Unexpected Plus

There were always things about Motherhood that were widely heralded by my friends as being exciting things to look forward too. Your baby smiling at you for the first time, seeing them rollover, the joy of walking around with a stroller and everything you think you could EVER need in one bag strapped to your arm. It was so exciting for me every time I would hit one of these
"Mommy Milestones". It was so much fun to be inducted into the mommy club, where talking about what nursing bra works the best is the hot topic of the day.
There have also been some unexpected surprises that I have discovered since becoming a Mommy. One of these "unexpected plus" times is the Mother's Lounge at church. No one ever told me what a magical place this is. Once you get over the stinky diaper smell (I actually move the diaper pail out into the general bathroom space every Sunday for this reason) it is a wonderfully intimate space. It's so relaxing and quiet and the perfect conditions to have visits with other lactating women, or the occasional non-lactating woman who needs a quick getaway from all the hussel and bussel. Big comfy chairs to rock your baby, and sometimes yourself, to sleep.
Since becoming a regular in the lounge I have experienced the following:
~Sharing a laugh with another Mommy
~Being able to vent about a particularly trying situation
~Having a heartfelt one on one with a sister I might not have otherwise had the opportunity to chat with
~Five minute catnap on the rare occasion I am in there by myself AND totally sleep deprived
~Finding out invaluable information on deals, sales and steals
~Finding out interesting "goings on" of other people at church (I know gossiping is bad per say, but I would be lying if I said it never happened!)
Sometimes with all the kids shenanigans at church it can be hard to have a quiet moment to get that spiritual uplift that I desperately needed to get me through another week. The Mother's lounge never fails to pull through for me when my mind is running a hundred miles an hour everywhere else.
I have to say that one of the things I was looking forward to after I had Bianca was an excuse to go in there more regularly again!

I had a fight with the toilet...

...and the toilet won.
I was scrubbing it out with the toilet brush and felt really inspired to get that brush "way down there" and REALLY get it clean. Well the brush got stuck. Like ridiculously stuck. Like there was no way that the toilet was every going to let that brush go. At first I was all like "there is no way this is happening to me. It can't be for REAL stuck. Maybe I'm not pulling on it right."
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That stage quickly changed into panic. We only have one toilet in our house. With this predicament there was now no useable toilet in our house. Because my brain runs wonky and I am a freak I all of a sudden had the overwhelming urge that I had to.... USE the toilet. Like I mean REALLY USE THAT TOILET. Now I am sweating because I am afraid that I will have a "run outside and use mother nature" situation.
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I became determined. I hunkered down and pulled on that brush with every strength of fiber I had in my being. I don't consider myself high class by any means of the imagination, but I was NOT going to lower myself to pop-a-squat in my own yard. With one last tug the brush was released resulting in myself flying across the room, landing hard on my butt (did I mention our floors are CONCRETE?) with a shower of toilet water mixed with comet and clorox.
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I was now sweating and covered in the toilet water/comet/clorox combination with our date night only an hour away. I did get myself ready to go on time and there is nothing like a fabulous date night with your husband to calm yourself down after a war with your toilet. I will be more cautious the next time that I scrub my toilet out now!

My brain is swimming....

So I have a kerbillion things I should be doing this morning. A stinky dog that needs a bath (and a new home--anyone interested!), a bathroom that needs to be scrubbed, laundry to fold, floor to mop, stove to clean and baby that is sick and decidedly NOT napping. I'm also stressed out about finances (what's new) and dreams for my life that I feel like I'm never going to get to.
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So how have I been making use of my time all morning?? Holed up in my room looking at page after page of this most fabulous website. It's knockoffwood.blogspot.com, somebody mention them or something like that on their blog (my brain is fried) and one look and I was hooked. She has plans FOR FREE of fabulous pottery barn/restoration style fabulous furniture. She also has shopping lists and general cost it would take to build each item. EVERYTHING is exactly the type of furniture I would love in my home and instead of spending thousands on gorgeous bedframe, I can spend a little over 100 and a Saturday of mine (mostly Marcus', let's be honest here) time. I have visions of the storage coffee table/bench, rustic farmhouse table, toddler bed (if only I had room then the toddler playhouse loft bed with kitchenette set), end tables and rustic bench swirling through my head. Plus she posts about emails she gets from people who have done a project with different ways that they finished them and pictures.
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Now that I have declared my love for this site to the world maybe I can actually start taking care of my kids now!

V Day

We spent our entire Valentine's Day camped out in our living room glued to the television. We would have normally gone to church in the AM but Olivia had been having a pretty robust fever since Thursday and then Bianca started to get sick on Saturday night. We knew once the weekend hit that one of us was going to be staying home with the older one (I was so excited to go to church solo, actually get to hear all the messages, not have to change any diapers) but when Bianca got hit too it became a two man job.

Well to be honest just Olivia being sick has been a two man job. She has not been sleeping (ergo we have not been sleeping) and on top of being sick she is cutting two of her 2 year molars. Yesterday was an especially inspiring performance as she threw tantrums from before the sun came up until after the sun went down. The only quiet moments were when we let her take a tubby. She may have had two tubby's yesterday for like an hour each time. We may or may not have added more hot water to prolong her aquatic activities. We also may have gone through half a bottle of Johnson & Johnson bedtime bath bubbles.

