Today was St. Patrick’s Day- otherwise known in our house as the day Mommy forgot to dress C in green for school. There seemed to be some confusion among the kindergarteners as to whether the punishment for not wearing green was pinching or punching. Thankfully for C the teacher announced that no such shenanigans would be taking place at school today.
Tomorrow is a two hour early dismissal and then C is off for more than a week for Spring Break!
I have a little man that is turning four in three days. I still remember the first time I held him, not sure how I was going to handle parenting a little boy, but excited to feel the weight of him in my arms. For the first twenty four hours of his life his ears were completely and perfectly circular, like little quarters stuck to the side of his head. He was the heaviest of my babies, coming in at 7lbs 9oz. I had hoped he wouldn’t be a C-Section but after his heart rate dropped one time they decided that they weren’t going to let me try anymore. I was disappointed, but once the decision was made, I was eager to get it done. But I kept getting pushed later and later until finally he was born in the evening. 6:52 pm. I was exhausted.
That first night around 1 in the morning Tim handed me Big E so that I could feed him. Our visitors had all left and the only thing to do was to get the suitcase out of the car. As I was feeding the baby, Tim went down to get the bag. And for a long time he didn’t come back. I mean a long time. I waited and waited. I was holding Big E in my arms in such a way that I could not reach the call button to contact the nurse, so I sat there waiting… and worrying. Two hours later Tim walked back into the room with the suitcase behind him. What happened?!? I practically yelled at him and he stared at me with a look of surprise. “What do you mean?” he said.
“You’ve been gone for nearly two hours!!!” I said, glaring back at him as I passed him the baby.
The look of confusion on his face was priceless.
“What do you mean? I just went to get the suitcase!” He had gone to the parking garage and gotten into the front seat of the car. He closed his eyes (he thought he was doing little more than blinking.) He opened his eyes, got the suitcase and came back to the room. He had no idea that he had fallen asleep in the car for two hours!!
That story always makes me smile. We were so tired. I think that’s the thing that has surprised me most about parenthood. I had no idea you could be so tired for so long and still (semi) manage to function! I hear that one day you get sleep again. I sure hope so, because I was so tired the other day I almost put deodorant on my toothbrush.
Spring Break has come and gone all too quickly… Probably because it was only two days long! Ha! I actually wrote a nice little post here, but the computer deleted it and my Tylenol PM is kicking in. Maybe tomorrow I can recreate it. Oh well.
UPDATED-
I did something the past few days that I would never have done before. I had two days off from work and instead of keeping the kids home with me, I sent them to daycare. Usually the thought of doing this would have sent me into complete mommy-guilt mode, because I spend so much time away from them during the week, but I have been fighting a cold for the last two and a half weeks, have barely gotten any sleep, and I have just been run down. I was just telling Tim the other day how much I need a break. So I decided to take advantage of the time off to get some quiet time. After dropping the kids off with the sitter I came home, opened the door, walked inside and just listened. Know what I heard? Absolutely nothing…. and it was lovely!
I spent the past few days doing chores and other things that are impossible to do when I’m home with the kids. I’m sure you’ve seen the meme- Cleaning a house with small children is like trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos. So true.
I also got to have lunch again with C, which was of course a huge treat for us both! Sitting at a crowded lunch table with kindergarteners if very amusing. By the way, they offer way too much information! Ha!
In the evening we met up with my mom and sister and we took a walk to the stinky bridge. I am so glad the evenings are longer now and we can start enjoying some much needed outdoor time after I get home from work! We’ve all missed it!
I am officially on Spring Break! Before you get too excited, my spring break is only two days long. I go back to work on Wednesday, however I feel very blessed that I have a job that offers the benefit of a few days off in the middle of March! Since my spring break didn’t line up with C’s I decided to surprise her at school this morning for lunch.
I saw her coming down the hallway, laughing and joking with the kids around her and when she saw me she got the largest smile and ran over to me to shower me with hugs. With a huge grin on her face she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the cafeteria. She chose a table for us to sit at and as her friends started sitting at the table with us, she cuddled in close to me, staring at me with a huge smile. I’ve seen C laugh and be happy plenty of times in her life, but this might have ranked up as one of the happiest moments I have experienced with her. She was flying… and so was I. As I sat there with my little girl I was once again reminded that this is all happening way too fast. I wish I could have frozen today and stayed there awhile. Unfortunately, lunch was only a half hour. But for that half hour we were the happiest two girls in the world, eating PBJ’s and ELFudge cookies. Life is good!
