This boy was sick last night… As in I crawled into bed and heard him crying hysterically and when I got to him I found him sitting up in his bed covered in vomit. Ugh. He threw up a few more times in the 45 minutes that followed and then he was done. After his clothes and bedding were changed, I rocked him in a chair for about 20 minutes and then he was ready to go back to bed.

Being then covered in vomit myself, I grabbed a quick bath and crawled into bed, completely expecting to be up half the night with him. Thankfully, though, he slept the rest of the night and woke up this morning with a a healthy appetite.

If you’ve been around here, you know that Baby E does not do well with stomach bugs (And neither does his mama!) This is his third since Christmas and he’d had a few before that. He normally does not bounce back very well from them, and I can usually count on him being down for at least 4-5 days. So imagine my relief when he was smiling this morning when I walked in his room. He desperately needed a bath, though, so that elicited a lot of screaming when I unceremoniously plopped him in my bathtub.

With him up and better, we are now officially in a waiting game. Will any one else get it? I’m praying no. I feel like we have filled more than our quota this year and I declare us finished!

C’s school was doing a mini relay for life today. In fact it was supposed to be last Friday, but due to inclement weather they rescheduled it for today. Last week we got a note from the school asking that we prepare the kids for the relay- i.e.- slather them with sunscreen and send them with a hat. And like the diligent mother that I am, I obsessed about the fact that she didn’t have a hat to wear, so I stopped by Walmart on Thursday night and spent $7 on a hat for her. Somehow with the chaos of the weekend the hat managed to go AWOL. I hadn’t noticed until this morning when I went to grab it and it wasn’t there. And I have to admit, our house isn’t brimming with extra hats- especially of the summer variety… And the only hat I could find was her Easter hat. Yup… a white straw hat with a fancy bow. So guess what my kid sported during her relay for life. I’m just hoping she rocked that hat and no one made fun of her!

To add insult to injury this morning, I also couldn’t find her backpack… which was (ahem) in Tim’s car which was at Tim’s work… 75 miles away. So again like the great mom that I am, I improvised. I found an extra Maryland Day bag I had lying around and I tossed her lunch money, her school folder, and her awesome Easter hat into the bag and handed it to her. (for a mental picture, the Maryland Day bag is pretty much a small reusable grocery bag.) I didn’t realize I needed to give her a lesson on how to carry the bag until I looked over at her as she was getting on the bus and her arms were wrapped in the handles of the bag as if it were an actual backpack and it was hoisted onto her back- looking more like a shark fin sticking out than a backpack!! You can’t win them all… and some days you can’t win any of the!  🙂

At least hopefully an adult somewhere at her school had a nice chuckle today, because seriously it was one of those days! Ha!

 

 

I’m having one of those days when I stare at my children and I am completely amazed that God has blessed me with this family. When I was young I didn’t think too much about becoming a mom. There were girls I knew that had it all planned out- how many kids, their names, boys or girls. Not me. I figured I would be a mom one day, like I figured I’d buy a house and have a job- but then it was all hypothetical. I never sat down and really imagined what a family of my own would look like.

But here it is.

I think even if I had imagined it, it wouldn’t have looked anything like this. I never anticipated the simultaneous love, joy, frustration, fear, silliness, messiness, humor, inadequacy, and tiredness. I never fathomed that all those could happen in a single day and at times, a single hour.

I’ll be honest- I don’t know how people do this without Christ. Without him, I’m pretty sure every time I read a headline, or came across the most recent study on the horrible products I have in my house that will surely give my kids cancer, I would probably curl up in a little ball and start rocking back and forth. How do you parent without Christ in a world full of Pinterest Birthday Parties and Pinterest Baby Nurseries and Pinterest Diets, and Pinterest Parenting Advice – All of which have been designed to show you that you don’t measure up. You aren’t the most creative mom. You aren’t the skinniest. You aren’t the prettiest. But you are failing your kids, your husband, your community… BECAUSE YOU AREN’T ENOUGH.

But in Christ I don’t have to be enough… because He is. He tells me to cast my cares on Him, to lay them at His feet. And what a beautiful invitation that is for this tired mama! It sure makes parenting a lot less daunting- the headlines less scary, the competition less demanding- knowing the One who IS enough is more than enough for me.

