I Give Up

OK. You guys win. Your first moment of brilliance, was of course, reading my blog. Then you top yourselves and provide some great titles for yesterday's post. I love everyone's ideas but my top three picks are as follows:

Taint Misbehavin' from Momo Fali
Mommy Only Poops from Joeprah
Update Meme, With a Crappy Ending from Piper

So I give up. I am obviously not in a position to even manage my own blog. Thank you all for stepping in while I was otherwise occupied.

The three of you win a load of crap...haha. No really. You win my gratitude and continued readership. Lucky you.

This last week of recovering for Little Man has been a week of resolution for me. I have struggled with my need to control everything for a long time. Without my little white pill each day I think I may just drive myself and my children crazy. As a grow as a parent I learn to pick my battles with my children but have yet to learn to pick them with myself. I have resolved to give up this futile fight and hand it over. Or give up. When I say up I am giving it WAY up.

• I am giving up the "sport" of parenting. You know what I mean; "Johnny, can you show so-and-so how you stand on your head and gargle peanut butter". My boys do things others don't (and should be able to at times) and vice versa, whoopee.
  
• I am giving up my ridiculous housekeeping expectations. Like Nana Eileen used to say. "My home is clean enough to be healthy" and my favorite, as if a little throw at my mother, "You know, more people see your kids than your home".
  
• I am giving up my guilt. OK this is a stretch. I will make an effort to give up my guilt. You know mothers; we feel guilty about feeling guilty. How does our guilt affect our children. ARG. Enough already. I will not feel guilty for an hour away from the boys by myself. Even if it is to grocery shop. We all need some personal time, and couple time.
  
• I am giving up the idea that I will finish my MBA by the end of this year. Who am I trying to impress and what am I trying to prove? I am self employed; am I giving myself a raise? I only have nine classes left. It. Will. Get. Done. When it works for my life. Without pressure or adverse side effects on my family.
  
• I am giving up an resentment towards my fabulous husband. I know he would love to be a stay at home dad but lets me do it. Although I feel like he is the lucky one at times I know that me and the boys are the lucky ones to have him.
  
• I am giving up the need to try to control my children. Wait. Wait. No matter what you think, none of us really control our children. (I used to think differently until we had our two hour medicine show down) I think we just manipulate them. Kind of like when we make our husbands think something is their idea. It is all about presentation. I am merely a guide or tutor for my boys. They will soon learn how wise I am. I really don't want robots anyway; I want my boys to be able to think independently and be self sufficient. They are, after all, like their mommy...no wonder they don't like to be controlled.

Evidence of my recent Give It Up effort:



While attempting to get Little Man to take meds I turned away from The Babe and pudding. Oh well.

Busted.

Mug Shots of the accused.

Seed 1/AKA Little Man. Wanted for disturbing the peace, causing sleepless nights, breaking curfew, waking brother early from nap, perjury, contempt of court, making his mom cry with laughter, and melting her heart with his cuddles. Potentially grounded for life if Mom does not get a mini vacation.

Seed 2/AKA The Babe. Wanted for conspiracy, aiding and abetting, harboring a fugitive, and giving the best kisses ever. Innocent until proven guilty.

If the two would simply give themselves up now they would save everyone involved a lot of time and effort attempting to control them.

* Disclaimer: No one was harmed in the making of these images. If you or someone you know is named Johnny or So-and-So I apologize if I offended you.

*Manipulation Tip: Little Man is not a big fan of washing his hair. He likes to take a bath or shower, he just had a bad experience with some shampoo at Nana's once so he is a little apprehensive now. Well buddy, you paint your hair, you wash your hair. Glad you see things my way.

*Medicine effort update: Little Man really enjoyed his Tylenol with Codeine shake tonight!