On the weekends, Big E is usually the first one up in the mornings. He is definitely my morning kid and always finds his way into our room just before the sun comes up. This morning was no exception as I heard the door open a few moments before my alarm was scheduled to wake us up. His big sister was right behind him. Since I’ve had a cold for a few weeks the kids know they aren’t allowed to cuddle on Mommy’s side of the bed, so they curled up with their daddy. When daddy got up out of bed I looked over to find them wrapped in each other’s arms and snuggling close. Considering most of their waking hours fluctuate drastically between playing and picking on each other, it was such a serene moment to watch them peacefully enjoy each others’ company. A perfect moment!
We’ve been parents of three kids for about 16 months now and I have decided to share with you how life now is different from when we had just the two…
1- The car situation. With two kids, it didn’t really matter what we drove because we all fit. Two adults in the front seat, two kids in the back. When you add a third kid it changes everything when it comes to your transportation needs. With two kids the minivan was a luxury (I know, that’s an oxymoron) but with three kids that puppy is a necessity. For example… Tim drives a Toyota Matrix. We love our matrix. However, it is an adult version of Tetris getting all three kids’ car seats in the back. The main reason we haven’t switched baby E out of his infant car seat is that once we do, we have to figure out how to get three regular carseats in the back of Tim’s car. (thankfully Baby E is small for his age so he can still ride safely in the infant seat.) But we will have to make the transition soon.
2- The laundry situation. I thought my pile of laundry with two kids was bad. Adding a third means laundry is never ever finished in our house. And trying to match three different sizes of kids socks is pure torture. We actually just have a large sock drawer that all the socks get dumped into and then we dig through when we need some.
3- The dishes situation. The concept is the same as from above. More people = more dishes.
4- Bed time routine. Adding an additional little person to the bedtime routine adds a good fifteen minutes to the night. (Sure, fifteen minutes doesn’t sound like much, but when you are dead tired, it might as well be an hour!)
5- More cuddles. See? Not all the differences are negatives. This is probably my favorite. With three kids in the house that is six little arms that want to be around you and thirty little fingers to hold. You are sure to find someone to cuddle and keep you company.
Ok, that’s all for tonight. I’m sure I could think of more if I wasn’t quite so tired!! There’s a time change coming and we all need to get to bed soon!
The kids got to spend time with their neighbor-cousins tonight eating, rough housing, and participating in various other shenanigans.
Things I’m thankful for…
What are you thankful for?
Someone I love went through something very difficult today and he has many more difficult days ahead of him. It isn’t my story to tell, so I won’t share details, but my heart is broken for him. It feels like walking a tightrope- on one hand I am incredibly thankful for the end result, but on the other hand I greatly mourn the sacrifice that came at its expense.
I sit here staring at the screen, not knowing whether to praise God or shout at Him. But I know in reality it isn’t Him that I am angry at. He answered my prayers with mostly a Yes, but the No part still hurts.
I know all the pat responses, God knows what he’s doing. Trust God. Keep praying. When He closes one door, He opens another.
We’ve been trained to say these things in the face of pain… In the face of someone else’s pain. But what comfort does that give?
Don’t get me wrong, there is probably room for those sentiments, but not in the early moments of trauma, when the visceral overrides the sentimental. The early moments need something unscripted, something honest.
So here it is… I’m sorry. What’s happening is horrible. It isn’t fair. It isn’t pretty. But I love you, and you’re not alone.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. ~Psalm 147:3
Today was the first time I dropped both the boys off with a sitter they hadn’t both met before. (Baby E has been there, but Big E has not.) I was a little worried that Big E would freak out, as I forgot to prepare him for it. When he woke up this morning he asked the same question he asks every morning… “Where am I going today?”
I told him that he was going to go meet new friends. He got a huge grin on his face and squealed, “new friends!!!!”
Whew! So far so good. The rest of the morning I kept reminding him about his new friends, “Come on Big E, you need to get dressed so we can go meet your new friends!!” This would give him a burst of excitement and every mention of his new friends motivated him to keep the morning moving.
Once we arrived I expected him to get super shy, but he boldly jumped out of the van and chattered all the way up to the door. Once inside, I introduced him to his new friends. After the introductions, I leaned over to him and said, “Aren’t you so excited to be here?”
And then it happened…
With a sideways glance and clinched teeth he said, “Mom!!!”
He was totally embarrassed of his mama!!!
I honestly thought I had a few years before I started becoming an embarrassment to my children, but apparently it started today!! Sheesh!
There are some commutes that are good. Some that aren’t too bad. And sometimes there are bad ones. But a few times a year you get a commute so horrible that at some point during your drive you begin to question whether you will ever see your home again. Today was one of those days.
Tim and I both had horrible commutes. I got home around 7:30 and Tim got home around 8. I should note that I left work around 5:30 and Tim left work before 4pm. Two out of three kids fell asleep after Tim picked them up, only to be woken up for a late dinner of drive thru food, and then straight to bed.
eatingwithsavages 