Valentine's Day with 4 young kids

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Broke and lots of kids doesn't really equal a lovely evening alone with hubby. Also, the fact that I am due in just a few weeks doesn't lend itself to romance. Pete asked if I hated Valentine's Day because for what seems like most of ours, I have been either very pregnant or recently had a baby. He said that all I ever want to do on Valentine's Day is go to bed early. Haha. That is true- maybe eat some candy and watch tv in bed first. Of course, you have to spend time with the kids and tell them they are awesome and you love them too, so Pete decided that we would all go to the Co-Rec on campus. The temperature was around 5 degrees or something, so he thought trying to get their energy out at the kid/family friendly pool area they have would be a great idea. It was a good idea, but um I am pregnant in winter and all but one of my pregnancies have been winter pregnancies so I just had my pre-pregnancy swimsuit. I guess luckily it is a bikini, but I don't know how lucky that was for the world at large to see. I tried it on and took pictures of myself in it just to make sure that I wasn't being completely obscene in wearing it.

It isn't something I really felt comfortable doing, but I guess it worked just fine. No one went running and screaming in the other direction. So there is a positive for you. The pool area they have is fun. It is about 4 feet deep, there are basketball hoops, a little waterfall, wave pool area that also has a volleyball net, and a hot tub. We brought floaties but they don't let the kids wear them. You have to have a life jacket or you can bring one of those puddle jumpers, which I really need to get. So they gave Thomas and Luke a life jacket. I will say that all my kids totally forgot how to swim. It was very stressful. I had to hold Meg, keep my eye on Jack who thought he could swim but keep flailing around and having to grab a wall because he couldn't remember anything about swimming at all, Thomas kept flipping over while wearing his life jacket so that he was face down in the water and couldn't correct himself this lead to tears and being very afraid of the pool, and Luke did all right but he didn't want to go too far without a parent right there otherwise he began to freak out. They all wanted to go in the hot tub but only 6 years-old and up can be in it so Thomas and Luke were upset that Jack and Daddy got to go in the hot tub. In the end the kids said they had a great time and want to go back, but I am not sure Mom and Dad are up for it any time soon.


By the time we were done it was dinner time, so the boys got Happy Meals as a Valentine's Day treat, and he ordered carry-out from Mountain Jack's. The kids ate their Happy Meals in the car while we drove to get our food. This way they could go to sleep as soon as we got home, and Pete and I could pretend we were on a date. In all the years we have lived here we have never been to Mountain Jacks or really even heard of it, but it was very good. Pete said it was packed inside. It doesn't look like it would be that great from the outside, but it was pretty delicious. I did drink some beer because how do you eat steak without beer or wine? Pete split a bottle of Leffe. Yum.

Then Pete left to grade papers, and I went upstairs to lay in bed and watch Netflix. That is how you do Valentine's Day when you have 4 kids 7 and under and you are uber-pregnant.


Now that I am in the last few weeks sleep is harder to get. I wake up because my head is congested or I am snoring or I have to use the bathroom or I really need water. I can't fall asleep as easily so I am up later. Boo. Then I am tired all day and grumpy. The kids either love this or hate this or both because I don't really play with them since I try to take a nap or two during the day if possible leaving them to sort of fend for themselves, but on the flip side this means they can usually sneak more tv or iPad time.

They did get to go outside and play recently. It was warmer but still kind of yuck.

Luke had rodeo day at school because they were learning the letter R. They had to bring in a horse on a stick to do races. They sent paper cut-outs that you could put on a broom stick so that is what we did. Only it wasn't just the broom stick it was the whole broom because the stick doesn't detach from the bristles. He didn't seem to mind.

Jack and Luke also had their Valentine's Day parties. Both boys were upset and wondered why mom and/or dad didn't help out at school very much this year. There are some moms who come all the time or just do extra stuff for the class or school, so why don't I (we)? I had to explain that these moms were 1. probably not super pregnant 2. probably had older kids so they didn't have to worry about what to do with all the extra kids/siblings 3. didn't have other kids 4. only had 1 younger kid at home so the parent could bring or drop that sibling off some place.  You just can't win. Pete has done the volunteering this year, and while not as much as we did last year, it is better than nothing. Pete walked with Luke's class to the public library, he reads to Jack's class once a month, and he will read to Luke's class in April. If there are parents with lots of kids all of whom are quite young and they are volunteering then cheerio for them. It is not something we are capable of doing. A nice does of parental guilt.

Let's see how much worse or better the guilt trips get as we wait for baby to be born. Luke's birthday is next week and Jack's the week after, so I am really hoping baby isn't born on one of their birthdays or cause me to be in the hospital during their birthday. They have both already said this is not something they would be ok with. We shall see.