1. Two separate times this week I needed to go to the post office to mail a package. BOTH times I arrived at the counter, asked for a priority mail box and then had to admit that I had no idea what the address was for where I was sending the package. I had to get out of line -- call someone to find the address and then try again.
2. I went to the grocery store to buy cottage cheese because I was actually going to cook and make Lasagna for dinner. I became very distracted thinking about everything else I needed, including special snacks I wanted to make for our trip this weekend, and left the store without...Cottage Cheese! We ended up eating Spaghetti O's and left overs.
3. I brought Carter to basketball practice this week and decided to stay and watch him practice. I told a friend that she didn't need to come back to pick up her son because I was staying and would be happy to bring him home. You guessed it -- as we pulled onto our street I did a sudden gasp and Carter freaked "What's wrong?"..."We forgot Collin!!" I quickly turn around -- call my friend and tell her "I am so sorry. I didn't completely forget your son, I just a little bit forgot him, but I am on my way back to get him." She said that the coach had just called wondering what was up.
4. I had to pick up Paige from church tonight and on my way there I all of a sudden snap out of it and realize that I am sitting at a stop sign waiting for it to turn green!!!
5. I dialed my husband, Cal's, phone number and when he answers I say, "Hi Mark, this is Jen". I totally intended to dial my co-worker, Mark. Good thing Cal knows Mark. And he is completely aware that I am losing it.
6. I have 10 missed calls on my cell phone from my home phone because it is the only way I can find where I last misplaced it!
7. We are leaving tomorrow for the weekend and I just now realized I have no idea what I am going to do with my dog.
8. I sent an e-mail to a co-worker whose name is Michelle and started it out "Hi Trudi". She e-mailed back "LOL. You just called me Trudi."
9. I left work and couldn't find my car. I re-traced all my steps and remembered thinking that it would be better parking in the back lot than the front lot because of the traffic -- so I was moments away from calling the police to report a stolen vehicle when I decided I might as well check the front lot, just in case, although I knew I had thought through parking in the back. Turns out that was actually my thought process from the day before. My car was in the front.
10. I know there was something else I forgot this week. But I forgot what it was.
Thank goodness those who love me, bear with me! I truly am out of control.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
3 Minutes Plus 1
I'm missing my kids tonight....
I'm in Nashville by myself...Cal and I had a wonderful weekend here together, but now he left to go home and I'm still here. I'm so jealous that he gets to kiss all their precious cheeks tonight when he gets home late and finds them sleeping in their beds. I have to wait another 3 days.
I was just thinking about what I would be doing if I were home right now...I'd be going through that whole bedtime routine thing...that routine that often makes me crazy, but that tonight I miss...
It starts with the "bednight" snack. (I realize that word doesn't even make any sense....it should be "bedtime" snack, but in our house its "bednight".) This almost always consists of vanilla icecream from the gallon tub that probably contains more high fructose corn syrup than any dairy product and Hersey's chocolate syrup. However, tonight they probably acutally did get to enjoy the expensive Breyer's All-Natural Vanilla Bean because I was having a healthy moment at the grocery store last week and splurged. However, there seems to me to be something fundamentally wrong with putting Hersey's syrup on Breyer's natural vanilla bean...I'm not sure.
Then after snack, we move on to the pj's and brushing teeth stage of the night. If I'm going to lose my cool, this is when it will happen. Undoubtedly, there are 500 distractions between snack and jammies and for some reason I need to remind them what we are doing as many times over.
Then the part I am missing tonight -- tucking them all in. For Taryn I still curl up in her bed and read a story. Then we shut off the lights, sing her prayers, and then I lay by her "3 minutes plus 1". "3 minutes plus 1" has become such a part of our ritual that I hardly remember when it started. All I know is what started out as a way for me to negotiate how to keep her in bed and to maneuver my way out of her room is now a cherished part of my night.
It started as, "Taryn you need to stay in bed. "
And her saying "You need to lay by me".
"O.K. -- I'll lay by you for 1 minute"
"No 5 minutes"
"How about 3 minutes?"
