Holiday Weekend

Friday Mr. Sloth and I were talking about plans for the weekend. I thought we should take the kids to one of the nice outdoor pools our gym has. He then suggested we take the kids to the beach. What a great idea! Demand had just been talking about the beach. Sad to stay that in this wonderful land of beach fronts we've only been once and I wouldn't say it was a success. Demand was two and petrified of sand.

Not only did we decided to go to the beach but it looked like the weather was going to be great for it. Mr. Sloth also wanted to visit his dad so we decided the whole family would visit Grandpa and we researched lakes nearby. Demand knew we were heading to visit Grandpa and then going to a surprise. I stealthily packed all of our beach supplies when the children weren't looking. By 10am we were off to visit Grandpa. After a 40 minute drive we were pleasantly surprised to see not only Grandpa but Grandma too! Demand is always excited to see Grandma. I think we were there around one and a half hours before it was lunch time for everyone, then it was off to the beach.

We didn't tell Demand where we were going until we were already at the beach for five minutes. First thing she saw was a playground but got really excited once we told her we were at a beach. We thankfully found some shade under a public umbrella since I had forgotten to pack ours. Happy has been getting a number of teeth recently. This weekend it was two or three bottom teeth and they were making him crabby and out of sorts. We didn't know how long he would last. The kids were a little slow to warm up to the beach but by the time we were ready to leave they were having a blast. Demand learned about hot sand and for once in her life moved quickly so as not to get burned by the sand. The furthest Mr. Sloth and I went out was where the water was up to our waist. Neither child was interested in going in the water alone so there was nothing to worry about there. In fact it actually made for a rare relaxing time outside since Demand was too intimidated to run or swim off and Happy was out of sorts and new to his environment.

All day if Mr. Sloth went anywhere Happy would panic to be with him so when Mr. Sloth decided to walk into the lake on his own Happy bravely tried to follow. Happy didn't realize the downhill nature of the gradual entry beach and started to gain momentum while heading into the water. I had motioned to Mr. Sloth that Happy was trying to follow him and Mr. Sloth struggled to get back catching Happy just as he was about to go down into the water. It scared Happy enough that he wanted a bit of break out of the water. That was the only time Happy tried to go in the water. Demand would often go up to her knees but no further unless someone was holding her hand.

By 2:30pm it was time to head home. Sticky from sand and water and still warm from the sun we piled into the van. I just want to add that I felt the urge to vacuum just before we left the house but all was in vain as we took half the beach home with us. Both children fell asleep on the hour drive home.

Today is the Fourth of July and we had big plans but as often happens with children plans change. The children have had a lot of stimulation this summer and it's making them crazy, which is making us crazy. I surprised Demand by taking her to see "Toy Story 3" this afternoon. It was supposed to both Mr. Sloth and myself taking her to see the movie but babysitters are always hard for us to find so Mr. Sloth stayed home with Happy and Demand and I went alone. She was beyond excited. In fact every since we told her at 11:30am that we were going to a 2:10pm show she whined and Demanded to go. The movie theater is only a few blocks from our house which is nice but we didn't want Demand to know what it was for as long as possible. The cat is out of the bag now.

She was really cute at the theater and it was definitely fun watching her discover things for the first time. Half way through the movie she hugged me and thanked me for taking her.

Mr. Sloth is putting the children to bed right now. We decided that after a big weekend full of new and exciting things it wasn't worth keeping the kids up to 11pm just to see fireworks that would most likely scare the peaches out of them. Beside, 'we're' too tired to see fireworks. 10pm? That's my bedtime!

I hope that one day soon I will not be quite as exhausted or overwhelmed,but I have a feeling that it is not in my near future. Here are some pictures from the beach.

Glad That's Over

Well I knew our lives would be busy this summer but I really had no idea how crazy life would be. We have enough written on our calendar to look overwhelming, through in some unexpected life events, a third trimester and attempts at summer-homeschooling and life gets insane.

