Oh...and about the kids...
Seem like I have been a little lost in myself lately? That's probably because I have been. Hard to admit, but yes, the sudden news of baby number three has caused me to stray off course.
Even we mommies with the best of intentions can get that way. Motherhood has a way of humbling us beyond humility.
But I wanted to take the time this week to let you know about the two little reasons that help me to regain my focus each day. After all, they are the inspiration behind this whole venture.
This is Noah in mid August at the end of my parent's driveway. Her face is smeared with a pink ice cream treat from Dairy Queen, and she's clutching a very special blue balloon. Back in July, she lost that balloon. She got the balloon from a parade, and a few days later, opened the front door of our house only to have the balloon swept out by the Kansas breeze. It was as high as the heavens in no time. She cried and moaned about that balloon for weeks. That's when a mommy genius moment struck.
What if we could "find" the balloon? And so I plotted, with Grandma's help, to recover the balloon swallowed up by the heavens. On the day we were to arrive at Grandma's house, the flower shop delivered a blue balloon with a pink string - just like the one we'd lost - to Grandma's house and tied it to her mailbox. Then, as we would pull in the driveway, Noah would boast with joy for her found balloon.
Well, twenty miles from Grandma's house that afternoon, we drove by a car dealership that had big balloons tied to every car on the lot.
"Look at those balloons, Momma!" she exclaimed. And then, so grown up like, she said,
"But I don't want anymore balloons...(pause to hold back the tears)...because they just blow away."
Mommy genius moment dissipated.
We pushed on and found her "lost" balloon. Her excitement, however, had been replaced with grave concern for the safety of her balloon. She was not settled until that balloon was tied safely to a chair in Grandma's house.
And so the summer has gone; Noah grasps the realities of the world around her more and more each day. The toddler in her is giving way to a more settled, more purposeful preschooler.
And then there's Tucker. That little baby boy who was content to sit on his mommy's lap is no more. He has been replaced with a ball throwing, bug eating, hair pulling toddler.
Oh sure, he looks innocent in this picture. He's just a happy kid helping his momma make a batch of cookies. But you should have seen the fit he threw when I took the cookie dough away.
And, he's beginning to figure out how to use his brute size to his advantage. Today, he tackled one of my daycare kids in pursuit of a ball. Sure, they were the same age. But still, he grabbed the back of the kid's shirt, yanked him to the ground and took the ball away from him. I took a moment to laugh before I resolved the incident.
He had a bit of a tough summer. He had tubes put in his ears at the end of June. And while that has solved his ear infections, he has been on a relentless teething streak, had to get rid of his favorite comfort, his bottle, and has entered full blown toddler terror. Now he is the one who gets escorted out of church each Sunday.
Boys should come with more explicit instructions. Seriously. The kid is only satisfied with things if you can throw them, eat them, or bang them.
And so I pause here. Because you know, mommies, we could go on and on about our kids. But seriously, if I don't get to bed soon, there's no way I'll make it through another day of this.
Even we mommies with the best of intentions can get that way. Motherhood has a way of humbling us beyond humility.
But I wanted to take the time this week to let you know about the two little reasons that help me to regain my focus each day. After all, they are the inspiration behind this whole venture.
This is Noah in mid August at the end of my parent's driveway. Her face is smeared with a pink ice cream treat from Dairy Queen, and she's clutching a very special blue balloon. Back in July, she lost that balloon. She got the balloon from a parade, and a few days later, opened the front door of our house only to have the balloon swept out by the Kansas breeze. It was as high as the heavens in no time. She cried and moaned about that balloon for weeks. That's when a mommy genius moment struck.
What if we could "find" the balloon? And so I plotted, with Grandma's help, to recover the balloon swallowed up by the heavens. On the day we were to arrive at Grandma's house, the flower shop delivered a blue balloon with a pink string - just like the one we'd lost - to Grandma's house and tied it to her mailbox. Then, as we would pull in the driveway, Noah would boast with joy for her found balloon.
Well, twenty miles from Grandma's house that afternoon, we drove by a car dealership that had big balloons tied to every car on the lot.
"Look at those balloons, Momma!" she exclaimed. And then, so grown up like, she said,
"But I don't want anymore balloons...(pause to hold back the tears)...because they just blow away."
Mommy genius moment dissipated.
We pushed on and found her "lost" balloon. Her excitement, however, had been replaced with grave concern for the safety of her balloon. She was not settled until that balloon was tied safely to a chair in Grandma's house.
And so the summer has gone; Noah grasps the realities of the world around her more and more each day. The toddler in her is giving way to a more settled, more purposeful preschooler.
And then there's Tucker. That little baby boy who was content to sit on his mommy's lap is no more. He has been replaced with a ball throwing, bug eating, hair pulling toddler.
Oh sure, he looks innocent in this picture. He's just a happy kid helping his momma make a batch of cookies. But you should have seen the fit he threw when I took the cookie dough away.
And, he's beginning to figure out how to use his brute size to his advantage. Today, he tackled one of my daycare kids in pursuit of a ball. Sure, they were the same age. But still, he grabbed the back of the kid's shirt, yanked him to the ground and took the ball away from him. I took a moment to laugh before I resolved the incident.
He had a bit of a tough summer. He had tubes put in his ears at the end of June. And while that has solved his ear infections, he has been on a relentless teething streak, had to get rid of his favorite comfort, his bottle, and has entered full blown toddler terror. Now he is the one who gets escorted out of church each Sunday.
Boys should come with more explicit instructions. Seriously. The kid is only satisfied with things if you can throw them, eat them, or bang them.
And so I pause here. Because you know, mommies, we could go on and on about our kids. But seriously, if I don't get to bed soon, there's no way I'll make it through another day of this.
Comments
Oh, and I am in complete agreement on boys coming with explicit instructions :)
Why do boys love to throw or break everything they can? Oh, and as an added bonus, our three year old boy's two favorite words in the English language are "poop" and "penis"... he talks about them tirelessly...
all day.