Woman on the Edge

I’ve mentioned that Philip is gone for the week. Did I mention how much work it is to manage a house, care for three children, do any kind of school and have time to play on the computer? The work never seems to stop! The things that are normally Philip’s jobs have fallen to me this week, of course, and they are just enough to cause things to stack up. He empties the dishwasher every morning and this week I have to do it myself. Just this one extra chore in the morning causes the rest of the chores to become delayed. Plus, I decided to start taking the children to the park in the morning to avoid the heat, so when it’s all said and done, it’s 1 o’clock, we’re finally done with school and are just getting started with the chores, including emptying the dishwasher and reloading it with the breakfast and lunch dishes.

Then Boo starts nagging me to read more from the Boxcar Children book we’re into, but it’s time to get the baby from his nap. Finally, we sit down to read which doesn’t last long because Bip has gotten into something. For a baby who STILL doesn’t crawl, he sure manages to get into a lot of trouble. Then it’s quiet time for the older ones and a small break for me until I have to start dinner. Sadly, my dc don’t think that cereal for dinner is very fun. Then it’s Bip’s theoretical 2nd nap – which he wouldn’t take yesterday – then dinner, then Bip is up again, then dinner clean up and just when it’s winding down, someone asks for dessert. So I get dessert, then put everyone to bed. Back downstairs to find that no one (that would be me) has cleaned up the dessert dishes or started the dishwasher. Sigh.

And yesterday, add in Bip screaming in the living room while the rest of us ate dinner in stony silence. He wouldn’t nap, then became overtired but it was way, way too early to let him go to bed unless I was willing to get up with him at 5 am. It was awful. I finally let him go to bed where he slept for 12 1/2 hours. Sadly, not without waking to nurse, but at least he slept.

Then today, more of the same except we had to go to the PX to get poster board for a project that Boo wants to do and batteries for Pumpkin Girl’s new crayon sharpener.

Don’t let me forget about the swimming lesson saga! We have been calling every day for weeks, literally weeks! to ask if the swimming lesson schedule has been set. Boo is finally brave enough to take lessons and since he’s 7, he really does need to know how to swim. Well, this week has been so hectic that I’ve forgotten to call. I finally called today and woohoo! the schedule is ready. I load the children into the car and drive to the pool to sign them up. You see it coming don’t you? The first session is already filled up. Typical. We can’t make the 2nd session because while we were waiting, VBS sign-ups came around and of course, it conflicts with the swimming schedule. So we sign up for the 3rd session. The guy was so clueless! I wanted to know if I could sign up the children for the next 2 sessions after that, so they could continue in the beginner class if necessary or move on to the next level. He said I could only sign up for one session at a time, but he had no idea what would happen if I wanted the children to take more lessons. Argh. Ok, deep breaths. These are free classes and at the very least, they will be taking 10 one hour lessons. That should give them a good start in the basics. Maybe, just maybe, Philip and I can give them additional instructions during the rest of the summer.

Still, I was pretty irritated on the way home. Then as I was adding the swimming schedule to our calendar, I realized that between swimming, VBS and a visit from my parents, I only have 5 teachable weeks left this summer! Yoikes! I have 6 weeks of material left. Clearly, this whole swimming mess is God’s way of helping me finish up the school year all neat and tidy the way I want to before we start 2nd grade/K. Nicholas unwillingly took a nap this afternoon so I sat down with the calendar to map out the remaining weeks of school. I’ll need to double up on some science here and there, but it’ll all work out. I can only imagine what I would have needed to do if I’d managed to sign the children up for all four of the 2-week swimming sessions.

Did I mention it’s really hot and humid and I really don’t do summer? My arms break out in this weird itchy rash if I’m outside too long. Clearly, I belong inside in the air conditioning.

And I won’t even get started on the attitudes of the children. You’d think a 5 yo was capable of putting cereal back in the cupboard without muttering under her breath about how many chores she already has and how mom just keeps piling them on. Then again, you’d think a 36 yo would be able to get through one husband-less week without venting on the internet for all the world to see about how many chores she has.

I wonder where Pumpkin gets it from.

Print Friendly