Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Why do I only seem to get caught up on Sundays here?

What a day. Bill worked at the Fire Department today. He just got home after running to Walmart. I have cleaned the dining room three times, the kitchen, the inside of the refrigerator, my office and a few other places. I am sitting down, but I am still doing stuff. I promised myself that today I would sit and enjoy my People magazine. I always feel like if I get it all done today, then tomorrow I can relax. It's been how many years I have said that to myself? I still have tons to do the next day. I loved my parents with all my heart, but keeping busy 24/7 has been a curse that they passed on to me. However, I never see it changing!

So this week in review. Monday was a regular school day. Bill got an opportunity to work at the Fire Dept. for the day, so I stayed home with Manny. I didn't get to swim. Not a big deal, but I like to get there daily. It's more important that Bill works though, so truly I did not mind. Bill came home after 6:00 pm, but was actually on call for the rest of the night till 6:00 am. I took Ping to Daisys in the evening. A fairly busy day with the three, but manageable.

On Tuesday, I dropped the girls off at school and took Bill to the hospital to have a colonoscopy. I then left him there and went home for a short time and then back out to get Yamira at school. Then I had to go back to the hospital to get Bill. A lot of running around in a short period of time. I did a quick errand with Bill and the kids staying in the car and then we headed home. Bill went straight to bed as he was tired. I took Yamira and we went to get Ping at school. We then went to skating. I don't think I was ever home more than 15 minutes at a time this day. I hate days like that. I feel like I don't get anything done. I do, but it's all driving around. So that is not really tangible to me.

On Wednesday, I also couldn't go swimming. I could not go yesterday because of Bill's test, so that was day two of not being able to go. I was due to help out in Ping's classroom in the morning, so now we are at day three of no exercise. Not the worst thing, but I really like to be in that routine. I find it helpful. I do enjoy helping out in Ping's class though, so I am happy to go. I love getting to know her friends and classmates. Her teacher is a dear. I left there around 10:30 am and headed home for a few minutes. Then I had to go back to the school to get Yamira at 11:00 am. We then had a fun play date at Ashly's home. Yamira loves seeing her best friends Sophie and Skylar. So we went over there and the girls made pizza. They loved that. Then they played and had some delicious cookies that Bridget made. Ashly is such a relaxed mom. Wish I could be that way. I have tried, but so far it's not working!!!! Before we knew it, the time was late and I had to leave and get Yamira home to change into her leotard for gymnastics. Bill and I literally ripped the clothes off of her and redressed her because Bill had to grab Ping at 3:00 pm and it was 10 minutes till 3:00 pm. So they headed off to get Ping and then went to gymnastics. It was nice to be home for a short time without the girls to get a few things done. Manny was here with me, but he was busy playing for the most part.

I had decided that Thursday was my day to go swimming. Well Mother Nature said no. She clearly wanted me and the kids to stay home because she decided to snow and snow hard! It was an okay day. It's hard being home with the three. They have so much energy. They need to be moving constantly. Ping went out and played in the snow while Daddy used the snow blower. The snow is too high for Manny. He gets frustrated and Yamira wants to go out but she can not handle the cold for more than 5 minutes. I got them both a project and they were pleased as punch! Once Ping came in, she was frozen stiff. Bill went off to the Fire Department for a few hours and so we did some craft projects and they watched some movies. I worked at my desk. Don't ask me what I did. I don't even get where I get all this stuff to do. In the afternoon when Bill came home, we ran to do a few errands. He drove, the kids sat in the back and I did all the running in. He then had to go back to the Fire Department to set up for a wake and funeral. I put the kids to bed and that was that. I passed out in my chair when I finally sat around 10:00 pm or so. I have to say that the day was okay, but my social worker was really rude to me and I find that unacceptable, especially since she accused me of something I had nothing to do with.

On Friday, I took the kids to school and finally got to swimming. It felt good to be there. I then headed to the store to return something and then home to shower. Bill had left at 11:00 am or so because he had to go to the wake for the entire day and evening. Manny and I picked up Yamira from school at 11:00 am and off we went for a therapy appointment for Miss Yamira. Manny played in the waiting room. I tried to read my favorite magazine, but it didn't happen. Shocker. Once home and fed, Manny napped. We had a 4:00 pm appointment with our social worker from DCF which was very frustrating. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about a few things. Crazy stuff for sure. One thing was that she disapproved of us doing an addition before we finalized the adoption. She thought it was too disruptive. Seriously? Like finalizing is going to bring different children? If they were disturbed before, they will be disturbed after. However, it has not been disruptive at all yet. Who does she think she is for telling me when I can do an addition. That is stepping over the line. There was a lot more to this awful meeting, but I don't want to write a novel here!

Once our worker was gone, I put the three kids in the car and headed to the wake. Bill watched the three kids in a private room while I paid my respects. It worked out fine. I brought the kids home, fed them and put them in bed. Bill got home around 9:00 pm or so. I was supposed to go to a book party, but had to cancel due to Bill being gone all day and night.

On Saturday, my neighbor came over to watch the kids so that I could go to the funeral. Bill left at 8:30 am and so I got myself ready, the kids ready with play stuff and got their lunches made. Once my wonderful neighbor showed, I headed out to the funeral. I wasn't able to go to the cemetery because my neighbor had plans and we did as well. The funeral was beautifully done. Once home, I got the kids ready and we headed off to the Dumpling group at WPI. The kids had a great time. I always love going, but it's very, very hard to go with three kids. Ping is older and wants to do the projects. The two younger want to run around like crazy kids. It's hard to manage them all. I did get some help from the older daughters of some dear friends. I was so grateful. I just felt awful as I had to keep yelling at the two youngest ones. I am sure they all thought I was a crazy lady. Hell, they probably thought I was crazy before this. The Chinese students are fabulous and helped out as well. However, even they were getting frustrated with the balloon punching and such. I was grateful for anyone that helped though, truly. I did not want to miss it for Ping's sake and mine. I enjoy being with others who have adopted and I love the students. They are phenomenal. They are so giving of their time. Ping made some Origami cranes and candy boxes. Fun. Then they had two little girls come in and show us their Chinese dancing. Then we did some Chinese New Year signs. At that point though, the little ones were off the walls, so we had to leave.

Once I got home, Bill was there so I told him the kids were all his. I needed a break. So I came in my office and got caught up with some things. Felt good. We got the kids fed and into bed. Before I knew it, the exhaustion I had turned into energy. I was able to sit here for a few hours doing stuff. Where that energy came from is beyond me as I was thoroughly exhausted when I came home from the Dumplings. I even sat at 11:00 pm and watched a movie.

Today Bill took the girls to Sunday School and then headed off to work. He worked at the station today. It's an abnormal week as he does not usually work at the Fire Department. I was home with the kids for the day. I think I mentioned earlier that all I did was organize and clean and clean and organize. The kids played all afternoon and watched a movie with some popcorn late this afternoon. The two youngest went to bed because they were pretty beastly for most of the day. Ping stayed up so she could hang out with Daddy. As for me, I am still at the blessed computer. I have been here catching up and on FB and email. I have gotten a ton done and I am very pleased about that. I am watching a Hallmark movie at 9:00 pm though, so I best post some pictures and get out of here.

Have a wonderful week.

Mama Out!!!!!!!!!