Day 113 and a rant

What a day. We didn't wake up until 7:00 this morning. Pete didn't have to work so there was no rush. We all got up and I got ready and left for work (and actually got there on time).

Pete was home with the girls all day. He spent the day hanging out and having fun! The girls played with their kitchen and made lots of cool, yummy things to munch on.

When I got home - the girls were cleaning up and getting ready for dinner. I needed to change Hailey and while she was on the changing table she decided to kick and then hit me. I'm OH SO TIRED of them doing this. Hailey doesn't do it very often - but that doesn't mean she isn't going to get punished just the same. I finished changing her and put her in time out.

Holy meltdown. This kid proceeded to hit her head against the wall, throw her whole body on the floor, bang her head on the floor and just completely melted down. The one thing they all need to do in order to get out of time is say sorry. A kiss or hug or even an offering of a toy - are all acceptable versions of apology in our house. But for some reason - she couldn't find it in her to do any of that tonight. She spent the better part of 1/2 hour in time out. Several times we asked if she would say sorry and every time she said no and cried and screamed her way back to time out.

We finally are all sitting down to eat. She's still in time out (life goes on and we can't stop the schedule to wait for her). Still no apology. Pete goes and gets her to come to the table where she clearly wants to be - and she finally gives me a kiss. But then she refuses to sit at the table! She throws her body all around so that Pete can't put her in her chair. Back in time out she goes. She ended up in time out long enough for all of us to eat and when I finished I went to get their bath ready. By the time I got downstairs she was sitting at the table eating. She didn't need to say sorry to get out of time out for this...all she needed to do was come in the kitchen and sit down. That's the rule - you eat with us or you can sit in time out while we eat. But either way - you're sitting.

I'm sure some of you will think this is harsh - but I really don't care what you think. I've come to the conclusion that if you knew me and my family - you would know that this kind of punishment would actually be necessary. We are lenient with many things when it comes to the girls. Eating at the table and saying sorry to get out of time are not things we are lenient about.

We're also not lenient about schedule. The girls have a schedule and we have found that it works best for US as a family to keep them on this schedule. That means that if we are out somewhere - we leave to get home on time. If we need to go somewhere - we plan it around the girls schedule. If we want to do something - again...the girls schedule comes 1st. I don't ever complain about this and neither does Pete. WE know what's best for OUR family.

Which brings to me to time. Time is not something that we take for granted anymore. We have learned that time is more valuable than most anything we have (other than each other of course). And if you are asking for time from us - you should consider that we probably won't have it to give. Most people in my life are accepting and understanding of this. The people that matter and the people that care. They get it. But there are others that don't understand.

Don't you think that we would LOVE to go have a drink? Go to the casino and hang out for the night? A concert, dinner, movie, night out on the town...anything - YES we would LOVE to go! But we simply can't say YES every time. And what about time for ourselves? Are you asking us to spend time with YOU rather than spend alone time with each other for a good reason? Because we don't get time with each other - and I feel like that if we have time...we owe it to one another to give to each other...not to share it with someone else.

I could go on and on about it but the fact of the matter is that we have to say no more often then we say yes. And that's life. And you know what? I'm totally fine with it. I get my time when the girls go to bed. I work out. I love working out and I'm not giving that time to anyone without a damn good reason. And Pete gets his time when the girls go to bed too - he loves to spend his time on the computer. And he's not giving that to anyone either. And you know what else? I sleep just fine at night knowing that my time was spent wisely with my family.

Right now - I'm going to do my posts for the online website I work for. People don't see the behind the scenes. I'm sure 1/2 if not more of you didn't even know that I have a part time job blogging for a moms website. I do it for the $. But not because we need the $...I take the $ from this job and put it in a separate acct for our Disney trip. We're planning the trip for when the girls are 5 (maybe 6). So when I blog for this site - it's well worth it to see the $ go into their Disney acct every month. I smile when I make the deposit.

And when I'm done with that...I'm going to work on my sisters resume. Why? Because my sister deserves some of my time. She deserves a lot more than that but doing her resume is what I can offer her right now. You know when I was pregnant I could count on her to call every single day. And when the girls came home - she called again...every single day. I didn't always get to answer...but she always called back. She never went a day without checking on me to see how I was doing. Sure she asked about the girls...but she cared enough to ask about me too. How was I doing, how was I managing, how was breastfeeding going, how were the girls treating me, how did I like being a mom...the questions were endless and phone calls were priceless. She cared and she showed she cared. I can certainly offer her some of my time...easily.