He doesn't take requests.

No matter how adamant the requests.

Self indulgent to be sure

I need to blog. Need. Sure, I have a million things I need to document – Ray’s verbal explosion, Noah’s memorization of the colors of his bathtub alphabet, questioning of the world and it’s workings, and preschool enrollment for the Fall, and of course all the Christmas shenanigans and hullabaloo. But the reason I’m here blogging is because of an overwhelming need I have to unload, to reveal, to share – about me.

I’ve been having a really hard time for a couple of weeks now. Or longer. I’m not exactly sure when it started. And I can’t pin it to one thing. It’s a bunch of things.

Winter depresses me these days. The season of sickness and entombment. The cold, the colds and the seclusion. It’s harder to get out of the house because it’s uncomfortable to just merely be outside. My skin is dry and itchy and my body cries out for just a little bit of sun.

Christmas makes me a bit blue. The constant struggle between the practicalities of Christmas – all that needs to be planned and bought and done – and what I feel like it should really should be – the selfless giving, thoughtfulness and mere enjoyment of each others company.

My Janette is moving away. My best friend from college, my bridesmaid, my guardian angel. To me she’s always been this incredibly positive force – this generous, loving, peaceful person with nary a mean bone in her body who inspires me to be less cynical. And we share a bond now that I share with noone else – she is my only pre-child friend (so she knows me for things other than being a Mom, understands me and still likes me) who is also home with her children. She knows exactly what I’m going through. I can tell her things about my daily struggles and know that she will instantly understand, sympathize and not pass judgment. And she’s moving to Maine. It really is heartbreaking. Yes, there is email, and twitter, and there will be vacations. But that really isn’t the same. Not nearly.

And of course that is the heart of the matter. Or the what’s the matter. My daily struggles. I AM BURNT OUT. I am overextended. I am not at my best. And I need to fix it. Fast. But I haven’t a clue as to how to do it without compromising my values.

I have made a commitment to myself, to my husband, to my kids – to make sacrifices. To put what I might want aside for the greater good – for the good of my children. And I am happy to do that. Proud to do that. It’s important to me. To us. But just making a decision to sacrifice doesn’t necessarily make every moment easy. It can still weigh you down, especially over time. I haven’t done much of anything for myself in over four years. And it’s taken a toll. Have I taken it too far? Yes. Obviously. Because I’m constantly snapping. Not so much at the kids, because I try really hard to keep that in check, but sometimes even that fails. But I am snapping at everyone else. My husband chief among them. He’s often just trying to help me and I end up biting his head off. I yell at him because I can’t yell at the kids. Because I’m boiling over and strung out.

I need to do something for myself. And I need to figure out how to manage doing it. And in my mind I need to figure out the bare minimum of what I need so as not to upset our life too much or be too self indulgent. Maybe it’s as small as actually sticking to getting out of the house for two hours a week to take a yoga class – but even that proved so difficult a couple of months ago.

Of course the big follow-up question is WHY on earth in the midst of this am I still trying to get pregnant and have a third? It took two years between the time we started trying to conceive a second and the day Ray was born – and there are many ups and downs in two years so I don’t think my current low point says much of anything about what things will look like a year or two from now. And though I totally realize that having three small children will be stressful, more stressful than having two, and require at least the same amount of sacrifice if not more, I know that in the long run I want a larger family and I am willing to pay the piper upfront. I try to think of my life looking forward and keep in mind what I want the end result to be and not to get too mired down in the now when making the big decisions.

But of course in this now I need help. Help from myself. I need to find a balance between the kind of attachment parenting I do naturally and what I need to do to keep some semblance of a ME. I need a calm center, a place to breathe. And once I find that place again hopefully it will be all that much easier to hold on to, or get back to. No matter how many kids I have.

I want to be a happier person. A less grumpy person. A less stressed out to the gills biting the heads off of the people she loves person.

And there you have it. End system dump.

Our finest delicates

Ray thought it was hysterical when he closed the cat in the china cabinet. The only thing that tops that is joining him. Now I know why Gagama's china cabinet has been sitting empty.

Feel the fury

Last time I blogged about Ray's anger Patrice and Wendy said they had never seen the dark side of my good natured angel. This video is for them.
Ray likes to play with water in the sink. He wants me to leave the water trickling for an hour several times a day. He pulls the chair over to the sink and starts making demands. And there is never enough. As you can see.

Not for the faint of heart

Or the fastidiously clean. Lots of glitter and tiny paper bits everywhere.

Sugary sweet

We survived cookie day at Grandma & Grandpa Larry's yesterday. Seven adults, seven kids and three dogs all sticky with a fine layer of icing.
Saturday morning I took the boys to breakfast with Santa at Macy's. Noah was a bit disappointed Santa wasn't actually eating with us, and that the Nutcracker's Mouse King posed for pictures but did not dance, but otherwise it was a good time. Last week I sent a couple of friends on a wild goose chase to find scratch off tickets that got you discounts on the PA Ballet's Nutcracker. You would've thought the damn things were akin to the holy grail. Finally I got a few and only one had a 20 percent discount which is something but doesn't exactly make good seats insanely affordable. But still thinking of getting a pair. Mark will probably end up taking Noah if it is a weeknight show. (Boo!)
But aside from these few holiday outings we have been stuck in the house. Noah's cold is still pretty nasty. The mornings are full of hacking and the evenings are feverish. Last night he coughed so much he vomited in the car on the ride back from Grandmas. Hooray for holiday memories.

Here kitty, kitty

I think if Ray could talk he'd put this puma on his Christmas list.