Can we say "BUSTED!!"

Sometimes as hard as you try your kids do things that.... well... give away the farm so to speak.

Now lets just say that I like to spend some time on the computer. Right. Let's just say.
Addie and I have gotten into a bit of a routine that after breakfast we go downstairs for her to play and I check in on my facebook addiction. It's a well laid out plan that benefits everyone. Addie gets to play with all of the toys and I get to supervise.

I guess because Big Daddy isn't home daily when this goes on he didn't realize how rigid our routine could be. But Addie speechlessly informed him.

This morning after being awoken boy Joseph saying that he elbowed Trent in the face and there was blood. We all got up and were sitting around the kitchen table having breakfast. Thank you Eggo. Oh and for the record, Trent was OK. There was in fact some blood and little bit of a split lip...but nothing major. Have kids, you'll soo realize that if the blood isn't actually squirting out profusely, it isn't 'major'.

After breakfast Big Daddy was cleaning up the dishes and the kids were in the living room playing. I refilled my coffee cup and was standing in the hallway. Miss Addie spotted me and instantly ran to the basement door in anticipation that I would open it and we would head downstairs for our morning rituals.

That in itself tipped off Big Daddy and he asked if that was our routine since she seemed to know it so well. I couldn't hide it any longer could I.

It's just one of those things about parenthood. Your kids can tell you so much without ever speaking a word.

Namesake

Once you have a child you become Mom. Or some version of it, Mommy, Mother, Ma, or Mama. This name becomes second nature before you even realize it. Especially once your child is of the age when they can actually call you than name repeatedly themselves. Actually to be quite honest there are times when it comes at you over and over when you try to block it out.
Say in the midst of an important phone call with a little boy standing next to you saying "momomommomomomomom MOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM.....Momomomomomomomomom MOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!! Mom! Mom! Mom!!!!" Generally this goes on the whole duration of the phone call with a little bit of jumping up and down or some foot stomping.

However, it becomes so second nature that when your in a place with a lot of children and one of them cries "Mom!!" you and 18 other Moms turn your heads to see if that cry belongs to you. Or you simply reply before knowing you weren't the said Mom that was being beckoned.

Regardless, when the phone rings at 8:14am and it is a strange cell phone number showing up on the call display and you still answer anyways
"Hello"
some guy sounding about 20ish says
"Hi Mom!"
You reply "Hi!" with a bit of enthusiasm before you realize that you aren't his Mama and you try to cover with a polite "I think you have the wrong number" and he is all confused "oohh, thanks bye"

That's how my morning started anyways. I am still laughing. Poor guy. I know time flies when you have children and I know I wasn't fully awake yet. But what on earth made me think I had a 20 year old son? I'm only 24!.

Forgetful much?

I really do find that after having children my memory isn't what it used to be. Give me people, names, faces and facts about those people's lives and I can remember them like my middle name. But give me a task and I am bound to forget if I don't write it down.

Just ask Big Daddy. He gets more than frustrated with me when he asks me to do something like say.... call the bank. Days and days go by and he comes home every night and asks me "did you call the bank today?" The answer was generally a "well, I forgot because...."
Big Daddy now knows to write this stuff down for me. Even then it is hit and miss.

But in general I do find I remember the important things, picking kids up, dropping them off, diaper changes, feeding them. Those kinds of things.

However, the last few days have been horrible. I don't know what my damage is? The other day I had started painting Addie's room. I was working away getting the walls prepared and it was around 1pm and my Mom called. While talking with her it dawned on me that I had to pick up Joseph after school. Until that moment I had been totally oblivious to the fact and had something not happened to shake me out of that mode I probably wouldn't have thought about it at all. It was the weirdest thing as my days Monday thru Friday revolve around picking up the kids at school. I guess it is a really good thing that the rule for our family is that if someone isn't there to pick you up after school you go to the program (schools in-house after school daycare). Joseph is spectacular with this rule, too much so some days.

So, I was just getting over my weird feeling of almost forgetting all about picking up Joseph when today's incident happened. I took the boys to school. I got Trent into the preschool room, got his shoes on and his cup out. We smooched good-bye and I was off. I chatted in the hallway with another Mom and headed out to the van, I got into the drivers seat and got all comfy and thought "this is weird, why is this weird?" Unbeknownst to me I was still holding Addie! Like how does that happen? I had totally forgotten to put Ad in her car seat. It was the weirdest feeling. I mean thankfully I didn't do something really dumb like leave her in the preschool room, or drive away with her on my lap. But jeez.

I hope that at the end of the day this is all worth it and my kids are really really smart because I think each one of them has sucked out 1/3 of my brain. Thus, leaving me with pretty much nothing left upstairs. Some days, it is just a hat-rack.