What I accomplished today...

The last few months have truly been a series of one step forward, two steps back movements. And it's been HARD. It's made me question who I am and if I'm really doing a good job of being a wife, mother, friend, etc. More often than not, it's just doesn't seem like I'm good at this. Which then makes me crabby and impatient and thus perpetuates the cycle. That said, I've been trying to evaluate areas where I personally need to grow and change and also what my goals are and should be. I haven't had any major epiphanies, but this is how this evaluation is playing out in real life.

Both of the girls are sick and the baby kept me up most of last night. Poor thing is running a fever, has a river of snot flowing out of her nose, and has a horrible cough. Needless to say, she wants to be held all of the time. Big sister chose to not use the potty and managed to leak out of her Pull Ups right as the baby was getting comfortable nursing. Did I mention she had just used the potty not too long before that?

So I gave up. I decided the goal for the day wasn't to "get something accomplished." Instead we all got cleaned up and had movie day on the couch, complete with popcorn. Sure beats getting crabby.


My biggest accomplishment today was getting two sick and tired kids to take a nap in my bed. So there I was sandwiched between them with Daughter #1's right arm stretched across my neck from the left side and Daughter # 2 curled up in my right arm pit. And as I laid between them listening to them breath through their clogged up noses, I felt blessed. Blessed that I had the time to be there with them. Blessed to have a husband that understands. Blessed that he wouldn't mind picking up pizza on the way home.

The Good, The Bad, and The Funny...

Observations from the week of March 10th

The Good...

It's interesting the perspective that parenthood adds to our own comprehension of how much God loves us and is patient with us. The following verse is one I learned a long time ago, but I'm enjoying understanding it more as I watch our three year embrace the truths she's learning in our new church home.

Matthew 18:4 (King James Version) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I'm always a little amazed when I hear Daughter #1 joyfully exclaim, "I want to go to the Golden Palace and Streets of Gold where God and Jesus live." It's incredible to watch her wholeheartedly embrace going to heaven. She's not bogged down by "the cares of this world" like I so often am.

Last week I was talking to a friend about the faith of little children and I liked an observation she made. God hears all of our prayers, but answers those of little children in a quick manner as He knows that little children need to meet Him and trust Him. God also knows when we as adults need to learn patience.

The Bad...

Let's just say it's been a hard week, Dad's in the hospital, sleep deprivation, etc. On Tuesday, I really felt like the tiny thread that my sanity ever so carefully dangles from was worn and about to give. Then I had the pleasure of looking at this precious face, completely oblivious to all that was going on around her. She truly is our little bundle of joy.

The Funny...

About two weeks ago Daughter #1 almost had the potty thing down completely, only to "regress" here recently. On Wednesday she pretty much refused to use the potty except for one time. Upon sitting on the little potty, she proceeded to create Lake Urine (1 foot x 1 foot) on the bathroom floor. Lesson of the Day ~ Specifically tell your little ones to pee with their knees together. Just another one of those little things I'm sure her grandparents conveniently forgot to mention. :)

This Week's Mantra: Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

Eternal Perspective

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

• The last month to 6 weeks have simply not been easy. I've joked about Groundhog Poo before, but the truth of the matter is that dealing with poo on such a regular basis is really starting to wear on my moral. Between potty training and leaky diapers, I'm constantly wondering what God is wanting me to learn from all this. Add an overflowing toilet on my birthday and I all but felt defeated.
• That said I LOVE being home with my girls and revel in the opportunity to share these quickly fleating days with them. Even when I feel I need a break, it's really not from them and it's hard to tear myself away. So I'm left to wonder over and over again, how these accidents can happen so often and what I could do to have a better attitude about it. But just trying to see the bright side of things only seemed to make things worse when the inevitable disaster occurred.
• This past Sunday at church our pastor used the analogy of his now well fed and spoiled former farm cat that no longer has any desire to chase mice to emphasize the point that as Christians our treasure is in heaven not here. That cat wouldn't chase mice because he knew he had a good meal waiting for him in the house. That's where his treasure was. I've frequetly thought how things like obsessing over my house (not the home, but the house itself) have kept me from focusing on storing treasure in heaven, whether that is teaching my girls or opening my home, etc.
• How that relates to poo is the perspective. Before thinking this through today, I thought maybe I might only be learning to love more by taking care of my girls in all their poo glory. I'm sure my Grandma took care of a whole lot worse as she nursed my Grandpa during his many years of illness. I know she's not perfect, but she's always been a great testament of love to me personally. Then I got to thinking of my Great Grandma and how grateful I was that she loved and nursed a little preemie baby girl so that I would have an incredible Grandma. From what I've heard about her, I'm sure she didn't consider her tasks noteworthy and yet I'm still reaping the benefit 80 years later. It definitely gives me a little more motivation to think about the long term perspective and in light of eternity the poo REALLY doesn't matter.

