adventures in crash course parenting

You know, I'm happy to say that I've never been one of those people who say, "Man, if this parent would only do this and this and this, then blah blah blah." I've always had a healthy respect for what it means to be a parent. Maybe because I've watched almost all of my siblings go through it, sometimes in an up close and personal way (i.e., when I was living with some of them). So, I knew THEORETICALLY what I was getting myself into when I offered to watch some nieces and nephews for the week while their parents got away for a much-needed vacation. The actuality of it, however, rocked my world on day one. I learned the three essential ingredients to survival--sleep, food, and exercise--and the rest of the week has been much better.

These are the highlights (and lowlights) of the week so far:

Highlight: The kids were remarkably well behaved in church. We only had to switch kids' places once to avoid a scene. I consider that a success. 

Lowlight: We got absolutely no sleep Sunday night. Between Dave getting called down to the hospital in the middle of the night, sleeping in a much smaller bed than we are accustomed to, the kind of sheer exhaustion that makes one of us snore like a bear, and having to get up early to get kids off to school, it was a rough night.

Highlight/lowlight: Dave had to work late Monday so I was on my own all day. Dave FaceTimed me mid-day, took one look at me, one look at himself, and said, "Honey, we're too old to have kids. We look like hell." 

Lowlight: I dropped two dozen eggs on the ground at Costco right as I was checking out. Splat. All over the floor. I was so embarrassed, but Woody (the self-checkout helper) just swept right in and had the mess cleaned up and a new carton of eggs in my hands within minutes. I felt so grateful for kind people who understood that I hadn't eaten anything all day and had hardly slept the night before.

Highlight: I made it to the end of the day without any of the kids seeing my tears. I was SO tired and had a terrible migraine.

Lowlight: After all that, plus sibling fights at dinner that resulted in sending one kid to their room, I totally lost it when Dave got home from work and told him we weren't having any kids. Period. I think he understood me, though I'm not sure he could make out every word through all the sobbing.

Highlight: Dave, my hero, went down to our house, got our mattress, put it in the truck, and carted it down to the guest room. Turns out my neck was SUPER out of alignment, so he took care of that (SO grateful I married a D.O.) and viola! My migraine was gone. He tucked me in, and one heartfelt prayer from Dave and a back tickle later, the world was looking much better. 

Highlight: I've managed to get the kids to school on time, fed and clothed, as well as to their extracurricular activities every day.

Highlight: I took one of the kids to a student of the month breakfast which was actually really cool. Even though I'm not her mom, I felt so proud of her and to be there associated with her. I wondered what it would be like to go to one of those with my own child.

Highlight: I made it to my favorite class at the gym yesterday by a miracle (Dave had a later start and was able to help me get kids off to school) and could feel myself settling down from the day before. I repented of putting the nix on having my own kids and decided I could do this as long as I had Dave by my side.

Bonus Highlight: Driving around with the youngest (age 5) and running errands, he was asking so many questions and I tried to answer them as best as I could. Some of them were pretty funny. Some of them he asked multiple times. After about 15 minutes of nonstop questions, he squinted at me and asked, "Why are you so nice?" I just about DIED laughing.

All in all, it's been an okay week. It's taught me a lot about myself and shown me so many wonderful sides of my husband. I feel much more confident in our abilities to be good parents after this experience. We are such a good team. I like what Ben Affleck said to his wife in his Oscar acceptance speech: Marriage is hard work, but it's the best kind of work.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to Friday and someday starting out ONE (or two at the worst) at a time. :)