We have never had more than one vehicle in our whole married life (and engaged life too, for that matter). People look at me like I have two heads when they find out that we have three kids and have never had more than one car. They usually ask,"Well, what do you do? How does that work?" My answer is that we don't know any different; we don't know what we're missing. Sometimes it's annoying, but we make it work.
Well, I think we might be ready to give in. The older the kids get, the more things they are going to be involved in, and it's been pretty annoying this week driving 30 minutes to take Peter to work, 30 minutes home to get the kids ready for swim, 20 minutes to swim, 20 minutes home, 30 minutes to pick up Peter, and 30 minutes home. I have felt like I've been driving all day for the past four days! Not only is it the time spent, but gas and mileage on our family vehicle.
Part of me feels like we've definitely paid our dues and in some small way deserve to get a second car. Then the other part of me feels like we've sacrificed this long; we should be able to keep this up a little longer. Getting a second car would feel like a huge luxury to us. I can barely imagine the freedom! I know that it would also ease a lot of stress with figuring out schedules and such. I usually have to make sure that Peter can work from home on the days I have doctor appointments and things. But it doesn't always work out, and sometimes I have to miss or cancel things. It would just be nice to have some freedom to go places.
Well, Peter has been working so hard this week and even though I have missed him being around, I have been feeling so grateful for him and how hard he works for our family. I'm really lucky to have him. He has felt bad to be gone so long and that just shows me how great of a father and husband he is. It's nice that he sees so much good in the kids at the end of the day when I am ready to strangle them. It reminds me that they really are innocent, sweet kids.
Last night Peter finally got done at 10 pm, and after another hour of driving, we got home at 11 pm and we didn't get to bed until midnight. Well, Jonah decided it would be great to wake up the whole household at 6 am by screaming/singing at the top of his lungs. Thank goodness, we got Eden and Levi to go back down. We let Jonah watch a movie downstairs while we tried to sleep for another hour. Well this morning I found this when I opened the fridge:
About half of the new package of strawberries I bought were smashed here on the bottom of the fridge with one bite taken out of each of them. Nice. Jonah, when are you going to stop doing this kind of stuff?I am really looking forward to the weekend!
12 comments:
We went through a time with only one car, and it is hard. After having two now, I would have a hard time going back to one and loosing the freedome that I have. If you decided to get another one, you definatly have paid your dues.
About the kids going to the doctor... suckers... and lots of them. {and tylonal for you}
Oh, and the strawberry thing... Tim does that with apples. There is one bite out of each one, and it's either found in the playroom, or back in the fridge.
I get the one car thing - we did it for quite awhile and I was totally prideful, almost didn't want a 2nd car. BUT OH MY GOSH. Life is so easy. I can't imagine not having 2 with 3 kids!!!
I have to chuckle at the strawberries, especially at the fact that they are half eaten. What'sa mommy to do? All I can say is find joy in the journey and take it one day at a time. Oh...and get another car :)
We are in the same boat with the car thing. It does suck, but taking on another car is a big expense. Only you guys know what is right for you.
Sorry about the strawberries, but know it could have been much, much worse. I think you've heard enough stories about my kids to know if it was them-the fridge would have been emptied completely!
I hope you have a more relaxing weekend!
Haha, funny about the strawberries.. Sorry about Peter's work. Good thing he is so great. :) And don't worry, I don't have any cars. :) Things will be okay, but you could always just get another car.
I don't know how you do it with one car. I did it for about 4 days and was about to loose it (but it was nice having an excuse to not go grocery shopping during the day!). I guess if you don't know what you're missing, then it really doesn't matter. But as life gets more hectic, you're definitely going to need to break down and buy a second (for sanity's sake).
Hey, it could have been worse than strawberries. He could have been sitting on the kitchen floor with sugar all around him like Collin did!
Haha typical Jonah singing and screaming at 6 in the morning! Also typical Jonah to do something sneaky and bad while everyone else is sleeping! :D Haha He's funny! The doctor app. dont sound too fun...last time I was there to try and help.
Wow. Yes, a second car is wonderful--even if it isn't brand new with all the bells and whistles. Oh the strawberries! Those days are so not fun.
I'm sorry Connie... sounds like you're totally exhausted! I hate driving all over creation too... but even with 2 cars it feels that way sometimes. My advice... if you feel like you can maintain your sanity (not every week is this difficult, right?!?), start saving now for a 2nd car, but try your best to not buy it until you can do it outright... no loan. (Cheap cars work too!!!) So much less stress when there's no extra payment each month. Or if that would just take too long, figure out what you can afford to save each month toward a 2nd car, then try to save up for as long as you can, then finance the rest but make sure the monthly payment is the same or less then the amount you were saving each month for the downpayment before you purchased it, so you don't all of a sudden have a huge monthly car payment. Just some thoughts from the peanut gallery. Good luck, my friend. And the strawberries... I'm sorry! That's like icing on the cake! But maybe it will be a fun story to tell his girlfriends down the road a piece... :)
It is kind of funny and frustrating what kids can do to the food in your fridge. We have to keep ours locked. Nick and Jade like to take everything out. I know what you mean with the car. We did have two cars, and now are down to one. I am not liking the change at all. I loved the freedom of being able to hop in the van and go where I needed to go. Now I have to drive Kevin to work if I want to use the van, which as you know...stinks. We want to fix our other car, but it costs money. And we have already put $200 into fixing it and it still has the same problem! So frustrating. It would be nice to buy a newer used car. But funds are low. Good luck with your decision.
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