Coffee for 8

Every morning I make my pot of coffee to the 6. I could probably drink less, I could definitely use more. For some reason my caffeine loving body must have known something I didn't. Because today was an 8.

Maybe it knew that everyone would sleep late, but I'd pay for it with overflowing diapers.

Maybe it knew that the dog throws up after drinking cold water, but positively vomits when he eats snow. Twice. Even after I filled his bowl with the required lukewarm water.

Maybe it knew the maniacs would sprinkle raisins and Trix all over the floor, after I just picked it up, because people are coming.

Or maybe, just maybe, it knew how annoying the New Kid is and knew he would grab a freshly poured cup, and pour it all over the floor.

Thank you, me, for seeing far enough into the future to allow me to make enough to compensate what I just wiped up. You're the best.

love,love,love

Since it's been a while, here's a list of things I love:

* The extra sleepy cuddle I had with Baduka today.

* The "no,no,no" moaning Dizzy does every morning I need to wake him up, to bring Baduka to school.

* The super happy smile the New Kid gave me, when I put the visor down, and slid the extra plastic, blocks the rear view mirror, but it's worth stopping the screaming, because the sun is so bright, piece over, and he could open his eyes again, on the way to school.

* Taking a shower, and not hearing one cry, and nothing was broken when I got out. Amazing. No clean pajama pants, so I'm wearing jeans, but still, a silent shower when the kids are awake is unheard of.

* The cup of tea Daddy makes me at night, without me asking, so I can truly be the old lady, we all know I am. This yarn won't crochet itself, you know.

* The goofy ways Dizzy falls asleep at night.

* The butt wiggling dance they all do when they are happy.

* How rearranging furniture can make your shoebox feel like a whole new world.

* When you do a gigantic house clean, and two days later it's still pretty much awesome, so you can justify being lazy, even if a new person is coming over in 5 hours.

That last one tells you that even if I'm wearing jeans today, doesn't mean I'm doing anything productive.

It hasn't been that long, right?

Hello again, it's been brought to my attention that a few of you miss my crazy. What's even stranger is how it doesn't feel like that much time has passed. My charger cord on my Nook broke, and that's what I write this on. I finally got to Barnes and Noble to get a replacement, the night before jury duty, and they gave me the wrong cord. I didn't notice til I got home. That was October 12th I think.

Maybe you're wondering how I didn't notice when she handed it to me. Listen, I was on a field trip with my best redhead, in a bookstore, I'm lucky I didn't sleep over. Three kid-free hours passed from the time I entered the Nook section, til the time I left. I forgot why I was actually there, til I walked back in the house. I definitely wasn't concerned about cord size.

So, anyway... it still seems like all that only happened 3 days ago, which goes to show how much my mind has been melted since having kids. I mean we celebrated the New Kid's birthday, Halloween, Daddy's birthday, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, our anniversary, my birthday. The New Kid walks, Baduka has been amazing, Dizzy is starting to talk a little. Christmas presents have been bought, decorations put up, stockings hung.

But if you ask me what day it is? October 71st, I think?

So don't question it if you get Christmas cards in May. I'm a little off.

the real first day of school

Last Monday was the Official First Day of school for Baduka, but I feel like today actually is since he won't be dismissed at 11 and it's back to the usual 1:30. Early dismissal is the most annoying thing. By the time I get everyone up, dressed, car seated, to school, and back, it's 10:30 and I'm doing it all over again. I got not a single thing accomplished last week, well except for Friday, when I managed to kill my altinator (alternater?) (I don't know, I'm a girl, ha) in the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. Such a fantastic experience. Daddy and Nana to the rescue, because I was legit having a panic attack at the thought of being late for pick-up.

When Baduka started school last year, I was so sad to have him gone all day, now I'm sitting outside of the school a half hour early, because he is driving me insane. All summer break long I feel like the only things I did with him were, chase him down the hallway and out of the kitchen. The kid cannot be entertained or contained. I really wonder how school accomplishes it, because I've seen the classroom. We own the same toys, we have practically the same number of kids. Are they also running down the hallway 47 times a day yelling, "Get back here!" "You're driving me bananas!" "Stop climbing everything!" "It's official, I'm drinking dinner!" ??

If that's the case, maybe I should start sending weekly, Thank You For Putting Up With My Maniac presents. Do liquor stores sell gift cards?

Therapeutic French Toast?

I've been doing the Special K diet, you know the one on the back of the box? I'm not crazy strict about it, just during the week instead of eating pancakes and grilled cheese with the boys, I eat 3/4 cup of cereal and 1/2 cup of milk. Ha. Today has been an exception.

The boys slept in which is great for me, not so great for the pajamas and bedsheets. As I was changing one kid after the other, the cat was making that god awful, I'm gonna vomit sound that she has perfected. I literally threw kids out of the way to get her outside.

She puked on the porch. The stupid, gross dog ate it. Then while I was back putting clothes on kids, he pooped in the sandbox. Then came in the house and puked the cat puke on the living room floor.

I had to gather all the children into their room and lock the door, while I cleaned up the mess, because I know they have no grossness, don't touch that boundaries. They weren't happy. Neither was I, if we're being honest.

So yes, after that disgusting morning, I broke my weekday diet. These two pieces of Coconut French Toast that have been begging me to eat them from the freezer, were a delightful, well deserved moment in my day.

It really is the strangest things that save your sanity when you're a stay at home mom.

I need a maid.

It's not often that I want to clean. In fact, I only wash the dishes everyday because I hate paper plates, and we need to eat. But once in a while, I think, "well, I need to waste all this energy I have (HA!) might as well reorganize." Just kidding, I plan on showering today so I figured I'd make it worth it, by getting sweaty and gross first. Don't wanna waste water by being somewhat clean already.

I downed two cups of coffee (because I lied in that last paragraph about the energy,) and decided while the crazies were watching Daniel Tiger, I'd finally tackle their room. It's been long enough. They have so many toys and pretzels under the crib. Between the bunk bed and the wall was possibly an entire box of Trix. Matchbox cars as far as the eye could see. You get the picture.

So I pushed everything into the middle of the room and started from the outside in. That's when Baduka realized I was "doing something."

He walked in, looked at all the toy buckets, the train table, the moved aside crib, and in a moment of perfection said--

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

You know you need to clean more, when you shock the 3 year old with autism into speaking.

hello again

So, it's been a little bit since I've blogged about the crazies, mainly because the Captain of them, Baduka, is on summer break. Umm, its been so fun. You know, because he plays this super awesome game all day long. He made it up himself and it's called "Jump Over The Babygate And Run Down The Hallway Straight Into the Furthest Corner Of The Kitchen Everytime Mom Looks Busy Or Comfy Or Tired Or Is Peeing." It's a little wordy though, so I renamed it "Why Are You Such A Pain In The A**?" There's no real winner to the game either, but after a good effort on my part I'm rewarded with wine at bedtime. And Malibu at dinner, if it has been a particularly long session of it.

Dizzy got evaluated for Early Intervention last week, because he has a speech delay. I haven't been too worried about it, but at his last doctor's appointment the substitute doctor was concerned. Blah. Maybe in my next lifetime, I'll learn to talk less and my kids will talk more.

The New Kid has a bunch of new teeth, crazy hair, and a chubby smile that makes me fall in love a million times a day. I think he's gonna walk soon too, so yeah, I'm screwed.

But other than that, it's been a whole bunch of usual around here.

Climbing, yelling, jumping, giggling, wrestling, fighting, goofy, crazy usual.