Confessions of a Crazy Woman

More than a week ago I had a really bad, no good, Horrible, Awful DAY!!!

It has taken me this long to be able to sit down and get it out there...to confess my craziness to the world.

Last Friday night I took the kids to Costco, right about dinner time.  By the way, that is the worse time of the week to go to Costco.  I really needed to get some milk, and some other things, plus I figured we could eat dinner there and I would be off the hook.  I know you're probably expecting some horror story, but there is none!  They were all so well behaved!  Things went flawlessly.  The funny thing is that, as I walked through there with my five children and pregnant belly, I noticed that I got TONS of jaw dropping stares.  About half were sweet smile types and the other half were 'look at the circus passing by' type.

As we were walking out, after eating dinner, we saw some friends from church.  I yelled out to her and said, "HI!"  She yelled back, "You are the bravest woman I know."  I yelled back, "NO!  I am the craziest woman you know!"  Again, I noticed lots of stares at that moment.  The best part is that my kids were clueless, while happily eating their Costco treats for dinner.

The next morning, Saturday, Jason was working.  I thought that since Costco had gone so well the night before, maybe I should try to run another errand to Target.  They all wanted to come.  I allowed it, because I was feeling optimistic.  It did NOT go well at all.  We were there for 20 minutes before we left without finishing my shopping.  

The whole afternoon was rough.  I could go on and give all the details, but I won't.  Earlier in the day I had told the kids that we would go to the park.  Finally at 4 o'clock we got ready to go to the park.  Harrison was SO ecstatic that he yelled, "MOM!  What took you SO long?  I am just SO HAPPY that we are going to the park!!!"  The park was cold, and I was in pain and miserable, and none of the kids would help me with Bennett, like they had promised.  We were there for about 45 minutes.  Long enough to take some great pictures.

When we came back from the park all Heck broke lose.  I had kids beating up other kids and lots of yelling, and a kid with a fat bloody lip, and Bennett in the middle of it all screaming.  It was bad.  I was trying to make dinner, and I just started to cry and cry and cry and cry.  I was just silently weeping, trying to stay functioning.  I changed a diaper, made dinner and was cleaning up when I had to go into Glenn's room.  He was practicing his trumpet.  This is his first year playing, so you know, it's just loud noise at this point.  When I went in he stopped and excitedly asked me, "MOM, is my music helping you?"  I was honest and told him, "No, not really, but I still love you, keep practicing."

After Jason came home from a super long and hard day at work, I felt much better.  We got the kids settled, we ate dinner, and then we left.  I love having older kids so we can do that.

He took me to Papa Hydn's.  If you are in the Portland area you probably know and love this place already.  If you haven't been, you should!  If you don't live in Portland, I say it is worth a trip.  The main reason to go is for Dessert!  The pastry chef is UH. MAY. ZING.

So Jason got me some hot cocoa and dessert.  It made me stop crying, finally.  I just couldn't stop before.  He also encouraged me to talk.  I think we both thought it would be a long sob story about all the horrible things that happened that day.  We both ended up laughing pretty hard over all the funny things I remembered instead.  Things like Harrison being so happy about going to the park, and Glenn thinking that blasting his trumpet would help me feel better.

Other things were ...
Harrison ran into the kitchen right as Glenn started practicing his trumpet.  He ran to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle and said, "I want to get this for Glenn.  He always needs a water drink when he blows his horn!"

I woke up that morning to Bennett in my face, holding two Star Wars Guys.  He kept showing me and saying, "I gotta guy, I gotta guy..."  Over and over.  His older brothers had gotten him out of his crib, and let him play Star Wars with them.

Lily got Bennett out the shopping cart at Target because he was SCREAMING.  She took complete charge of him so I could pay and get out faster.  He was very happy in her care.

Sad to say, that is all I can recall now.  I made notes throughout the day, but they got thrown away.  I was pretty upset about this, but really I am just grateful for an amazing husband who works so hard.  Our home would be a pig sty right now if it weren't for him and his need to constantly throw things away.