Two or three weeks ago (I honestly can't remember) we had our big trip to D.C. It was a 22 hour drive there over two days. Then we spent a lovely week with many dear friends we haven't seen in years. We might have even arranged a marriage for Demand. The purpose of the trip was the ordination of a close friend to the priesthood. We were definitely not disappointed. Although Mr. Sloth described the situation perfectly when he said, "It's so weird to call someone "Father" whom you did mischievous things with in college" The long drives, hot weather and walking was more than this pregnant lady could bear. We were only in D.C. for 24 hours when we decided that, no, we couldn't move back to D.C., we are very happy where we are now.

Probably the most amusing story of our trip was actually on the way home. We stopped to visit friends in Indiana for the night. It was 9:30pm, and three blocks from their home when Happy fell asleep. Demand was up for another hour and then the adults spent yet another hour catching up before collectively deciding to head to bed. Just as we stood up the carbon monoxide detectors went off. When our host couldn't get them to stop we decided we should leave the house; leave the house meant carrying five sleeping children out of the house and as always, two of us were pregnant. Happy stayed asleep for a while but eventually woke up, Demand woke up right away and was not pleased with the situation. By 1am it had been decided that there was no danger and we attempted to go to sleep, but by that time Happy had found another burst of energy. So exhausting!

I don't think we were home from our trip one day before the craziness increased. Mr. Sloth's father was hospitalized again. Over the past year between our two families someone has been in the hospital at any given time. It's becoming a 'boy who cried wolf' situation, happening so often we're becoming used to it. Sunday was the worst father's day ever. I'm guessing it was vacation detox kicking in but the kids fought all day and they don't fight....ever...even with each other. Mr. Sloth spent most of the day with his dad so I had the worlds crabbiest kids to myself and two weeks worth of cleaning to do. The cleaning never got done, in fact it didn't get done for a week because on Monday I started jury duty and Demand started Vacation Bible School.

I was almost picked for a jury but after explaining that I had small children at home I also explained that I cannot sit for more than five minutes. The judge then jokingly said, "Yes, I think you might be pregnant!" Thankfully he let me go. By noon I was done and only had to call in at noon the next day. I had one big weight off my shoulders but I still had to deal with Vacation Bible School. I love that Demand was able to go but it was in no way convenient. She had to be at school by 9am each day and it's about a 15 min drive into the city during the end of rush hour. Bible school lasted 3 hours making it an awkward amount of time to head home so I spent a lot of time during the week hanging out in the city not home cleaning or even unpacking from our trip. Most nights ended the same with take out dinner, a messy kitchen and me and Mr. Sloth exhausted crawling into bed defeated from the day.
One night Mr. Sloth fell asleep at 8pm while putting the kids to bed when I woke him at 9pm he said, "Yeah, I'm going to bed." Poor guy.


Next it was Friday, Demand's Birthday! It also happened to be the last day of Bible School so we spent the morning at the school for presentations and such. Remember that through all of this I am feeling extremely pregnant complete with unbearable exhaustion and the lack of ability to get comfortable in any position. For this reason I was a little less prepared for this birthday than I had been in the past. I improvised the morning of her birthday by letting her have ice cream for breakfast. Her last day of school started with Mass at 8am but there was no way I could get the kids up, fed, dressed and to the Church by 7:50am. Good grief we barely make it to 10am Mass on Sundays and that's with two parents. So we showed up in time for doughnuts. After the presentations the kids all got ice cream so before 11am Demand had eaten ice cream twice and a chocolate doughnuts. Lovely. We didn't celebrate her birthday much more that day except that we let her pick what she wanted for dinner. She picked hot dogs. Well Mr. Sloth and I don't eat meat on Fridays so we had frozen cheese pizza. Afterward we had hostess cupcakes and sang to Demand before watching a most awesome storm outside our window.

Saturday was the big day for Demand her long awaited party. I'm sure her guardian angel was whispering in her ear when I asked what she wanted to do. Last week was too insane to plan any kind of party so thankfully Demand had asked to have it at the Children's Museum. For one price it was admission for 20 people (that includes one year olds and adults) so it kinda limited how many kids could come but that's ok, and cake, ice cream, juice, and place settings. It was great! No set up or clean up for us and Demand got what she wanted; to play with friends at the Children's Museum.

