I'm Not Cut Out For This

Sometimes I feel like I am not cut out for motherhood. I am impatient, easily agitated and I hate chaotic situations. I have definitely improved on those faults of mine since the kids came along. However, I naturally am inclined to be that way, so I do struggle at times. There ARE people out there who love, thrive and are immune to the chaos that kids bring. Amy, our nanny and my sister Megan are two of those people. I write this to set up telling you about a fun outing with the kids on Tuesday.

Since it's summer, the kids are early risers. They both get up about 645. Curran has always gotten up early; Brayden the narcoleptic will often sleep to 830 or 9 in the winter months. I had the bright idea to take them to Huntington Beach on Tuesday morning. I had never taken the kids there, but they love the beach up at Catawba so I figured it'd be a good morning activity. It wasn't.




So we get to the beach and I have the following: 2 beach chairs, an overstuffed beach bag, and a bag of sand toys. Oh and 2 toddlers. Then as we approach the shore, I realize that we have to go down about 5 flights of stairs to get down to the actual beach. Complete nightmare going down, I am already dreading the trip up.

We play at the beach for about an hour and a half, then the kids of course pick the most dangerous activity that they want to do - play on the rocks. I tell them no and they both have full blown temper tantrums, complete with body arches and donkey kicks. I decide it's time to leave.

I pack up all our crap and start attempting the climb up the stairs. I am holding Curran's hand and Brayden is walking by himself, carrying the one baby beach chair in front of me. Well the kids start to get tired and begin crying. Then, Brayden drops the lawn chair and it goes all the way to THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS. I wanted to kill myself. Now I have to go back down to the bottom, now carrying Curran and try to wrangle a crying Brayden. Just shoot me.

Then I finally get them in the car and realize when I am halfway home that I left the beach bag on the ground by the car. Outstanding!

On to better things - last weekend we went to Chicago and had a great time! Our flight was cancelled going to Chicago, so we had to drive. Yuck. This weekend I am kid free, Steve is taking the kids to Catawba and I am going to Columbus for Colleen's baby shower. I am sure they will be spending lots of time on the golfcart.

So we got Brayden a toy weedwacker. He is obsessed with the grown-up version. So it came yesterday and he was so excited. He went outside to play with it for about 5 minutes, then he came in crying, telling me it didn't work, that it was "bowkeen". I explained to him that he was too little for one that cuts, and that he should just pretend. Well, he was having none of it and went into the garage to stare and obsess over the adult weedwacker hanging in the garage. Curran, however, loved the weedwacker and the safety glass that came with it.