Seems like I do a version of this post every year. The calendar flips, but not much changes. The kids are still fighting like crazy, the house is a mess, I'm dreading Monday, and the Bills are blowing another game (a playoff one, this time, but still). Even still, I guess all things considered it's been a good two weeks. We had a great Christmas, we had some quality extended family time, toys have actually been played with, and we even snuck in a movie and some Glow Golf. But forgive me for a being a bit bummed about the other stuff above.
The kid battles have been brutal. The boys literally will not stay away from each other and it never ends well. Jacob is constantly picking on Carter, and Carter is constantly fighting back in some sort of physical or verbal way that infuriates Jacob even worse. It's a terrible cycle, and neither will give in or even admit that they're part of the problem. I honestly don't think it will get any better until we start family therapy, and maybe someone else telling them that might help get through to them. Jacob thinks he's just joking around, but Carter never takes it that way. I think it's a combination of being too young to fully grasp sarcasm and tiring of the constant barrage of shots Jacob takes at him. He's just over it and it would not be funny to him under any circumstances. I tried to explain it to Jacob that if a guy in the office makes seemingly innocent but still uncomfortable comments to a woman (saying she's pretty or expressing interest), if the woman finds it uncomfortable, it automatically becomes something that should not be said. So, if Carter is taking his comments as offensive, then he needs to stop. Maybe Carter is overreacting a little, but it happens constantly and at this point it's like a PTSD reaction. It's awful, but Jacob can't help himself, especially in the morning before he takes his medicine, which regulates his decision making a little. I'm tired of yelling, and so is Craig, but letting them work it out themselves doesn't work either. Someone gets hurt or comes whining to us about being wronged and we don't know who started it so it's hard to punish both over and over again. We're just over it but there's no end in sight right now.
In other news, it wouldn't be a Christmas break without another reorganization effort. I went through and scooped up a few toys to try to sell, but there are still more around that I know could probably go. Hopefully soon. Additionally, Carter mentioned to me a few weeks back that he wanted to get rid of the table in his room. He rarely sat at the table, but instead it became a catch-all for all sorts of stuff--there were army guys camped out underneath and piles of trinkets and books on top. It was a mess and admittedly made me a little anxious to even look at. His room is small, so the idea of taking out the table wasn't awful, and over the last couple weeks it grew on me. I realized that if we replaced it with a shelf we could move overflow books out from a crate they were shelved on, which would release even more floor space, and toy overflow could probably fit on the shelf, too. It did mean it was time to pack up the Mega Bloks in a storage bin since they lived in a fabric bin underneath (they're now in the crawl space but still accessible if we desperately needed them), but it felt good to clear everything out and see a nice open space. I moved the table to the basement, where it's now holding the Lego tabletop my mom had given us to use with it years ago. It takes up no more space than the tabletop did sitting on the floor, so that's nice. Carter even sat at it longer tonight than I think he ever did when it was in his room.
I bought a bookshelf with Walmart's next day delivery, but when it showed up it was actually a bit smaller than I thought (I guess I didn't look closely at the dimensions--I thought it was similar to one I got Jacob last year), and the color was different than I expected. At that point my plan started changing. I decided I could move our office bookshelf (also a three-shelf, which I've had since I moved out on my own) to Carter's room since the wood matched better, and use the new one in the office. The books definitely didn't fit as well on the new one, but it turned out fine. My old one was actually narrower (so not as good for kid books), but it definitely had a lot of room and fit the space even better than the other one. So it all worked out just fine in the end, and Carter has much more floor space.
Next up (if I can get Craig to work on it tomorrow) is organizing Carter's Legos, which are all over the place. Bits and pieces are in his room and all over the living room toy area, and many haven't been touched in ages, so they're starting to get on my nerves. If we can get those under control, that will help things feel a bit less messy. Next weekend I'll take down the Christmas stuff, at which point I will bring up my old TV stand (also an original to my first apartment), which will replace our old coffee table (which is now once again our coffee table) as the toy table in the living room. Adding to the urgency to rethink the toy situation was that Jacob actually gave Carter all of his old Playmobil stuff, which had been taking up space in his closet, and I think the two castle towers will fit nicely in the "speaker" sections of the TV stand. More can go up top, and little bins should fit in the DVD/VCR/cable box spots. Once that's set up, we can reconsider what else should move around. Carter has some extra space in his closet and on his new shelves now, too, but we'll see. At least it makes me feel like I have a project that makes progress.
I feel like I got around to most of the pesky projects I needed to do while I was home. The house itself needs a cleaning, but that's not happening during this break. We have church and two basketball games tomorrow, so time is limited and I'm definitely not spending it doing that. I'm seriously dreading Monday morning, with getting back to early wake-ups and lunch packing. Carter has been routinely sleeping until after 10 lately (!), so his 7:30 wakeups will be challenging, even if we do manage to get back to a normal bedtime. Jacob is dreading getting back to school, too, so I'm sure he'll be lovely in the morning. I have a hellish January waiting for me at work, with lots of projects that need to be done ASAP--two rounds of sending out thank you gifts, one major mailing for multiple units, and one smaller mailing, just to name a few things. It's good to be busy, but maybe not like that. It might make the month go quicker, though, which is always a good thing in January. And before we know it, Carter's birthday will be here! And yes, I'm already scouting gifts for him--though hopefully light on the toy side since we seem to have plenty of those. I can start planning his party (and cake) pretty soon, too. Anything to make winter go faster.
Speaking of which, Jacob gets back to basketball tomorrow, and Carter starts practice next week for his Upward team. That should be interesting since he's very competitive but hates to lose. Let's hope he learns some sportsmanship...quickly. Those games could be a little painful, however, with 6 and 7-year-olds still trying to master dribbling, let alone shooting. We're also a bit spoiled after watching Jacob's team play, so this might feel sllloooowww. We will definitely get our fill of basketball over the next couple months with both boys playing, and then transition right into Jacob's travel season.
Between the holiday, time with my family, and three half days of work, we haven't really had sustained down time with many full days at home. Added to the mix yesterday was that Jacob's annual brain study, which was a full day. We got there at 10am and didn't leave until nearly 5pm. The highlight was our Chipotle lunch, but filling out surveys for a couple hours, and then spending two more hours reviewing more than 300 emails (mostly gift notifications, which is a good thing) was exhausting. It's two hours less that I'll have to spend doing it Monday, but still--it was rough. However, I can tell that I've rested up pretty appropriately over this break, though I'm still not at the point where I'm looking forward to Monday's structure. It takes a lot to get me to that point, though. This time of year I tend to have flashbacks to my unemployment and my maternity leave, which were both during cold, snowy winters and represent the only extended periods of time that I've had at home in this house. I crave that kind of down time, even though each of those experiences had stresses and busyness of their own. I guess I just do better with some structure, but not a lot? But I can tell that I'm feeling better--I even managed to get on the elliptical twice in three days, which hasn't happened in ages. Let's hope I can keep that up. I have a lot of catching up to do on the fitness front after two months of sickness and a month of Christmas eating. But after not taking extended vacation over the summer, I'm pretty sure I was overdue for a true break, and this fit the bill despite its interruptions.
So, the Bills' season is over (OT loss) and so are the holidays, and real life reality is coming quickly. Not exactly the best feeling on this Saturday night, but better to have it still be Saturday than Sunday! I know we need to get back in the groove, for many reasons, and I'm thankful for the time we've had...but I'm still not ready.
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