Coffee is my friend!

 I didn't drink coffee until Katie came into the picture. I don't BLAME her (lol), but she certainly played a part in my need for caffeine as soon as my eyes open!
 Waking up at 6:30 and rushing to get 3 kids dressed and ready and out the door for school leaves me feeling like I woke up and was in the middle of a tornado! Seriously! Most nights I make Laura's lunch so I don't worry about it in the morning but lately I have been lazy and pushed it off for last minute. A mom can't ALWAYS be 100% on top of things. So this adds to my list of 'to do's' in the morning. I don't even need to mention how SLOW kids move in the morning if YOU wake them up. Funny how they seem as if they ate 5 doughnuts and washed it down with kool-aid when THEY WAKE THEMSELVES UP ON THE WEEKEND! Other wise, it's like trying to get a cow to skip along with you....not happening.
 Nicholas is by far the slowest. Maybe its a boy thing? Or a meanager....I mean teenager thing ;) It takes him TEN MINUTES....to put PANTS on! Yep. I timed him. At this age I have instilled enough responsibility in him that I just have to roll my eyes and say "you might need to go to bed earlier tonight" to get a response. Hey it works!
 I do understand....I don't exactly want to get up and get dressed right off the bat in the morning. I need 2 cups of coffee before I can even open my eyes!!! ;) But come on kids....MOVE IT!!! Mama has some cleaning to do!! (as though I'm thrilled to do it? No. I'm just thrilled to do it without breaking up fights, handing out snacks, fixing toys, getting out the bandaids, and yelling "stop looking at your sister!"). Don't act like you haven't had to yell it. HA! I've had to yell things that sound RIDICULOUS at times.
 So....each morning coffee is my friend. This coffee is a much nicer wake up call than my 4 children whining right off the bat. How these little angels can sleep from 7:30pm to 6:30am and wake up whining is beyond me.
 Going to bed early is not always an option for me. My parent friends know that we don't get much time with our spouse's during the day. Between dinner, homework, baths, story time, teeth brushing, Nick and I seem to get a few words in to each other. Mostly through looks at each other. Kids seem to know that when we are busy its the BEST time for them to be NOISY!!!! ;) Other than that, we only have a few hours at night when the kids are all tuckered out and before we collapse in a sleep coma ourselves, for adult time. We have been going all day long (coffee helping of course!) doing all these household and family chores and duties....we just want these 3 hours to ourselves. This is hard at times.
 We have been married for going on 7 YEARS (wow!!) and we have realized that we have to balance not only attention we give to kids, but attention we give to each other and ourselves. This is hard sometimes. I want to get online and blog, or read blogs, catch up with friends and family, and he might want to watch a movie with me. It's the opposite way at times too. We try hard to balance it.....but like I said.....with only 3 or 4 (at best) hours to spare each day for what we want to do is hard.
 Coffee becomes my friend in the afternoon too......it helps me stay up a little longer at night so I can do what I want AND hang out with Nick and focus on our relationship. :)
 This is a habit I need to break though....the coffee....not spending time with Nick lol! I need to watch what I am putting in my body....coffee is not good for you and we all know that. But some things can be good AND bad for you....

For now....coffee is good and is my friend :)