My mom went out for herself tonight, and Lance was planning to meet up with a friend at 7, so we managed to get the girls ready before he left. We shoot for 7 p.m. bed time, but that usually turns into 7:30-7:45. Tonight we got them in bed at 6:45! Lance put Jared in his Jumperoo, was ready to walk out the door, and cue Jared spitting up some of his dinner on his hands while jumping. So, Lance proceeds to leave :) I could sense this was just the beginning. Jared's lucky to get a bath once a week, he was due for one, and I didn't want him to be stinky of course, so I left him in the Jumperoo while I got his bath ready. I could hear the girls laughing, chatting, sometimes yelling, but I had to get his bath done. He also took a really short afternoon nap, so I was banking on him going to bed early too. I can normally handle the girls' chatting, but for some reason, tonight I had to work extra hard on containing the momwolf.
Giving Jared a bath was actually calming for me, but while getting him ready for bed I must have gone into the girls' room 2 or 3 times trying to convince them (mainly Jenna) to lay down and stay in bed. So far, after the "reasoning" techniques, Jenna doesn't get the computer, they don't get any cartoons, and no treats tomorrow. I actually did say that they won't get to go outside, but I might re-nig on that one or I'll go stir-crazy :) It was time to give Jared his bottle. Aside from knowing the girls weren't calming down anytime soon, as I was feeding Jared I saw was a little girl come on the porch and start playing with the kids' chalk! First thought, who lets their kid do that, are they just walking down the street? Is this a new girl who wants to play with Jenna? She rings the doorbell, so I have to stop feeding Jared. Thankfully he didn't fuss like I thought he would, but as soon as I answered the door I heard Jenna run out to see who it was and yell at her to get back in bed. Alas, it was a tree guy we called earlier giving us an estimate on trimming. Fine. So I went back to feeding Jared.
Now, one of the worst patience-testers for me is not being able to interject with Jenna and Ava because I'm feeding Jared and rendered immobile. If I put him down he'd be hysterical. So I have to just sit...and listen...to Jenna running, jumping, instigating...to Ava crying...or just laughing and encouraging Jenna. I know that yelling back to them will have to affect whatsoever. I went in a couple more times after I fed Jared, and just when I thought they were calming down, Jenna roars out with a monster noise resulting in Ava crying. They calm down, a couple minutes later, the same thing.
I was just talking to a friend the other day about how original nursery rhymes are kind of disturbing...Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, but I have to admit that I can now relate to the end of "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...she whipped them all soundly and put them to bed." In tonight's case, this applied to Jenna, and she is currently in my bed. It's 8:15, the last hour has felt like an eternity, but they are all quiet, and I think my heartrate is returning to normal. I'm not putting this on my mom and Lance of course, but I have been spoiled with her here to help. I need to get back on my game. I wish I still had some Costco cheesecake to drown my frustration and exhaustion in.
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