Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The weekend that kicked my butt

First, I got a cold. Then, we looked for furniture - which was going to be delivered BUT only after the baby shower. Next was an errand list a mile long. Add massive tantrums from Logan who had to sit on time-out in front of Wal-Mart not once, but twice and this was just "one of those weekends". Nobody was in a pleasant mood and "I can't wait for Monday" was actually said. Who looks forward to Mondays? Apparently, Bill.

While the cold was a pain in the butt, it wasn't that big of a deal. I realized that after you live with HG for 9 months twice, a cold is a walk in the park. Stock up on Vicks and Kleenex because for one, there are no sick days for moms and secondly, life goes on. You should have seen the difference between my cold and Bill's Man Cold from the week before. It was amusing (when I was healthy).

Furniture shopping was what put us all in foul moods. We have a budget to work with and trying to find something that was kid-proof (microfiber) and that would fit in the front room appropriately was next to impossible. We did find a set and it would be delivered on Monday, just after the baby shower. When I needed it most. How convenient. We opted to wait on the purchase to see if we could find anything else. We did, but not a complete set. We found a chaise lounge that is going to be returned because I never considered the height of the piece when in contrast to our vaulted ceiling. It looks a little ridiculous being so low. But oh well. We had it for the shower.

Then the highlight of our weekend, Logan's MASSIVE TANTRUM. He was, has been (and is being) a holy terror lately, talking back and being an outright snot. While shopping, I had to carry his 30 pound shrieking body out of the store to sit him on time-out with everyone either staring, waiting for me to pummel him or averting their eyes, embarrassed for me. While sitting out in the front of the store, people walked by and a few made comments. One guy (kid, really) who was in his early 20's with his girlfriend loudly exclaimed "There are better days ahead man!", to which I quickly retorted, "Yeah. When he's 18". Not too long after that, an older woman in her 50's complimented me on how I was handling the situation. "So many times I've seen parents either spank their kids in the store, which does nothing, or they don't do anything about the tantrum. You're keeping your cool and handling it nicely". I thanked her and assured her I wanted to murder him even though I didn't look like a serial killer. She chuckled and then Logan's time-out was over.

We went back into the store (after a shorter second time-out) and joined Bill and Carter in the checkout lane. One of the employees had been oogling over Carter and we got to talking about Logan's time-out. She actually thanked me for taking him out of the store and correcting his behavior because so many other parents do not and just let their kids freak out while shopping. I was a little stunned and had few words. I couldn't imagine enduring that torture, but I do see it happening frequently. I just try to ignore it while it's going on (because I know how mortifying it is).

So, the weekend finally ended and we were all ready for photographer friend's baby shower on Monday morning. Now THAT was fun! We made milkshakes, hung out and talked while the kids played downstairs in the playroom pretending to be dinosaurs. It was cute. I organized a group gift where we all chipped in to pay for a house cleaner to come over to her house while she was recovering after the birth. We collected enough for a little over 6 1/2 hours (which would be about 2 cleanings). She was thrilled.

It has taken me a full day to recover from everything. I feel like I need a vacation.

3 comments:

Joanna said...

What a weekend. We always are in foul moods when furniture shopping as well. It's the budget that normally does it. I can't believe how much furniture actually costs!

I am with you with the kids acting bad at the moment. Kelsie has gotten to where she pitches fits daily, time outs or not. She just sits in time out as good as gold, gets out and does it again! Argh!!

Ashley said...

Tantrums are AWESOME. I had to put Paisley in a loooong time out at Dillards once, and at least 3 old woman walked by and reassured me it would get better. Funny.

Carl - Observed One Day said...

wow! i never threw tantrums with my parents.
they did spank though. jenny and i have had lots of conversations about that topic.