Thank God For Grandparents

Mommy and Daddy got to spend some much needed time with other adults Friday night enabled by my father's willingness to not only to watch the boys, but keep them overnight (only time will tell whether we are ever again accorded this privilege). Long gone are the wild and crazy days of partying, staying out all night and acting like teenagers, however we gave it a good shot on Friday night making it until almost midnight before cashing in (a far cry from the good old college days). Sure we could have found a bar/ Whataburger/IHOP and stayed out late like back in college, but when the opportunity to sleep in presents itself parents must take full advantage. High on our priority list of things to do when we woke up on Saturday morning: Nothing at all. It is a rare occasion when we aren't serenaded by children at the top of the stairs singing good morning ditties, running around sans diapers proclaiming their nakedness, and playing whack-a-mole with makeshift hammers and drumsticks. So we decided to sleep in...and it was everything we thought it would be.

Back to Grandpa: little did he know how much of a handful our boys can be. When he showed up Saturday morning with the kids he looked as if he tried to singlehandedly stop a charging stampede of rabid caribou...and lost. His only glimmer of hope was knowing that his time watching the children was limited. Less than 18 hours after dropping off the children at my dad's they were back at home and in rare form. I'm not sure they actually slept at all. Perhaps because the children's fairly consistent bedtime routine is not adhered to at the grandparents' residences or it could be the change of scenery and not sleeping in their own beds but our children always seem to require a 12-24 hour re-acclimation period. They are normally irritable and short on sleep when they return so they tend to try our patience and sanity. This is exactly what happened upon their return Saturday morning. They were horrible, being ugly and generally disobedient and it was a struggle, but we eventually reclaimed the remainder of the day around 5 PM or so after some much needed naps and some quiet time. After a quick trip to Burger King they were back to their usual cheerfully rambunctious selves and we breathed a collective sigh of relief that years of parenting hadn't been flushed down the toilet for a night out with friends and a wild game of poker.