Bye Bye Nana, Hello My Reality!

It's been a somber day in the Holland household today. Nana flew back to Arkansas today. She was here visiting for a week. We've had such a good time with her. She and I got to spend more time together this time than in past visits. Since the girls were both in school, she and I did a lot of shopping and eating lunch out. It was so much fun! The girls have really enjoyed her too.

I have decided that I need Nanny. A live-in one! This past week has been so nice having Mom do my laundry, pick up after the girls, help me cook and then clean up the kitchen. She probably got home this afternoon and crashed from exhaustion.

In addition to helping me out around the house, she also made 4 dresses for the girls on Tuesday and Wednesday. They each got a new sundress and also a new dressy "church" dress. They all turned out so cute. I made hair bows and covered headbands to match them. I got on the sewing machine once to sew together two strips of grosgrain ribbon to cover a headband and I had thread coming out of that thing something awful! Looked like a rat's nest when I finished. Also in that one setting I de-threaded/un-threaded (whatever the word is) the sewing machine needle TWICE! Now how does THAT happen?? I still don't know for sure what I was doing wrong. Finally after quite some time I managed to stitch the ribbons together with machine and all ten fingers still in tact-a miracle in itself. The whole episode reassured me that me being a seamstress is not my calling. I'm clueless and a disaster when I touch a sewing machine! But I can make a mean hair bow and headband! ~just don't look at the underside where the stitching is! :)

So, I guess it's back to reality for me. LITERALLY! My live in "Nanny", shopping buddy and doting Mama is gone and Nathan left today as well. He'll be gone until Saturday night. So I'm back to single mommy mode for a while. The girls have nearly done me in today. They are breaking me back in quickly!

Just after leaving the airport this morning, heading back home, I get a call on my cell phone. It's the school nurse. (I'm thinking, "Here we go, reality is setting in all too quickly!") Taylor is in the clinic with a "terrible" tummy ache but doesn't have a fever or anything. I talked to her and told her that she has to go back to class as I am in Orlando and can't come pick her up and her daddy was out of town as well. I sweet talked her into eating lunch and then seeing how she felt. I promised I'd call and check on her as soon as I got home. Her teacher called me this afternoon and said she was doing just fine. Whew! Considering she puked last night in the middle of the night, I felt I had dodged a bullet of possible stomach flu. Actually I think it was what she ate for dinner that upset her tummy last night. That's why I sent her to school in the first place.

I've had Emma home with me all day today. She was pretty good this morning but as the day went on she fluttered back and forth between sweetness and terror. She's been in time out today more times than I can count. I definitely think that the "three's" are going to be much worse than the "two's" were. She is so strong-willed and into EVERYTHING! I have to constantly know exactly where she is and what she's doing at all times. Today I saw her sitting at the dining room table and she told me she was working on her craft. (Her craft is rearranging the pins in the pin cushion Mom had used while sewing.) I opened the refrigerator door to grab a bottled water and when I closed it (THAT QUICK!) I see her with the sewing scissors about to cut the power cord to Mom's sewing machine. I screamed NOOOOOOOO! and went running toward her. Luckily my scream scared her and she dropped the scissors and started crying because I had scared her so. After hiding the scissors and calming her down it was time to go get Taylor at school. On our way to the car, she spots Taylor's Leapster handheld game and wanted to take it with her in the car. I was glad to find something to occupy her time and her mouth while we were in the car. I gave it to her and she threw it, got this terrified look on her face, threw up her arms and started screaming. There was an ant on it. OH MY GOODNESS! So I brushed off the ant and checked it for more. I tried giving it back to her and every time I'd get it close to her it was like I was handing her a snake. She'd scream and wince but then when I'd go to lay it back down in the garage she'd scream and cry WANTING it. AHHHHH! It was a no win situation for me. After five minutes of this back and forth, I finally threw the game down got into the car and let her scream. ~all the way to Taylor's school. Lucky for me it's only a mile down the road! She finally hushed after I threatened to leave her in the car once we got there to pick up Taylor.

