What is Happening???

I have entered into some kind of nightmare where all of my kids have a friend sleeping over, Leo stays out late playing poker and Gia is up ALL freaking night and then for good at 4:00am. Now, on a normal night, I would let her cry but because we have three kids here that don't normally sleep here, I didn't want the whole house up at 2 and then 3 and then again at 4. I am not going to go into specifics because it would make this too long but to give you an idea of how the night went, a half hour after Tommy's friend came over, Tommy was standing on top of one of Gia's toys trying to find a bubble shooter behind my wedding album perched on top of a 6 1/2' shelf (for the record, it would never be where he was looking). He was literally hanging from the shelf. The image of the whole thing falling on him flashed in my mind as I became, "Tommy's mean mom that yells really loud." Isabella, who never wakes earlier than 9 on weekends was up at 6 and when she and her girlfriend were laughing loudly after I finally got Gia back to sleep said, "Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," when I told them to be quiet. I deserve some sort of reward for the restraint I showed in that moment.


Why, do you ask, does every kid have a friend sleeping over when I hate sleepovers so much? Because at some point, if you don't say yes, you really do become the weird mom and then the fear is that because you are the weird mom, your kids become the weird kids. I feel the same way with playdates during the week. I don't like those either because with all the stuff going on with baseball, tumbling, tutoring, homework, dinner and Gia, the last thing I want to do is shuttle the kids around to their friends' houses from the hours of 4 to 6. I was told that EVERYONE thinks I am sooo strict because I always say no. Am I alone in thinking that their social lives aren't top priority? I mean, I hope they are making good friends and being good friends but do we have to spend every free moment with the friends? Are ALL the other kids getting together and forming unbreakable bonds that my child will not be able to join once the weekend comes? I am exhausted because I have fallen into that trap of not wanting them to be the weird kids. Shame on me because on top of not feeling that great and being incredibly sleep deprived, I am now so tired I can't see straight and that has made me become the mean, mean, snappy mom.

I had big plans to spring clean this weekend and the only thing I see in the near future is a nap but first I have to go buy Dunkin Donuts because I am not the "let's have a big, healthy breakfast" kind of sleepover mom. I am the "I was up all night so you are getting the food that takes the least effort to give" kind of mom.


Edited to add that the time on the blog shows when I started typing it. It is actually 8:00 now.