You’re the boss, Brandice

Ballerinas, Meltdowns, and a Little Lesson in Stress Management

Friday night, Ben came home from work a little early so we could all go to Aidan’s rehearsal for her Ballet Recital. We got there on time, got dressed, and waited patiently for her turn to practice. The whole thing went off without any problems. She did her whole dance WITHOUT me behind the curtain. I was so excited! I thought, I am actually going to get to watch this from the audience this year! She was very proud of herself, and very excited and could not wait until she got to go back the next day and do her dance for everyone!

Afterwards, we went and got a little bite to eat, and then ran into a couple of stores for some things we needed. On the way home, we turned onto our street, and 2 houses away from our house, the belt on our car broke again. Ben pushed us into the driveway with his mighty strength of 10 men. We came inside and tried to not get to stressed and just accept the fact that we are going to take the van to the mechanic.

Saturday rolls around, and we find out its going to cost anywhere from $400-$800 to get the van fixed. Again, we try not to panic. What are stimulus rebates for anyway?

That evening, everyone got dressed. Aidan even managed not to mess her hair up to much on the way to the recital. When I fixed it, it was even cuter than before. She even asked me if she could wear make up. I SAID “YES!”

OH! I forgot about the part where my dad called to tell me he would be leaving as soon as Aidan’s dance was over, so he could go to the ER. He had fallen off of his horse, and hurt his shoulder pretty bad. He was very intent on seeing Aidan’s dance, he’s a good grandpa.

After the intermission the boys fell apart. They thought that intermission meant OVER. Zion was crying and it was time for Aidan’s dance. A friend volunteered to take him outside behind the stage, so he could play. That made him more upset, and Aidan witnessed him crying on the way out the back door. THAT upset her, and then they called me backstage…then, right when she was suppose to march out…she walked maybe 2 steps on the stage and turned around and had a complete meltdown. She didn’t like the fact that her brother was upset.

I was really overtired at this point, and almost cried. I’m not sure why, but I was sad that she didn’t dance. Not because I am one of those pushy moms, I was just sad…OR SUPER HORMONAL. She isn’t sad at all that she didn’t dance. She got to dress up in her cool purple costume, and have “Cinderella Hair” and wear makeup. She had a great time. It’s interesting how kids respond to things sometimes.

When we got back home, I realized I had misplaced the checkbook. Which made all the irrational thoughts run through my head….

“it’s stolen and someone is spending all of our money and what are we going to do now…?”

I realized I needed a nap, so I went to sleep. This morning, I felt much better. When I wasn’t looking, I found the checkbook! HOORAY!

The End….to a LONG WEEKEND.

Then there was Saturday

Saturday morning I got up early to go to a yard sale (or tag sale) that was going to be made up of 20 FAMILIES. I was super excited about this. Then of course I was super let down when I got there. Anytime an AD in the paper says, HUGE yard sale or anything similar, don’t fall for it. I am one of those who likes to believe the best in people and no matter how many times I am tricked by it, I will be tricked by it again. You don’t have to though. I did find the movie SIXTEEN CANDLES on VHS and that made it worth it.

After going to a couple other places, I came home to get ready for a wedding. It was the most awesome wedding ever. It was outside, by the river and the weather was perfect. Lots of people from my church were there, and lots of my closest friends, I could not have been happier. Well, I would have most definitely been happier if Mia could have come into town. There were lots of other children there, so my children had a blast! My friend Ben had tried to keep Aidan from running off somewhere, and said something to her about coming back. She thought he wanted to dance with her, so she wouldn’t go near him. She came up to me and said, MOMMY! TELL BEN I DON’T WANT TO DANCE!

Lots of people were in from out-of-town. When I first got there, one person I hadn’t seen in a while came up to me. In his very bold voice he says, BRANDICE! LOOK AT YOU! YOU LOOK PROLIFIC! I just smiled and said, THANKS. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I had never heard that word before. When we got home, Ben looked it up in the dictionary. He was sitting there reading, and all the sudden he starts laughing. Then he read the definition to me.

prolific-producing offspring, young, fruit, etc., abundantly; highly fruitful

I thought it was awesome. It made me laugh, and it made me laugh hard.