So those are some highlights from our crazy week here in Slothville. Sad to say that today was enjoyable even with Demand and Mr. Sloth having fevers. First off I woke up at 8:30am and everyone else slept until 9am. I may be decently rested for once. With a sick kid I have every excuse in the world to stay home, stay in my pajamas and get some much needed organizing/purging done.

Ah, so good for my soul!

What a Workout

Wouldn't you know it I finally got motivated to post something and Blogger was down for a day. Oh well, you have me now.

Saturday the Sloths bit the bullet and had what Mr. Sloth referred to as "a $900 workout". We joined the gym when I was pregnant with Happy but I rarely went afterward. First off the baby has to be around 3 months before they can be left in daycare, then Happy had his abscess issues and always needed prompt changings, making it more complicated being a super-pooper and they don't change diapers so the idea of me jumping out of the pool and running around the fitness center still wet just to change a diaper was less than appealing. Not to mention the fact that he's never had a bottle and neither of my kids do pacifiers. Then there was our Europe trip. Then there was the H1N1 cinareo and since we don't do vaccinations, especially H1N1, I had no interest in TRYING to get flu. From that point on I just made excuses. I maybe went once or twice but going without the kids left me to go at night and by the time the kids are in bed exercise is last on my list.

I have this friend from Church however, who lives less than a block away and goes everyday with her 11 month old. Every day! She has single-handedly ruined all of my excuses. Friday night Mr. Sloth seemed to be having a rough day so I suggested he 'take the night off'. He decided to go to the gym and work for a bit, well after working for an hour and getting all the way to the gym (a good 15 minute drive) he realized that he forgot his card and therefore had to come home. It was 9:30pm so he gave up. It was then we decided to head to the gym as a family on Saturday morning.

First thing Saturday we ate breakfast, dressed and headed to the gym. I unfortunately couldn't find the bottoms of my suit and Mr. Sloth thought it was a good idea if I didn't swim if I couldn't find them. So I had to find other ways to work out. Wait, let me back up, we had to register Happy. Yep, 15 months and he's never been there. The woman at the service desk thought I looked healthy. I laughed. If she only knew! Mr. Sloth and I were apprehensive about dropping off Happy for the first time. See babies that can't walk go in a special room by appointment and have one on one attention, children who can walk however are put in the room with all the other children. Happy can walk.

We knew everything Demand was planning on doing there and it didn't involve playing with Happy. At home they are best friends but at the fitness center it's indoor playgrounds and ball pits. (I can't blame her really). He wasn't crying when we left him which was a good sign.

As far as working out it was quite pathetic. I was having a very pregnant day and everything I did was causing pressure so very little effort was made. Mr. Sloth and I had agreed to meet at 11:45am. When I walked out of the woman's locker room he had already picked up the children. (We usually sign them in under his name so I'm not called to childcare while swimming) Apparently it was touch and go with Happy but he seemed fine.

Moving on to today. I had a goal to go to the gym today so I decided to tell Demand that we were going to the gym after breakfast. Anyone who's met a 3 year old can tell you this is the best to remember something. Three year olds do not forget plans...ever. Mr. Sloth said the gym was the last thing they talked about before she (finally) fell asleep last night.

I even went so far as to set my alarm for this morning. Turns out it still works! What do you know! I was up by 7am. Demand was up at who knows when getting a head start on playing. Happy...Happy slept in. Go figure. Demand and I were dressed and ready to go we were just waiting for the slumber Prince to wake up. By 8:30am we were off. Demand gave me swimming tips on the drive over (I found the bottoms to my suit by the way). Demand told me I had to go under the water. (Thanks for the advice floatie queen!) Turns out the gym is a busy place at 8:30am. I had to park WAY OUT and carry Happy the whole way with slowy-McSlowson straggling behind. Carrying a toddler boy while pregnant should be an expert level cardio class at every gym by the way. Much to my surprise Happy is, well, Happy to be there. He dashed right into the playroom no questions asked, no fussing, no coaxing. What a nice surprise.

