Sooooo tired!!!

It all started last night. I headed toward bed at about 10:30. Nate fell asleep on the couch so I did what any good loving wife would do, I covered him up and tip-toed quietly out of the living room thinking about how wonderful it was going to be to have my bed all to myself. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, really quickly looked to see if my moustache was growing back, then headed to bed. The lights were all out, I could not even see my hand in front of my face. As I climbed into bed I was startled by this mound resembling a child. Which one though? It was Zaynah, naturally. Too tired to move her to her own bed, I just shoved her over and got in. Some other time getting my bed to myself...some other time. I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow, but my sleep was soon interrupted. Joshua made his way into my bed, putting me in between him and Zayn. Josh likes to cuddle and sleep with my arm around him, this was not a good night to be cuddling as I was so exhausted!! A few more blinks and it was morning. I could not feel my left arm because, I guess, Josh had slept on it all night. I dragged myself out of bed to let the newly de-balled Marley out of his cage. He was rattling the cage with his new lampshade neckwear and it woke me up. I woke Nate up because he had to get ready for work, yes...work on Saturday. I laid on the chair and ottoman and dozed for a bit. The kids started to wake up and give me their orders for breakfast. I think I grunted and mumbled something about getting my morning coffee before any freakin breakfast was made, I can't remember word for word. Coffee was made, breakfast was eaten, the kids started arguing and fighting, and I ignored them. On the agenda for today was: attempt a work-out, get kids ready to go to my grandparents for a visit, clean house and do laundry (sadly neither was done), go to my parents after my grandparents and eat dinner, come home put kids to bed and rest. Work-out was good, nothing too shocking. Wyatt was amused though!! Getting the kids ready, pretty typical for a mom doing it alone; yelling, throwing clothes and A LOT of drama. House and laundry...no. I did have a nice visit with the grandparents, today my grandpa turned 78 years. So we celebrated with him today. Good times! Dinner with my mom, dad, and other grandparents was really good. Still all the while all I could think about was getting home to bed. Now, I am home and sleep is near. It was a very long and busy Saturday, but it was fun...only after my coffee kicked in.

My kids make fun of me

I was looking through my FitTV guide this morning, searching for what exercise I was going to pursue today. At 12:30 there was a workout for thighs, hips, and buttock. Hooray!!! My touble areas, I was going to try it out. The only thing was, it was Gilad's Total Workout. He is really fast and I can hardly keep up with him, but I was set to do my best. So about 11:30 I prepared lunch for the kids and myself. Aliya was asking what workout I was going to do today, all grown up like. I told her it was no big deal and reminded her that I needed her to play with Wyatt while I did my thing. So here is the rest of the conversation:

Aliya: "Please tell me, I want to know."

Me: "Alright, it's Gilad's Total Workout."

Aliya: "Oh, I totally did Gilad's Body Sculpting last night!"

Me: "Oh, really?"

Aliya: "Yep, I really think that I can feel my abs." (touching her rib cage)

Me: " Really?"

Aliya: "Where are your abs anyway?"

Me: "Around your tummy"

Aliya: "What are these bones here?" (touching her ribs again)

Me: "That's your rib cage."

Aliya: "Oh...do you think I look skinnier?"

Give me a break!! She is too big for own good!!! Why can't she just be a kid instead of trying to be soooo grown up? So anyway after that conversation, I cleaned up the dishes, picked up the living room, and prepared myself for a serious butt kicking. After moving the coffee table out of the way I tuned into Gilad. He started off with thighs and buttock. I kept up as best as I could, but faintly I could hear giggles and snickers. I ignored it and continued, mildly perspiring. I made it through the first 10 minutes with a bit more confidence. Back from commercial we quickly went into aerobics, surprisingly I did well. However, the giggles turned to mild laughter. What the heck were they laughing at? After the final break, my crevices were sweating profusely, but my hopes were still high. Moving into abs and inner thighs I soon realized that my girls were laughing at me!! I came to terms that I had no idea what I was doing, I looked like a fish flopping on a pier. No matter how ridiculous I looked and no matter how hard my girls laughed I was going to finish that stupid workout. Finally, I was done, sweat circles all over my clothing. I did discover that during the jumping jacks portion, evertime I jumped I pee'd a little. I swear, I'm not 80 for cryin' out loud! After changing my clothes and unmentionables my girls came clean. They told me I looked funny breathing heavy and jumping. So mean!!!

