"MOOOOOM! Can you come up here please? Now?" Those are chilling words to hear, especially after 36 hours stomach illnesses presenting in numerous fashions. "What's going on?" "There's nothing wrong. It's actually something good." And so it was, Mac had written, in his darlingest  first grader handwriting, i mac love my family. Punctuation comes later.

There are contractors galore coming and going. They seem mostly amused by the circus in which they were required to work. One mentioned to me that he too had five children. He proudly recounted how he had them alternate making dinners and doing their own laundry. They were able to function on their own as they moved out, teaching their roommates. Then he sprung it on me "My wife took off a few years into it. Left me alone with everyone. Make sure you're taking care of yourself. Don't burn out."
.
Sweet advice, and worthwhile as well. Not that I'm concerned that I'll burn out on motherhood. More likely just not wake up for three weeks straight. Now that sounds delightful right about now. I think of this blog as a way to vent frustrations or try to make sure I see the day's event in the most positive light possible.

To me it's bittersweet that I only have eight or so more years left with Baba. Not that she'll fall off the face of the planet, or write me off completely, but I only have a few years left to imprint my hands on her heart. It's going by way too fast. That's not to say I look at Cinco and think "ah man, eighteen years to go."

And now I have to go, start along my afternoon soccer runs. Wonder what I'll feed them, they really seem to notice if I'm not johnny on the spot with food. And the appropriate amount of food. Both Baba and Baby will enlighten me as to what THEY think to be good meals. Cereal for dinner is not a good option. Peanut butter and jelly is not acceptable for lunch because "there's too much sugar in jelly and I don't like peanut butter." Also, Baby doesn't like turkey burgers and when I told her they were for dinner her first question was "How big?" And in case you were wondering, they were too big.

So I wrote this post about not really needing that much of an escape from my kids. And then I took all five of them grocery shopping. Now I am ready to r-u-n-n-o-f-t. Screaming the whole way. Which will make it easier for them to find me.