Fab Friday

Friday, I was DYING to get out of the house. I called my brother-in-law and tricked him into coming over with his kids to watch mine, by trick I mean, I asked him. He’s real easy. Then I called my husband and told him that I WOULD LOVE TO GO OUT ON A DATE, and THANKS FOR ASKING.  He replied with a very sad, BRANDICE, DO WE HAVE A SITTER FOR THE KIDS? That’s when I said, YES, NOW HURRY HOME, and he did.

We went to Outback, and I had Coconut Shrimp and a very fun server. Oh, and of course we had the Spinach Artichoke dip.

Afterwards, we stopped by some friends house. It was really good to see everyone, and they all treated me extra nice because I am pregnant. There was lots of, OH, SORRY ABOUT THAT and CAN I GET YOU SOME WATER? and DO YOU WANT ICE WITH THAT? and the occasional, WOULD YOU LIKE A BEER? followed by, OH YEAH, YOU CAN’T DRINK BEER, and then they would laugh. That made me happy. I love it when my friends give me a hard time :)

Wacky Waynesboro

I never know what to expect these days when I go for my check-ups. My mom came up today and took me, along with the kids, to see my midwife. The kids and mom played in the family room while I had my appointment. The family room is a fun room full of toys and books and one of those little orange cars that my kids ALWAYS fight over.

As you enter the Maternity Center there is a tree mural painted on the wall. The tree is covered with paper leaves that have pictures of the babies that have been born there, along with their names and birth weights. Zion’s picture is there. I was showing it to the kids, and Aidan said, “What happened to him?!” I laughed and said, “He was born!” The waiting room laughed.

Afterwards, mom treated us to second breakfast at McDonalds. I was sitting in the booth with the kids, when Andrew spotted an older gentleman wearing a hat. Andrew yelled, “COWBOY!” Then the man started talking to us. Andrew introduced himself, and Zion told him who Aidan was. Then the man spoke to me and said, “You only have three, huh?” The table was covering my belly, so he couldn’t tell I was expecting #4. I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or what, so I wasn’t sure how to approach the situation.

Me: yes, I have three.

Man in Hat: I have 10!

Me: [sighs of relief because I am not going to get lectured about having too many children] Well, I am pregnant, 4 is good right?

Man in Hat: Yeah, 4 is a good start. [ he points to Zion] You know, when he is 40, white Caucasians will only be 9% of the population because no one is having children.

This is the point where everything came to a screeching halt. I wasn’t sure how to respond to the guy, because I didn’t know where he was coming from. I sort of spaced out when he said that trying to think of how to respond to his statement, so he turned and walked away. It just seemed racist to me. I don’t want anyones race to dwindle away, I understand kind of what he was saying. It just seemed like there was more to the statement. I do realize that there may have been nothing to it. Maybe he just likes statistics. It definitely threw me.

Once Again

I don’t know where yet, but it seems we will be moving. I do know one thing, if I have any say in the situation it will be soon. I want to be settled before the baby comes.

I’m off to pack.

Time Flys

On Thursday, I will be 6 months pregnant. I cannot believe that the baby will be here in about 3 months!

We all have colds, I am super emotional, and I just want to crawl back in bed and go to sleep.

Friday Morning Ramblings

Yesterday was a hard day. We were all dressed, about to go out the door to run some much needed errands, when Aidan puked all over the floor. If you read my blog last week, you’ll remember that I got in the car on Tuesday, and a belt broke. I never made it out of the driveway. Apparently I am not suppose to go anywhere :)

She was sick for most of the day, but by bedtime, she was feeling much better. She seems fine today too. I am waiting on the boys to puke now, but I am sure they’re going to wait until we are walking out the door to my nieces party in the morning.

ALSO, there is talk in our house of moving. Which has been brought up a little bit in the past, but he is sounding rather serious. We like the house we’re in. We are renting with the option to buy. Ben is thinking he wants to find the cheapest place to rent we can, and live there for a couple of years and SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! I I think I am ok with that. It seems like the natural thing to do, we always move right before we have a child. It’s our calling card :) As of now, it is just talk. We’ll see what happens.