Gary potties all by himself despite a day of chaos. Ryan has first finger cut.

This is so worthy of a post.  Gary totally took off his own diaper tonight and then after trying to get off the potty for like 10 minutes while evening chaos was happening, he said "Gary peed".  All was quiet for a second and then I ran over to look.  OH MY GOSH!  He did it all by himself.  Praise for the star of the evening all around!  Gary was awesome!  Hopefully this is the start of the potty training going in a positive direction.  Instead of four M&Ms for sitting for 5 minutes, Gary got to go in and grab a HUGE handful.  He deserved every one! 

This is so special today because Gary did it all by himself.  Special for me because it was a sunny spot in a rather dark day.  Changes at work...potentially.  Ryan gets a cut finger when Gary finds scissors.  It's Ryan's first boo boo and boy he was very dramatic.  Brandi had to leave for a potentially bad family situation, girls were all over the map.  All during the workday mind you.  Now it's after 5p (and I have NO wine on hand). Ben had a meltdown for like 2 hours and Gary had his one hour tantrum right in the middle.  Screaming...jumping up and down...kicking and more screaming.  Carter was hungry.  Went to throw salmon on the grill for dinner...no propane.  Gotta run to the store.  Chip asked if I was going to take Carter.  No I said.  Lots of mommy guilt for me.  Come back after a quick trip to Raleys.  Boys still freaked out.  Carter is hungry and really wants some attention (after all he IS the baby).  Feed the boys, who don't enjoy my salmon that I needed to go to the grocery store to cook.  Ben's eyes are swollen.  Little boys are in the 'zone for jammies.  Gary then hits the potty...nice way to end.  :)  Finally at 8:15 boys go to bed.  After whining that it's dark, needing to be wrapped up and 10 kisses later.  Oh yeah, Ben got benadryl because his eye still looked swollen.  While tuck in happens Carter is still crying for attention. 

Chip and I head downstairs and try to think about having dinner ourselves with the girls.  Girls are outside hangin' in the cul-de-sac.  Makes me happy, but I can't believe it's after 8p.  Ex would have a heyday with that.  Lost medication is also a topic.  However will I explain that?  Oh yeah, both of them lost their cell phones too.  More to think about before they go to Vegas on Friday. 

We managed to "sorta" eat together.  Girls start first, try to make the salmon work.  Chip and I sit down and Carter needs one of us.  He just wants some attention!  The little guy is SO good.  Carter has gas and we are always checking his poops...are they soft?  Hard?   

All of it just feels so mismanaged.  I want this to be different.  I want us to sit and eat and have some family time together.  Chip and I are exhausted.  Tomorrow is another day.  However, during that day I really do have to do some work that they pay me for.  I've never felt so squeezed in my life.  Add the X stress and wow...how do we manage.