Ups and downs

There can be lots of ups and downs in my week.

Up:  I got to spend time with the newest niece, now that she's 17 months old, she spent the night last Saturday.  My stepnephew (he's 7) came along too.  It was fun, and they behaved. 

Down:  She proceeded to wake up at 2:15 am, and stay awake until around 4-ish.  And I still had to go to work Sunday.  <yawn>  She was so cute, too, I put her down, thinking she'd go back to sleep; walked out into the hall for a bit...and she whimpered.  Audrey and Ryan were in the same room, and I didn't want her to wake them, so I went in to get her.  She was standing up in the playpen, and when she saw me coming, did a dramatic pratfall and pretended she was sleeping.  How could I ever be upset with that?  So I gathered her up, and we sat in the magic chair, watching some HBO...which was probably not the best thing.  HBO is not necessarily known for their late-night children's programming.   Ooops!  That'll teach me not to put on my glasses...

Up:  Earlier that evening, I was patting myself on the back.  "I can do this,"  I thought.  Extra little ones?  Bring 'em on!

Down:  She climbs on everything.  She nearly choked on a tortilla chip Audrey was "sharing".  And eventually, it was my own little ones who caused me to snap.  All of them talking at once, as I'm trying to feed them, bake cookies, and get Mr W (who, surprisingly, was oblivious to it all, and awaiting his dinner--I still don't know why that happened, but I'll get to it in a minute) a sandwich.  I swear to God, I turned around, paring knife in hand, and said, to Nolan and Ben: "I have a knife, and I will use it.  Get the hell out of the kitchen, right now."  Oh, yeah.  One of my finer moments, as a Mom.....knives and cursing. 

This was followed by a rant I gave Mr W when I went into our bedroom, plate in hand.  "Be advised..." (it's best to use cop talk when I want to really grab his attention) "that someday, I'd like to come home from work, and not punch in for my shift at home.  I'd like to sit on my ass in here and have people bring me food --whatever I request-- and not have to deal with the kids, the dishes, baths and/or any other little emergencies that arise.  I come home, and it's like you're done, it's all-Mom the rest of the day.  Oh, I don't think so...do you know, that the last time I sat on my butt, and you brought me anything I wanted, was after I walked the half marathon, and it's been almost a year???"  (Of course, he's cracking up, at the 'be advised'.  And I'm sputtering, because I can't not laugh when he is.  Son of a bitch, I hate that.  I can't even be mad at him properly--I'm all smoke and mirrors.  If you ever saw/heard him laugh, you'd understand.  It's because of him that I couldn't make it through grace this Thanksgiving, and my Dad referred to me as 'heathen' the rest of the night.  Mr W got the giggles, and so did I, but he shut up, and I couldn't stop giggling.  On the up side again, he did all the laundry when I went to work Sunday, and made dinner Monday night.  Now that's hot.)

Up:  Audrey is going to preschool 4 days a week for the next three weeks.

Down:  She's tired, in the afternoon, in spite of her nap.  She's developed this annoying whine, and makes all kinds of noises when she's crying that I can honestly say are akin to scratching your nails on a chalkboard.  I lose all sense of reason, of patience...yet still try to pull it together, long enough to try to get her to speak, not whine; or send her to her room.  SO TRYING, this new whining thing, that by eight pm, I'm ready to jump and counting the minutes until she's asleep.  Oy. 

Up:  A couple of my coworkers moonlight  as bartenders.  One of them brought me a bottle of tequila last weekend, and it was waiting in my desk.  Whether it was to shut me up, or just out of the goodness of his heart, I don't care, it's a big bottle of free liquor, and there is never anything wrong with that.

Down:  I have yet to take a swig.  The bottle is unopened.  I think I'll remedy that later tomorrow night.  Woohoo, drunken emails and woozy entries.  Let me apologize in advance....

Up:  Mr W has been working.  Alot.  Christmas is coming, so that's great.

Down:  Mr W has been working.  Alot.  It seems like we never see him, and when we do, he's cranky; and that's not so great.

All in all, I haven't really been up to much.  You'd think I'd be able to post something.