This morning on the way to school ...
Megan: My birthday is in a couple of months!!
Me: Uh, more than a couple.
Her birthday is July 28th!
Henry: This year mom and I get to SHARE a day.
Megan: Huh?
Henry: My birthday and Mother's Day are on the SAME DAY this year, so we'll have to make it EXTRA special.
Megan: Fine, I'll go to a friend's house.
I may have laughed a little too hard at that statement.
Henry: Now what would MOTHER'S DAY be without KIDS?
Oh my word. Don't EEEEVEN ask me a question like that! Seriously. Don't.
Besides, I think Frankie Heck already answered that question quite aptly about 2 seasons ago on The Middle.
If your kids are like ours, they leave stuff lying around. Everywhere.
And if you parent like we parent, you tolerate it for a long time. Then one day, enough is enough, and everything goes into the trash!
Anyone relating to this?
Well tonight while I was in the kitchen rinsing some dishes, my husband was trying to get the girls to bed, and apparently the subject of hair clips came up. Specifically, hair clips that constantly get left around the house and are therefore never where they're supposed to be in the morning when we're rushing around, trying to get out the door.
Side note: Meg has always had an affinity for hair clips. See photo below of her at age 3 when she styled her own hair with 7 such clips. It's one of my all time favorites!
From what Meg told me at bedtime, dad had had it and thrown them in the trash.
Understandable.
So before I could utter a word about the whole clip catastrophe ...
Meg crying: Dad took like TEN clips and THREW them AWAY! And they were the GOOD ones that actually WORK and HOLD my HAIR! And then he said, 'And don't go telling your mom that you need clips and ask her to go to the store to buy some.' Which I NEVER do ... but seriously mom, we need some.
Oh my WORD. That kid makes me laugh at THE most INAPPROPRIATE times!!
Anyway, she told me later that he told her he didn't throw them away, but hid them and let her know that she'd have to buy them back. My guess is by doing chores.
Ah parenthood. It can get down right hairy sometimes.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm selfish. I actually never knew this about myself, until I had children. It's an awful discovery, especially when you realize there's nothing you can do about it. You're a mom. The kids come first. Deal with it.
Now every once in a while, I try to do something for myself, but it rarely works out. Tonight was one of those times.
But before I get to that story, I should give you a little history.
Pre-children, my nails were impeccable. Then as soon as I became a mom, it became quite obvious that the nails would have to take a backseat. So after going without polish for approximately 11 years, I started painting my nails again. Oh MY, I'd forgotten how nice it was to have manicured nails! The euphoria was ridiculous!!
Unfortunately, I discovered a downside to having painted nails as a mother: they chip after only 3 days. All that dish washing, etc. takes a toll.
So, I did what any distraught mother would do ... I whined about it on Facebook, and miracle of miracles, a friend of mine offered to come to my home and give me a gel manicure!! Oh my goodness!! I was positively GIDDY with excitement, because the only other time I'd had a professional manicure was for my wedding 18 years ago!!
After getting the gel manicure, I was pretty much ruined for anything less, because for those of you who do not know: they DO NOT CHIP for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!! Somebody pinch me!!
Okay, fast forward 4 weeks later, and today was the day I was going to give myself a gel manicure. That's right, I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, and used it to buy my very own kit! Woo hoo!!
This afternoon I laid out all the stuff, and proceeded to start the pampering. I gotta say, it was MARVELOUS. And then just as I was in the throws of self-indulgence, Meg calls out from the couch to say that she thinks she's gonna throw up.
Conversation inside my head: Um, WHAT?! Right NOW? LIKE WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF FINALLY DOING SOMETHING AWESOME FOR MYSELF????
I know. I'm the worst mom EVER. I feel terrible for not wanting to jump to her rescue. And it gets worse. I mean I was actually weighing my options ...
1) Leave her be and hope for the best, knowing I may have a huge mess to deal with later, but at least the nails would be set by then.
2) Pay Amanda to help her.
3) Put my own desires aside, yet again, and go help my sick baby.
Believe it or not, I chose option 3 and just prayed that while I was holding her hair back, it wouldn't get stuck in the nail gel.
Once again, God was extremely gracious to me. Not only was I was able to care for Megan, but in between retching sessions, was able to run back to the table to finish up the last step of my manicure.
Hey - I don't always make the right parenting decisions, but when I do ...
I blog about them. ;)