Even though there was a senior citizens swim class going on I was able to get my own lane and finally start swimming. Mr. Sloth is so happy. I swam almost every day when I was pregnant with Happy. Exercise really helps with labor and delivery and definitely with recovery. The swim was great and couldn't have come at a better time. I've been feeling so pregnant these days it's nice to be buoyant for once. I decided to cut my swim short since I was afraid all the gray-hairs would beat me to the showers and take all the hot water. Plus, lets face it, there are two kinds people in gym lockers rooms exhibitionists and those who avoid the exhibitionists. I am the latter. And for some reason there is no need for a towel past the age of 65, I don't know if you develop some kind of duck-like water repellent or what. A part of me never wants an answer to that question.

So after a lovely swim and a much needed (and hot) shower I picked up the children. They were happy! In fact they had to hunt down Happy who knows what kind of fun he was up to. I asked him when we got in the car if he had fun. He nodded his head "yes" which is doubly great since up until today he could only shake his head "no" even if he meant "yes".

So success at the gym! I have a pretty packed day tomorrow so we may have to wait until the evening to go but at least I know, it can be done!!

Change of Plans

More than once this week I have found myself having completely different plans for the day. Wednesday we started the morning by rushing around to get ready so we could head into the city for Demand's 'oral presentation'. Happy and I had colds and the chances of Demand getting up and actually presenting were slim to none. Before I loaded the kids in the car I checked my email, as I do compulsively, to find out one of the three families signed up for the month canceled leaving only us and one other family. Basically it would just be the other family since Demand is mostly just there to observe we talked it over and canceled. That left my day free and clear. What to do , what to do? The kids were ready to go and it was nice out so we had to do something. For over a month now I've had it on my list of things to do to pick up groceries and drop them off at charity. Since I remembered and I had time now was the best time to do it.

The Saturday before we had woke up got ready and loaded up the van with items for a charity rummage sale. It was a great lesson for Demand (who had lots of question) so we just continued the lesson. I explained to Demand that sometimes people can't afford food and it's nice to give food so people can eat. I printed a list of needs from the charity's website and then we headed to the store. After dropping the food off at the charity we headed home and that's when the day went down hill. I don't know what went wrong but the kids were crabby and demanding. Demand ended up in a severe timeout just before dinner. By the time the kids were in bed and I cleaned the kitchen it was almost 11pm. I felt like I'd been burning the candle at both ends for days.

Thursday we had a pool party which lasted most of the day leading to a late nap for Happy making my day much easier. Friday night was the start of the Home School Conference. After a long week, it being a holiday weekend, and predicitons of Saturday being sunny and in the 90s I made the executive decision to skip the conference and hang out with my husband and children.

Great decision.

Friday we had dinner at a neighbors then a relaxing night by ourselves. Today we slept in and casual got ready for the day before heading to a friends pool for a few hours. I dropped Mr. Sloth and the kids off (with Happy fast asleep) while I headed for my first haircut since October. Mr. Sloth grilled and enjoyed some red wine while I had my haircut and Happy took a hearty nap. Demand got to watch TV for the first time in a few weeks which was really exciting for her. After dinner we headed out for ice cream and then to a park. I had fantastic coupons for ice cream so it only cost $5 and we went to a park we never think to go to. It was great plenty of space for Happy to run and run without us having to chase him. Thankfully I asked Mr. Sloth the time while Happy headed down the slide for the fifth time...it was almost 8pm!! Good grief!

Home we went. Mr. Sloth is putting the little ones down and then we're having another relaxing evening alone. Not going to the conference was one of the best decisions I've made in a while. What a great weekend so far!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I really do make attempts to update you but life happens and I either fall asleep before I can write anything or I am interrupted half way through and by the time I pick it up again it's irrelevant.

I had a lovely birthday weekend. As I told Demand my birthday is like Easter...it lasts for 50 days. It all started the day after Mother's Day when I got back from our big trip. Mr. Sloth gave me my conjoined mother's day/ birthday gifts. I received a french rolling pin which I've wanted for years and two fabulous gift certificates. I LOVE gift certificates. If you don't like them, fine I won't give you one but I do like them. Mr. Sloth planned a day for us to go and spend the gift certificates together. Plans changed but we've spent some of them already. So much fun! One gift certificate was for The Container Store the other was for Williams-Sonoma. If you think gift certificates are impersonal you don't know how happy it makes a person who loves to cook or organize the gift of freedom in their favorite store. So far we have a new garbage can, measuring spoons, whisks, over the sink retractable strainer, and a fun pocket pie maker. I have money left to spend and plans in my head.

