One of those days

Today was one of those days. I hate to say it (or should I say, "write it"), but it was just one of those days where I wanted to just throw in the towel. Beg for mercy. On my knees screaming to the Lord "please save me from these maniacs and get me through this day."

It's just been a long month. Actually, May was a long month and now it's spilling over to June. With the stress of the sale and Mark and I traveling on and off, there hasn't been time for any type of leisure. And when there is time for leisure, it is not leisurely. It is "Jacob, don't put that in your sister's face" and "Maddie, you canNOT hit Jacob over the head with binoculars" and "Jacob, just let her play with it for 5 seconds and she'll get bored and put it down" and more of "Maddie, I have to put you down for 2 seconds while I wash the 2 days of scum off of my dirty face!"

I have not had childcare this week, and that seriously makes ALL. THE. DIFFERENCE. So, today I had to break up at least 50 screaming fits about who gets to do what first, and for how long on top of keeping track of them both when they are running (all the time, running!) in opposite directions. In a mere 5 minutes at the mall today (which I rarely try and visit anymore with little people in tow b/c it's just a nightmare -- but I was forced to today because we were going to get some gifts for Jacob's teachers), there were breakdowns about who gets to push the elevator button, who gets to hold spider man, who gets to push the stroller, who got the bigger piece of chocolate at Godiva (YES, I SAID GODIVA), who gets milk and who gets juice, who gets the lightning mcqueen car and who gets the sheriff, who gets to play with Mommy's iPhone and who is talking over the other one talking.

I am exhausted.

And that was just in a span of a few minutes. You can imagine how the rest of the day went.

Sibling rivalry is not to be underestimated. Holy cow -- I really never expected it to the be this rough but I guess I didn't know since my brothers were so much older than me. And unfortunately, I think that Jacob gets the raw end of the deal. I hate this, but it's always easier to just explain to him that Maddie is still a baby and she doesn't understand that she can't just take spider man without requesting it from him first. Even if she does swipe it out of his hand with a nice pinch and a shove for a little added bonus. ha. I kid. Kind of.

After a long afternoon at the Farmers Market, I finally announced we were leaving and couldn't wait to just get them in the car where they would be contained for 5 minutes. I should do this more often, by the way. Just throw them in the car when I'm going batty -- b/c as long as they each have a snack (the same snack), a drink (the same drink) and a toy (the same toy), there usually is minimal screaming going on. The entire way home, they sang songs together, danced and laughed like hyenas.

It's beautiful -- this sibling thing. Even if it does make me want to stick a hot poker in my eye sometimes.

This is the two of them at breakfast this morning. Goodbye high chair. She will ONLY sit in a big girl chair. About 10 minutes after this picture was taken, she fell off of the big girl chair and knocked her lip on the edge of the table (hard enough that it was bleeding). That was how our day started.



And this is pretty much how Jacob entertains her all day long. By singing songs and dancing with/for her.