I love reading, but when I get into a good book, it seems like all the other areas of my life suffer. I just finished reading "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. It was a very well written book, and I couldn't put it down. There are 2 more books in the series, and my MIL has them, so I am debating having her bring them down for me. On the one hand, I have to know what happens - I just keep thinking about it! On the other hand, there are things that I need to get done at my house. I think I'm going to call her - who really needs sleep?

Monday got us again!

OK, so I had my whole afternoon planned out today, once I got the kids on the bus. Well, we were sitting there and all of a sudden Clara's bus drove up. Oh Crap!, it was early Monday and nobody was ready for school. I sent Makayla out to tell the bus driver that I was coming and I quickly got Clara ready - shoes and socks, etc. We had already missed Makayla's bus, so we had to hurry to get her over to her school. I think I need a second brain to think about all the day to day stuff while my brain is preoccupied with other things. I've been concentrating lately on getting into a house. Our goal is by Christmas to be out of our apartment, so here's to hoping! Maybe next Monday we can get ourselves together. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice :)

Why do I torture myself? I know that my baby likes to get up at 6:30. I've decided this is a good thing so I can have quiet time to read and ponder my scriptures with minimal interruptions. So knowing that, why did I stay up until midnight last night? I was cutting coupons. I didn't even get them into my coupon box because I was too tired to see strait after I got them all cut. So now, here it is 9:00am, and my eyes sting with tiredness, my 2 babies are CRABBY, and I'm desperately trying to get Makayla to get ready for school so we can go to the library for storytime (every Tuesday) - and all I want to do is go crawl back in bed and ignore everyone. I know that won't work, but a girl can dream, can't she? The only good part about going to bed so late is that I didn't hear anything from the time my head hit the pillow until 6:30 when Holden woke up. I didn't know he woke up earlier in the night to eat (Thanks Austin) or when Clara's feeding pump was beeping (Thanks again, Austin). Well, here's to a drag down day, hopefully I can get just one thing done in my house - like picking up the halloween costumes off the front room floor so they aren't wrinkled beyond recognition when we go trick-or-treating next week.

Early Monday

I want to know who invented early Monday? It's bad enough to remember that your child is coming home an hour early on Mondays, but it is just mean to those of us PM kindergarten moms that have to remember to take them to the bus 1/2 hour early and pick them up 1 hour early. Today, we were going about our morning in a laid back pace, but everything was getting done nicely. I got lunch for Makayla and got Clara started on her drip fairly early (I thought), when all of a sudden it hits me that today is early day and we needed to be at the bus in 10 minutes. I make Makayla inhale her lunch - she is normally very slow at eating - and quickly get Clara's hearing aids and shoes on her. I leave her in her high chair to finish 'eating' (she does need something in her tummy at school today) and run Makayla to the bus. We did make it. Then I run home to finish getting Clara ready - meds, etc. when I see the bus, so I hurry faster. I know her bus driver will wait for her, but I don't like making all the kids late because of us. As she is being lifted into her chair, I notice that I've put her shoes on the wrong feet in my furry to get out the door. I just took them off and handed them to the aid and told her to have Clara's teacher put them on because I just can't seem to get it today. Why when I have things going so well does something put a wrench in my day like EARLY MONDAY? And on a Monday too, no less.

Well off to Target, the diapers are on sale this week and I want to get some before they are all gone. 2 kids go through a LOT of diapers!

The Kids are in Charge

No matter how much I plan and try to control my world, I just have to learn that I'm not the one in charge - my kids are. I had great plans of getting my errands run today, but due to a series of events out of my control, I'm sitting here typing on this blog instead of out running errands. Makayla was a great help this morning - cleaning up the mess that my angel Clara made, but then when I was creating a slide show for my blog, she kept coming in and wanted to see it. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to show it to her at that exact moment because I was still creating it, or that she really needed to get her shoes and socks on so she could go to school, or even eat lunch, she wanted to see it NOW! OK, she is finally on track, but then Clara's bus driver calls and says she is going to be late. Since loading Clara's wheelchair into my van isn't something that makes my day (especially since I'd have to take out that pesky captains chair today first), I guess I have to just wait for her. That seriously cuts into my errand time that is already strapped. So I get back from taking Makayla to the bus, set Holden on the floor, finish up what I was doing, and go back to check on Holden, and he is dead asleep. Mind you, I tried to put him down for a nap this morning, and he screamed like I was torturing him. (I am not ready for a 1 nap a day baby yet!) I have to pick Makayla up at school today since I have a meeting with her teacher at 3:45 (the exact time that her bus WOULD be dropping her off), more time cut off my already stressed errand time. So here I am sitting at my computer typing away when I am all ready to head out. Oh well. I guess I can clip and sort my coupons that I got on Sunday. That way I'll be even more ready to go out tomorrow afternoon!

I've realized a few things this week that I should have learned a long long time ago. I guess better late than never. First, if I take 30 minutes at the end of the day to make sure my dishes are done and the clutter is picked up in my front room, I can wake up to a clean house - ahead of the game, instead of always trying to play catch up. I can't tell you how good that feels!

Second, I can embrace the fact that Holden likes to get up around 7:00 am, or even a little before. Sometimes he only wants a bottle and heads back to sleep, other times, he is up for the day. I can use this time to read and study my scriptures in *relatively* peace and quiet. It is amazing the difference it has on my day when I don't fight what can be an easy process.

Third, I've forgotten how nice it is to have some peace and quiet time to myself. Yesterday, after I got the girls to school, I put Holden down for a nap, watched Pursuit of Happyness, and cut my coupons in peace. That time by myself was so nice and I need to take advantage of it as long as my little one will let me.

Fourth, sitting down to play a game with Makayla may only take 20 minutes, but when I put her off, it takes much longer than that to keep saying "not now" and having her keep interrupting what I think is important. On that note, I think I'm going to go and play with my daughter before she has to eat lunch and get off to school.

Well, another boring night here at home. Austin is at Priesthood session, Clara is asleep - she fell asleep at about 6:15, so it will be a very early morning for me. I just put Holden to bed, and I'm waiting for Makayla to finish watching Dora so I can watch a show and veg. I should be cleaning my house, but I don't feel like it. It will have to wait until Monday now, and that is just how it is.

I got my flu shot yesterday, and I think I got just a tiny bit of something with it. I don't feel bad, just not great. I also have a short temper, which usually means I'm coming down with something. I decided it was better to just leave for a while. Austin watched the kids and I went and walked around Target for over an hour, just looking at stuff. I bought a shower curtain and a few things that were on clearance. I thought about going to a movie, but I wouldn't have been home in time for Austin to get to Priesthood, and that is important for him to do. Anyway, I was better able to take care of my children after spending a few hours away from them. I forget sometimes that I am a separate being from them because it seems I always have at least one of them attached to me somewhere.