Oh the joys of winter. The Princess has now decided she be named BatGirl, which I have no objections to whatsoever. What I do object is the madness I had to endure for three weeks. Normally she has two weeks off from school for winter break, no big deal right? Wrong. DEAD WRONG. You see, Milk Monster is a baby of routine. He hates it, no loathes it when anything disrupts his daily routine. He gets up after BatGirl goes to school, eats a banana and some cereal, then drinks from the boob. Right as mommy is heading to work, he heads upstairs with daddy so he can take a nap. Then he wakes for lunch before resuming his nap. Well for two weeks this routine was disrupted with the very first moment. BatGirl wasn't going to school, which meant we all slept in. He doesn't rouse until after mommy wakes up, so his wake up time was thrown off. Then of course sissy is home from school, why would he nap? He would battle daddy fiercely in order to get out of taking a nap. By the time mommy got home from work the house was in chaos. Furniture was on fire! Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but you get the idea. Poor daddy was exhausted and Milk Monster was literally a cranky monster running around screaming at the top of his lungs. So the exhausted mommy who had been on her feet all day would whip out the magic boob to soothe the little monster. For the most part, it worked...until bed time. Milk Monster was beyond exhausted and of course you would think this would mean that going to bed was an easy task. Nope, not at all in the least bit. Instead he would run circles on the bed, screaming and jumping until almost midnight. This went on for two weeks. Then, a magical day was on the horizon. It was the weekend before BatGirl was to return to school and we were all looking forward to it. We were so close, so very close. Then, as if from nowhere, a great monster loomed in the horizon. SNOW.
Snow is fun, beautiful, and a wonderful part of every child's life in the midwest. Even parents can enjoy it, unless it's a foot of snow right before the kids go back to school from winter break. It started on Sunday morning, and my two were already about to kill each other. We were getting an inch of snow per hour with high winds. It was making a huge mess on the roads and I knew school would be cancelled for kids going back on Monday. Luckily our daughter was going back on Tuesday. Nothing could go wrong, right? Wrong again. Not only did we get a foot of snow, but temperatures were below zero. That's not the wind chill folks, no, in fact the actual temperature was about 17 below zero. This meant that any salt treatments would not work on the roads and even the plows were having trouble getting out on the roads to clear the way. So Tuesday morning came and went without them going back to school. Not only did they not go to school, but we didn't go to work. Which meant all four of us trapped in the house, together. How we survived I do not know. Then we began to look hopeful for school to resume on Wednesday. Then our wonderful governor dashed those hopes be asking all schools to remain closed one more day due to the cold temperatures. I was about to go bald from pulling out my hair. We had to keep separating the kids, because every little tiny argument turned into a massive battle that would make any soldier cringe. Then, magically Thursday arrived. We emerged from our home tattered, and emotionally scarred. BatGirl returned to school and slowly Milk Monster went back to his routine. Once more peace descended upon our kingdom. Yet clouds still loom in the distance. The farmer's almanac calls for two more massive storms before winter's end. Our family's survival is not promised, so a chill runs through my bones. Spring is still 56 days away. I hope this will not be my last blog...
