Tapped Out Tonight

It's been a really long day...I'm venting to my blog.

The temperature reading in my car showed 105.

My husband worked his usual hours, leaving the house about 5:45 this morning, but he is still out working on some freeway because the lane can only be shut down in the middle of the night. He'll get off about 3 or 4 and drive home...fabulous, I know.

I always have so much empathy for single mothers on these types of days. No mental relief about 6:00 when Daddy walks in. That's tough!

Children are such a blessing. They bring joy. They cause my heart to overflow, my head to hurt and my blood pressure to rise. They each have their own issues and for some reason today it struck me how many things I'm dealing with in their various lives. Such a wide array...

Aaron - the big 1 year old. More independent, but still wants mommy. Walking along things, taking a few steps between people maybe. More adventurous which produces more accidents. And the lovely separation anxiety stage...ahhh. Poor childcare workers at the gym love when he shows up to cry for 45 minutes.

Emmie - my almost 4 year old that acts like she is 14. She can't get enough of my lipstick and must always carry a purse. (Obviously didn't get that from me). Her new favorite phrase is, "I hate..." - fill in the blank and she does say it to people sometimes. So sweet, isn't she? Also struggling with the nap or no nap stage. She desperately still needs one, but never agrees with me on that issue.

Gracie - the toothless 6 year old (oh, sorry, six and a half). She loves to groan and say no to every request I place before her. Her struggle is learning how to pick up after herself and not create a mess in every single room in the house. And the statement she repeats often is that I don't love her as much as___, or I don't do that for her, or I don't react to her that way. Can we say middle child syndrome?

Brendan - watch out, he's 10, double digits now! And in his mind that really changed a lot for him. I didn't get that memo. This would be my son who is obsessed with knives and asks if he can subscribe to a magazine called Guns & Ammo. Spectacular. He can't tolerate crying, so if either of his sisters cries, or the baby, for too long he goes bonkers and immediately begins to instruct me on how to handle them and what disciplinary measures I must take to stop the said crying. And why does he insist on hanging around all the older teenagers in our neighborhood? Oh yeah, the older brother factor. Duh.

Jaylon - the "teenager". At 13 he has begun to really bless us with all the typical teenager stuff we have heard and read about. Wake up time has gotten a bit later. Friends are the only thing that dictates what he wants to do. There is a girl...she doesn't live far and happened to be hanging out in front of my house a few days ago. Why? Just walking, she said. As if! And the constant desire to check emails, when did that happen? His dream come true would be a cell phone. Not. I want to stay on top of things. I want to be aware, but my hope for that dwindled when he told me that one of his good friends is a tagger. I could have fallen over. Here I thought this kid was wonderful. I'm going to need to intensify my prayer life!!

Did I just have a rag session on my children? Maybe. Most of you probably don't deal with these types of issues since your children are lovely, respectful darlings.

I don't have it all together. If there is such a thing as Super Mom I'd love to meet her! I sure could use some input, maybe get her book, or read her blog.

At the end of weary days like this I am so glad that I have the Lord. He can give me input (and extra energy). He has a book I can read. And I love that even if all I can utter out at the end of the day is, "help me Lord to make it through another day" then that's good enough. Our God is so good and merciful!