For my actual birthday I slept in and was woken up by two very excited children and one talented Mr. Sloth singing "Happy Birthday" and bringing me breakfast. The children were excited about cake, fire, and singing at 8am. Mr. Sloth was talented because he carried Happy, a tray of breakfast and a flaming cupcake up the stairs. Mr. Sloth managed to make the perfect cup of coffee for me. To do this you pour half a cup of coffee and then throw random sweet things until the cup is full. It was delicious. The kids were extremely excited so I had no choice but to share my cupcake thankfully the frosting and crumbs landed on Mr. Sloth's side of the bed. My only complaint was that he left me alone with them for ten minutes. I had to balance my cup of coffee while Demand did cartwheels on the bed. Then she opened the curtains letting in ALL the morning sunshine and Happy serenaded me on the electric piano with a very load rendition of Billy Joel's "Don't go changin" before filling his diaper with unpleasantries.

After Mass we dropped the children off at a friends house so Mr. Sloth and I could go to an all you can eat buffet brunch near our house. They only do it on Sundays and we never go due to children/price. Last time we went I was pregnant with Happy. Since I eat more when pregnant Mr. Sloth took Demand home while Obscure stayed to watch me eat more....but that was last year.

I was so excited for all you can eat breakfast--an uninterrupted meal----that I was actually gitty when we got there. After four plates Mr. Sloth told me we had to leave. I definitely could have eaten more. I did get a little birthday cake though and it came in handy later. Mr. Sloth entertained the children for an hour while I napped and read then we all headed to a lake to walk around. Next it was dinner at my in-laws. My one request was an ice cream cake which we bought from Culver's on the way to dinner. It was Oreo ice cream cake, yummy! My mother in law can't eat chocolate so the little vanilla birthday cake came in handy then.

My brother in law gave me raw steaks for my birthday. That was exciting. He'll be coming over this weekend for another feast. Mr. Sloth informed me on the way home that my birthday was over, but I disagree. This week has been fantastic! The weather, the children, it couldn't be better.

Speaking of children. Before we left for our big road trip I was pulling my hair out with the kiddos. Granted it was cold rainy week but still I was fed up and I felt lost with what to do with boys. A friend, who's the mom of four boys said she had the same problem with their first boy. They cut the cord. The TV cord. The kids didn't watch much but they whined for it a lot and it was worth a shot. After two days we started reaping the benefits. Just like she told me they gained a longer attention span and started playing quietly on their own....or sometimes loudly together. They still ask once in a while (yes even one year old Happy) but they don't fuss when I say no. They won't watch any TV again until our big road trip.

Yep the Sloth Family Summer begins. Mr. Sloth has spent the last few summers working his brains out just to make ends meet and before he knows it fall is here and he's had no fun. (We usually get paid more in the fall than any other time of year) But the stars aligned this year and Mr. Sloth can be slightly more lax with working. We were planning on flying to Washington DC for one of our groomsmen's ordination to the priesthood, but considering the cost of flight, rental car (car seats) and a few hotel stays we realized we'd save a ton by drive and we'd get to more and have more freedom. Plus Happy on a plane for 4 hours sounds like a nightmare.

We have college friends all over the country and everyone we've spoken with about seeing along the way has offered their home to stay (without our even asking). We don't know our plans just yet but we are excited about everyone we're going to see and showing the kids our old stomping ground. And that's just our first adventure of the summer we have much more planned. I feel the season slipping away already but for now we're enjoying the sun, playing outside and of course Mr. Sloth's grilling. That man is gifted. Plus I haven't cooked dinner all week!

I have a kitchen to clean before the ants have a picnic of their own.

