Teenagers.. eh

I'm not sure how I ended up being a mom of teenagers. I mean I know it was inevitable that it would happen... one day... but not now. This I am NOT ready for. No one decides to become parents and says I can't wait until I have teenagers! (And if they do, I'd like to meet them!) We were fast-forwarded just a little bit because N & T (our sons) are adopted. They were a sibling adoption and they were older- N was 47 months old and T was 28 months old. So they had a headstart on my being a parent of a teen. This past December T turned 13, N is already 14 (almost 15) but going from one angsty teen to two wasn't easy. And because they are boys, I can't really relate to their "issues". Top it off that hubby is in Afghanistan for a little longer and it makes for a tossed salad of Teen Angst. I love my boys, I really do but some days I am so sure that if I were a wild animal of some sort I would have eaten them for the way they act. (I'm not sure what animals eat their young and I'm pretty sure they do it when they are newborns, but I think they do so because they know what they might be in for later.. that's my story and I'm sticking to it!). I also grew up with sisters. I know girls, I am a girl so girls are "normal" to me. Of course we get grouchy and moody, but we get a period so it's expected. That would have been expected if I had girls. But I don't. I have boys. But guess what ladies and gentlemen.. boys get mood swings too! And because they don't get a period it's impossible to predict when these swings will happen... And then if you're like when they do happen, you are completely bewildered. What just happened? I probably should track them and see if they happen around the same time of the month but that might be weird. The things that confuse me the most are: 1. The amount of food they can consume (don't worry $400 in groceries will last about 4 days if you are lucky) 2. The length of time in the shower (I don't want to know why.. I keep telling myself I don't want to know) 3. The amount of time they are sedentary .. sometimes I wonder if they are still breathing.. and yes, I check. 4. The amount of time they sleep.. I'm not sure I could sleep 12 hours a day and STILL BE TIRED.. but they do.. and they are! Right now as I write this it is 1020 am and they are still sleeping.. we went to bed at 10pm last night.. I've been up for hours. The whole sleep dilemma comes with the question- should you wake them? I asked once on Facebook and I got a variety of answers (some were funny lol). Also my other biggest dilemma is our electronic society. Right now my boys aren't allowed to play xbox (school comes first) and neither have a Facebook account but the don't verbally communicate with anyone- it's all texting (and if you have never read your children's texts you should. Be sure to have some sort of interpreter though- it's a whole different language) why don't kids talk to each other face to face anymore? We were out at a football game once and my boys were sitting higher up in the stadium than I was and they were texting me to ask me questions, and texting each other... I don't get that.. doesn't make one lick of sense. I suppose the good part about them being teenagers is that they are hopefully almost back to being close. They used to be close when they first came home.. then we moved and they did nothing but fight.. now they fight less but still aren't quite back to being as close as they used to but I'm hopeful that it will happen. And I guess I better get used to being the mom of teens because before I know it they will be in college, and grown, and married and I will be writing a blog about being the grandmother of teens.... oh why did I just write that? I hope that is a long long way off! Oh I hear them waking up! 1030!!