Mom Mistake #248 and Other Random Stuff

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful and supportive comments after my lovely melt down last week. You could have all run screaming from my blog, slamming the door behind you, but you didn't. You listened and then you told me that you were listening. And that I'm not a freak and I'm not a bad mom. While intellectually I always know that, I don't always know it deep inside my skin the way I should. I know that my current funk has been brought on by the stress of having 2 kids back to back, work, sleep deprivation, and hormones. Lately my me time has been under assault and I'm fighting to get it back. But in the meantime, I have discussed this with T. and we have a plan. There couldn't be a more supportive guy on the planet. I am so incredibly lucky, even if I don't always realize it.

I have to give special thanks to Queen of the Mayhem. She implemented a full frontal assault on my funky mood and self doubts by nominating me for a Thinking Bloggers Award and for a Bloggers Choice Award. I have two measly votes for Hottest Mommy Blogger. One is from me and I think the other is from my mother in disguise. So if you are feeling altruistic, feel free to go over and bump up my point total. You can vote for as many blogs as you like in each category. I voted for everyone I know! Because it's been more than a month since my last Thinking Blogger Award, I'll nominate 5 more people some time this week.





On another, completely unrelated note, let me tell you about my oh-so-fun Saturday. The hubs is in the Navy Reserves. So one weekend a month, he goes off to play sailor and leaves me and the kids to fend for ourselves. (Well, he's actually never really set foot on a Navy vessel aside from tours, so he was really off playing geek/intelligence weenie for the weekend.) When I'm on my own with the kids, I frequently get together with L, a mom friend of mine, and her almost 2 year old. It is usually an unmitigated disaster, leaving me (and my poor friend) completely exhausted after trying to keep all 3 toddlers from killing themselves, each other, or random passers by. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now, but nooooo. L and I decided to take the kids bowling at Oceana's bowling alley on Saturday morning. On the way there, there was an accident on the interstate on the friggin high rise bridge. We were trapped on the bridge for 92 minutes while they cleared the accident. I know, because I timed it. The kids ran through my stash of Goldfish crackers in about 2.3 seconds. The other 91 minutes and 57.7 seconds were just thrilling. After we finally got off the bridge, I didn't want to waste the time I'd already invested and didn't go home.

The bowling was fine. Hollis didn't even have to take turns with anyone because Holden was only interested in eating and L's son, C., had already had his fill while they waited for us. L & C, however, had to leave after about 30 minutes because C was just done. I'm impressed that he lasted as long as he did. I stayed at the bowling alley with H&H for what felt like 5 hours after she left, but it was probably only about 15 minutes. Holden was a nightmare. He kept performing his patented Squirm, Twist, and Scream whenever I: (a) prevented him from eating fries off of the floor, or (b) prevented him from running into the other lanes. At one point during the STandS routine, he bashed the back of his head up against my lip and teeth and drew blood. At that point, I was seriously tempted to toss him javelin style down our lane. That isn't the worst part of it though. The worst was the judgment. The women in a lane 2 down from ours kept staring at us and shaking their heads and whispering to one another. I'd like to think they were just thanking their lucky stars their kids were past that stage, but it felt like judgment to this tired and frustrated Mama.

In all fairness to L and me, we all probably would have had a great time if I'd gotten there on time. I mean, after 2 hours trapped in a car, what kid wouldn't want to run amok? But I've given T permission to smack the crap out of me the next time I mention a desire to attempt an indoor outing like this on my own.

Finally, I leave you with this video that explains exactly why second kids tend to have thick skin. Ah, brotherly love.