Dinner with the outlaws...

It was already a hard day for me.

After school Abs dropped her beloved frog cup from my mom. She cried for an hour over her froggie. It is not repairable.

Then the girls went to Girl Scouts and Junior and I hung out for a bit and then Gunner called. He was so tired he didn't make much sense. Poor guy. He was sad and a little depressed. He spent 15 months at home which was great and more than we thought we were going to get originally, but he had 15 months there till he could come back to us. He's a firm believer in the mission and their progress, but I think it was just a hard day for him as well.

Then I got the girls and we met the outlaws and Erin at TGI Fridays for dinner. Abs was in one of her moods so I already knew it was going to be a hard meal.

I won't even get into the little things that happened, but Erin now knows what I was talking about when I said my inlaws were freaks. I was holding Tucker and Abs was under the table. When I realized what was going on, I handed Tucker back to his mom and grabbed Abs out from under the table. I went to take her outside and my MIL grabbed my arm and said she wanted to talk to her and calm Abs down. I flung it (her arm) away. I took Abs outside and spoke to her and put her in time out. We were outside of the restaurant and there is constant traffic so I wasn't about to leave her side. My MIL came out and started rubbing my arm and telling me in front of Abs that I was being too hard on her. She acted up and I took her out of the situation to have her regain control. That's wrong????? Then she told me that I wasn't being nice to her and while Abs was spouting off stuff and crying, my MIL went over and told her that if she behaved she could have dessert. I told my MIL and Abs that was not going to happen. Abs lost dessert already when we were inside and she was playing Helen Keller and grabbing food off of Em's plate. My MIL kept in on me and kept talking to Abs while she was in time out. If she wanted to voice her opinions she could have done it somewhere else when I had time, not in front of my child, I wasn't going to go that route. I kept my mouth shut but I was furious.

Abs finally was calm and we went back in. The waitress came and I ordered dessert for Em and Junior. Erin and I split something and my inlaws, who never order dessert, ordered one that Abs likes. Erin asked me if I thought they would let her have it, and I knew they would. I made it clear to Abs that she was not to have any dessert, taste any dessert or lick any spoons, and made sure my inlaws heard me. They didn't let her have any thank goodness or I would have lost it.

My MIL was talking about Tucker and Junior and asked which one she was going to take home. I was already upset (trust me there was tons more that happened) and told her she didn't get either of them. Then Abs came up about something else and my MIL told me "Abs is NOT bad and I shouldn't say that." I about flipped! I never said that, I would never say that as I don't care how much of a handful a child is, they are NEVER bad. Their behavior might be less than desirable, but never the child. I said "I NEVER said she was bad." I was furious that she said it at all, much less in front of my children. I held Tucker and started to cry, but tried to keep it in before I really lost it.

My MIL then told me that she would have different hours at work soon so she would take the kids so I didn't have to deal with them. They go to school, I don't need them taken care of by someone else. I am not on the verge of "losing it". I am not a bad mother. I am not unhappy or wanting to pass my children off to anyone. I love them with all my heart. Abs was having a rough day and we were dealing with it. She wasn't getting beaten, I wasn't hurting her, I wasn't being mean or rude to her.

Then we go out to the car and I realize that Junior has pooped. I told them that I needed to change his diaper. She (my MIL) told me he just dropped ice cream on his pants. I informed her that he had pooped and she insisted that it was ice cream. I looked in his diaper, Erin was there and saw too, he had exploded. But what do I know, I am just his mother and primary caregiver.

I could go on and on about all the crappy things that were said and done tonight by them. I was actually kind of glad that Erin was there, although embarrassed, so that someone could see how they are and what they do.

I came home and called my mom and started crying. I missed my Dad. I missed my husband. I was disgusted with the behavior of my inlaws. My mom was relieved when Erin called and told me she was coming over. I don't know what I did to deserve such a great, understanding, caring, thoughtful, outrageous, funny, friend. Thank you Erin for being such a friend and for sitting through the dinner from hell with me and making me see that it isn't me, that they (the inlaws) are truly strange and inconsiderate people.

Found

As I was in bed last night I remembered that I had to use my id card to observe. Whew. Called this morning and was able to declare my love for the school secretary.

Still no word from Gunner. Hopefully he calls this weekend sometime so that the kids can speak to him. Oh yeah, and me too.

I wanted to wear my chaco's this morning and went to do a quick paint job on my toenails. I am better off leaving that to the professionals.

Especially thinking of my dad today, as I do every day.

Lost

Status of my ID card: Unknown at this time.

Of all the things I try to keep an extra careful eye on. I left Ab's play yesterday, put it in my purse and now I can't find it anywhere. I cleaned the car. I cleaned my purse.

So tomorrow before I meet a friend for coffee I will try to go to the id card place with my POA, my book of forms Gunner organized for me and try to get another one. Not exactly something you want running around out in the open.

Done

I finally finished all of my observation hours, with the last 7 this week. What a relief. I still need to compile everything, summarize, and all that good stuff, but at least I have 2 weeks to do that without the added pressure of not having my hours done!

Today starts the training for the Muddy Buddy or training for one of the many other things that I want to do. I say training, very very loosely.

The girls have swim lessons again tonight. They are doing really well. They wanted goggles and I found some at Walgreens that were $12.99. I wouldn't buy them. I found two pairs for $1.49 at walmart or something. The girls tell me they don't work. So much for saving money!

Still no word recently from Gunner. Hopefully soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Intently watching Barney.

Weekend Away

Next weekend Erin and I are headed off to relax at the Deployed Soldiers Family Foundation weekend getaway in Dallas. I think by the time we reach Dallas after driving three hours with 4 kids, we might need a weekend getaway....with a stiff drink!

Anyway, it sounds like a lot of fun and we are signed up to get our haircut. There are also massages, etc. The kids will have age appropriate activities and the hotel where we are staying has an indoor/outdoor pool. I can tell you where my kids will be at night!

These weekends are offered periodically to Fort Hood spouses so that they might have a reprieve from the daily grind. There are tons of volunteers and Tucker will even have his own caregiver! (Once they meet Abs and Junior they might want to get some one-on-one defense on them as well.)

And Erin wrote nice things about me here. :)

Knocking on Wood

I sterilized.

I prepared.

I mowed the lawn.

So far we are all good to go.

Whew.