Did Not Rise To The Occasion

John was out of town this past weekend on his annual and well-deserved weekend with the boys from undergrad. Obviously this left me by myself with the wee ones and, while I was excited for John to get away, I was selfishly not excited too. I live for weekends. Having an extra pair of hands around here makes the place almost serene and we usually have a great time with the kids. I had dreaded this weekend for months.

Friday started well and ended poorly. It went something like this:
1. Everyone up by 6:30 (normal)
2. Ainsley went to a friend's house to play and I brought the babies home and put them straight to bed. It was wonderful.
3. From there, we went downhill. The trio did not appreciate Target. All of them attempted to climb out of the stroller/cart to attack the toy section which is evilly placed near household cleaning items. Not cool.
4. On Fridays we go to my parents' house after 2nd nap. We made it there pretty well and the littlest ones decided they did not feel like cooperating. They did not eat. They did not want to play. They did not want to be anywhere but with me or (thankfully!) my mom. In the meantime, I was trying to get Ainsley fed and feel like she wasn't completely abandoned.
6. This was actually manageable until we started to leave. Everyone was melting. I left their house 1/2-hr after bedtime and they reminded me all the way home. I get 75% of the kids unloaded (they are still jawing at me) and finally get Lizzy in, who proceeds to vomit all over the place. Her womb-mates raced to step all over it to get to me and no one was happy. The evening was saved by awesome-friend-Joan who called, heard the ruckus in the background, and immediately came over with SuperBabysitter to subject themselves to more screaming as they helped me get everyone to bed.

The good news? There wasn't a peep from the Fearsome Four all night...until everyone decided to wake up at 6:00 a.m. The rest of the weekend was the same mix of fun and awfulness, especially Sunday morning.

But John was wonderfully home by 1:30, ready to jump in the fray, and it took a lot for me to not shove the kids aside to beat them to him as his car pulled in the drive.

So why was I mildly disappointed in myself? Because I whined and complained to most everyone. Because John had to hear screaming in the background when he called and listen to a tired wife when he needed to relax. Because I didn't follow my usual "advice" to people and suck-it-up - calling in babysitters and friends to help (thank you, everyone!).

It was a pretty humbling weekend, all-in-all.

Next year's trip with the guys will be better, right?