Compromising Positions (aka Beach Beauty)

Wow, it's been forever since I've gone this long without blogging. Things have just been moving at the speed of light and I'm usually too tired to sit down and write after a long day of kid-wrangling. I don't want to jinx myself, but everything has been wonderful lately. I've been having so much fun with the kids and Dave has been in town for most of our adventures. But the big kicker is that I've been doing well even when he's gone. I know you single moms are thinking, "So you can take care of your kids and keep your sanity when your husband is away. Big deal." Well, it is (or was) a big deal to me. I guess I just depended on Dave way too much to walk in the house every night and handle whatever was going wrong.

Big science test you need help studying for - Talk to dad.

You threw the remote control and busted the new tv -

Wait until dad gets home.

What are we having for dinner - Let's see what dad wants.

I know, you're crying a river for me. Parenting without David has just been my Achilles heal and I'm finally getting the hang of it. Hallelujah!

For David's birthday a few weeks ago, we headed to Florida for a quick weekend of water fun. We didn't know how Ash would react to the ocean but he loved it. The temperature was perfect, the water was warm and waves were nonexistent (perfect for the little boys.). The ocean was so clear we could swim out 100 feet from the beach and still see our feet perfectly. We had the best weekend we've had all summer and of course, this mommarazzi took a zillion pictures.

And on an entirely different note, Dave and I were caught last night. Yes, JD (at 12 years old) walked in on his mom and dad in a, shall we say, compromising position. In our defense, it was 11pm and the kids had been in bed for a good 2 hours. I guess we've learned our lesson about locking the bedroom door. Live and learn, live and learn...

I Think I'm Finished Gagging

Spaghettio Slob

Today I had to decide between an unbelievably healthy, all-organic lunch or Spaghettio's. After realizing I didn't have anything organic or even mildly healthy in the house, I chose the lunch of champions - Spaghettio's with meatballs (come on, I'm sure it's full of body building protein.) After I served Kai and Ash, I left the kitchen table to fix something for myself. Kai yelled, "Mom, come see what Ash did!" The little stinker had poured his entire cup of milk into his bowl of Spaghettio's. He had also mixed in a handful of Tostido's covered in French Onion dip. I know many of you are thinking, "There is no way she made that poor kid eat that slop." You're wrong. I thought today would be a good day to teach the tot a lesson. If you mess with your food, you eat it! It almost made me gag but I watched Ash (unenthusiastically) eat the entire bowl of meatballs, noodles, tomato sauce, milk, chips, and dip.

We've been having fun for the last few week mainly playing in the yard and swimming in both of the grandparent's pools. It's amazing but JD and Piper start school next week. It doesn't seem right to go to school in early August. It's in the mid 90's and it feels more like beach weather than school weather. JD is starting his first year of middle school and I'm a nervous wreck. I really think he's ready but middle school hormones and social issues scare me to death. If he turns into a back-talking, eye-rolling, rude 13 year old, I'm gonna kill him. That is, if David doesn't beat me to it.

The boys are really becoming good friends even though you'd never know it by looking at my pictures. I'm finding it extremely difficult to get a photo of the boys together (this is mainly due to the fact that they run around like monkeys on crack.) Maybe one day they'll fall asleep on the couch together and I can take a closed-eye photo session with them.

Blessed Beyond Measure

Ash and his extrodinarily healthy lunch - instant mac and cheese

One of the few smiles I've captured on film

Ash and his Baba

3 happy kids

My beautiful Piper

Brother-Sister Love

Kai with his TCBY

Ash with his battle scar

So Ash has been home for 2 weeks and things are honestly going better than expected. We have had some really bad days (i.e. my last blog post), but overall, Ash is an angel and I'm counting my blessings. My moods lately have fluctuated between overjoyed and overwhelmed from one minute to the next. Friday was an awful day. The kids drove me stark raving mad, David was out of town, and I wanted to sit down and cry several times. However, today (Saturday) has been wonderful. We took the kids canoeing this morning and then went to see David's band play tonight. Everyone had fun and I feel like a new woman. Is there something wrong with me? I'm not bipolar (or at least I wasn't last month) but this whole "new mom" thing has me on an emotional roller coaster.

I took the kids to the botanical gardens a few days ago (and accidently left the camera in the car!) We were having the coolest summer temperatures we've had in 50 years so I decided we had to get out and enjoy the breeze. Ash is quite delayed with his walking/running (gross motor skills?) and he fell while we were at the gardens. He busted his head pretty badly and I had nothing to clean his cut with (or to be grammatically correct, I had nothing with which to clean his cut.) I bribed him with TCBY afterwards and got a shot of the poor boy's noggin. Can you see the look he's giving me in the picture above? It's priceless.

This week also marked David's 40th birthday. I can't believe that he's really 40 and I can't belive that we've been dating, engaged or married for half of his life. He's a caring son, an amazing dad and an (almost) perfect husband. How I was wise enough at 21 years old to find and hold on to him is a complete mystery.

Yes, I am blessed beyong measure.

Blogger Mommy Support Group

Playing around after the reception

3 of my 4 gorgeous kids

David got home last night. I almost cried (with joy) when he walked in the door. In perfect kid fashion, Kai has been a sweetheart since the moment he saw his daddy. I have conflicting emotions about Kai's turn in behavior because:
1) I'm thrilled he's not acting like the spawn of Satan anymore, but,
2) I'm sure David thinks I'm either mentally unstable or a complete liar.

Of course, I called David on Friday and went on and on about Kai's horrendous behavior. I explained to him that he had never seen any of our kids this bent out of shape and how we were going to have to work hard on helping Kai through this adjustment in his life. And then David comes home and Kai is back to normal. Doesn't that just figure? I mean, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth but I wish David could have at least seen the snothead Kai at his worst. And in case you're wondering, no, I don't expect "Sweet Kai' to stay for long, but it sure is nice that he was back for today.

On a different note, I took the kids to a party tonight. David's band was playing at a wedding reception and the whole family was invited. Piper, Kai, Ash and I went and we survived a whopping 45 minutes before I took them home. The reception was beautiful - too beautiful to be destroyed by my wrecking ball boys. I was nervous the whole time and I honestly did not have enough hands to go around. I'm learning what I can and can not handle right now and I bit off a little more than I could chew tonight! (P.S. I just noticed that in my rush to get everyone ready tonight, I wore 2 earrings in my left ear. Maybe I'll start a new fashion trend.)

Thanks for all the encouragement after my last post. I truly love my blogger mommy support group.