's HER time!
I don't mind, really. She doesn't get enough snuggling during the day.
So the evening hours are ours.
THANKSGIVING!!!
We had a real nice Thanksgiving.
Darin and Charla came down. We cooked for at least 6 hours straight. Ate A LOT of delish foods. Then played...trains...and more trains!
We really enjoy having Dad home. He has even ignored work for the last couple of days
(not entirely - but mostly)
Hopefully he'll be here for awhile longer.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being a mom to these crazy kids?!
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my husband?!
We are blessed!

Still Here

We decided to tough it out and stay here on our own.
Surprisingly, it hasn't been too bad.
We've actually been having fun!

Too make things interesting, I packed up the kids and drove to Seattle to see my brother Darin and his wife Charla. Its only a 3 hour drive. Totally doable for a day trip. Darin was performing in an Opera and I wanted to see it. So Charla was a HERO and offered to watch all of the kids for 3 hours. What a champ! Cheers to her! It was a kooky Opera that was fun to watch. I hadn't been without my kids (well, for anything besides a doctor's appointment) since May. Well overdue!

One more week to go!

Someone Else

I don't usually let the boys shower with me. That's the great pleasure for "someone else". But that "someone else" is not here right now.

Tonight is Enrichment night and I want to go. A chance to get out of the house and talk with other girls without my children (nursery is provided!) You bet I'm going to go...even if they are cranky with fatigue. Leave that to the young teenager girls, I say. Its good for them. But I DON'T want to take pig pen, potty stenched boys...so I let them come in the shower with me. Not two seconds in they both say at the same time,
"We want to potty in the hole (the drain)!"

...and they did. Nice.

Thanks "someone else"

*this just in: Kyle was crying in the kitchen about having something stuck to the bottom of his feet (have 3 toddlers - the kitchen floor is often a mess).
So I tell him, "just brush it off. its not a big deal."
Next thing I know - he's in the bathroom with his toothbrush, yelling for me to turn on the water.
Mom - "what are you doing?"
Kyle - "you said that I needed to brush the yucky off of my foot so I need you to turn on the water for my toothbrush!"

Good Bye - AGAIN!

(us before we were married...as if I even look like that anymore, I wish!)

My husband has left me...again! Where does he keep going? Germany, of course!
Do I ever get to go with him?
NO!

I never posted that he was just in Germany again a few weeks ago. His company paid for my mom to fly here and drive us back to her house. Mom to the rescue again. And was it ever crazy. My sister was living there as well with her two boys. So we had 6 kids under the age of 4 under the same roof for 2 weeks. Good Grief! My mom is a saint!
Anyway, it seems that just as he is getting settled in at home its time for him to leave again. I decided that I'll tough it out here on my own for a few days and then maybe make my way to my parents. We could probably survive on our own...we'd be malnourished and naked...but alive. So for sanity's sake...MOM!

Does that make me a wimp?
Maybe.
But I think I love my kids too much to be their sole caregiver for 2 weeks...
Scary!

I joked with Pat that I'll get the kids birth certificates and passports in line just in case we need to move to Germany - since he goes there so often anyway - we might as well live there, right?I'm sure that the "those that be" wish that he would never leave. And that's fine...as long as we can be there too. I'm all for it! Wouldn't that be a dream?!

2 hours down. 334 hours to go.
I miss him already