288 different directions

sometimes i feel like i am going crazy, and so i started to analyze my life and came up with some interesting facts...

let's suppose that a child needs my attention approxiately every 10 minutes. could be they need the play-doh, or a referee, or a band-aid. maybe it is just to touch base, or a kiss, or probably more likely to ask if they can play wii (which they know they can't until the weekends and even then they have to earn time by reading but they still ask...)

so that's 6 "mommy's" per hour, and of course any request is initiated by a drawn out "mooooooooo-mmmmmmmyyyyyyy" - and generally spoken at a loud decibel from a room other than where i am. multiply that by four children and we have 24 per hour. and let's suppose that i am with them, at least in the summer, for about 12 hours a day, 8a.m. until 8p.m. so we multiply 24 by 12 hours and we have 288 times a day that someone is needing me.

no wonder i feel like i am being pulled in a 100 different directions. in fact, on any given day i am being pulled in 288 different directions. so, i have debated whether to unplug the answering machine or just to say this, "hi. you have reached the crazy house. currently, i am on the #182 mommy of the day, 106 more to go. by the time i get this message i will have absolutely no interest in anything or anyone. so if you really need me, try another time. guaranteed, i will not call you back."

so yes, life is crazy. but we are having fun too. the 3 older kids are into sleepovers these days and seem to have suddenly discovered that they can be great friends. on any given night they are sleeping in each other's rooms. last night, it was all three of them in josiah's room. there they are, all in line on the floor just being buddies (never mind that josiah has two beds in his room, they like the floor).

lydia is blossoming and talking more and more. today she was dressing herself (yes, she is potty trained AND can dress herself!) and the hood on the back of her shirt was covering her face. much to my surprise she says, "where's lydia?...boo!" whoa - where did that come from!

so life is good. not too many moments sitting at the bottom of the pool. we are walking on our tiptoes these days. one thing we haven't done is take a lot of pictures, so i promise to do that soon and post them. since we don't always manage to get dressed i will have to plan before i get the camera out...

only two more weeks of summer - hard to believe we will have a 2nd grader and a kindergartener. yikes, where does time go?