What was I thinking?!

Some days I think I've lost my mind. No wait, that's not quite true. Let's face it. I don't think I've lost it, I know I have. And honestly, what mom seriously hasn't. Don't lie to me now (or yourself). We know moms get what I call "baby brain". This condition occurs once a woman becomes pregnant. Slowly, over time, her memory gets foggy and soon she's lucky if she can remember her child's name, let alone what day of the week it is. And don't fool yourself into thinking it gets better as time for a by because that too is a lie. And if you have more than one child....you, my dear, are doomed. Doomed I tell you to forget everything, make poor judgements and become mindless most days.
I definitely had one of those mommy brain moments a few days ago. It wasn't something simple like forgetting to do something we had scheduled. Nope. This was a full blown mommy moment of what the heck was I thinking. I had definitely lost my ever loving mind because if still had it I wouldn't have decided to do what I did. And what was that decision you ask...
I allowed both my children to invite a friend over. Not just for the day. That would've been the more sane thing to do. Nope, not me. I invited them to spend the day (starting around 2) and the whole night. Gasp! I told you I lost my mind.
What you may ask led me to make this insane offer. First, it's Spring break. I'm a big believer in keeping the kids active and love when they can get together with friends. Unfortunately, Spring here has sucked. It's been cold and rainy almost every day. I understand that's what Spring is about and usually I embrace it. However, it's almost May and we've had maybe 3 warm Spring days. Yesterday the sun was out for the first time but it was freezing cold with a bitter cold wind. My kids go crazy cooped up inside. They need to get out and run around. They were driving me and each other nuts. I did what any (crazy) mother would do and invited friends over in hopes of diffusing the situation.
The good news...my I plan worked out for the most part. My kids didn't kill each other and they weren't so bored. The hard thing about having a boy and a girl is you know they're going to find ways to annoy and torture one another. It's no different than when you double that number. The good thing was...one friend is an only child and the other doesn't t have sisters. It's worse when they do because the annoyance level goes up (as does the torture), if you know what I mean.
I find at 6 and 8 years old it's best to separate them and keep them focused on different things. The girls did good with this. They were more than happy to play in my daughter's room with their baby dolls. The boys were trickier. They wanted to walk the fine line and annoy the girls. Sneaky is what they were. They would tiptoe to their door, knock and run away and other juvenile things. Typical minor annoying kid stuff. The girls took it in stride and ignored them for the most part. We made it through.
Hubby was somewhat helpful once he got home. I was very greatful. He didn't do much but he was good at what he did do. The girls spent some time climbing all over him before going back upstairs to play. The boys hung out with him in the living room and watched hockey.
The evening went well. Bedtime (which I was dreading) was a bit trying. I honestly thought the girls would be worse than they were. The hardest thing was to get them to talk quieter. Our house is tiny and noise carries easily. The rule was music off by 9:30 and to start quieting down by 10:00. Bedtime by midnight. I thought that was more than reasonable. Hubby works early so quiet was not optional what so ever. The hardest part was just getting them to lower their cute, giggly voices. It took a while but they finally quieted by 11 and were asleep by midnight. I was so relieved.
This time, the boys were better. They weren't as wound up and settled down to sleep in the living room easily. I put on the movie Despicable Me and they quietly watched it. My son was out by 11:30. I could tell his friend was fighting sleep and I didn't want to head to bed before he was out. He was the wild card in the equation. See, he's slept over before with negative results. First time I had to call his mom at 11:30 to pick him up. I was understanding (if not a bit frustrated because I had offered to drive him home earlier) because it was his first sleep over ever. Second time he slept over before the boys had a hockey game. Midnight rolls around and he's begging to go home. It took a bit of persuading but hubby convinced him to stay. Everything worked out. This was the third time. I prayed he was "broke in". His mom was convinced he'd be fine. I wasn't quite sure but willing to try. I asked a few times between 10-11 if he was ok and he said yes. Of course, once the movie was over at midnight he wanted to go home. I felt bad but I couldn't do it. I was exhausted and had a meeting to go to the next morning. I attempted to convince him to try to sleep and he said he couldn't. I told him I had to go upstairs and I'd be back. My hubby woke up and said no way, he needs to stick it out. He told me not to go downstairs that it would be alright. It broke my heart because I could hear the boy sniffling. I decided to give it five minutes. Thank goodness two minutes later all was quiet. He fell asleep and stayed that way.
The boys were awake before 7! Ugh. But that's sleep overs for you. The boy was fine. I explained everything to his mom and she was ok with everything. Thank goodness because I felt horrible about it. I'm a firm believer in letting parents know how their kids truly were when asked. I'd want them to be honest with me.
I'm still left questioning....what the heck was I thinking doing two sleep overs in one night?! That's a sure sign of a mommy losing her mind. However, I truly wouldn't have it any other way. Overall everyone had a great time so it was well worth it.

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