Family Fun Day

 I had this whole family day planned out. The Mr. and I are both off today. It's a weekday and most people have returned to work. A lot of the schools here have also started up again. To top it off, it's a gorgeous day to hang out at the beach or by the water. All the makings of some fun in the sun with the family.

To start off family fun day, I woke up and made chocolate chip pancakes and had myself a cup of iced coffee. Everyone was dressed and ready to go by 9:00AM. By the way, that's a record in this family. Normally it's a struggle to wrangle up the kids. By the end of the morning, I'm exhausted. No, this morning was easy breezy. 

Oh, did I mention that both kids have fallen asleep before I even loaded up the car? I went upstairs to gather a few more supplies and I see Princess Ninja asleep. As I continue organizing our supplies, I see Chubs rolling around the living room entertaining himself. The next thing I know, he's asleep on the floor. 

Great! Well there's been a change of plans. We're all going to take naps. When we wake up, fun in the sun will be reevaluated. Until then, this is definitely my idea of family fun day. 

The Robot-Zombie Zone

The weekend brought with it a large amount of work. I'm talking about the work that pays the bills, puts food on the table, and a roof over the family's head. I was leaving past midnight. Due to stress and lack of energy, my body was telling me to stop by to get some McDonald's french fries. Yeah, I know, so not good.  If you're up that late and on Twitter, then you probably read about my glorious stops. The weekend left me completely exhausted and useless at home.

I have to pause for a moment and give my husband massive amounts of kudos for watching the kids and keeping the house together. He really stepped up to the plate and kicked it up a notch. I would repay him with some great sex, but I'm too damn tired from actually working. I'm giving him an IOU on this. Yes, I'm posting it out there for all the world to see. I'm making it all official and legal.

MamaOnDaGo is giving her husband an IOU for sex because he's gone above and beyond and deserves it

Notarized and all that legal mumbo jumbo

Back to what I was originally going to discuss.

Work left me completely useless at home. We all know that our jobs as mothers and fathers does not stop because we are tired. The children continue to wake up at the butt crack of dawn. With day old mascara smeared upon my blood shot eyes (because I was too tired to do a decent job removing it), I would wake up. Actually, my body would be moving but my mind and my soul, I felt was elsewhere. I call this my robot-zombie zone.

The zone where I'm so exhausted I'm just going through the motions of being a mama. I neither really feel nor hear. My hands and body are moving as I play with the children, but I'm not really mentally there to enjoy this moment. Instead of being able to multi-task, I put efforts to even accomplish one task. At times, I just find myself zoning out even further. 

I'm glad I can look forward to a few days off. The fine print is I'll be off from work, but I'll be on full-mama duty. It'll be the Misters turn to make some dollars. I'm hoping a few days away from work will help me get out of the robot-zombie zone and refocus. I would say re-energize but that's asking way too much from being home alone with the kids. Here's to refocusing. 

Blogging Brings Families Together by Absolutely Narcissism

I want you all to discover the wonderful world of Absolutely Narcissism. As a sample presentation, she's been gracious enough to do a guest post for me. Please read, enjoy, and check out what else she has to offer. 

 Blogging Brings Families Together

By Sandra @ http://www.absolutelynarcissism.blogspot.com

The kids have been home for six weeks.

That’s approximately 44 days...I’ve even broken it down into hours, minutes, and seconds, but I’ll spare you the tedium.

It’s funny because there seems to be a general consensus out there that mothers are not looking forward to their kids going back to school. Whenever I read various blogs about this mommy who is warning her faithful readers that she won’t be posting for a few days in order to enjoy the last few days with her children before they go back to school, I’m always left with this intense guilt. What is wrong with me that I WANT my kids back in school?

Now.

Like right fucken now.

I have spent these past six weeks inviting other children over to play with mine; taking my kids to the beach on sunny days; taking them to the movies on rainy days; encouraging them to play in the pool; going for bike rides; hiking; fishing.

I’ve been doing as much as I can to keep them out of the house, entertained, occupied, and off the computer, Xbox, Wii, Playstation, and iPod.

In the process, I have been consciously limiting my time checking my email, Facebook, twitter, and blog.

Finally this week, I just gave up. I’ve had it. It’s been cloudy yet humid. Not conducive to the beach. Too sticky for outdoor activities. Too broke for indoor activities.

And I’m tired. No. That’s not accurate – I’m exhausted.

So I’ve been plunked on the couch, laptop in my lap, television playing Toddlers in Tiaras in a continuous loop, and have basically not discouraged my kids from anything. Do want you want as long as it doesn’t require me to get up from this couch.

What I’ve discovered though, is that rather than remaining glued to the electronic devices, they have been gravitating towards me.  Why? Because I have been blog surfing for two days straight, having a terrific time, laughing, talking to myself, and commenting out loud.

My kids love it. I don’t think they ever seen me this jubilant.

They want to know what I’m reading. Why I’m laughing. Who I’m talking to.

And I’ve been telling them: “This woman is so funny. She just wrote that her baby pulled her diaper off, and rubbed poop all over the walls.”

Of course, not at all funny for the blogger in question. But it’s poop. My kids love poop. They love saying it. They love hearing about it. And they especially love the visual of it smeared all over crib bars and walls.

Of course the mother in me tries to make this experience a learning one. I’ve described to them certain sadder blogs in which mothers are fighting illnesses – theirs or their children’s, always ending with a “you should be grateful you are healthy and happy.”

But in general, we like the inappropriate blogs. We’re all about the fecal matter.