So that beach pass, I’m pretty sure that it is going to come in handy this summer! Ha! So, after breakfast this morning I packed the kids up and drove them to the beach. (I know, I know, we live mere blocks from the beach, but that seemed easier than walking!) We spent about 45 minutes there and I found 42 sharks teeth (which I think might be my all time record!) Baby E made peace with the sand today… well, sorta. He decided it was good enough to eat, but still not good enough to walk on. So he sat on the beach and played with sand, and when I wasn’t looking, he ate some too. (meanwhile the kid won’t eat bread… go figure.)

Later, C and I went to a baby shower for a dear friend of mine and we ended up at the beach again! This time we were prepared with her bathing suit, so she got to play in the water this time around. I found 6 more sharks teeth, bringing my total up to 48 in case you were counting. 

We topped off our day with a date just for me and Tim. My mother in law kindly agreed to watch the kids so Tim and I could go to the movies. I have been binge watching superhero movies in an attempt to catch up on all the back story in order to be able to take Tim to go see Captain America Civil War, so tonight we finally got to go! By the time we got home the kids were in bed and the house was clean. Thanks, Mom!!

I woke up yesterday morning with a headache, the kind I thought I could shake so I got C on the bus and dropped the boys off at the sitter and headed up the road to work. About halfway there, I realized that the headache was along for the ride, so I ended up calling in sick and headed straight home and straight to bed. And I slept for 3 hours!! I woke up and got C off the bus (she had an early dismissal) and headed back to bed. An hour and a half later I decided it was probably time for me to get up and be a semi-functioning adult. So, C and I ran a few errands before picking up the boys. We stopped by the town hall and finally got our beach passes. We ran to the store a picked up some essentials and then we got the boys. On the way home they begged to go to the beach (gotta try out that new beach pass after all) and while I still didn’t feel well I figured an hour sitting on the beach would beat an hour sitting on my couch so to the beach we went!

This was Baby E’s first time at the beach and I’ve got to tell you, he wasn’t a fan. One touch of sand on the bottom of his feet and he was clambering back into my arms. He fussed every time I set him down, but eventually I think he made peace with the sand and tolerated sitting in it for a few minutes at a time. Walking, however, was asking too much. I spent my time looking for shark’s teeth (cause I’m dorky like that) and found 20 of them while we were there! Mrs. Rebecca and Mr. David walked down to visit with us, so we had a nice time chatting with them. The kids loved digging in the sand, splashing in the water, and playing on the pirate ship. The beach was practically empty, which was a huge plus!

We made it home, ate a quick dinner and I had the kids in bed in record time and crawled into bed myself and slept 8.5 hours!!! I can’t remember the last time I got that much sleep. It was amazing!

On the way out this morning, Big E was sitting in the back of the van when he suddenly piped up out of nowhere…

Big E- Mommy, I’m going to miss you when I grow up and go and live with my new family. I am really going to miss you.

Me- I’m going to miss you too, buddy. Are you planning on getting married when you grow up?

Big E- No, because I want to stay with you. Can I stay with you?

Me- Sure, you can live with me, but I’m pretty sure you are going to change your mind when you get older.

Big E- No, I won’t. I want to live with you.

(Long Pause)

Big E- Actually, mommy, I don’t want to live with you when I grow up!

Well okay then. 

 

This evening we had a surprise birthday party for Tim’s mom. Her birthday was earlier in the week and we all went to their house this evening for pizza, cake, and family time. The kids rehearsed a song for grandma and came out and performed right before cake time. Baby E caught on about how amazing cake is, so he was pretty much unstoppable. It was a great evening of playing with the cousins and hanging out with the family! Happy Birthday, Grandma! You are such a blessing!!

I have had a massive headache all day, so this is what I’ve got. Sorry! I’ll be back tomorrow!

 

I’m always looking for tips to help with bedtime, because seriously, bedtime is torture. This evening, at the very mention of that dreaded hour, my children went into state mourning and whining promptly commenced. Don’t get me wrong, in a perfect world I would want them to stay up too, after all we have limited time together in the evenings, but I also know that they need their sleep… and Tim and I need our sleep. So, pushing back bedtime is just not an option.

So tonight I tried something new. I told them we had a plan for bedtime.

1- Go upstairs like a bunny

2- Go to the potty like a camel

3- Wash your hands like a gorilla

4- Brush your teeth like a T-Rex

5- Put on our pjs like a kangaroo

6- Read a story like a squirrel

7- Get into bed like a kitten

And guess what?!? It worked! My children all all snuggled in their beds like kittens and I get a few minutes reprieve before tackling my evening chores! I might need to try this same tactic in the morning!

