Heat Exhaustion

I sat down tonight with a post in mind, and a perfect photo to go along with it. This was the message from Blogger that greeted me.

We need to perform hardware maintenance on the photos system for Blogger. This means that photo uploading and serving will be down for approximately 1 hour starting at 5pm (Pacific Time). All photos previously uploaded will not be visible during this maintenance.Thanks for your understanding.

Update: This is now complete. Thanks for your patience.

So, do you see a photo? No?

Thanks, Blogger. Glad to know the problem is fixed.

So, since I cannot upload a photo, you will get to participate in a little envisioning exercise. It's good for you. It will stimulate your frontal lobe.

That's on your brain. Don't get too excited.

Imagine, if you will, a photo of a cherub-faced toddler with sky blue eyes and a perky little ponytail lying on the floor throwing a no-holds-barred, world class, raise the roof tantrum.

That, my friends, is exactly what my day has been in a nutshell. So sit back, and grab a Coke. Supermom is about to do some whining.

First of all, the heat outside is approaching Supernova proportions. Our little three foot swimming pool has been turned into a jacuzzi, offering no refreshment. It is so hot we can't even be outside and enjoy it. So we have become like hermits, holed up in our house with all the blinds drawn to keep the sun from burning holes in our brains.

You know what happens when you keep three kids indoors for too long, don't you? Mutiny. They are all conspiring against me to drive me completely and utterly insane.

I tried to find fun things to do. I suggested we fold laundry. That didn't work. I said we could do worksheets. No takers. What's wrong with these kids?

So I brought out the big guns. We'll go grocery shopping. AND we'll buy cookies.

Am I great mom, or what?

And that was a lot of fun. So much fun that I had to come home and eat a dozen of the two dozen cookies we bought to alleviate my (ahem) fun.

All day long my children have been disobedient, rude, obnoxious, whiney and...well, I can say it now...bratty. Yup. They've been bratty.

They've been fighting with me, fighting with each other and it has been all I can do today to not scream and throw things across the room. Seriously, folks. I am stressing OUT. All I wanted to do was veg in front of my computer and have them leave me alone.

I know. That sounds terrible. I've been guilting myself all day for feeling that.

Now I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I am a very "hands on" mom. I rarely leave my kids with other people. And I normally love to play with them. I pride myself in that. But lately I am feeling the need for a break. I just need some distance. Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's the pressure of being the sole parent in the household for what feels like 24/7 (even though that's not really true). Or maybe it's all of the above. But I can't find the energy in me to suck it up and take my Supermom title seriously.

I think I need a hiatus. Maybe Alaska. Maybe Siberia. Maybe Antarctica.

Tonight Baby and I made the rounds, tucking in Sister and Brother before I put her down. She climbs up into Sister's bed and gives her a hug, laying her head on Sister's chest. We say goodnight to Brother, on the top bunk of his bunk beds and I turn to leave the room. She starts to cry and reaches around for him. I lift her up to him, where she throws her soft little arms around his neck and he kisses her chipmunk cheek.

Sigh.

That kind of makes up for the tantrum.