Tantrums and Toilets

We had a long weekend and it's turning into a long week. Jaelyn's tantrums have gotten worse. I believe it's a combination of togetherness and over tiredness. School has only been in session 4 of the last 11 days. That's a lot of time of us being cooped up inside together. Jaelyn and I butt heads a lot...Dan is such a good buffer for us. It's hard when he's gone.

We were sleeping wonderfully 2 weeks ago...from about 8 till 7:30 the next morning. In the last week, Jaelyn has been up late every night (9:00-9:30) and she's waking up way before 7. Instead of going back to sleep or crawling into bed with me, she's waking Caden and Allie so everyone is over tired. It's a vicious cycle that just builds on itself, getting worse and worse.

I guess I should admit that I threw my own tantrum the other night. The kids' bathroom toilet clogged up at bedtime. I got it cleared and then the next night, it happened again. The first time was pee, the second time...well, it wasn't just pee. This happened in the middle of one of Jae's meltdowns and I joined her. I sent the kids to bed without even brushing their teeth and spent 20 minutes trying to clear the toilet. I would scream and rant every time water splashed out of the toilet onto my socks. It wasn't a good night. I did get it fixed (I thought) and apologized to the kids for my behavior before taking a shower to wash all that yuck off me...Ew. Anyway, there's still a problem when the toilet gets flushed several times in a row. It's only partially blocked. Everyone promises they didn't flush a toy or underwear down the toilet. I'm about ready to put tape across the toilet and not let anyone use it until Dan comes home.

The good news of the week is I figured out what was wrong with the oven (saving that $129 minimum visit from the repair guy) and the charity truck came and picked up our old media cabinet and TV. I put an ad on Craigslist, but decided I didn't really want strangers coming into the house while Dan was gone to get the armoire. I'll take the tax write-off instead. It's nice to have that out of the middle of my living room.

Caden has school tomorrow and I'm going to enjoy Panera alone. I didn't get to on Monday because Allie was sick and I ended up at the doctor's office with her. I diagnosed her correctly with a sinus infection. A day and a half of antibiotics and she's already feeling so much better.

If you think about it, I'd love your prayers. We have 2 1/2 weeks until Dan gets home. I know I've done longer and I have friends with husbands' overseas so I really shouldn't complain. It's just hard some days.