Code Orange

David is angry with me this morning. This is how I can tell:




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Divide and Conquer

My children are driving me crazy.

No, that's not right.

My children are driving me fucking crazy.

We've been keeping fairly busy, with soccer and swimming lessons and dance and friends and outings. It's just so hot. It seems to bring out the best in all of us. And Kate wants to be constantly entertained. And David wants to sit in front of the tv. And we are all home, so there's a constant mess that we are tripping over and stepping over.

Yesterday, I had had enough. David and Kate spent all morning fighting and bickering.

Mike decided that he wanted to go to Buffalo to see the Mets farm team play. I did not. So, we divided and conquered. The boys went to the game, the girls stayed home.

Kate and I ordered a pizza, watched So You Think You Can Dance, had our own dance party, watched Tom Jerry. And giggled, lots and lots of giggling.

Kate: Girls night is awesome.

And, it was.


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Your songs remind me of swimming

Our summer so far has been a mixture of bangs and whimpers, the unexpected and the monotonous.

The first week was a bit of catch up - filing, cleaning.

That first Saturday, we had planned to go see the movie Brave, starting our summer off with a bang. Kate cried the whole morning, refusing to go. The boys finally decided to go by themselves.

As they were getting ready to go, Kate whispered: Okay, mommy. When they go, we are going to go too and meet them there.

Me: Um, what?
Kate: We are going to surprise the boys at the movie.
Me: Um, what?

We rushed around the house after they left and were able to meet them there.

David: What the?

That was unexpected. And a good surprise.

My brother, sister-in-law and niece were visiting last week from Washington (the state, not the capital). We spent some time with them in Albany with my mother and Long Island with my father. My brother Conor and his girlfriend Meredith joined us on Long Island. There's something so comforting about being around family. It had been the first time we had ALL been together in about 2 years. We swam almost every day. And barbecued. And laughed, harder than I've laughed in a long time.

This week feels like catch up again - cleaning and laundry, some napping and reading, soccer and swimming lessons.

We are all home together this summer, all summer. Some days work, some don't. The trick is finding a good balance between family time and alone time.

And, hopefully figuring that out before August.

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