Making good use of my time

There are just not enough hours in the day it seems or I am just not making good use of my time. I believe it's the latter!! I seriously don't think I am dividing my time well. I know that I need to take care of my kids, house, meals. laundry (hate this!!), etc. I need to be mommy, wife, doctor, playmate (and not bunny...I wish), chef, drill sergeant, tickle monster, housekeeper, role model, the list goes on and on and on. As mommies, we wear many hats and working mothers wear more (may God be with you). By the end of my day, after I put the kiddos to bed, I am up until 11 pm or even midnight. Then my day starts up between 6 am or 6:30 am. I don't think I am getting enough sleep! But I need a few hours after the kids go to bed to collect myself (i.e. watching all my stories) and regroup before the next day starts. I know I need to squeeze in some exercise time because that is something that is truly important to me. So now to manage my time wisely. I want no regrets when my kids are older, that I never spent enough time with them. I never want to regret not having enough time to take care of myself because really, I don't want to be a flabby mommy. I love having a clean house and all the laundry done, but am I putting that before my kids and myself? I think so!! My kids are more important to me than old food cemented to my floor or mounds and mounds of laundry screaming to be washed. My well being is more important than dirty dishes in the sink or a toilet that has not been cleaned in God knows how long. In the blink of an eye, they are going to be grown and I will be lost. Life is too short to waste it on housecleaning, these are just things. My kids are my life, too precious for words. I can still have time to do housework, but that should come last. Making sure I put what's important first is what really matters.

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Matthew 6:21

Just another day!!

So many different things are going down in my house these days. My girls are getting ready to start school and then I will only have two in the house. It's gonna feel like a vacation for me! So much to prepare for, so little time. Aliya I know will be great, but Zaynah I worry about. I wonder, sometimes, if I have prepared her enough for what she is about to do. She has always been my little home body, never really wanting to go anywhere. Always wanting to be with me or Nate. Aliya has always been footloose and fancy free from the moment she was born. I guess I need to just trust that she will make it on her own and that what I have taught her will see her through. I know it is only kindergarten, but still.

That leaves me with Joshua and Wyatt. We are in the middle of a crisis with Josh. He still needs Nate or me to lie down with him to fall asleep. Such a stinkin headache and more drama than I need. So the past few nights Nate has been telling him that he will be lying down alone to sleep, that he is a big boy and it is time for him to go to bed on his own. Well, Joshua, is not taking that very well. He tells us, " I am not a big boy, I a baby. I don't like to lay down by myself.". All my kids, with the exception of Josh, are great sleepers. I don't know what went wrong with him. He will learn, then it won't be so bad anymore.

Okay, for real this time, I am going to concentrate on loosing my baby weight from Wyatt. My best pal, Elisabeth, is giving me some tips and really encouraging me. She is a yoga instructor and mommy of 2. She is really an inspiration to me and it is good to know she is there for me. It's not too bad, I'm not really overweight, I could just stand to loose a few pounds. I really would like to be aware of my food intake and not be so in love with food that I just ignore the mounds of food on my plate. I seriously love to eat and I could throw down with BBQ or some really good Mexican food. I can still love all that, but moderation is key.

Well, I'm watching the Olympics so I am going to end this. This has been really exciting, a lot of nail biting moments.

Good night all!!

So this is it....

I am off starting my own blog. I have so many things to share and my hopes are that mommys will read this and think, she is going through exactly what I go through. There will be funny stories but also serious issues that all mommys go through. This is just me, being real!! I make mistakes, I am not a perfect mother. I loose it and I want to pull my hair out, but then turn around and my kids do something to surprise me. This is an everyday life journal of me. So here it is folks, my first post, on my very own blog. Not real inspiring, but a start.