The Life of a Wife

While I am sitting here bored stiff with nothing to do at work, since I had already done everything I needed to get done before I had my surgery that didn't happen, I decided I would write down about my life as a wife and mother.

I am a lucky mom in so many ways because I have my kids trained fairly well. You see, I hate mornings, I am hard as heck to get up out of the bed and I will shamefully admit that most mornings, my husband gets me up and guides me to the bathroom. I am just not a morning person and usually stay up late because I get a burst of energy usually around 11:00 at night, but we are trying to be in bed by 10:30. My husband said this morning that he didn't think it would help if I went to bed at 6:30 at night, I would still be hard to get up and groggy in the morning. I am getting better however, I used to be very grouchy when I woke up and didn't want to speak to anyone until around 10 am. Being a mother has changed that in a lot of ways.

Anyhow, why I am lucky... My kids get up on there own, many times before my feet hit the floor, dress themselves and fix the breakfast I have either layed out the night before, or fix what is on our weekly family menu. That way, no questions asked. Barring no physical fights, by the time I get up, shower and get dressed, they are patiently waiting on the couch for time to go catch the bus. That is a new thing this year. Since I teach at another school out of our district, they used to go to my home school and would ride to and from school with me each day, but because the neighborhood school is much better, and with me going to school 3 evenings a week, it is easier for them to ride the school bus (which gives me chill bumps because I had the school bus driver from HELL and have flashbacks that aren't pretty) but they like it.

So while my boogers are walking to the bus stop at the end of our road, I am trying to take vitamins, fix me something to munch on and get to school myself. DH on the other hand is up, showered, dressed and playing on the computer or doing something constructive in 10 minutes after he wakes up. How do they do that?

I realized last night that this year is going to be a real test of my marriage, time management, and patience. My youngest child, R, is in the first grade. He and N absolutely hate school and it is a struggle just getting them to go, much less to study, etc. Anyhow, last night he had 25 spelling words he had to learn to spell and write and write sentences with correct punctuation and spelling. I thought it would be an absolute horror, but much to my surprise, it didn't go that bad. He wrote them 3 times each and knew a few of the, with a little prompting from mom. Now how he is going to pass a test tomorrow with these on it, I don't know. Both he and N have reading problems, which I think is dyslexia or a reading disability where it is difficult for them to sound out words. To get N to read for pleasure is an absolute nightmare and struggle daily. It is like trying to get her to amputate her own leg.

So R is going to learn to really read and write this year, and N is in the 4th grade, where she will have to pass LEAP to pass and go to 5th. Lord, I just don't have the patience to work with her because she won't let me. I get frustrated, she gets frustrated and quits and we get no where. Now I am a teacher, have been trained how to teach children with disabilities or difficulties and I can't teach my own child. I tutor all the 3rd and 4th graders at the magnet having trouble, now why can't I tutor her? Lack of patienc and personality clash are the biggest reasons. I just pray she gets it this year. If my DH has to help both of them while I am in class, he will be a frazzled mess by the time I get home and it is not pretty.

SR is in the 5th grade and has a really great attitude when it comes to school, she loves to learn and read and does her homework and studies. School is not a struggle for her and therefore, it isn't hard to help her study. I call it out to her, she gives me the answers and if she hasn't studied enough, she goes back and studies some more, then I call it out again. No big drama.

With all this going on, I too will again be doing homework and research papers and all the other things that come with graduate school. Thank God I have my wonderful husband to get me through. He may gripe and whine about the stress it puts on him every once in a while, but he has been a rock and I couldn't have gotten this far without him.

So, if you are at home relaxing about 6pm in the evening, send up a little prayer for us because we are probably about to pull our hair out. Oh, I'm not griping, I love my children and watching them grow into little adults is amazing. I love the fact that they started out as a tiny seed and with love, nurturing and guidance, they are growing up and will be parents of their own some day (oh, payback is a blessing...). Oh how I hate to see them grow up so fast....but then again, I only have 11 years and 5 months before the baby is 18! I know, I'm bad.

That's enough today. Maybe more to come later.... I know you are just itching to know more....HA!