I am having a really hard day.

[altarflame]

It started out well. Ananda was up at 9 - I did dishes, we talked history and did geography and made fruit smoothies for breakfast. Aaron and Isaac got up - we gave Aaron his smoothie, Isaac and I went to the couch to nurse. Jake woke up, adorable and in a great mood. Grant called, saying he was on his way back from Tavernier where he had been working, and starving. I realized I had everything here to make him chicken and eggplant parmesean and linguini and got on that, but Jake was fussing no matter what I did, G had the Kozy with him in the van, and Isaac decided to start throwing tantrums about everything. It was all down hill from there. I've had an email open, a reply to a friend, ALL DAY LONG, and this is the first time I've been able to actually SIT in the computer chair all day...

The kids are being mean to each other. In that descending order way I was desribing before. Ananda to Aaron, Aaron to Isaac, etc. It sucks. I don't understand it, we don't hit them, ever, they don't watch any tv but PBS, I am not a "screamer" and don't blow my top and go psycho. But Annie talked Aaron into dangling from the top bunk despite his many protests, saying it was part of the game and he would die if he wouldn't. And then sat smugly after I ran in after his screaming and rescued him. He was crying in my lap for several minutes talking about how scared he was. Grant and I both talked to her about how awful that is, and unacceptable, but I don't think it phased her. Likewise Aaron has hit Isaac in the head with something twice today. Once very hard and out of anger, quite deliberately. He got a timeout and I sat down and talked with him, too, but Isaac had a lump on his forehead all day and after the second time (which was much less brutal but still sucked) when Aaron advanced on him to give him a hug and apologize (on my orders) Isaac backed away in terror and then ran from him crying. Which is just ridiculous and horrible! Luckily Aaron is sensitive enough that it really bothered him for Isaac to be afraid of him and I think that made more of an impression than anything I could have said.

The worst was, I ran out of my room where Jake was lying on my bed on his tummy for ONE MINUTE to tell the big kids that they needed to play a quiet game while I got babies down for naps, and when I came back, Isaac was sitting on Jake, and Jake had spit up everywhere. Jake NEVER spits up, I don't know if I've ever seen that happen before. And Isaac didn't mean any harm, he was grinning at me when I came in like "See us playing?" but good grief it freaked me out. I was imagining internal injuries.

Now I'm happy that they all got their bedtime routines and most everyone is sleeping, but I haven't been able to stop sneezing for the last hour and my back and non-existant abs are just freaking killing me. I had to lift Isaac like crazy today - in and out of the tub after he COVERED himself in his lunch, in and out of his bed for a nap, off of Jake - and Aaron, when he was about to drop from 6 feet up and hit the floor, and carry Jake in my arms for hours..he was super fussy and I didn't have the carrier.

Speaking of Isaac and his lunch. I don't ever want to read another board book. And he NEVER STOPS TALKING. Ever. Well, vocalizing. Sometimes he's shrieking with laughter, singing nonsense to himself or whining and throwing a tantrum, other times he's with the "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!" (water) and "moi moi moi moi" (more) and so on, but he is vocalizing every. minute. of the day. With the dishwasher or washing machine always going and Jake crying here and there, I have to close my eyes and take a deep breath to say "Can you say that again, Honey?" to Ananda or Aaron when they ask me something over Isaac's neverending hoohaw.

Anyway. I'll stop bitching and just allow my eyes to slowly cross, and my head hit my desk X|


Two good points: Grant and I get time alone every night now, with four kids five and under. And sleep afterwards, to boot. There were months and months, when Isaac was a baby - over a year, really - that we went to bed hours apart and were too busy trading off naps during the day to hang out if anyone gave us occasion to. Right now he's making us bruschetta with the toaster oven 10 feet behind me.

