And Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

First and foremost...thanks to those of you who stuck with yesterday's pity party and were kind enough to leave comments.

It is nice to know that I'm not alone in my frustrations...

That being said:

Bonnie - we do have a double stroller. When we found out we were expecting Tiny Princess, MIL bought us a snazzy "Sit-n-Stand Elite" which allows an infant seat to be strapped in, leaving the other seat for kid 2. It also has 2 "standard" seats, the rear reverses to be sort of a "jump seat" that an older child can get in and out of freely (great for right now w Capt Chaos' age and temperment), and the rear seat also comes off completely, leaving a platform that can be used for cargo or the older child to stand on and ride. It has a roomy cargo area underneat it all that fits a HUGE diaper bag, is really light (for a tandem stroller), and folds almost as flat as our single Graco stroller does.

WITM (woman in the midst) - I agree that my friend should toss the man to the curb, but she is one of those rare individuals that believes that anyone can change, and that he just needs enough chances to change, that he really does love her. I'm still skeptical, but hey, what can you do?!?!?

I read Inkling's post from the other day about the things going on in her life, and felt about 2 inches tall after my own rant yesterday...her intent was not to make anyone else feel bad, just to share her thoughts on her own situation. But, knowing some of what she is going through, and knowing that I was so fed up with things that are, in reality, quite trivial (with a few exceptions), just left me feeling sort of...ummm...shallow.

I know that each of us is in a different place in life, with different things being given to us to handle, and I guess I'm just not handling mine so well over these last days.

I had a long talk with BB last night about how frustrated I was feeling about the things that are not trivial (and really, are his dirty dishes really that important to argue about?), and he aired some of his own grievances. We were able to come up with a game plan on the truly important things, some compromises on the less important things, and we were even able to let go of the unimportant things. It was really nice to know that I've been blessed with a husband who will listen, and that we can communicate with each other, sometimes loudly, and angrily, but that we can communicate and resolve issues. I know that the larger issue of our finances will not be resolved based on one conversation, and that our habits and lifestyle need changing...and that we're both commited to working that out.

I explained to him that if I'm pregnant, I shouldn't be limiting my food too much, but that I'd try really hard to make the most of our budget, using coupons, sales, visiting Farmers' Markets and the like...if only our garden would take off! I spent about $15 on veggies today that I should be harvesting from my own garden right about now! Granted, we don't really need to have fresh tomatoes, but I'll tell you...I'm SO looking forward to a big fat salad with fresh garden-grown cucumber slices and tomatoes added to it!!! If I have enough tomatoes left over, I'll make a salad out of them alone tomorrow....yummmmm!

Right now I'm hoping to impart into my children the understanding that they need to start practicing "instant obedience" where they listen and obey the first time I make a request or issue a command...I realize that 3 year old boys and 20 month old girls would rather do their own thing, but I'm holding out hope that they'll get it through their cute blonde noggins rapidly that when I tell them not to play with the silverware that has black handles (our knife set), they will just let alone...somehow, I just don't relish the idea of explaining to an ER staff member that my child has a cerrated knife wound somewhere on their body because they were "helping me empty the dishwasher"...I can hear CPS rushing to rescue them now!

And for the record. Yes, they help empty the dishwasher, and this morning, Captain Chaos put all the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, but they are always supervised, and I was referring more to the "Please don't put the trash from Target's floor in your mouth" or "Put the candy back on the shelf, please" kind of things, so that, when they are older, they'll respond to me screeching at them to stop riding their bikes in the middle of the street...

I'm looking forward to 4 minutes from now when bottoms will be clean, milk will be dispensed, and chlidren will be quiet in their beds. And perhaps, just perhaps, I won't go work on garage sale stuff...maybe I'll take the afternoon to relax for a bit.