So it’s been three weeks since I posted.  I don’t get paid for this.  If I did, I promise it would have only been two weeks since my last post.

Anyway, this is about the kids right?  I kind of forgot about them.  I mean, sometimes I just block them out of my mind.  Impossible you say. Well, have you ever slept somewhere with the light on, TV blaring and people talking?  If so, you can block out kids.  Also, alcohol helps.

Ok, I’m kidding – sort of.

 So, what have they been up to in the past three weeks since I’ve posted?  Well, it’s actually been pretty normal.  There have been numerous fights, 38 spilled drinks, 16 complete meltdowns, at least eight fairly serious injuries, 99 “she/he started its,” 64 “for no-reason” screams, four biting episodes (which is actually below normal), 13 nude sightings (only one coming from Oliver) and 618 “nos” from Mom and Dad.

Other than that, everything’s been great.

To be fair, it’s not like we asked all three of them to be within six years of each other and live together under the same roof.  I know for a fact I participated in all of the above and practically majored instarting fights with my sister during my childhood education called “growing up.” 

However, it still wears on you as a parent.  And I’m pretty sure it will never be easy.  A conversation I had the other day with someone who has teenagers pretty much confirmed that.  When they’re pre-teens we’ll be stressed about answering sex questions – if we haven’t already.  When they are teens we’ll be worried about if they’re having sex, and when they’re 25 we’ll be wondering if they’ll every move out of the house.  Actually I’m documenting it now, that if any of my children live under my roof full-time and they are old enough to buy their own beer, they must pay Jamie and me at least $500 per month, do ourlaundry, and share some of said beer.

For now though, we’ll just keep plugging along as parents.  It’s never easy, mostly fun, but sometimes so damn frustrating that I wish I had money to pay for boarding school.  But then there’s the whole “grass is greener on the other side” thing and I guess I’d miss them when they were away attending school in Europe heading to bars at the age of 15 and sending me pictures on their i-phone 17.

Like I said, not much has gone on around here since the last post.  Although, Mitch did turn seven yesterday and I turned 31 on the 17^th, so 40% of us literally aged since then.  And no matter what happens, I’m glad the five of us are growing old together as a family.  I just hope we can cut down on the spilled drinks at dinner.