A Thrifty Tradition

A new tradition has started for me. Every year around my birthday (which happens to be tomorrow) there is a neighborhood that has a garage sale. It's big...I mean really big. To put things in perspective last year Demand wet her pants three times after I came home with tons of goods. I'm talking new clothes for $0.50 or less, name brand, mint condition toys for about the same. I waited all year for this sale and I was not disappointed. Since the sale is around my birthday Mr. Sloth has no choice but to let me go. This year I was up at 6am. I showered, dressed, and ran to an ATM for cash and at 6:36am I stopped into our beloved coffee shop. (six minutes after it opened) One of my friends came by at 7am to start our adventure.

Cash, coffee, snacks, tennis shoes and a list in my head and we were off. We arrived a half an hour early but still things were jumping. It happened to be the same house I bought all my stuff from last year. Before the sale technically opened at 8am, and our other friends arrived we had already filled the van. No joke. It was out of control. I do have to confess that at this particular sale I tend to buy toys but this year I was going to be smart. I wouldn't show Demand anything but stash the new toys for a rainy (miserable) day. First things first a Cinderella bike with bell and basket $10 it was the one thing on my list. Next Happy got a fantastic, cute, perfect condition snow suit and boots for $3. $3!!!! That combination alone would have cost me near $40 next winter. I scored a few clothes and delightful but unnecessary toys before finally deciding I better leave. At the next house I found a baby/toddler swing that we can hang in the garage for only $1. Santa was supposed to buy this $20 toy for Christmas but couldn't find them in December. The third place I went I found the third piece to animal train. Ironically I had bought the first two pieces at the first garage sale just accepting it wasn't the full set, how awesome is that? I just look up this train and it's going for $103 on Amazon and I got it for $4. The kids are going to love that thing!

Enough about toys, Lazywife, you went for clothes remember!! Ah yes, it wasn't quite as easy to find clothes as I had hoped but we did find some and near the end I found a home that had a ton of clothes in Demands size and then we found a sale with clothes marked $0.50 but then it was half off at check out. Demand got, I don't know 20 outfits total and Happy maybe 15 including his snowsuit. Most of them are for next winter too which is awesome. Near the very end I found a pair of rain boots for Demand for only $1 ($18 at Target)

I parked our van at Sidekicks house when I got home just in case Demand was lurking around. She knew where I was going today and remembers each and every toy that came from that garage sale so she told me to bring something special home. The family asleep I brought everything but toys inside. When Demand and Mr. Sloth woke up showed Mr. Sloth what I had bought and we picked out one toy for each of them for today. He picked the Abacus. Yep the math counting toy because that's fun for him. Don't get me wrong I bought it with Mr. Sloth and Demand in mind because he's been teaching her math (thank goodness). So I picked a memory game. While I was stashing the rest of the goods at Sidekicks house Demand wandered over and came a half second away from seeing her bike. Whew! That was close. Mr. Sloth wants to wait until around her birthday to give her that gift.

I haven't decided about any of the books yet. Most of them are stashed with the toys but I pulled the ones about George Washington and Mozart out. We're heading to D.C. next month so we've been prepping Demand on what she'll get to see. Plus she's really into Mozart these days. She requests we ONLY listen to Mozart in the car and often comments on how beautiful his music is. (Yep, she's 3) I'm sure it's only because she's been to his birth home in Austria. Either way she loves the books.

Between Mother's Day, my birthday and this garage sale it has been an expensive week. No spending for a while now that's for sure. I'll let you know how my birthday goes. I told Demand that I want coffee in bed tomorrow, but she said "No" so it doesn't look promising.

Take Two

Last week I left you in hopeful anticipation of starting Monday off on the right foot with the house cleaned, clothes ironed and a new van in the garage.

My week did not go as planned.

Monday was just the beginning of a really tough week. While Demand had been sick on Sunday she seemed fine on Monday, Happy however was feeling under the weather. Fussy and clingy all day with a fever. We only got to use the new van once and that was just to grab a few necessities at the store. Tuesday Happy was even worse and rarely let me put him down. (I do not exaggerate) I sent Demand to school since she was fine all day Monday but she wasn't home one hour before complaining about her ear. This is when things really picked up steam. Both kiddos were sick all day Wednesday. I mean whiny- fussy-nothing will make me happy-sick. Even though it was the last day of CCD one of us had to stay home and logistically it made sense that it was me. Considering CCD starts around bedtime for the kids anyway the fact that they were sick should have made things easy for me. The use of the word "should" in that sentence should give you a sense of foreshadowing, and that would be correct. Happy screamed the entire time I read books to Demand which is not like him. So I kept him up until 8pm when Mr. Sloth came home and rescued me. This of course meant that I did not get my Bible Study done and it happened to be the last week ever and it also meant that I couldn't get any reading done for Friday's book club.

