I learned some very valuable lessons this week, and I’d like to share.

1. I won’t have time to drink a whole cup of coffee before I take the kids to school, but I need to make it before I do anything else in the morning. And I’m apparently fine with drinking the rest of it cold after I get back. As long as it has caffeine, I don’t care what temperature it is.

2. I can’t eat breakfast before I take the kids to school, no matter how hungry I am. Because that makes for a very long counting WW points day to eat that early. But, when I eat after the kids eat, and after I get back, E. Belle will invariably want bites. And when every point counts? I’m not so generous with the sharing.

3. Even though I’m only a couple of weeks away from turning 31 (yikes! I’ll officially be “in my 30s”!), no matter how old I get, some things will always feel a little like high school. And sometimes I just need to step back and take a break from those things. For my self-esteem and my sanity.

4. On the positive side of that, I’ve learned that it is possible to make connections and friendships on the Internetz that are just as important as real-life ones.

5. I’ve learned that a two-year-old can be adaptable. It is possible!! T. has been gone for the past couple of days, and two nights ago, I was feeling pretty low and exhausted (related to both #3 and a long day with the kids). I took all of the kids upstairs to put the big three to bed. Somehow, while I was reading a book to them and Erv was hanging out in Essie’s crib, her binky made it’s way into his sleeper. I have no idea how. But I didn’t find it until well into the night, and Essie wouldn’t accept any other binky. So I gave up (after a long search and possibly a few tears on my part) and said “screw it”. She cried (loudly) for at least 25 minutes. After I found the binky, T. and I decided to seize the opportunity and not give it back. Last night, she cried for less than ten minutes, then was over it. She played happily for a while, and went to sleep with a mouth empty of foreign objects.

6. I learned that without my over-6 ft tall husband in bed, I need to make a barrier for when I’m nursing Ervin and we both fall asleep. Because he will roll off the bed. But last night, I learned that even a five foot long barrier is apparently not enough. He will find that extra foot at the bottom of the bed and roll to it. And off the bed. Now, where was my Parent of the Year award again?

7. I learned that Big Erv’s pretty tough. And that there is definitely a difference between raising your first infant and your fourth.

Did you learn anything valuable this week?