A Happy Mother's Day to ME!

SHE SAID:
Earlier this past week, as Chris was working nights and preparing for another trip to Israel and a trip to Morroco, I reached my breaking point. Sensing my exasperation, Chris cancelled a golf outing yesterday and took all three kids to Naples for a small shopping expedition. I think it was more to be a break for me. And it was a nice day...
Around 10:30 I called Chris to ask him to get something that wasn't on the list. When he answered I could hear Maddie screaming in the background. Apparently she had almost tipped Jameson's stroller over, with him in it, and was being punished in the grocery store. We put off our conversation and I called him back about half an hour later. He was now in the bathroom with Maddie and, before I could get my message to him, he started yelling "NO!" to Maddie and quickly got off the phone. I called back - again - 30 minutes later. He explained that Maddie was putting her mouth on the disabled hand rail in the bathroom. :)
Chris sounded, to put it mildly, frustrated. I inquired what was wrong and he retorted, "What's wrong??? You know what's wrong! You go places with all three kids!" This was followed up with, "I love you so much."
It has been a really good Mother's Day.

HE SAID:
I knew Marsha was about to lose it, so I called off my golf outing, loaded up the kids and headed to the little peice of America in Italy, the US Navy Support Site. On the way down, everything was fine, girls laughing and playing nicely together. . . until Jameson fell asleep and after warning Maddie and Katie, and then Maddie again, to be quiet and not wake him, I look in the rear view and Maddie has her hand on his head and he is awake. Listening, Strike 1. A little while later I look back and Maddie has taken off her shoes and is holding the bottom of the shoe on Jameson's nose and mouth. Yeah, Strike 2.
We get there and Maddie continues not to listen and then nearly pulls Katie and Jameson's stroller over, STRIKE 3, a "wal-mart" spank in the aisle and sitting in the "penalty box" cause her to begin to cry. Marsha calls, I'm assuming from bed. See above.
Flash forward to the second call, Maddie has to go to the bathroom so we go in. I hoist her up onto the handicapped raised toilet. She is facing to the side of the toilet, holding onto the support railing, or as it is now called the "teething rail". As I'm talking to Marsha, calling to have me get some cheese, I see Maddie mouthing the railing like a horse mouths a bit. It rivaled Katie's licking of the tea cups in Disneyland at that age.
The rest of the day was uneventful, and by uneventful I mean stressfull. I have never said that I could do a Mom's job. In fact I admit that men, or most men, can not. That is just a fact of Nature. We don't have the patience, the common sense or the raw talent to care for children. That is why we are called DADS and all you have to do on father's day is get us a bad paisley printed tie. . .