touching base

I miss blogging. There seems to have been a shift in how I spend my free time lately. With Tom gone in the evenings and the kids and I busy all day long I just don't sit down at the computer much. In fact, as soon as the kids are in bed I head to my own bed to read a book and escape the day. I stay up as late as I can because I hate going to sleep without Tom. This leaves little time for reflection and writing.

Today I am actually avoiding picking up the disaster that is my house. I don't have a lot of time to be sitting here and blogging because there really is a mess and I need to pick up Lily from an art class in an hour. But I thought I would just sit down for a minute and say hello to my Internet friends.

The time with Tom away is physically easier this time around. Last time he was gone for long periods I was alone to care for babies. This time, I'm alone and caring for more independent children. The only really stressful time is when they are fighting with each other...or meal times. Meal times are my own personal hell. It just seems that I am getting the refills and trying to keep them from annoying each other...not fun. But, anyway, things are easier in that respect. However, I miss him terribly and even whined to the kids this morning that I missed him. They thought that it was hysterically funny that mommy would whine about missing daddy...sleeping by herself....hating the dark...and generally whining. I gave myself one minute to talk to the kids in my most whiny voice.

Drew is really exploring his independence lately. The boy that never used to get in trouble seems to be mocking me at every turn. He speaks in a hateful tone. Hits me during his time outs and is generally hard to get along with at times. This makes me so sad...but I understand that it's part of growing up. At one point yesterday I took him to his room so I could have a time out and when I released him from his room to start his time out he was confused. He said, "I just did my time out!" I explained that no, in fact, that time in his room was to put space between he and I so that I didn't wallop him. ha ha I am anti spanking and avoid it at all costs....lucky for him because he was on my last nerve.

Julianna is talking like a kid now. I have no more babies living in my house. She can sing along with the radio, tell me about her day in paragraphs and generally just is a chatter. She does try and push my buttons, but my age and training from Lily, make it hard for her to get under my skin. She does have to do her own time outs on occasion. She loves to torment Drew while he's serving his time out sentence. And she whines like there is no tomorrow. But she's still sweet and funny and generally hates to cause too much trouble. We'll see how long it lasts!

Lily has been a dream these days. She is mature and helpful and very self sufficient...if I don't mind her messes. She and I have really connected on a new level this summer and I am loving it. She is wise beyond her years sometimes. All the hard work of her early childhood has been paying off. We've been having lots of fun.

So, that's about it from here. We are holding up okay, the new house is fine. The old house sold quickly and we close at the end of the month. We are looking forward to our forth of July holiday at the lake and the kids are going to be in the parade this year. I will try to be a little better about the updates, but I'm not making in promises. I'm too busy living in the moment right now.