All in a Day

i'm behind on blogging.  what's new these days?  and i have a million other things i could blog about-- places we've gone and people we've seen.  Heck, i could even write a completely different blog about today than the one i'm getting ready to write-- but lately this has been a resounding theme in conversation with other moms and i think sometimes its good to know you aren't alone.  

So here was our morning. 

It's has been a BEAUTIFUL day.  Sunny, Breezy, 77 degrees.  After a lot of cold weather and a lot of sickies, who wouldn't want to go out an enjoy a day like that?  

My particular day even started out like this-- with my two lovies in bed beside me cuddling and laughing.  Pretty darn near perfect. 

Although i did get moving a little late this morning and it was obvious my normal Wed MOPS meeting was going to be a bust, i really didn't mind and instead made plans to have a super fun morning out with my 3 kidos.  I put the twins in front of the TV so i could get ready, and put Little D in the swing.  He of course went from Sweet Innocent Baby pictured above to Screaming Baby and stayed that way until we got out the door.  Getting ready to the music of a screaming baby, is NEVER fun.  Still..we made it out of the door, and that is a success.  

I have a ton of bfast coupons, so i grabbed them and we swung through the drive thru to get biscuits and head to the park for a picnic.  The kids were excited and so was I.  Bfast went fine, despite H's pained expression below.  He's just a little sun-sensitive like his Daddy!

after our picnic, we walked to the park-- well let me rephrase that. I WALKED, the kids RAN.  I really wanted to yell out and tell them to stop running, knowing what would inevitably happen, but they were just having so much fun and were so excited to be outside.  So i didn't.  and then...she fell.  It wasn't bad, but with Nora that really doesn't matter.  Tears, limping and refusing to do anything with the least bit of activity was the extent of her park visit. You wouldn't know it by these pictures, but i'm not gonna lie...there were a lot more whines and tears than smiles and laughs. And Davis wasn't happy in the stroller at all this morning--so i couldn't even play with the twins for having to constantly keep him in motion.

I should also mention here that the pollen was SO bad--i really should have known better.  Even more, i shoulda turned right around and left.  But how do you tell your excited son that yes we are at the park but you can't play on it and now we are going to leave.  i can't.  So i take a chance and send him off in the inch sheet of pollen that literally billows in a cloud behind him as he goes down the slides.  I am probably going to regret this.  This day...not turning out quite the way i'd hoped. 

Still, H was having a great time--so great in fact that he didn't slow down long enough for me to get any sort of picture.  And that's good.  I succeeded in making one kid happy. That's something to be thankful for. 

Then we get in the car and I hand H his water.  N had already drank all of hers.  By the time i get back in the car from packing up the stroller, bags and kids up, N is crying.  Why? because i didn't give her the empty cup of water. How dare Holden have something she doesn't have.  (Calm down jess, breathe.) I proceed to explain to Nora (in much nicer toddler words of course) how essentially life isn't fair, to buck up and stop crying like a baby.  Then we head to the library for story time, despite the growing thoughts in my head telling me to go back home, this isn't worth the hassle.  I try to push them aside and be thankful that i have this opportunity to teach Nora these lessons that she needs to succeed in life.  I'm not saying this attitude adjustment (and by that, i mean my own attitude) was easy to do, but i tried. 

 At this point D needs to eat and cries the whole ride over. (Breathe, Jess...Breathe. He's a baby.  You are the one who planned this day, knowing it would interrupt his schedule.) 

Story time is great--until the end that is when the puppet show begins.  The librarians have the kids all close there eyes and count to ten (so they don't see the people go behind the puppet theatre). Holden starts crying hysterically.  Tells me he can't do it. I try to convince him he can, through his crying, all the while also trying to entertain a very sleepy 6 mo old in a dark room --just so my two 3 year olds can have a "fun" morning. Of course, after the emotional break down, he loved the show and closed his eyes fine at the end. I should be thankful at least he learned, conquered his emotions and did not break down again at the end. 

After story and puppets, they even got to plant flowers to take home and check out their first library books.  Minus Little D whining incessantly because he desperately needed a nap, that went well. The twins learned about plants needing water and sunlight to grow and we also had the chance to talk about "borrowing" and taking care of things that are not our own.  Learning is good. 

Then it was time to head home.  

First things first, we had to shed all of our clothes because of the sheet of pollen that we were covered in from the park.  While I was handling Davis and getting him ready for a nap, i had the kids take off their shoes and clothes.  Of course when I came back downstairs to help them, H was in full fledged tears because he was stuck in his shirt.  For the thousandth time we talked through how to get a shirt off. I gotta be honest here, at that point, even with naptime usually a least another hour away--i decided enough is enough.  We had a very small snack and the twins were sent to bed with a dose of benadryl to combat the itching already visible from a morning out in a cloud of pollen.  There are only so many tears and so many teachable moments a momma can take.  

Why do I tell you this?  It really isn't to get praise about braving the world and taking out 3 kiddos, although that is something i am personally proud of--it took me 6 months to figure it out...and i'm still learning.  It isn't to brag about my patience and optimism--because neither come naturally and both have to be dug up from the very depths of my being after a pep talk/scolding in my head each and every time some small distraction comes along. 

I write you about this day so you moms out there know--your aren't alone.  Too many times we paint these pictures of the perfect days we are having and all the fun memories we are sharing with our kids...when in reality it isn't quite that way.  I'm not gonna lie and say we don't ever have great days.  We do.  But more often and not--i think up and plan a perfect day, only to have it interrupted and constantly sidetracked by emotional, immature toddlers (which is exactly the way God designed them), a baby with needs that can not be ignored, no matter what else may be going on at that moment, and even my own attitude of self-pity, anger and frustration. 

The real truth is--that is where the beauty of it all is.  We are ALL constantly growing and learning.  My Job as Mom is to teach my children--constantly. Every Minute of the Day.  Redirect them. Train them. Watch them. Discipline them.  And while doing all that, I am learning myself.  I am learning  the art of being patient and how to be slow to anger.  I am also learning to look at the day as a collection of moments and not as a whole.  If i were to look at this morning in whole--there are a lot of yucky moments--i'm certain i've just terrified some pregnant first-time mom or made some kid-less person out there are thank the Lord they don't have any after reading this--but keep reading!  But being a parent is a blessing--and there are blessings in every moment.  Of course there were lots of tears this morning but there were also, big smiles, friends to play with, new experiences, dancing, funny books, and even a few hugs and i love yous.  And that's worth the other stuff.  It really is.  

just remember moms.  all those little things you do, all those hiccups in your day and sidetracks in your plans...try to look at them as moments to teach our children--teach them to be who you want them to be when they are grown--teach them to act how you want them to act when they are grown.  I know it's frustrating at times, but all this work will be worth it.  One day we will reap the benefits of our hard work.  One day, Lord willing, our kids will be happy, helpful, loving, kind adults--living, breathing products of the effort we put into them.   Keep trucking...moment by moment, enjoy as much as you can, teach when the opportunity arises and when neither of those things work and you can't do anything else, hold on and push through.  Moments don't last forever.   

~written by a mom, during a well-deserved naptime, resting and enjoying the cool breeze instead of doing the dishes, laundry and other cleaning that she should be. eh.