Someday I'll Laugh at This, Right?

In my last post, I was so proud of myself and how I was surviving with four kids.  Pride comes before a fall.  This past week has proven that statement. 

The boys went to VBS last week which meant we were all up and out of the house by 8:30am every morning.  That was a test in and of itself.  Since it's a 20 minute drive, I tried to find things to do on that side of town from 9-11:30.  One of my new church friends who has a son 1 month younger than Zac and a daughter 1 week older than Esther, had us over for a playdate for 2 of those days.  A 3rd day was a playdate with our MOPS group and we had to spend a morning at Wallmart (which I'm proud to say I left without buying a thing!).  So, every time we picked up the older boys and headed home for a 20 min. drive, Zac would fall asleep in the car.  Thankfully, he made it to his bed most days, but naps were shorter because he hadn't gone potty or eaten lunch ahead of time.  We would get home, I'd sneak him to his bed, feed the older boys, get Esther down and then Zac would be back up again wanting food.  All that to say, I had NO naps all week long. We also had several fun evenings of baseball and having friends over for dinner.  We had a LOT of fun, but my energy level was waning and I didn't notice until it was too late.

Friday afternoon, Rob and Ethan left to go to Timberlake Ranch Camp with the Middle School Youth Group.  I knew they were gonna have a ton of fun and I planned to head up there on Saturday to spend time with the girls I had been with at Middle School all year. 

Friday evening was the VBS finale event and I took a very tired 2 year old and a very energized 8 year old.  Justus HAD to go.  He, all on his own, had made about 30 phone calls soliciting donations for the "House of Joy" - the project they were raising money for that week.  I was very proud of him for being motivated and taking this on all on his own.  He raised over $200!  He wanted to find out the final amount they had raised and get his prize if his "team" had won the fundraising contest.  Well, they blew everyone else out of the water.  The goal was to raise $600 and his team alone raised close to that. In total, enough was donated to sponsor 2 kids instead of just 1!

At the end of the program, everyone was invited to have ice cream and enjoy the activities (bounce house, etc...)  I really wanted to stay for Justus' sake, but my very tired 2 year old was out of control and of course, Esther was cranky because she wasn't able to sleep through the program.  I felt bad, but we headed home.  Bedtime was the tricky part.  Esther tends to be fussy from about 8pm until she finally conks out for the evening.  She will "go to sleep", but wake herself up several times before staying asleep.  So I took her upstairs with me while I was getting Zac ready for bed.  I asked Justus to hold her while I read to Zac, knowing she would fuss, but fuss less if being held standing up.  I started reading and then glanced over to see Justus sticking a toy in her mouth to try and quiet her!  I lost it, then, emotionally.  Just started to bawl.  Justus took over reading to Zac and I held Essie and just bawled.  I tried to call Rob, but he didn't have enough cell coverage at the camp.  I sent Justus to bed then, too, and exhaustedly dealt with the fussiness until we were all finally asleep.

Saturday, I had made plans for Z and J to play with friends while I went to camp.  I knew I couldn't handle it so I ended up staying home, but my friends were wonderful and took the 2 boys so I could get a nap that day.  Justus ended up spending the night at their house (which he LOVED).  The rest of the weekend is a whirlwind until Rob and Ethan got home at 4:00pm on Sunday and the tornado started.  We had to get Ethan to his 5:30pm baseball game and Justus to his 6:30pm baseball practice. 

This morning is another example of the craziness that I am experiencing.  I woke up, fed Essie, took her to the kitchen with me and made eggs for me and the older boys.  I had gone into the basement for something and realized the project E and J had worked on yesterday was still all over so I sent them down to pick up after themselves.  As I'm eating, Zac comes out of my room and says "Mom, I squeezed something."  I fearfully walk into my room and realize he has squeezed my liquid foundation ALL over - my nightstand, in my nightstand drawer, on my fan, in Esther's Moses basket next to my bed, all over the sheets, on the floor.  AHHHH!  I hurriedly start cleaning so nothing sets in.  Rob, my hero, is holding Esther and said he would wait to leave until I was able to clean up the mess.  So I ran to Walgreens to get carpet cleaner, got home, sprayed the carpet, got everything soaking, and went upstairs to let Rob off the hook.

As we were talking and making plans for our anniversary date tonight, we failed to glance over at our 2 year old.  When we finally do, we realize he has - for the 5th time - broken the rubber band (our version of a toddler lock) we have on the game cabinet and has begun to dump the games and all their contents on the floor once again!  AHHHHH!  My hero came to the rescue.  While I put Esther down for a nap on her stripped down bed and did a second scrubbing on the spots on the floor, Rob rallied the troops and put the contents of the game cabinet back together.

I will laugh at this someday, right?