Sisterly Love

This pic was taken last week during a

much friendlier encounter with the toybox.

Just so you don't start feeling overly sorry for Daughter #1 after reading the last blog, let me relate an event from Tuesday. Before we go any further, let me preface this story by saying I don't condone, encourage, or support the following behavior. I'm just relating the facts.

I had to check on the laundry and I left the two girls in the toyroom by themselves for no more than 2-3 minutes. I returned to hear a muffled cry and started looking for Daughter #2 thinking that she was playing in the corner. I then realized the pleas for help were coming from the toybox. Apparently the baby had been "getting into" Daughter #1's tea party table (something she takes very seriously) and the only reasonable solution seemed to be to pick the baby up and put her in the toybox and close the lid.

This all followed what appeared to be Daughter #1 putting Daughter #2 in a headlock earlier that day. When I called the eldest by name LOUDLY, she replied, "I'm just hugging her."

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

When Daughter #1 was born I felt like I had just fallen in love all over again. Before having another child, I think most parents contemplate how they will ever be able to love another child as much as their first. All I can say is that Daughter #2 has totally captured my heart and has me wrapped around all ten of her tiny little fingers. So I thought I'd take a moment and list a few reasons why this child knows my number and how she keeps me on speed dial.

She has two smiles.

One exudes complete joy and the other one spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Double-edged sword - She loves to play with my hair. Back in the middle of February both girls were sick, and playing with my hair was one of the ways the baby soothed herself. She could be feeling miserable and then suddenly relax just by reaching up to hold a lock of my hair. She's also realized though that this is a great way to get mom's attention and has no reservations about pulling it when she's feeling mischievous.

Another way she soothes herself is by resting her head on my chest over my heart. She completely melts like butter when she does this and so do I. I love holding my babies!

Two weeks ago, Saturday February 16th, was a momentous day for her. Her parents eventually realized that they were no longer able to impede her improving mobility and we finally installed a baby gate at the top of our stairs and lowered the crib. With her increasing mobility also comes an increasing appetite, and I had forgotten how she used to open her mouth like a little baby bird when she was hungry until she recently started doing it again.

Can't go under, can't go over it, might as well go through it!

Another interesting aspect to meal times is that her improving coordination has led to flailing arms and feet when she gets excited resulting in oatmeal in mom's eye.

And back to the title TROUBLE, the incident went along like one of the many tales I've heard from my Pops of how his little brother seemed to always incite some type of trouble at bedtime. Since she had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't interested in cooperating with our feeble attempts to get her to sleep, we decided to go ahead and place Daughter #2 in her crib. Well, the two girls share a room and needless to say she wasn't interested in sleeping in there either. The only logical thing to do would be to incite a riot with her older sister resulting in Daughter #1 getting in trouble for not laying down and Daughter #2 getting her picture taken for being so cute. Looking back I can clearly see the injustice and will promptly add more money to Daughter #1's savings account to pay for future therapy bills.

Too Much To Remember...

Got lots and lots I want to write about, but just haven't had the time. So just a quick note to self:

All the little reasons I adore my baby girl and howI LOVE the way she literally melts when she falls asleep on chest.

The new tricks she's learned this week from big sister and Daddy like jumping on the bed and clapping.

The Great Toilet Revolt of my 2008 Birthday

Why I ENJOY being home with my babies and why I want to enjoy it even when we're still stuck in Groundhog Poo.

And lastly Prince Charlie. Prince Charming can't compete with this guy.