The Joys of Motherhood

Well, to say that yesterday was a frustrating or challenging day may be putting it mildly in my opinion but we had quite the day! I am sure all mothers have those days, where not much goes right and a whole lot goes wrong. Well, we had one of those weeks this week and it all seemed to culminate yesterday. We are trying to get Kyra potty trained and finally yesterday she seemed pretty into this potty training thing, she has her panties on and she even came to me to tell me that she wanted to go, so we run in there but as I am going in behind her I notice her jeans are already wet. Okay, 0 for 1. So, we get her changed and set to go for round 2. In the meantime Gavin and Carley somehow got a whole bucket of little foam shapes that we use for crafts spread throughout the whole bedroom, I literally cannot see parts of my bedroom carpet. So, it began, I fought with the kids all day (all week actually) long to pick up their toys and craft supplies. Instead of stuff getting cleaned up it seemed that every 10 seconds there was a bigger mess. So, I am threatening to throw away all of the toys that are out if they don't get them picked up and my phone rings. It's my sister-in-law, "Shannon you might want to go get Ruby she was chasing us down the road when we drove by and now she's standing in the middle of the road." Okay, so I head outside and retrieve the dog. WhileI am outside Kyra decides she is going to try this potty thing again and of course Carley has to help her (which for whatever reason means Carley has to get completely naked - pants, socks, shirt - everything). So I come back from outside and Carley is naked, Kyra is naked from waist down (wet pants and panties laying on the floor - 0 for 2) and I have an empty toilet paper roll and a toilet full of wet TP that Kyra tried to flush but since there was too much, the toilet is stopped up. So, I send them on their way to get dressed AGAIN and start to work on fixing the toilet all the while yelling at them to get their toys picked up. Got the toilet fixed and much, much, much later the kids finally got their toys picked up. Since I try to instill at least some good qualities in our children I had to stick by the, "if you don't get this messed cleaned up right now you aren't going to eat lunch." So, at 1:35 we finally got to each lunch. So, they take a nap and Mom took a much needed breather. But we were right back at it again when the kids got up. Carley was as crabby as ever and if I wasn't holding her she was crying, but darn it, I was frustrated so I was not going to cave and give her what she wanted - her sassy (pacifier). So she cried. Once again the craft supplies came out and I had 1/8 x 1/8 pieces of little cut up papers all throughout the downstairs of our house, there was glitter everywhere (if you've ever worked with glitter you know that it doesn't go away for a LONG time after using it). There were things stuck to my table because after telling Gavin about 12 times that he cannot use a 3 inch diameter DOT of glue for each piece of paper - he continues to do so - therefore, sticking everything to the table and letting it dry before I realize what has happened. While he is being "creative" Kyra once again is back at the potty thing. This is something that I have wanted her to do and show interest in for a long time and finally we have the interest but not much else. So we go and we sit there and we sit there and we sit there...she will sit there for 20 minutes or more before I can talk her into getting off the potty (I know, I just said I wanted her to use the potty, but after today I might be changing my mind). So, finally she gets off. Okay, she runs into the living room with her panties and jeans (because you know they have to come all the way off every time you go potty). So, she goes in there to put them back on and comes back to me (I am still washing my hands from the previous 20 minute potty break), "Mommy, I peed on the carpet." I really wanted to yell, but I just talked to her about why she would do that and asked her to clean it up (don't worry I was planning on doing the second round of cleaning - once again just trying to instill those values, you clean up what you make a mess). So, she takes a towl in there and sure enough there is a wet spot. When she is done cleaning, she runs back to the kitchen and I yell, "put the towel in the dirty clothes." Well, we have selective hearing at our house, so she chose not to hear that and threw the towel on top of all of my clean dishes that were drying in the rack - "great, another project to REDO today, just what I need." So, I clean up the pee on the carpet and while I am doing that Gavin comes running in, "Mom (and he rolls his eyes) Ruby just puked and it's in her kennel and it's outside her kennel too." Wonderful, I love my job. "Well, it's just going to have to stay there for a few minutes, don't touch it." So, I finish cleaning up the carpet in the living room and go to take care of the dogs needs (thankfully the kids did listen and stayed clear of the dogs mess). And of course, while I am busy with that the girls head back to the bathroom (I really need to put a lock on the outside of that door) and by the time I got done cleaning up the dog mess they had about 1/2 a roll of toilet paper in the toilet again. I am almost 100% sure there was nothing under the toilet paper that required toilet paper be used but none the less, the used it - half the roll of if. I had to take a picture because I literally did not have a toilet bowl anymore I had a huge mass of wet toilet paper. Now, I have had it, I don't even say anything to the girls, I just look at them the way only a mother can look at a child and covey 1000 thoughts in about 2 seconds. They didn't say a word either, they ran to the living room, sat down and started looking at books - they knew.... So, I am not about to touch all that wet toilet paper, so I start thinking and I spot the toilet plunger, I get that out and use it kind of like a shovel and move about 80% of the TP out of the way and hold it back...flush. Let some of the TP down into the water, hold the rest of it back...flush. Let some more of the TP down into the water, hold the rest back...flush. You get the picture now multiply that by about 8 and finally that problem is solved. So, the "clean" dishes are still not washed AGAIN yet, but they are going to have to wait, a t 4:43 yesterday afternoon I was able to get my shower for the day! It was a milestone in my life. :-) But it had to be quick because we had a meeting for Gavin's school last night and I was running about 45 minutes behind and Grandma was going to be picking the kids up any minute. Got my shower, was getting ready and trying to round up the kids and get them all dressed and set to go so they were ready for Grandma. Grandma arrives, the kids have hats, coats, gloves, boots on and they are walking out the door and all of a sudden I smell one of them. "Who's poopy?" Carley always tells me if she is and Kyra won't look at me so I know who it is. "Kyra get all your clothes off and get on the changing table." She had to throw that in there at the last minute just to get on my VERY last nerve that I had for the day. So, with diaper changed and three little monsters on their way out the door with Grandma I could finally take a deep breath and have about two seconds of peace and quiet until the dog starts whining - out she goes. So, Jed gets home and we run right back out the door to head to the meeting and we jump in the car and start on our way and Jed says, "How was your day?" How was my day?...So I proceed to use the 25 minute drive to Owatonna to tell him just how my day was. We got there, I looked at him....and he laughed. Now my WHOLE family on my ____ list. But after all this, when we got home last night and tucked the kids into bed, gave them their kisses and hugs and listened to Gavin's prayers and the first thing he says is, "Dear God, thank you for my Mommy and Daddy and my sisters and me....." (he prays for himseld every night too) I am reminded of how truly blessed I am to have such wonderful, healthy, "creative", entergetic children and a husband who cares enough to ask me about my day and all of a sudden my day doesn't seem SO bad. Having the "job" of Mom is definately not the easiest or most glamourous job ever but it is the best job ever, and so today we start with a fresh slate and we are going to leave the dishes and leave the laundry and lock the bathroom door :-) and have some fun playing!