A shot of confidence

I'd never really wished I had more than two arms until the twins were born. Then, for a while, that's all I wanted.

Sure, there would be drawbacks. That'd be kind of awkward in airplane seats. I'd have to get a tailor. And I don't know what I'd do with the third arm while I was running. Maybe it could hold a water bottle or something.

The last few days we've gotten the next best thing.

Mom was in town.

You don't really appreciate your mother until you go to college. But you don't really really really (I'd add more but you get the idea) appreciate your mother until she becomes Grandma.

Man. Someone to help with the dishes, do laundry and pick up the house is huge. Imagine if you invited someone over to your house and the only person's job was to pull things off your counters and your shelfs and dig around in a toy box and leave stuff on the floor. We have three of those. Except we have to feed them too and get them juice 50 times a day. Each. I wouldn't do that for an adult pulling stuff off my bookshelf.

Housekeeping is maybe the hardest part of having kids for me. At the end of the day, I'm so exhausted, all I want to do is watch a show (currently addicted to Battlestar Galactica, do not spoil my fun or I will send a cylon all over your ass and not the good looking ones either), read or maybe even play poker. I don't want to pick up, wash out juice cups or clean the kitchen.

Mom did a lot of that. Makes me wonder if I should sell a little dope in order to pay for a housekeeper.

Anyway, Mom also helped pick up the kids and love them, and that's also something we don't have enough hands for all the time.

But the most important thing Mom did was something she said to me right before she left.

She said, "You two are doing a great job."

I have always doubted my ability as a parent. I think I do OK, but I tend to focus on what I'm not doing. It's what I do. I don't play with them enough or love them enough. I don't talk to them enough. I'm not patient enough.

Mom told me that not only would she be pulling her hair out half the time, that she thought we were doing great.

I know. Mom's say those things. But I could tell she meant it.

I need those boosts. Maybe one day I'll believe them.