Good Grief!!

  It's Sunday night, and I'm smack-dab in the middle of a five night stretch. Sophia has been acting up lately, more-so than usual. She's a good kid, but boy is she ever dramatic! (I have NO idea where she gets it!) She threw an absolute fit on Friday when I left for work, so maybe she's just trying to pay me back...
  On the weekends I work nights, I get very little sleep because my husband works every weekend, usually around 2 or 2:30 pm. Our sitter doesn't come until 6:15 pm, so I'm in charge of the kiddos from when B leaves until Kristina comes. Generally, B puts them down for a nap, hoping they'll all sleep or play quietly until 3 or 4 pm, but I'm rarely that lucky (often I get woken around noon, then again at 2 or 2:30). On Saturday, I woke to the sound of my front screen door slamming and went downstairs to find Sophia and Noah OUTSIDE (by themselves) on the chairs on the porch with our candy bag, gorging themselves on suckers, tootsie rools and mini snickers. This bag is not easily accessible; we keep it in the top of the hall closet. However, my daughter is apparently a monkey and grabbed one of our tall stools and climbed up and grabbed the bag and pulled it down. There was one benefit to the situation; Sophia did share with her brother without fussing or fighting.
  Today was a little better- they let me sleep until about 3:30. I woke up to the smell of poop. Really? This again?? It's been at least three weeks since I've had to deal with poop, and today I am five days out from my baby having heart surgery and I am pretty sleep deprived and even more stressed, so why not?? I went into Sophia's room, where she was playing quietly (Noah and Bennett were asleep in my room with me) and tried to discover the origin of the smell. I asked Sophia when I walked into the room,
   "Where is the poop?"
  "It's in a garbage can." She was right- sitting at the bottom of her pink plastic garbage can were two little turds. I picked up the can, grabbed Sophia's hand, and into the bathroom we went. "You, my dear, are cleaning this up." So, she grabbed some toilet paper, picked up those turds and threw them into the toilet (where she SHOULD have put them in the first place!). Then she grabbed some Clorox wipes and cleaned out the garbage can. She apologized and went back to her room to play.
  A few hours later, Kristina arrived and I was getting ready to go to work. I was telling Kristina about Sophia's poop incident and how she had pooped in the garbage can again (I should never have to say those words- really?) when Sophia ran through the kitchen and stated "No, Mommy, I pooped in the hat and THEN put it in the garbage can!" Well great, now I have to disinfect that stupid hat (it is a play hard-hat Noah got with some of his trucks) too. I am glad she told me though! Hopefully they will let me sleep today. Tuesday and Wednesday morning they all go to daycare, then we leave for Bennett's surgery Wednesday afternoon. What a life we have! There's always SOMETHING going on. It's crazy, but honestly, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love my kiddos and am everyday reminded of what a blessing they are. My new favorite saying is "God, please give me the patience to deal with my blessings." That fits me to a T!