Lesson learned!

This last week has been cray-zay!  From the looks of it, this coming week doesn't look much better either.  Oh dear, Lord!  Let me explain.

My sweet sister-in-law asked me last Monday if I could watch her kiddos so that her and her husband could get some work done around their house.  I willingly offered my services and suggested that my niece and nephew stay the night on Friday.  Let me preface this by saying that I love my niece and nephew and they are very cute and sweet kids.  Normally when I watch them, things are fine and all the kids love each other.  Which is why I was so confident that I could handle it..no prob.

My hubby was home all day on Friday, so he was around to help me with the baby. Which was fantastic, and it gave me a chance to make cupcakes with my daughter and my niece.  They made chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Little did I know, that my daughter hates cream cheese frosting.  What in the heck!  Who's kid is she?  The kids got along fine and they went to bed without any problems.

However, when Saturday morning rolled around, my hubby had to ski-daddle off to work.  Which left me with 5 kids.  In the trenches with 5 kids, apparently.  5 crazy, loud kids.  5 kids, that for some reason chose NOT to get along.  5 kids who are quite lovely, normally, who seemed to hate each other all weekend.  I thought that I could handle it.  I have been able to handle 4 of them, but when the baby is added into the mix, things get a little hairy around here.  

My own daughter seemed to be the biggest problem this weekend.  She refused to share anything with my niece her own stinkin cousin...her best friend too.  I had to discipline her about what felt like a million zillion times.  I felt so bad for her.  I couldn't get to the bottom of what was bothering her so much.  This is when all of those parenting books would have come in handy.....if only I had read them..hmmm.  

On top of my #2 being a huge booger, my littlest was so grumpy.  She couldn't take good naps because all of the other kids were so loud.  They didn't mean to be loud.  I told them to be quiet, and they really did try, but when you add unintentional door slamming and laughter, it makes it hard for a 3 1/2 month old to snooze.  Needless to say, the baby was on my hip all day long....fussing, all day long.  

When the hubs came home last night, he found a very frazzled wife.  Someone who was a far cry from the lovely woman that he had woken up next to that very morning.  He thoughtfully rescued me from myself.  He grabbed the baby, and told me to take a chill pill.  If only those pills really existed.  They might exist, but only in a red liquid form that is served in a wine glass :-)  

This then forced me to recall that I had not had any time to myself in a long time.  Not the kind of "time to myself" that is the equivalent to locking myself in the bathroom for 15 minutes while my kids pound on the door in an effort to get to me.  I mean the kind of "time to myself" that requires me getting in my car ALONE and going somewhere ALONE.  Be it Starbucks, the movie theatre, Target....whatever tickles my fancy.  Had I realized this sooner, I might have had a good chance at not loosing my mind this weekend.  

Lesson learned!  I need some time to myself ASAP, and I can not handle 5 kids.  At least 4 kids plus a baby.  Next time, I will just have to plan it better for when my hubs is home and he can help with the bambina.  Then everything should be fine.  No problem...right?

I may or may not have looked like this last night when my husband came home.  You decide!