The Last Saturday of Summer Vacation

Crazy Mad Josh Struck Again

And again. And again. And again.

Josh threw tantrums at least five times today. Each a minimum of 15 minutes long and VERY loud.

At many points I thought about just giving in to his demands. (A piece of candy after hitting his brother, playing computer games even though he lost that privilege the night before, a Popsicle while I was nursing the baby, etc...) It would have made life so much easier at the time.

It was rough.

I'm beat.

But no broken.

Bring it, Josh.

Just In Case You Were Under the Mistaken Impression That My Children Are Perfect

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yeah, that's Josh. Having a tantrum because I wouldn't make him a PB&J at 5pm yesterday.

This morning he had another tantrum because I wouldn't give him animal crackers for breakfast. Not only are animal crackers not on my 'nutritious foods for breakfast' list, but we didn't even have any in the house. No matter. He cried and screamed and yelled for 20 minutes, only stopping once he saw the eggs and toast Spencer was having and decided he could deign to eat some of those, too.

Oh Crazy Mad Josh... will you strike again tomorrow?

Self-Portrait Tuesday: My Starving Baby

As you can see, I'm totally starving this baby.

Here's even more proof.


(Cole, this is the only time in your life that fat rolls will be cute!)

When I am nursing Cole and switching sides he now likes to look up at me and grin and coo. It just about melts a momma's heart. It's not until I say "Yes, Cole, you are very cute" that he starts getting down to the business of maintaining his marshmallowey figure.

Competing With The SpongeBob

Today was an errand day, and since we had a ton of them I let the kiddos watch TV in the van. (A rare treat! But hey, a little bribery here or there never hurt anyone.) ((BTW, why do they call it Nickelodeon? It should be SpongeBobLodeon since that's all that's on. But I digress...))

One of these errands was lunch with Lance. We had picked him up, driven through a crazy-serious thunderstorm, gotten soaked running from the van into the restaurant, had a nice lunch, and then driven him back to work.

As Lance got out of the van the following occurred:

Me: Say good-bye to Daddy, boys!

*Silence*

Lance: Good-bye, boys!

*Crickets chirping*

Me: Sorry Daddy. You just can't compete with The SpongeBob.

At this point Lance left and we started to drive to Target. We had been on the road for a few minutes when I heard SpongeBob come to an end. In the rearview mirror I saw Spencer look as if coming out of a trance. He looked around, a little bewildered.

Spencer: Mommy? Where's Daddy?

Joshie: Daddy? Daddy! Where are you?!

Me: Um, we dropped Daddy off at work. He said good-bye to you.

Spencer: No! No he didn't! I want Daddy!

Joshie: No Daddy at work! I love him! Where is he?!

Me: Oh geez.

At which point another SpongeBob episode started.

*Silence*

A Mother's Curse

In the last four or five months Spencer has become... well... I'm not sure what he is anymore, but he's not the sweet little boy we used to have. He has become whiny and obnoxious and his sense of entitlement has exploded. Seriously. One minute he's perfectly fine, the next minute he's screaming and crying about how he wanted a second bedtime snack or a piece of candy and that he "won't make it if I don't have one NOW..."

Oh, and the crying... oh how I loathe it. Because it's not real crying. It's ear-splitting, nails-across-the-blackboard, trying to get anyone's and everyone's attention crying.

I have never come so close to smacking a child. It's all I can do to not run screaming from the room.

It's at times like that when I wonder what I did to deserve a child such as this. And then I remember my mom.

It's my mom's fault.

See, when I was a teenager and being a bit obnoxious (as all teenagers are prone, nay, expected to do) she would look at me, smile a somewhat creepy little smile, and tell me about the Mother's curse:

From the dawn of time through the present, every mother at some point has looked at her progeny, pointed with great satisfaction, and cursed them to have children just like themselves.

This doesn't mean that you will have just one child exactly like you in every aspect. No, each of your children will have some part of your personality, good or bad. So I'm pretty sure at one point or another I had the same awful attitude Spencer has right now. But that also means I was wonderfully sweet and good at some point, just like Cole.

So you see, this is all my mother's fault, not my own. Or maybe it's Lance's...

Whoever is at fault, know this: around 20 years from now Spencer will be enjoying the same joys of parenting that I am now.

My mom and me, probably around the time she first cursed me.

Cabin Fever

This is the first summer in quite a while that I haven't been on some sort vacation.

Pesky summer baby, keepin' me home.

Last summer I got to spend a few weeks in Utah with the fam and went to two different family reunions. I also got a girls day out with Gigi. (Which was short but felt like a vacation!)

Two summers ago we went on a beach vacation to North Carolina. I also had a fun weekend at Cedar Point with Lance and my brothers and a few days in Chicago with the rest of the family.

But this summer? Nuttin'.

I'm bored. I'm feelin' so cabin bound. I would love to even just get away for a weekend, but traveling with a baby who wants to eat all the time just isn't any fun. Plus, school starts soon so we don't really have any time left.

*sigh*

Pity party.

I'll just have to make up for it next summer. I'm thinkin' an anniversary cruise, a family reunion or two, maybe even BlogHer. Any suggestions?