What happens when you don't blog for a week...

Okay, so I'm sitting here and the kids are taking a nap (except for Noah who is watching a video - and who actually spelled out v-i-d-e-o for me on the stencils, which made me feel really good because I'm been severely lacking on the homeschool front). Anyway, Trouble 1 and Trouble 2 are down for a nap and I've been debating on whether to update my blog or clean the house. It's actually a difficult decision because when you don't blog for a week, you have soooooooo much to tell and it could take a while. On the other hand, if I don't do dishes, then I'm going to have to tell Sim to run by Walmart on his way home and buy a thing of paper plates and a pack of plastic utensils. So, because we recycle and use earth-friendly cleaning products, I decided that the paper plates won't be that bad, and really, if I don't catch up on my blogging, I'll get even more behind and then just throw my hands up in the air and not do it.

So I decided to blog.

Where to start? Maybe I should fill you in on why I've been absent for the last week. 7 letters. N-A-N-D-I-N-I. Oh, and add 3 more. E-L-I. As for Noah... he's been good as gold. You know, I always wondered why God allowed Noah to have autism and I'm beginning to think that maybe it's because he knew that 3 typical children would drive me absolutely insane. I mean, honestly, Noah is an angel. Such a sweetie. Absolutely no trouble. My beautiful baby boy. Sure, there are issues and worries and worries and worries, but he is so wonderful behaviorally.

I can't quite say the same for the other two.

Whom I still love and adore... but who try my patience big-time.

Here's a run-down of the first few weeks with Nandini.

Week #1: I hate this woman who calls herself Mommy.
Week #2: I still hate this woman who calls herself Mommy.
Week #3: I guess I have no choice but to depend on this woman who calls herself Mommy.
Week #4: Let's see if I can drive this woman who calls herself Mommy to Prozac.

She's getting very close on #4, folks. Very close.

So let me fill you in on what Nandini AND Eli have been up to.

A few days ago, they opened a 10lb bag of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (that we keep for the squirrels) all over my utility room. Now, if you've been to my house, you know that the lady who lived here before us LOVED the color green. Green mini-blinds in every room. Green ceiling fans. Green carpet everywhere - including the bathroom. (We ripped all that up). It basically looked like a field of leprecauns exploded in our abode.

She even decked out the kitchen and utility room floor to look like green and black marble. Which makes it awfully hard to see black sunflower seeds all over them. But let me tell ya, you can't miss a 10lb of them scattered everywhere. And your bare feet can't miss them either. Ouch.

So, the kids open up the bag and spill it all over the floor. Then, Eli decides to take 1/2 his toys and play with them in the seeds. It was only a few hours before Sim got home and I decided not to clean up the mess b/c I wanted him to witness firsthand the sheer torture I go through every day once he leaves for work. Well, Eli decided to make mounds out of the seeds for his toys and I said, "Absolutely not! Pick up those toys right now!"... to which he replied...

"Right don't you just throw them away?"

And if you pictured a sinister sneer accompanying that statement, then you'd be right.

So I listed them all on Freecycle and got rid of them. ALL of them. And there were some great toys in there. His Little Einstein toys. All of his Toy Story toys - including the pull-string Jessie and Woody. His Shrek toys (the dragon alone was selling for $20 on Ebay). And I stuck to my guns and got rid of them. It about killed me because some of those he'd just gotten for his birthday, but I wasn't about to let a snot-nosed 4 year old dare me down. And I was still fuming from The Sunflower Seed Incident... so they were GONE.

Then, the next day, I had to make an appointment to take Nandini to the International Adoption Clinic at Texas Children's in Houston. And you know when you see a new doctor, it takes forever to give all your health insurance info over the phone. I think I was on the phone for about 10 minutes. When I got off the phone, I discovered that Eli and Nandini had gone into my bathroom and opened up two boxes of tampons and a box of maxi-pads (the expensive organic kind that I collect Noah's urine with for pee tests... you know... slip them in a diaper and then wring it out in a specimen cup the next morning. Ahhhh, the creative things we autistic moms come up with). Anyway, they opened up 96 tampons and had them all over the living room. They were sword fighting with them and I caught Nandini sticking one in her ear like a Q-tip. Then, of course, Eli started throwing them and yelling "Fetch!" and Nandini would run over and put them in her mouth. It all happened in slow motion. Oh... and I forgot to mention that they had also gotten into some pull-ups and both were wearing pull-ups over their head like a stocking cap. They each had a pull-up on over their jeans and had their arms through them as well. I think I might have actually broke down and cried. Thank goodness I had bought their Christmas stocking candy the day before because I ripped open a bag of Hershey Peppermint Kisses (the BEST tasting thing in the entire world EVER) and went to town.

And if you're thinking right about now... Leslie, it sounds like you have a problem... then you're right.

But is my problem my kids or the fact that I comfort myself with chocolate???

Then, yesterday, Nandini poured an entire bottle of handsoap into Eli's tennis shoes and whacked him over the head with our cordless phone. She also peed on a stack of clean laundry.

So I opened up the other bag of Hershey's kisses that I had stored away.

But in a sick way, I'm loving it! No, not the peeing on my clean clothes. I'm loving having 3 kids. I do think it will drive me insane. I may eat a lot of chocolate in the next few months and dabble in presciption medicine. I might even be tempted to buy cheap wine in a box (just kidding!), but I'm loving it. It keeps me active and on my toes. It challenges me. My life has taken a 180 and I can't wait to see where I end up. And knowing that God has blessed me with these 3 kiddoes and somehow felt I was equipped for it... that I was THE one that was meant to be their mommy... well, that amazes me and frightens me at the same time... but it keeps me going.

Well, THEY are up and awake and demanding my attention. So, I'll bring this post to an end.

Looking forward to seeing what the next 10 minutes brings. As you now know, a lot can happen in 10 minutes in our household.

Leslie