At this time I will mention that one of Demand's symptoms was a horrible cough. So horrible in fact that if it got too out of control she would "spill". Thankful she's old enough to head to a bathroom when she feels she's going to spill but our problem was getting the kids to sleep. Once we'd get Demand's coughing frenzy to stop Happy would wake up fussy if he didn't wake up from her coughing and then Happy's crying would wake up Demand again. We didn't sleep all week.

I didn't know what Thursday would bring. Early that morning I called the Bible Study leader and sadly told her that if I came at all I would be late. I couldn't stand the idea of Demand missing the last day after three years so when the children finally woke up we hastily dressed and headed out the door. I hadn't even opened my lesson for the week and had limited to sleep as well. I mostly just sat there blurry eyed with Happy on my lap for most of the time. There was a luncheon afterward and I had somehow wisely remembered to bring Happy's new portable high chair. That's about as peaceful as the lunch was however. While Demand was apparently feeling better she just sat there without eating and then asked to go home. Happy just made a mess and made it clear that going home was a wise idea. I freed Happy from the highchair before cleaning up and gathering our things so while sentimental speeches about the end of Bible Study were being made I was running between the table, the garbage can, and trying to find where Happy had gone. Of course he found a staircase somewhere but one time I honestly couldn't find him for a minute but my friend signaled to me that he was on her leg.

The day didn't get any easier. We headed home for nap time but Happy didn't nap well and if I recall he woke Demand up. Mr. Sloth was gone for the night so Obscure came by to help out with the kids. I had just put them in the bath when he came so I had him sit in there with them while I cleaned up stairs and got things ready for bedtime. Happy has really been liking Obscure these days so he was in a pleasant mood for once. After the kids finally headed to bed I cleaned up the rest of the and headed to bed myself. Around 1:30am I woke up and realized that Mr. Sloth still wasn't home. I read in bed (finishing my book for book club) until 2am when he finally came home but by then neither of us could sleep.

Friday was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. At 9am, exhausted from the previous days and lack of sleep I took a sip of my coffee, ignored the whining children and made a decision. We needed plans for the day if we wanted to survive and that's what it was about, surviving. I started leaving messages with all my friends. Within fifteen minutes I had plans that would bring me to 6:30pm when I would leave for Book club. First to a neighbors for some garage bike riding. After an hour or so she treated us to lunch as well and then we headed home for naps. As soon as everyone was up and social after nap time we headed to another friends house for an afternoon play date and homemade pizza for dinner. We arrived home three minutes before Mr. Sloth but Obscure was already waiting in case I needed a sitter. Mr. Sloth immediately took over and I got ready to go and headed out the door. With all the excitement of having time to myself I made the bad decision of staying out until 12:30am. As I drove home with a headache I just kept thinking. "This was a bad idea." See Mr. Sloth was going to be gone most of the day on Saturday as well.

Saturday was a slow start for obvious reasons. I had a potential play date but Happy was beyond fussy the whole morning crying about everything. For numerous reasons plans changed and the play date was moved to our house. We mixed things up by going out for lunch which was pretty nice but Happy ended things in a snap. It was home for naps again. I fell asleep in the kids room but woke up with a headache and headed downstairs to find Mr. Sloth's car, only to discover he was home in bed. Within a half an hour both kids were up screaming and I found myself on the couch consoling two children and secretly frustrated with Mr. Sloth. "Why was he taking a nap when I've had crying children all week??!" He redeemed himself by taking the kids for a drive while I cleaned up the house and stared dinner for friends.

And that my friends is how my weeks went. Sunday was peaceful and today was a new start, it wasn't perfect but it was much better than last Monday.