"Not Me!" Monday

Welcome! Are you feeling remorseful this week that you left an ugly message on your husband's voice mail after he didn't return your call? Or maybe you stuffed yourself full of pizza for the third time this week? Perhaps you just spent all of your free time vegging out in front of the TV instead of cleaning the house. No worries! "Not Me!" Monday was written just for you. It frees me up to admit my many imperfections and vent about the absolutely ridiculous things that are my everyday. Enjoy at my expense, and join in the fun by commenting below!

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Remember this cute little guy from this post? As a matter of fact, NO, he is not still on the mantle, along with his lady friend. Fall is over, and he has already spent an entire year up on that perch. I have definitely long since packed him away and redecorated the mantle with Christmas-y type things. Definitely.

Which reminds me, I am really looking forward to hosting my parents for Christmas this year! They're traveling all the way from Texas and will be staying with us for a whole week; we are so excited! Which is why, of course, our house is spotless, organized, and extravagantly decked out for Christmas. We surely have not left all of that 'til the last minute. Our house is not one big, stinking mess, our Christmas tree is not still packed away in the storage area behind our townhouse, and I am not blogging away while I should be cleaning and decorating. Not me!

This week, while I was preparing lunch and slinging an infant around in my arms, I heard water running. Water running? I wish. I did not turn to find my three-year-old turning in circles in our downstairs bathroom, urinating on every stinkin' thing except for the toilet. He in fact, did not urinate on the sink, the trash can, the magazine basket, the floor, and the wall. I did not go completely ballistic, storm upstairs, and have a good long sob, leaving my husband to clean up the mess and deal with our delinquent child. Nope. Not me!

Kyler and I were involved in our church's Christmas production every day this week. Even though rehearsals and productions lasted well past our boys' bedtimes, we certainly didn't take them along with us. Nope. We didn't stay out rehearsing or helping to finish sets until nearly 11pm each night, dumping our poor exhausted children into bed just before midnight. It's true. I did not so thoroughly mess up my infant's sleep routine that he woke three times between 1am and 8am last night, and then didn't wake until 2pm today. Not me!

This weekend, we made a concerted effort to get some cleaning and organizing done in the midst of a crazy Christmas production week. One of the things we worked on was sorting, folding, and putting away laundry. However, this clean laundry did in fact not come from a gargantuan pile that overflowed the three basket-fulls, like, seven loads ago. The piles were certainly not so tall that they completely consumed our two toddlers, who were playing in them. And since you asked, NO, I did not allow them roll around in the clean clothing as if they were in a huge pile of leaves.

Speaking of laundry, I did not wash the same basic load of laundry like three times this week, rather than spending the time to sort, organize, and wash all of the other dirty clothes in the house. Nope, I did not just dump a jumbled assortment of jeans, kids' and baby clothes, underwear, and Kyler's dress clothes for the production all into the same load. Like three times. That would be lazy. You know, the opposite of me this week. 

Our son Callan was also in the Christmas production this week. He played baby Jesus, and did such a great job! He handled being passed from person to person backstage in between all of the scenes he was in with ease, and hardly made a peep for two solid hours. Carried on stage and sung to by our pastor, he cooperated well, and even cooed and "sung" along with him. This Momma was so proud; my baby was adorable and perfect in his role.

So it definitely wasn't me who (in addition to beaming, also) absolutely cringed inside when both friends and strangers approached me after the show with comments of, "He is so perfect!" "I can't believe how quiet and calm he was!" and "Is he that good at home? He is such an easy baby!"  

Nope. Not me. Dying inside for validation that what I do is hard, I did not want to scream, "I can't believe it either!!! He is never this good, OR this quiet! In fact, the last 3-1/2 months have likely been the hardest of my life, what with all of the inconsolable screaming, hours and hours of carrying and bouncing him around in my arms, and endless nights of rocking! So PLEASE don't tell me how easy he is, because I can hardly believe it myself!"***

(***Aside: Thankfully, I was able to control my tongue, thank each person, and sometimes mention how grateful we are that his reflux meds finally seem to be doing the trick and our hopes that this is the beginning of a "new" Callan. Sigh.)  

And finally, knowing that my husband and I were equally tired this morning, after a week of long production rehearsals and performances, and knowing that he has heaps of work to get done, I did not beg him to take the boys and let me sleep in this morning. In fact, although it was he who, after a long day and our last performance, spent nearly four hours at the hospital last night (with one of our church's teens, who injured her foot in the last scene of last night's show) I did not totally take advantage of his kindness and sleep in not one, but three hours this morning. Nope. Not me!

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"Not Me!" Monday is an incredibly fun blogging carnival started by MckMama. In a nutshell, it's where we all can be open about the ridiculous things that happen in our everyday lives. Head on over to her blog, where you can read heaps of other great "Not Me!" stories. Or, join in the "Not Me!" fun and leave a comment about all of the things you didn't do this week!