Rough Weekend

Oh.My.Goodness.

This may have been the longest weekend in the history of Chase ever. The kid has hit the terrible 2's hitting, kicking and screaming.

The hitting - as soon as you go to remove him from a situation he begins smacking you. In the head, on the arm... it doesn't matter to him.

The kicking - the back of the seat in the car, under the table at a restaurant, while you are holding him... again, he doesn't care where. Oh and the adorable construction boots for this winter + the kicking = bruising.

And the screaming - I think he is actually performing when he screams. The jazz hands point down to the ground, the head turns to the side, the entire face shows what is about to happen... then the sound. The ear piercing, bring you to your knees scream. It rattles my brain every time.

Now don't get me wrong, he still melts my heart on an hourly basis. He is the same boy that will bump his knee on the wall, ever so lightly, and come running to me pathetically fake crying 'Mommy Tisses'... and who will then announce 'Chase Tisses' and bend down and kiss his own boo boo. The same boy who when we take Riley on the front porch points to the stoop and says 'Mommy sit' with surprising authority for a toddler. The same kid who wants 'oameal' in the morning, 'nogurt' with lunch and 'tooties' for dinner. The very child who runs to help daddy 'gind da beans!' and then simultaneously points to and says 'nose' so he can smell the fresh ground coffee.

I love him so much and he can be so unbelievably cute... and it's a good thing because he's cute and sweet until he isn't. Then it's every man for himself.

Now factor in a dog who lost all sense of what 'holding it' means. I will spare you the icky details but our bedroom carpets have been professionally cleaned and we have deep cleaned the bathroom no less than 4 times this week.

So my child is running a muck. The house suddenly feels like a peed filled sty. We are sleeping on our box spring and mattress in our 'office' with the real risk of being buried by packed boxes. The bed frame is in the garage, our laundry basket and craft table are in the dining room and the recliner is parked in front of the laundry room. It's impossible for me to go out without worrying about Riley messing in the house. We will never own our home and I want my mom.

At my wits end doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling.

So Adam took the reins Saturday morning. Everything was a disaster anyway so we continued with the trend and emptied the spare room. Pulled every single thing (sans the closet because we don't have a month to go through it) out of the room and cleaned it. Wiped the baseboards, swept and mopped... sparkling clean.

Then we really planned out the room, moved everything back in and this is what ended up with:

a much much cosier craft/lounging room. The chair on the left is actually a geriatric chair... you know the one that actually lifts you to a standing position. <> It came with the house so we figured, why not use it! Now we can be in the same room... me crafting and Adam surfing the interhighways. Happiness!

I am also thinking of new ways to make the house seem more ours... at least until we move again. Painting is kind of an option if we want to invest the time and money in painting... and then repainting when we move out. We haven't decided yet. In the meantime I have been looking for good frame deals and we got one today. A large 24 x 36 (I think) frame for our bed room. I am going to fill it with wedding picture (thanks for the idea Townley's!) Also my friend Katrina gave me some great ideas using colored paper and shapes for Chase's room. Oh and I got some fabric to make pillow covers for the couch and a cover for a table in the craft room. And more fabric for baby blankets (wink wink Christine). Oh and some wooden letters to paint for a friends daughter... who really didn't think about having them until I offered to decorate them for her. I want to photograph them and use them to possibly start my own Etsy shop. We'll see though. And I want to make a fall-ish wreath for the door... and a Happy Birthday sign for a little man who will be turning 2 soon. I also have lots of scrapbooking to catch up on.

Bring on the long winter... I'm ready!

Anyway... back to this weekend. The rest of Saturday was ok... thankfully we had a friends house warming party (congrats again Bekah and Chuck!) which distracted Chase for a while... and where we got to interact with adults who don't scream and kick to get attention. At least not that I am aware of ;~)

Sunday we actually got our sorry lazy Christian butts up and went to a church. It had all the makings of a good church but fell short in the worship and sermon areas... and from what I remember, those are important parts. We aren't ruling it out but we are trying somewhere else next week. Of course I ended up hanging out in the nursery with Chase... 15 minutes of straight crying was too much. *sigh* I want Heather (aka Mopette).

After a rough tear filled morning we thought for sure Chase would nap for at least a couple hours... and he might have if it weren't for our neighbor and their lawnmower.

I so badly want to be angry but seriously, with who? The guy who mowed his yard on a beautiful Sunday afternoon? The baby who can't sleep with blades whirling outside his window? SO 45 minute nap with no one to blame... awesome.

I won't even go into the boring details of errands we ran after nap but just know that it ended up with Adam and I speaking to each other as if there wasn't a hysterical screaming toddler on my hip. If anyone in the store judged me or looked cross eyed at me... I couldn't care less because trust me, no one wanted my child to stop screaming more than Adam and I.

True to form though... when he wasn't hysterical, he was as cute as can be. If he wanted my attention he would crane his neck and body around so that he was looking into my face. No tapping, no call for "mommy'... just an eye to beautiful blue eye look. *sigh*

My one huge regret was that I missed Jackson's 1st birthday party. I wanted so badly to be there... I love him and his mama more than words. I just couldn't do it. With Chase being so 'two-ish', a 3 hour road trip may have sent Adam and I over the edge. Plus leaving Riley that long would have been too much for him right now. Ugh... I am just justifying to myself because I hate that I missed it. Jaime, I am so sorry and I hope that Jackson had a wonderful celebration for his first birthday!

So there it is... my incredibly boring long weekend. Now I will watch a little Doogie Howser hosting the Emmy's and then crawl into bed.

Night all!