Being a single parent for 48 hours...

Sucks.

The End.

A quiet holiday

I got to sleep in until 7:30! That was a nice beginning. I went to the gym with Caitlin, and after the workout we walked over to the cemetery to visit Mom. It was a nice, peaceful morning.

I rushed home to help Brian pack for his work trip. He's off to Texas for a couple of days. I am sad that he's gone, but I am excited for him to have this opportunity with his work.  Lila is just sad. She is not understanding why her daddy isn't coming home tonight.

So rather than sit around and feel sad we decided to go run a couple of errands and then met Grandma T. for lunch at McDonald's. Happy Meals and running around the play area seemed to perk everyone right up. Although I was once again reminded of one of my top ten pet peeves: parents who can't look up from their cell phones or iphones or other electronics for even a second to see that their out of control hellion is running amok and pushing smaller kids out of their way. Poor Lila has a lovely raspberry on her forehead from getting kicked by a bigger kid who wasn't looking where they were going. But other than that, lunch was a great treat.

Now we are getting packed up to go spend the night with Grandma T. She was so sweet to offer us a place to crash since I don't sleep very well when Brian is out of town.  The kids are excited to be having a sleepover/movie night with Grandma. I am excited at the thought of early bedtimes.

I hope your holiday has been equally relaxing. Happy Memorial Day!

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world...

Heavenly Father created for me.

Jake took this picture in his grandparents backyard after Sunday dinner. 

Grandpa T. showed the kids the nest and they were so excited to see real life nature up close. Jake came running in to ask if he could borrow Brian's phone to take a picture of the eggs, and Evie was close on his heels telling us at the top of her lungs that, "...there is a nest with robin's eggs, like we got on Easter, only they are really real!"

Thanks for a great dinner and a neat natural science lesson tonight, Mormor and Farfar. 

The kids were especially impressed by hearing you pray in Danish, Grandma!

IHOP Happenings...

We decided to take the kids out for lunch today for a special treat. We opted for IHOP and told them all to get dressed quickly. Jake came back upstairs wearing jeans and pulling a golf shirt over his head. Suddenly he stopped and asked, "Mom, is this formal enough for IHOP?" I told him no, mostly to see what his idea of formal was, but Brian reassured him that he was dressed appropriately.

After we got to the restaurant and had been seated, all three children quickly decided on pancakes.  Lila even ordered for herself, "I have da baby cakes p'ease" and completely charmed our waitress. Then they happily settled to coloring their place mats. As we were waiting we talked and laughed, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.

And then out of the blue Jake turned to Evie and said, "So... Evie. Where do you think babies come from?"  The tables around us fell silent. Brian and I looked at each other in shock while trying not to laugh at the same time. Evie thought for a moment and then said, "Um...  from tummies."  Jake then leaned over and said, "Wait a second, " while he turned out the back of her shirt to look at the tag in it. "Ah-ha, " he said, "You come from Taiwan."  Brian and I looked at each other with a kind of what-do-we-do-now-is-not-really-the-time-to-have-this-discussion look, mixed with relief at dodging a really awkward moment.

At this point we had been waiting quite awhile for our food and as our waitress walked by Lila turned and yelled at her, "Where's my baby cakes?!" Again the waitress laughed and laughed, and said that Lila was just the cutest thing ever... and I couldn't help but think, "Yeah, the attitude is funny in small doses. Try dealing with her 24/7..."  Of course what I said was, "Thank you."

At long last our food arrived and I watched as Jake started his process. We've eaten at IHOP any number of times over the past four or five years and Jake always gets the same thing, the Silver Five. First he eats the eggs and bacon, then he arranges the pancakes in a circle around the plate. Then he eats them one at a time, each one with a different syrup. Counter-clockwise. He gets it from his dad...

All in all an enjoyable day out for all of us. And I'm sure the people sitting around us enjoyed the free entertainment.

Art imitates life?

This is a picture Jake drew in his school journal. 

When he showed me I had three thoughts:

1) Wow, Jake is getting to be a really good artist.

2) He misspelled crutches. 

3) I hope no one thinks this actually happens.

Hmmm, I think someone is trying to tell me something....

After yesterday's post it should come as no surprise when I tell you that I have been feeling like my parenting skills could use a little work. I mean, if I were a better mom then my two year old wouldn't be so rebellious and naughty. It's probably because my kids eat processed sugar and food dyes....

I am kidding, of course, but it's easy after a hard day to feel like you are failing where everyone else makes it look easy. I was reading through my blog list this morning and the title on The Idea Room jumped out at me. How to Avoid Taking Your Stress out on Your Children. It's part one of a series of posts by a Family Psychology teacher at BYU. I really needed to read this today. And the best thing I took away from it was noticing that some of her ideas are things I already excel at, and some ideas are areas I could work on, and some ideas were things I had never thought of before and am excited to try.

My favorite section of the post is Have Realistic Expectations. Especially where she says, "No one has our unique set of circumstances."  I want to focus on that for the next little while. I need to cut both myself and my baby a little slack and realize that neither of us have been in this situation before. I have said many times to others, "You are great mom! You love little so and so and want to do the best you can for them."  And now I am saying it to myself. I am a great mom. I love Lila (even when she is being a little so and so) and want to be the best mom I can for her. I am going to work harder at meeting her at her level, giving her my attention and making sure she knows that I am really listening to her.

I'll let you know how it goes...

p.s.- I totally plan on implementing these ideas with all of my children, it's just that Lila seems to be the one I butt heads the most with lately and who I feel the most out of control with.

p.p.s.- I really recommend taking a moment to follow the link and read the post, esp. if you have children.

It's been a very long day... Lila-wise

I remember being in the hospital after Jacob was born, and family and friends stopping by to see my beautiful new baby. I can't remember who it was, but someone was holding him and admiring his perfect, new features, and while she held him she looked at me and said, "It's hard to believe that at some point in time you are going to want to kill this child, isn't it?" I just sat there, aghast, and thinking, "What a horrible thing to say to a new mother!"  Little did I know that day would come much sooner than I had anticipated with each of my children.

I've been thinking about this memory all day because Lila has been an absolute stinker from start to finish. (Well, almost finished, Brian is still trying to get her to bed as I type this.)  But she can still make me laugh, even as she makes me want to pull out my hair. For example, this conversation was had after I put her in the tub, reminded her twice not to pour water out of the tub, went out of the room for less than ten seconds to grab a clean towel, and returned to find her pouring water out of the tub...

Me: Lila! What am I going to do with you?

Lila: I don' know.

Me: I think I will send you to live at the zoo.

Lila: No mama, I want ta stay wif you.

Me: You don't want to go live with the monkeys?

Lila: No.

Me You don't think you should live with the bears?

Lila: No. I not a bear, mama. I just a Lila.

Me: Well, if you want to stay here you have to stop acting like a wild animal!

Lila: I want to stay wif you and daddy.... and Evie. Jake can go stay wif the aminals.

Me: You don't want your brother to stay with us?

Lila: No, he needs to go stay wif the aminals...


Poor Jake, he gets blamed for everything around here.