7 Quick Takes - Weary in Waco

1.  Last week I was a single parent for five days.  It was hard.  I had to do all the daytime and nighttime parenting by myself and as I mentioned last week we have had a lot of trouble with our little sleepers lately.  Normally my husband goes and settles the kids in the night.  He can fall asleep anywhere instantly, so it is not as great a burden on him as it is on me.  If I get up in the night, I am usually up for hours.  I had Kristiana trying to get in my bed every night.  Then one night Alex came to my bed too.  He noticed there was not much room for him with Annie and Kristiana in the bed too.  I told him, "I know. There are too many people in this bed."  Then about ten minutes later he noticed that it was hot too. "I know! There are too many people in this bed!"  So I took the kids to Kristiana's room and told them to get in bed together.  There they stayed until the next morning.  The next night I told Kristiana if she were scared she should get into Alex's bed.  He likes to have company in the night.  She did not, but I took her there after she came to my room and there they stay until the next morning.  This is my new tactic.  Comfort each other, because there is no room in Mom and Dad's bed.

2.  It was such a disaster being home by myself.  Of course, all the stress of being the only parent had me feeling a little sicker, in the first trimester way, than normal.  I was also way more tired than normal, because of my nighttime visitors.  The kids were up to mischief all weekend.  How and why do they figure out when you are more vulnerable and then that is when they strike.  It was just damage control all weekend.

3.  I tried to keep them busy and have fun.  But, my kids are more creative than that.  The kids painted the baby.  Poor baby.  I was not gone, but a few seconds.  But, it was enough time to grab handfuls of paint and smear the baby.  I told the kids they could redeem themselves if they painted the icon neatly.  But they mixed all the paint together and made the icon black.  Sadness came over my heart.

4. Then we went inside and did other stuff, home school, cleaning up…I stepped away to change the baby's diaper.  Kristiana took this opportunity of alone time to poop on the floor.  When I came back she was dancing on the sofa, wagging her naked bottom at her brother attempting to wipe her poop on him.  Everyone was laughing, even the baby started laughing at the sight.  Guess who wasn't laughing?

5.  Thankfully there is a local church that has a nursery during Sunday Liturgy.  So I went to that church, put the girls in the nursery and sat peacefully with my little boy enjoying the goodness of the Lord.

6.  When my husband arrived home, I was hoping for a little relief.  But of course, he was wiped out from traveling. We both involuntarily fell asleep at 6:00 p.m. only to be awakened by the baby screaming.  She had been doused in soapy water.  I still do not know where the soapy water came from.  We put the kids to bed and fell asleep once more until the next morning.

7.  No, things were not all bad.  These were just the exciting moments, the memorable moments.  My kids did a lot of coloring quietly by themselves.  I noticed that after Alex finished each drawing he turned it over and wrote, "The End" on the back as though he were thinking up a little story about each picture in his head and then ended it. The kids also spent a lot of time playing quietly by themselves.  It is great to see the kids play together so well.  When I took them on outings, they also behaved.  They had some very naughty moments at home though.  This weeks things are a little more settled, but I am still trying to catch up on rest.