I Surrender

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! There, I did it...I virtually screamed. Believe it or not, it unfortunately does NOT have the same effect as doing it in real life. I thought it would take the edge off though, and unfortunately, it didn't do that either. And oh yes, please don't confuse that scream as some sort of a William Wallace, "They may take our lives, but they will never take...our freedom!" victory battle cry. Nope. It's more of a scream of surrender that closely resembles sobbing. You know the type, where if you had a white flag you would wave it in the air and submissively hand it to your 3 year old because he is the victorious one.
Man, my kids hate me today. They really hate me.
Zachary has been an angel actually. But a very very very talkative angel. One that could actually make your ears bleed if he doesn't stop. Kidding about the bleeding ears, but seriously, the sweet sound of the humming garbage truck outside is soothing to me today because it isn't talking to me.
Nate may not hate me so much as he has been hating life. Or rather, life in a stroller or car seat. We used to call him "puppy" or "koala" because of the sweet way he used to crawl all around us or cling to us whenever we picked him up. His new nickname is "screech owl" and it isn't a cute name, and he didn't earn it by being cute either. Oh my gosh, the child screams so loudly all the freaking time! By 9:30 a.m. I started planning what kind of wine I was going to buy at the store tonight to drink when Mark gets home because I just want a little something to help take the edge off...and an excuse to not respond to every scream, "Sorry Mark, can you help Nate? Yeah, I got me some wine." Then I'll go upstairs and take a bath in the kids tiny tub (because ours needs cleaned after giving Cali a bath in it) and lay my hair against the toy basket that smells like mildew...ahhh...relaxation.
Another reason I desperately want to enjoy a tiny glass of wine in the quiet is because Drew, sweet, wonderful, fiesty Drew hates me. LOATHES ME! There is not one thing that I have said today that he hasn't argued...and I do mean "nothing." He has fought me on everything and I am so beyond exhausted from making everything a choice for him so I can get my desired result, but have him feel as though he is in control. It's mentally exhausting. And it's physically exhausting to have to still drag him to and from the car while carrying a sreeching one year old, because he won't do as I have suggested/told him to do.
No one ever mentioned that parenthood was this hard. When people say it's hard you can never grasp the truthfulness of that statement until you have kids...or until you have one like Drew. I love him, but oh my gosh, he is wearing me down today. He wins!
Never Been more True with My Title,
The Joyful and Tired Mom

Drew's First Date

I just wanted to share these pictures with family and friends. To celebrate Drew's birthday, and our sweet little neighbor Lydia's birthday, Pam (Lydia's mom) and I took them to see "Tangled" yesterday. Drew adores Lydia, and I am confident the feeling is mutual from her end as well. They are so adorable together! Anyway, we took them to the movie. Drew sat next to Lydia. And in the middle of the movie he put the moves on her and tried to give her a kiss on the lips, but awkwardly missed, and landed a big one on her cheek. The innocence was so perfect, and so is their little friendship. I am just hoping that this can be the start of a wonderful tradition-even when Lydia is 16 and Drew is 10.