And, we've been having a nice "social calendar". There was the RibFest and the birthday party, this past week, and last night we went to Santa's Enchanted Forest. Traffic was frustrating with that, and we had some ATM confusion, but A and A ended up having a blast. Tomorrow is "Second Saturday" (open galleries and refreshments and sometimes hands on kids activities) at ArtSouth. Next weekend is the Miami Book Fair, 3 days long, and that Saturday is Ananda's G.S. meeting. Monday is LLL. And we're going up to my mom's for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Hear that, Mom?

One other thing...we got approved for a $722 food benefit card. It's some disaster relief thing FEMA is doing for Hurricane Wilma peeps who lost everything in their fridges due to power outages, and missed work because of roads being clogged/closed. Apparently the only thing we had to do was not be on food stamps regularly and show up at the location with our social security cards. So, that will help us like crazy right now. We really did get put back a bit by Wilma,and Jake being in the hospital.

Comments

[evrydayjnglbtch.livejournal.com]

my brother and i beat the shit out of each other(okay I did most of the beating as I am the older one). now we love each other like crazy, but i still occasionaly smack him. lol Infact he used to curl in a ball of fear when i came in the room. of course thats not ideal, but just cuz they fight, doesnt mean they dont care. siblings that didnt fight would creep me out. but thats just me.

rock on you social butterfly.

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

"Speaking of Isaac and his lunch. I don't ever want to read another board book. And he NEVER STOPS TALKING. Ever. Well, vocalizing. Sometimes he's shrieking with laughter, singing nonsense to himself or whining and throwing a tantrum, other times he's with the "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA!" (water) and "moi moi moi moi" (more) and so on, but he is vocalizing every. minute. of the day. With the dishwasher or washing machine always going and Jake crying here and there, I have to close my eyes and take a deep breath to say "Can you say that again, Honey?" to Ananda or Aaron when they ask me something over Isaac's neverending hoohaw."

Everything that said, minus the extra kids. Yeah.
Never stops.

[forgetfulmuse.livejournal.com]

My brother and I are 15 months apart and when we weren't much younger than A&A are now, I told him to go and pee in the paddling pool. When he did, I ran and told my mom loudly that "Aaron's peeing in the pool!!" I also used to threaten violence if he didn't do my bidding. I was an asshole big sister. Funnily enough, we only had a handful of actual fights (physical ones, I mean). Unfortunately, I think it's just normal for siblings no matter what example you set. Maybe it's just part of the adjustment for them as well. At least it's not the norm for them, though I realize how crappy that must be even if it is only occasional.

And Cerys constantly says (including when she's supposed to be going to sleep) "Katy a.... [this] Katy a..... [that]" and sometimes it drives me bananas. It's so cute, but every so often you just want to say "OK! SHADDAP!" Oh yeah, and she stepped on Lara (by accident) the other day. It's a good thing babies are made of rubber.

[tikizeekbaby.livejournal.com]

I used to do A LOT of babysitting for my friends. One of the sets of kids I took care of included a boy and a girl with the same age spread as your youngest two. One night I went to check on the older kids due to screaming, walked back in the bedroom to see the 18 month old, jump high into the air on the bed and then BODYSLAM his 3 month old sister... there was a scream... but it me and it was in my head (I was sure he'd "broken" her)... the 18 and 3 month olds were LAUGHING like crazy... so much so that in my shock of processing I didn't catch that he got up and then DID IT AGAIN! To the same result... after that I told him no more jumping on his sister, he jumped up one more time, but instead landed NEXT TO HER, he looked at her, put his head down and went to sleep... she looked at him, and mimicked his action... and herself went to sleep... I spent the next 15 minutes lying there trying to pull my heart out of my stomach. :)

Food "benefits"

[theneolistickid.livejournal.com]

Mad ups to beebeeann for tipping us off to the program. It was wicked easy. It literally took me longer to walk from the van to the place than it did being there. I was REALLY surprised at how efficient the whole process was. There was ALOT of people there, but it was all running smoothly. I told Tina and she's like "This is the goverment, right?". It was definetly bizarre. But supposedly within 7 to 10 days we should be getting a card we can use to get foodstuffs.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Tina,
I miss you. I'm sorry neither of us has time to seek each other out lately. I think of you often.