Another new thing for her lately has been while we're driving down the road she'll ask "Mama, are there any policemen around?" So I usually say "probably, they're everywhere!" I tell her this because not long ago she used to take her arms out of the straps of her car seat and could literally remove herself from her seat with the belts still buckled! How she manages to do it, I don't know because I make sure the belts are snug on her. She's like some Houdini! 5 point harness, my butt! So back then I told her the police would get her if she got out of her seat or took her arms out while we're driving. So she has sort of become obsessed with wondering where policemen are. ANYWAY...back to my story. Wednesday night we'd gone out to eat and on the way home she kept putting her wet shoes on the back of the seat in front of her and kicking it. I asked her a couple of times to stop and Nana who was sitting back there with her got her feet down a couple of times and told her to not do that. I looked back at her and she was going to put her feet up again and I said "Don't you do it!" She just looked at me and did it again! UGHHH! The nerve of that child!! At that exact moment, my Dad called my cell phone. His ring tone on my cell is a police siren. When we heard it I looked out my window and said "Look Emma, here is the policeman right here and I'm telling him to come and get you for not minding me!" She went ballistic! I figured since she is so brazen she'd not think a thing about it. She started screaming and crying "No, no no! I'll stop! Don't let him get me!" She wouldn't stop screaming and crying, terrified, until I let her hear my Dad's voice on the phone and we all were assuring her that it was just my cell phone, not a police man. I felt terrible after that. Wanting to feel like she got what she deserved for her behavior I still felt so bad for scaring her like that. I also didn't realize she was actually afraid of the police. I'm going to have to change that. I certainly don't want her to fear them. But we did all get a good laugh later at her episode of freaking out.

Among the drama, the crises, the whining and crying and nearly making me lose my mind, my children reminded me tonight of how intelligent and comical they are. How? I'm glad you asked. I couldn't write this blog tonight without telling you about THIS one! I am just amazed some times at how smart they are...tonight Taylor had just gotten out of the shower and Emma was getting ready to get into the tub. So they were both naked in the bathroom. I'd walked out to come into the office to check an email right quick while Taylor was finishing up in there and I hear them talking. Taylor says, "Hey, lets make ourselves be bunny rabbits!" So when I hear this I figure I'm about to be in for a couple of naked children hopping around through the house. No, no. They're much more clever than that. They come into the office where I'm at my computer and say "Look, Mom! We're bunny rabbits!" They both turn around and sticking out of their naked butts are big wads of toilet paper made into balls. -bunny rabbit tails! It was disgustingly humorous. I suddenly forgot about all of the happenings of the day that have pushed me near the edge of insanity. I think they do things like that on purpose...to give me a fresh new start for the night and into the next day.

One more episode before I could get them settled into bed. Buddy went missing. Buddy would be Emma's ratty pink elephant that she sleeps with EVERY night. The one thing we could NEVER do without! I put him in her bed when I came upstairs to get them ready for their shower and bath...thinking I was pretty clever to do that so that I wouldn't be searching for him after I put her in bed. ~as I do nearly every day at nap time and every night as well. Well, what do you know, bed time comes and Buddy is gone. I'm talking M I A...GONE!!!! I can't find that 'dead gum' stinkin' little thing anywhere. I searched and searched every room in the house, even going back down stairs to look. I finally consoled Emma by telling her I'd keep looking and IF I found him I'd bring him to her. On my way back upstairs after searching again downstairs, I reached to turn on a lamp that sits on the landing half way up the stair case. Who do I find, stuck BEHIND the lampshade sandwiched between the shade and the wall? Buddy! I think he got there when one of my precious angels threw him over the balcony trying to make him hit the floor below. They missed and essentially put him in the greatest Buddy hiding place in our entire house. I didn't ask them how it happened. At that point I didn't care. All I cared was to get that child her night-night Buddy and finally be done with the bed time rituals!

Well, I must go now...my TV show is coming on soon and I don't want to miss it!! More stories on the way...