Behind the Bubbles

Is it the weekend yet????  I don't think I can adequately describe the fatigue/frustration/work that I  alone we have been tackling over here for the past 7 months week .  This switching rooms thing is kicking our tails and attempting to take our names, but we will not be overcome!  Does that sound defiant??  Because I want it to, but I'm just so tired I don't know that I have it in me to actually pull defiant off.  One more hiccup in the road and I just may throw the towel in and take a nap.  All day.  Every day.  Ok, I kid, I kid. Sort of.  I'm (fairly) confident that at some point, we will win this war and I will sleep well once again.  (At least until October.  When all bets are off and my sleep is no longer defined as "well.") Anyway, to sum it all up, I feel as if my house, therefore my life, is in utter chaos right now.  In case you're newly reading this blog, you should know that despite my best efforts to be a woman who is well balanced, I really do love/need/obsess over things that are organized and tidy.  It's a fault, I'll admit it, but after 30 years I've just accepted it.  It's the way I'm wired.  There is a good reason why I carry a baggie of multi-colored, thin line sharpies where ever I go.  Heaven help me if I have to resort to ball-point.  You may think I'm kidding about that, but not really.  I suppose it's not a good reason, more like an obsessive compulsive reason.  Ok seriously, I digress...Back to my daily freakout project...

I'm sure it's the hormones, the intense nesting sensation and the fact that I feel as if I could deliver at any minute, but I am SO READY to get these rooms done!  In my head, this was supposed to take a long weekend, but in reality it's been more like weeks and I'd say we're at about step 6 of 10.  In other words, we have lots of work still to go.  Good things are happening, purging is taking place but I just might be dead by the time it's all done.  And that would be tragic if I couldn't enjoy the new "system", wouldn't it??  Just when I think I've got all my ducks in a row, one of them decides to jump ship.  Usually it's a little red head who goes by the name of "Ava." Yep, the cutes ones are often the naughty ones, aren't they??  I'm not sure I can hardly begin to describe the "stage" we're barely surviving working through right now.  Let's just say she's "all girl," therefore all emotion and strong will, mixed with highly  irrational and demanding behavior at any given time.  For no reason at all.  In other words, we've seen more foot stomping, lip pouting and hysterical crying than a bad episode of Jersey Shore.  I swear we went right from 15 months to 13 in about a week.  And I'm sure it has nothing to do with being at the tail end of a busy summer, her recent lack of schedule or the fact that her Mom is currently neurotic.  And eating oreos in order to cope at all hours of the day.  (Just to clarify, her Mom eats the oreos, not her.)  No, I'm sure that's not it....

Anyway, to say these last few days have been challenging is to grossly underscore the complexity of raising a daughter.  One minute I'm singing to her like Mary Poppins and she's reacting like a good Disney girl and then the next minute we've fast forwarded to junior high and we're waging the classic power struggle with one another.  Perhaps I'm overreacting, it is late and I have no business being up, let alone venting to the world wide web.  She's still delightful and darling and ours, but if I'm going to be honest, she's a lot more like me one of us than I was prepared for.  And that is a terrifying thought!

So, before I write a letter to dr. phil about the psychology of that, I'm leaving you with some sweet little pictures of a girl and her daddy, enjoying an early morning together, blowing bubbles.  Judging from the darling little smile on her face and her curious expressions, you'd never know that she'd just had an epic meltdown over the sight of the bubbles and the thought that we might not play with them, RIGHT THEN AND THERE, as she hoped.  You'd also never know that her Mother was inside, looking for the nearest exit and wondering what time would be an appropriate time for a mid-morning nap.  For everyone!  No, these are simply the shots of classic childhood moment...Enjoy :)

I'm going to bed, where I should have gone 2 hours ago...

Super sweet huh??  I suppose :)