Yesterday.....

Wow... It's been quite a couple of days. I've been incredibly busy, and by the end of the last few days ... absolutely exhausted. By the time the kids go to bed, I'm ready to crawl into bed myself and turn the world off.

To say that Matt hasn't been around much would be the understatement of the year. First he was in Canada for 8 days for that CFA prep class. Then, every night last week, he went straight to the Drake Law Library after work and studied until 10 or so. This week, he took the entire week off work and is studying at the Drake Law Library from 8 am until 10 pm or so. He's not even home for meals... So, that makes 3 full weeks this month that he's been gone, and it's just the kids and I. Can you tell I'm ready for Sunday??? This test can't come soon enough for me. After this test is done, I'm getting a much deserved day to myself... getting my hair done, scrapping, taking a nap...

Yesterday was one of those days... If it could go wrong, it did. I was living Murphy's Law, and I wasn't laughing....

For starters, I had to run by the post office to mail a package to Kim. As I filled out the customs sheet (she lives in Canada), I hear, that'll be $14.45, please. What??? I asked her to double check the postage, because it was a small package and I thought that was a fortune! She looked up at me and gave me a dirty look and asked if I still wanted to mail it. DUH, that's why I'm here. Of course I still want to mail it!! So I pay the postage, throw the receipt in the car and head to the park with the kids.

Caleb was in rare form yesterday. Typically, he's a happy & energetic toddler, but yesterday, he was anything but... I decided to take the kids to Dewey park before lunch. It's a great park that actually contains two separate parks -- one designed for 2 -5 year olds, the other for 5 - 12 year olds. When we first got there, Katherine and Caleb were playing on the toddler side. They were having a great time! Caleb was following Katherine around and she was showing off her little brother to anyone who would listen. She's so proud of him, and I've got to say.... I love that!

About 30 minutes later, Grant (one of our neighbor boys who is Katherine's age) arrived, and came over to play with us. Grant's grandma watches him and his little sister during the day, so I got to meet her for the first time. (*first time* being key here). I was thrilled at how wonderfully the two of them were playing alone together -- without all of the other neighbor kids around. They were taking turns, Katherine was insisting that Grant be the leader at times (for her, this is HUGE), and they were playing little made up games. At one point, Katherine dropped her flip-flop on the ground, and Grant raced over to pick it up and he told her to hold out her foot, and he slipped her shoe on for her. It was adorable!!

After a while, Katherine and Grant wanted to go over to the "big kids" park, so we all went with them. Caleb doesn't realize that he's only 20 months old and that physically he can't do everything that his big sister can. When he realized that he couldn't climb to the top of the play structure with Katherine and Grant, he threw a tantrum. And I'm talking just any old tantrum... he threw the mother of all tantrums. I've seen meltdowns before, but never in my life have I seen such a spectacle ...... not from my kids, not from any other child. He was uncontrollable. He was inconsolable. And there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING I could do about it.

He started off by falling in the wood chips, throwing them all over including in his hair, down his shirt, and all over me. Fearing he'd get a splinter or poke his eyes out, I decided to pick him up and move him into the grass. WRONG MOVE. It made a bad situation worse.... He totally freaked out and tried to get away from me with all his might. He started kicking and screaming NO, NO, NOOOOO and crying so hard he was yelling. Tears, snot and spit were all over.

Wouldn't you know... about 5 minutes into this, I realize he's got a nasty, smelly diaper that I've got to change immediately. So I pick him up and take him out the car so that I can change his pants. OK -- I've done this a billion times before. I open the back of the Lexus, take out the stroller, and change his pants in the back trunk part. OMG -- he'd have none of it!! He was trying, with all of his might, to get away from me -- hitting, kicking, throwing his body all over the place. It was a battle of wills!! 20 minutes later (literally) I'm dripping with sweat and cussing under my breath, but I've won... if you can call it that.

In the meantime, Grant's grandma is watching Katherine while I tend to Mr. Meltdown. Evidently she had fallen and broke her knee open -- blood running down her shin. She had been crying for me, but I couldn't hear her, so Grant's grandma picked her up, and brought he to me. Wouldn't you know... Grant's grandma's pants were COVERED in blood, and I'm not talking a drop or two, I'm talking tons of bright red streaks all over the front of her pants. Ay-yi-yi.

OK -- so to top that off.....

Earlier in the week I had gotten a call from church to bring a meal to a new mom. No big deal -- I like to cook, love seeing the babies, and if I can help someone out, great!! Now, without sounding snotty and exclusionary, this is the conversation that we have, AFTER I AGREE TO BRING THE MEAL.

** Amy is the girl that sets up these meals.

Amy: Do you know "so and so".

Me: No, but that's fine. I'm more than happy to bring them a meal.

Amy: Well, the meal isn't exactly for them. "So and So" go to our church, but her daughter in law just had a baby and they requested that we send them meals.

Me: I'm bringing a meal to someone who doesn't go to our church?

Amy: Ah, yea, it that OK. Her mother in law thought it would be nice.

Me: Sure that's fine. What's the address?

Amy gives me the address, and it's somewhere I've never heard of. Not unusual, I'm not great with directions anyway, so it's par for me. Anyway, after I get off the phone and do a little investigating, I find out that I'm going more than 50 MILES round trip to get to this place. WTH? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Oh, and it's in a not so great part of town, and Matt's studying. So I decide to drag my mom with me. Let's just say, that there is NO WAY I'd leave my kids alone in the car for 30 seconds in this area..... UUUUUGH.

I feel so bad complaining about this, but come on.... The whole idea of this dinner thing is so that new moms in our church can have a break after they give birth and focus on their babies. I'm not trying to sound exclusionary, but I don't bring a meal to everyone in Des Moines that has a baby.... I don't have time. I don't know them. I've got enough going on in my own life. (yea, I know how this sounds. I'm whining...). Thinking of the lesson I'd be teaching Katherine if I complained about this in her presence, I keep my mouth shut, put a smile on my face, and rant over email to Kim.

So as I'm feeding the kids lunch yesterday, I start to make this dinner. When they're done eating, I open up the patio door so that they can play on the deck while I finish dinner. I'm totally lost in thought -- fuming about making this dinner in the first place, still wondering what in the world got into Caleb at the park, and worrying about my Grandma (my mom and aunt went to the funeral home to get things in order....). So, I've got a lot on my mind, and I hear Katherine start screaming and laughing. I look up and it's down pouring outside. The kids are out on the deck and dancing in the rain. They're having a wonderful time, and I'm just thankful that they're having fun.

While they're napping, I start to pack up the car with the dinner I made and notice my receipt from the post office. Still wondering how it could be sooo expensive, I take a look at it. GET THIS.... My receipt says first class to CHINA. That's right, China, not Canada. That explains the pricey postage... So I immediately call the post office, worried that my package will end up in Beijing. They tell me that everything is fine, the package will be delivered to Canada, and I'm just due a refund on my postage. Great!!

As soon as the kids wake up from their naps, we pick up my mom, and head off to the south/east side to deliver this meal -- in the pouring rain. When I get there, the new mom barely looks at me, her husband takes the food, I chat with their little girl for a couple of minutes and leave. Not that I expect it, but it would have been nice if they had said "thank you". UUUGH! I'll never understand, I'm not even going to try. Caleb was saying "thank you" at 10 months. He didn't need to be prompted after 12 months, and these grown adults don't know how to be gracious.