• Meanwhile I totally squeezed Baby E into this R2D2 onesie today because he hadn’t worn it yet and he has totally outgrown it. It couldn’t button, but he looked awesome.
•  My children, who never like tomato sauce on their pasta had total meltdowns this evening when I didn’t put tomato sauce on their pasta.
• I totally bribed the two older kids to pick up the massive spaghetti mess that Baby E made by promising them a cookie. It worked.

A few weeks ago we took the kids to a carnival that had come to town. If you have been reading along, you might remember that Tim and C got on the ferris wheel and were forgotten about and left to ride undisturbed for three quarters of an hour. During that time, Baby E, Big E, and I fluctuated from wandering around, sitting on a nearby bench and watching a mini roller coaster make its never ending rounds, or staring straight up at the ferris wheel guessing which bucket Daddy was in.

I ran into someone that I knew and as we chatted for a moment, I held onto Baby E’s stroller while Big E was standing next to me. Or so I thought. I had looked down and he was there. I looked up to continue my conversation and just seconds later I looked down again and he was gone. Just like that he was no longer in my field of vision. My heart leapt in my chest as I spun around looking for him. I saw crowds and crowds of people, but no Big E. As panic mode was about to set in, the person I was speaking with pointed to him. He was about 20 feet away. He had wandered over near the bench we had previously taken up residence on and was watching the roller coaster go by. I hadn’t seen him immediately because people had walked between us at the just the right moment as to obscure him from my sight. The whole episode took less than 15 seconds, and while he was in no danger, he gave me quite the scare. I reminded him of the dangers of wandering off and the importance of staying with Mommy. He put me on edge and the rest of the evening I was hyper focused on his whereabouts.

Thankfully my story was brief and unremarkable. No one got hurt. Nothing bad happened. In fact, I had nearly forgotten about it until today. I was reading an article about the little boy that climbed and fell into a gorilla pit at the zoo, and the zookeepers killed the gorilla in order to rescue the boy. (I’m sure you heard about this so I won’t fill in all the details.) But what I do want to comment on are the remarks that I saw written in response to this article. Comment after comment spewed vitriol at the mother. How could a mother be so negligent? How could she be so distracted? Who would ever let their kid out of their sight even for a moment?

Um… Me.

In fact, I think I would hazard to say every mother I have ever met in my entire life. Show me a woman who has never lost sight of her children and I will show you a liar. Thankfully most of these situations end happily, but occasionally kids wander onto busy streets, or lean too far out windows, or fall into gorilla enclosures. Children can move quickly and quietly. And if you are dealing with other children or distractions, it can happen. Is it criminal neglect? Usually not. (I know, there are exceptions and there are people that truly are reckless with their children.) Is it a tragedy? YES. My heart breaks for this mama that watched her baby fall into a pit with a wild animal ten times his size, with the power in its hand to crush his body. How helpless she must have felt. Now obviously I don’t know this woman. Maybe she has a history of ignoring her child which led to this situation. Or maybe she is just like any other mom, a woman who for a split second turned her head but in this instance her worst nightmare came true. I venture to say she will relive the horror of that day forever.

As people finished crucifying the mother for her neglect, they then turned on the zoo for being so cruel as to kill the gorilla. I read comments from people saying things like “it’s not fair, the gorilla was innocent,” or “survival of the fittest,” or “This gorilla was 1 in 175,000 while the child was 1 in 7 billion. For me the choice would have been simple.”

Did you catch that?!? To many people that gorilla was more intrinsically valuable than that child. When asked to choose between the two, there were people that chose the gorilla over the kid and if even one person truly thinks like that, it is one person too many. When did we start condoning that type of thinking? How do people get to the point that justifies that reasoning?

Was what happened horrible? Yes. Were there alternatives? I don’t think there were. Life rarely resembles a Disney movie, especially when wild animals are involved. For the sake of the child, the zoo had to shoot the gorilla. Because the child HAS TO BE more important. If we lose that perspective and we devalue humanity in such a way, we can no longer get offended at injustice. For if people have no value, then in turn they have no rights and no claim to dignity. But in our hearts, in our very souls we know that cannot be true. We are valuable. We do matter. We are important.

So don’t worry, should you ever find yourself inside a gorilla enclosure, and I am the only one around with a gun… I promise you will walk out alive. Because YOU are far more valuable.

PS- To all you moms and dads out there, can you tell us one time you lost sight of your kid?