Bad Mood

Today I woke up in a bad mood.  It might have been the weather.  It might have been that I knew we were out of eggs. Or it might have been the fact that the two previous mornings I was able to wake up to a quiet house, drink my coffee in peace, and eat my eggs without having to share with a two-year-old, but now my kids were back.  

For the second time this summer my parents took all three of my kids up to the lake for a few days.  I feel so blessed that my parents are able to do that.  The kids love it and my parents, while exhausted and probably completely overwhelmed by the constant noise, love it.  And, if I'm being completely honest, I love it, too.  I miss my kids when they are gone.  And missing them is a nice feeling.  I don't experience that very often, so it's a nice reminder that I actually do like my kids.

I called the lake a couple of times and heard Lily's little voice over the phone lines.  Sophie told me all about a boat rescue and Max asked what I did all day while they were gone.  And I got a ton of stuff done around the house. 

I was so happy to see them when they got home last night.  I really was.  There may have been a little tiny part of me that knew my extended quiet time was over, but mostly, like 97.6% of me, was overjoyed to have them home.  The house was too still while they were gone.  Too quiet. 

And then I woke up this morning in a bad mood.  I realized, while I felt lost without them for most of the day, I really had enjoyed my mornings.  I liked getting up and being the only one downstairs.  I liked sipping my coffee without having to make someone else's breakfast.  I liked just sitting and watching the sky lighten as the sun came up.  This morning when I came downstairs Sophie and Max had iCarly blaring on the TV.  This was pre-coffee and I had already decided I was in a bad mood, so the first words out of my mouth were "Turn that down.  NOW!  I had this house all to my self for three whole days and it was wonderful and quiet and clean and no one asked me for snacks or pooped their pants or left their shoes in my way and now you're back and you're ruining everything.  EVERYTHING!"  Okay, I didn't really say the last part.  But I wanted to.

The day has gotten better.  And now Lily is napping and the kids are outside playing and I'm going to make myself a pot of coffee and pretend it's morning.  And enjoy the quiet.