Hello My Name is Joe

And I work for a button factory

I have a dog, a house and a family

and one day my boss, he said to me 

he said "Joe? Are you busy?" 

and I said no

"So turn this button with your right foot"

I'm sure you haven't heard this song, but it describes my life beautifully. And I imagine every other mom's life as well. Joe's boss keeps piling it on until poor Joe is turning buttons with both fee, both hands, his head and his tongue! It's only when he's using his tongue that he finally says "YES!" when his boss asks if he is busy. It's actually a really cute, funny song for kids by Andy Morse that you should all go out and find. 

Anyway, we had a whirlwind of a busy week last week for school break. We were home for 3 days, but hosted playdates on all of them, and were out the rest of the week. It was, as the kids say, off the hook. I think. I'm not really sure what off the hook means. Except when it's referring to a phone. Ooh, which would make the phone busy. Ha, so it is applicable! That my friends, is my thought-process. Yeah, busy week. It was wonderfully busy, but I thought that I should take this week off to get everything back under control and do all the things I didn't the week before. I had to write a couple of articles. I had to plan my next preschool playdate (L is for Listening). I had to pay bills (still have to). I managed to get some laundry done and straighten up the big messes that accumulated after a week of children in my house. I just had so much to DO. Not to mention get on the treadmill (3 times this week). But my week did not go as planned. The Princess is usually so good about entertaining herself, but she might be getting to the "I need to play with YOU" stage. Or maybe it was just too much attention the previous week. Or maybe Venus was in retrograde. Once again, I don't really know what that means. Luckily we had a snow day on Wednesday that coincided with the Princess's ultrasound so Daddy was already scheduled to be home. That kind of broke up the week of no-fun. By today we were both a little punchy. I think we need more balance (how many times have I said that!). We need to have some at-home time but an entire week is just too much. 

Who am I?

So yeah, by today I felt like I was turning buttons with all of my limbs trying to keep everyone fed and happy and out of trouble. The biggest problem is that I am getting up too late and staying up too late and that makes me get up too late the next morning and I'm stuck in this cycle. And I really wish I could go back to the me 10 years ago and say, hey, you sleeping until 10 am, someday you will get up at 6:30 and you will say "damnit! I'm up late again!". Yes. 6:30 is LATE to me now. I need to just suck it up and get out of bed and then I will be tired enough at 9:30 at night to sleep. I also need to stop watching TV at night and get off the interwebs. Like now. Gah. 

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DGPMs

I am no longer a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). Why? Because I don't STAY AT HOME. I need to schedule an at-home day. For reals. We have turned into people who are busy. I was supposed to stay home today and clean for my mother's visit but we had to go to a make-up gymnastics class. Between gymnastics and preschool playdates and regular playdates we are BOOKED. It's all good, but tiring. On most of the days we are home we have friends coming over. It is simply amazing. Therefore, rather than refer to myself as a SAHM, I shall henceforth use the term DGPM (Doesn't Get a Paycheck Mom), because while I certainly work, I don't get a paycheck for it. I get snuggles and cuddles and kisses and spit up on my shirts.

I should be doing a great number of things right now. But I needed to sit and blog. I've been staying up late watching television and getting up late (6:30ish). I haven't had the nap time mojo I need so I haven't been getting my me-time. While I do get time after bed I spend nearly all of it watching TV and on my iPod touch. I really need to have that time in the morning to myself so I can start the day the right way. I always thought I wasn't a morning person--getting out of bed at 10 or later--but really I just take a long time to wake up. I need silence. I can't let my kids wake me up... the constant chatter drives me crazy. But if I've been up for a couple of hours I can deal with it. I need to stop watching TV. 

The Princess is talking SO much. All day. She's doing good in gymnastics. She's starting to get less clingy and having less tantrums and I think we might be over the 2-year-old hump. Might. She's currently upstairs not napping. I hope she gets in bed before her brother gets home. 

SkyWalker is doing good in school. He doesn't want to miss it and have to do the work at home. He's made himself a friend and seems to be doing well. It's so cold that I drive down to the mailbox to pick him up. He acts as my navigator telling me to "keep going... keep going" because I have to back up the driveway. Yes, I've driven on the lawn. When we get to the garage he helps me get in straight and then tells me to "stay there... stay there" because he wants to be the first one in the house. He repeats "stay there" until he gets to the door and then yells whatever silly phrase he has come up with to tell me I can get out of the car. Cheese doodles. Chocolate Milk. That kind of thing.

Chewie is over 8 months now. Still no teeth but she's workin' on it. She sits if I prop her up but has no patience to do it herself. She's too busy pushing her butt in the air and rocking back and forth and trying to crawl. She's moving backwards and will roll her way to where she wants to go. I need to be vigilant with her siblings that we not leave small toys on the floor now. She's getting over bronchiolitis but seems to be doing much better now. I took a couple of days to just nurse her every couple of hours and that seemed to really help. The power of mama's milk... We're back down to our normal 4 times a day now. I make sure to nurse her before I give her solids and she's doing really well. I have no fears about my supply or that we'll make it as long as I want to (14-15 months). 

Things are going well, they keep me on my toes, and it's all good.

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