"O.K. 3 minutes." . . .
"3 minutes is up"
"Just one more"
Until finally we didn't need this debate anymore -- It was just "Mommy, can you lay by me 3 minutes plus 1?" And I knew it was easier to just roll with it.
Recently, there have been nights that I kissed her goodnight and walked right out her bedroom door. A bit of my heart ached that she didn't ask for the "3 minutes plus 1." I have seen Paige and Carter graduate to new bedtime routines and I'm not sure I'm ready for her to.
For Carter -- I still get to pull his covers up, sing prayers with him and give him a kiss. He most often reads to himself now because it's the only time in his day to get his required school reading in.
For Paige -- if she isn't working on homework late, she reads for a while and then I still get to go in, pull up her covers and give her a kiss. But we don't sing prayers anymore...now I just remind her -- "Don't forget to pray."
And tonight -- since I can't tuck them in personally -- I will tuck them in with my prayers for each of them. And I will find comfort in the words of Psalm 139:
3 You discern their going out and their lying down;
you are familiar with all their ways.
5 You hem them in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon them.
(Italicized words I changed from first person)
I'm in Nashville by myself...Cal and I had a wonderful weekend here together, but now he left to go home and I'm still here. I'm so jealous that he gets to kiss all their precious cheeks tonight when he gets home late and finds them sleeping in their beds. I have to wait another 3 days.
I was just thinking about what I would be doing if I were home right now...I'd be going through that whole bedtime routine thing...that routine that often makes me crazy, but that tonight I miss...
It starts with the "bednight" snack. (I realize that word doesn't even make any sense....it should be "bedtime" snack, but in our house its "bednight".) This almost always consists of vanilla icecream from the gallon tub that probably contains more high fructose corn syrup than any dairy product and Hersey's chocolate syrup. However, tonight they probably acutally did get to enjoy the expensive Breyer's All-Natural Vanilla Bean because I was having a healthy moment at the grocery store last week and splurged. However, there seems to me to be something fundamentally wrong with putting Hersey's syrup on Breyer's natural vanilla bean...I'm not sure.
Then after snack, we move on to the pj's and brushing teeth stage of the night. If I'm going to lose my cool, this is when it will happen. Undoubtedly, there are 500 distractions between snack and jammies and for some reason I need to remind them what we are doing as many times over.
Then the part I am missing tonight -- tucking them all in. For Taryn I still curl up in her bed and read a story. Then we shut off the lights, sing her prayers, and then I lay by her "3 minutes plus 1". "3 minutes plus 1" has become such a part of our ritual that I hardly remember when it started. All I know is what started out as a way for me to negotiate how to keep her in bed and to maneuver my way out of her room is now a cherished part of my night.
It started as, "Taryn you need to stay in bed. "
And her saying "You need to lay by me".
"O.K. -- I'll lay by you for 1 minute"
"No 5 minutes"
"How about 3 minutes?"
"O.K. 3 minutes." . . .
"3 minutes is up"
"Just one more"
Until finally we didn't need this debate anymore -- It was just "Mommy, can you lay by me 3 minutes plus 1?" And I knew it was easier to just roll with it.
Recently, there have been nights that I kissed her goodnight and walked right out her bedroom door. A bit of my heart ached that she didn't ask for the "3 minutes plus 1." I have seen Paige and Carter graduate to new bedtime routines and I'm not sure I'm ready for her to.
For Carter -- I still get to pull his covers up, sing prayers with him and give him a kiss. He most often reads to himself now because it's the only time in his day to get his required school reading in.
For Paige -- if she isn't working on homework late, she reads for a while and then I still get to go in, pull up her covers and give her a kiss. But we don't sing prayers anymore...now I just remind her -- "Don't forget to pray."
And tonight -- since I can't tuck them in personally -- I will tuck them in with my prayers for each of them. And I will find comfort in the words of Psalm 139:
3 You discern their going out and their lying down;
you are familiar with all their ways.
5 You hem them in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon them.
(Italicized words I changed from first person)
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