Motherhood Disasters

The beginning of the week really started off awful, for starters Monday's are always awful. I wake up facing mounds of laundry to do, it's the day that I workout in the evening so showering rarely happens and that's not a good way to get started. I was a disaster as a mother on Monday. I felt like the entire day I was saying "STOP!" "Finn STOP standing on the table, STOP jumping over your sister, STOP stealing her toys, Sylvia, STOP trying to bite Finn, and for heaven's sake STOP YELLING AND SCREAMING you're giving me a headache." This is when Finn usually yells back, "YOU STOP YELLING!" Well he's right. If the academy of motherhood had visited me on Monday they definitely would have not considered me for a Mother of the Year award.

Some days I just get so nostalgic for the days when Finn loved being carried around and was my little koala who preferred mostly me for the first year of life. Now he's all about Dad when Jared's around and now so is Sylvia. I only get snuggles when he's at work. 

When Jared came home Monday evening I gave him a lecture on how Sylvia isn't allowed the playdough because she keeps eating it and getting it everywhere and you can't be the "fun one" tonight who gives it to her. Then I retreated to my room to lay down and read for 20 mins. I could hear Finn outside the room saying "Mom's resting? oh you're in charge?" Lately we've been trying to get it in his head that we're in charge...even though we really aren't.

I love my little people so much but sometimes I miss them as sweet little babies. Lately they've seemed to be little monsters. (Then I think about the spitting up and many many sleepless nights.) I did receive a breath of fresh air when I picked Finn up from preschool and he said, "Mom I missed you today, I love you so much." I just about cried. And later when I asked him for the 3rd time to put his shoes on the shelf after we came in the door her said, "Oh sorry mom, sorry." He really had nothing to be sorry about, he's a good kid. He's pretty cheerful for the most part. 

Now Sylvia on the other hand...oh man is she feisty. She is so deceiving, that cute little body at almost 15 months which is the same size Finn was at 8 months. When I tried to attend to her the other night, she was so mad that it wasn't Jared that while I was rocking her and trying to calm her she kept swatting my hands away, like "how dare you touch me, Dad is supposed to be here now." So she was sitting on my lap, trying to balance on her own while I was rocking back and forth, finally she succumbed to her sleepiness and fell with a heavy head on my shoulder and I smelled her head and pretended that I was her favorite at the moment. 

I might have won her over ton Friday though when I gave her chocolate chips...well I was actually trying to keep her awake because she was spinning in her jumper and snuggling with her hippo blanket and dozing off while I was cooking. I kept clapping my hands and shouting, "WAKE UP, it's not time to sleep." She's transitioning to one nap and I cherish my time each day while both children nap which I worked so hard to achieve. But it's a long time from 5:30 am (6am on a good day) to 12:30 pm for this little lady.
Finn has started demanding no more kisses. I can't help myself, I kiss these kids a gazillion times a day. He even says stuff like, "I wiped off your kisses." I thought I had many more years of kissing them before that started. At least Sylvia still doesn't mind.
The week started to get better and then we were hit with a double curve ball Friday night with Sylvia's teething (those eyeteeth still haven't come through) and ANOTHER cold. That meant another all nighter. I'm still maintaining my 6am runs but it's getting harder each day.

My funny and a lot sweeter little monsters back in March 2011.

Naked

Hey mom, you just relax, I'll put on my own diaper...don't worry, I won't pee on you.

 

 

My Little Superman

Notice something under Finn's jacket? He wanted to wear his cape that my sister got him a couple of years ago. He insisted on wearing it under his jacket to the park and asked my to fly him around. When Jared got home from work things escalated. He flew him around and kept coming to "save me" which entailed pushing me onto the bed while I was trying to get ready to go out with friends. It was hilarious. Then Jared showed him some clips from Superman. Jared LOVES giving him new experiences. This kid truly has a charmed life.

Jared's Surprise!

Jared is the hardest person to shop for. He doesn't ever want anything. Plus Christmas and his birthday are a couple of weeks apart and that also makes it hard. For this birthday I wanted to surprise him...like big time. Jared and his brother David are 15 months apart and really great friends, however over the past 10 yrs they haven't had a good chance to hang out due to school, kids etc. I called up his wife a few months ago and proposed the idea of David flying out here (from N.D.) for Jared's birthday. (I asked the wife first because she was going to be the one staying at home alone with 4 kids.) Anyhow, she said yes and he flew out to surprise Jared. It was so hard keeping this a secret. I almost told Jared a billion times. I even had dreams that I accidentally told him. I just love surprises and love surprising people that I was worried this wouldn't go as planned, but I pulled it off.

I told Jared to the Friday off after his birthday because I had something special planned for him. Then late Thursday night I picked up David from the airport while Jared went to sleep. He thought my brother was coming into town for an interview. The next morning I headed out for a run early before anyone was up and returned to a cheerful husband. They had a great time chatting and running and working out together. Finn had so much fun and Sylvia really took to David. They had 3 times the attention and entertainment. We all rode bikes around and the weather was perfect and clear and not too cold. I had so much fun watching them interact. Next time his wife gets to fly out to go shopping with me since I hear it's pretty dismal in North Dakota. I sent David and Jared to Trader Joe's so he wouldn't go home empty handed.

Stripes

We are often all in stripes.

Boys and dirt

Check out Finn's fingernails. This is pretty typical from day after day at the park.

Oatmeal

When I married Jared and he swept me off to Hawaii on our honeymoon where we stayed at a nice hotel I was SO excited for the breakfast.  Like my father, I LOVE BREAKFAST. I love a million choices of eggs and pastries and hot chocolate and fruits and bagels and toasts and jams and oh I could go on. One morning we went down to the restaurant for breakfast and my eyes lit up as I perused the menu. I could do the buffet and just eat a little of EVERYTHING or I could just order something like eggs benedict. I opted for the buffet. When Jared ordered he just asked for oatmeal. I said, "Are you kidding me? Are you trying to stay trim or something because I know we're freshly married but I'll love you no matter your size, I mean how can you pass up all of this goodness?" He responded with, "it just makes me feel good to start the stay off with a bowl full of oatmeal." So cliche right? Well, like usual, he was right. I felt sick after...I had the benedict the next day. 

I sometimes start my day off with oatmeal...or when people are in town I'll make them croissant french toast. Jared has passed along his love for oatmeal (not the instant kind) to our children who will gladly eat 1/2 his bowl. Sylvia sometimes likes hers in balls on her tray.