IT'S 2:48 A.M....

I woke up (after having fallen asleep on the bottom bunk with Bean earlier tonight) in a panic because I needed to pay my electric bill and had forgotten to do so earlier today. I got up and paid it. Now, here I sit, adrenaline rushing through my veins and nowhere to put that displaced energy.

So, here are some thoughts ...

You know how kids are go through those "testing" phases? Bean seems to have recently channeled the attitude of a 13-year-old. And Cakes has suddenly developed quite a penchant for saying, "No!" in complete defiance of every request and/or command given to her. She's been spending a lot of time in her room lately as a result. Fun stuff. But, I'm a pretty strict disciplinarian and will haul my pregnant body from anywhere in the house to stick a disobedient and/or sassy kid in time out or remove a beloved toy from her grasp until proper respect is being displayed (we don't do spanking - we're not against it, but we just choose to consistently implement other forms of discipline).

When we were in Barnes and Noble over the weekend, Cakes was throwing a tantrum because she did not want to obey me and put her coat on in preparation of leaving (it was in the 30's this particular day). The thing about public tantrums is that there is no set place for a time out; so, the dilemma that faces me is whether to remove a desired object from her or find a suitable place to take her until the tantrum subsides.

I always feel bad for moms who are out with their screaming kids. Well, I feel bad and I thank the good Lord that my kids are behaving at the moment.

But, I digress. So, there I was, six months pregnant with 4-year-old and a screaming 2 1/2-year-old, doing my best to maintain my composure and improvise with the discipline. I typically would have immediately whisked her outside or to the car but, like I said, the temperature was in the 30's and the issue in question was getting her coat on. After about five (seemingly endless) minutes of screaming and several failed attempts to stick her noodly, dead-fish arms into her coat sleeves, we finally bribed her into the coat and I sent her off with her father before I had a complete nervous breakdown.

Then it happened.

Some old man came up to me and started telling me that my child was completely out of control and that my husband and I were absolutely horrible parents for letting our child get away with screaming in public and defying us. Now, I know I'm not the first person to have a complete stranger witness five minutes of my life and then interfere as if they had been present since the moment of my conception, but it was the first time that it had happened to me. And, since I have quite the sarcastic streak (goes over really well here in the South, too, let me tell you), I always thought I would shoot out some snappy comeback if that ever happened. But, I just stood there speechless, mouth open, before finally just shaking my head and walking away.

Well, off to try to squeeze a few more hours of sleep out of this night...