But with all the kids craziness we have also been going crazy over the OLYMPICS!! I was gripping the edge of my seat during the men's speed skating (go Ohno and Celski!) and last night I was carried away with my favorite (well probably every one's favorite) FIGURE SKATING, those pairs were so magical. I just can't get enough. Olivia asked to watch a movie and Marcus said "I'll put your Elmo movie on in Mommy and Daddy's room. Mommy is watching the snow show." Then Olivia was like "No more snow! No more snow! NOOOOOOooooooo" (cue tantrum number 637). We both started laughing over that one. I am so excited to see the pairs skate again tonight!

Luckily Olivia seems to be over the worst of it today and woke up in considerably better spirits (THANK GOODNESS!).

Jumper Girl

My sweet babe really loves to jump her brains out in this nifty jumper/excersaucer contraption. She is so calm, happy and precious that I can't seem to ever get enough of her. I keep thinking that everyday she is going to turn into a "normal baby" and start crying and being a fussy budget but everyday she keeps on being her wonderful zen self.
She is definitely more active than Olivia was. She really loves to be on her tummy and/or rolling around all over the place. Diaper changes are interesting, I have to keep a hand on her to hold her down at all time or she will flip off the changing table. I have mastered the art of the one handed diaper change.
She has started to grab my face to give me mini hugs. She puts both hands on either side of my face and then snuggle her head in and look up at me and smile. It's so fun to see her personality start to come out. I feel like when I look at her I see myself looking back, it's like she is my mini me, except she has the whole blue eyes thing going on.
Nobody can make this girl smile like her big sister. She has a pretty big grin when she sees me, but her mouth stretches to epic proportions when her sissy comes over to say hi after a nap time. Speaking of the bigger one, she had a pretty bad fever last night so her sleep was not ideal. Needless to say she has been real "special" this morning. And by special I mean cranky, irritable, mood swingy and miserable. The good thing is I know why so it's not stressing me out because I know she doesn't want to feel this way, it's not like she can help she is sick. Of course all of this happens on the same day as a baby shower I am throwing for a friend. Luckily I got ahead of the game yesterday and cleaned my house up "real good" so I can just chill out with Olivia today! Yea for planning ahead!

Today's Baby

Olivia has continued to find varied items to be her baby. I heard her rummaging in the kitchen and then she said "shhhhh baby, nigh nigh". She carefully carried her "baby" to her room. Don't judge the hair please. We are getting to the point where the baby hair is catching up to the regular hair and it leads to some Afro moments.

What was the baby today? A jug of Mexican vanilla.

She was jumping up and down and patting her "baby" and singing to it.

I meant for this to be the first pictures, but they loaded backwards. I walked into her room, the lights were off and the "baby" was in the swing. The swing was on and the music had been turned on. Today Olivia picked out soft forest sounds to lull her "baby" to sleep, she had even dialed down the volume. I think it was a babbling brook noise. When I turned on the light to take a picture she quickly ran in and grabbed her "baby" to save it from my camera. I was barely able to get this picture taken. The pictures above are her trying to rock it back to sleep because I apparently woke her "baby" up by turning the lights on. It is back in the swing right now. The hilarious part was she gave me this "I can't believe you" look whilst rocking "baby" back to sleep. Like she was disappointed with me that I didn't leave her "baby" alone. Like she seriously was giving me the stink eye.

So currently I am wasting 4 D batteries rocking a jug of Mexican vanilla to sleep.
Best Morning Ever.

Simple Answers

This morning was rough. Probably the roughest it's been in a while. You know how it's five minutes til your hubby gets home and the kids are fit to be tied and you are going crazy and you can't wait for the relief of extra support?? That's how I felt at 8:16 AM.
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Olivia was being contrary to everything and crazily did/didn't/did/didn't want to eat her breakfast (she is the most robust eater I have ever seen, on any other day of the week). Jonas (who is a pickier eater anyway) followed Olivia's lead and then I had two toddlers who I KNEW were hungry, but were boycotting breakfast. Shenanigans were abounding up to this point and I thought "there is no way I am going to make it through today". I could just see in Olivia's eyes that she was bound and determined to give me a run for my money today.
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I knew in my bones that I could not get through this on my own. Then it occurred to me that I didn't have to. I knew I needed to pray. As soon as I decided to do that I felt myself calm down. I finished cleaning up all the not-eating of breakfast that occurred and while the kids were playing I locked myself in the bathroom and said a prayer. I always start my prayers with what I am thankful for and as I listed all the things that I have been blessed with I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all that my Heavenly Father has given me with. I prayed to feel my Heavenly Father's love, for patience with my children, to be inspired how to be the best Mom to them today. As I asked for these simple things I felt a calm wave of warmth, peace and love. I wasn't alone this morning. I am never alone if I can remember to just turn to my Heavenly Father with faith that he can help me.
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Feeling centered I started to brush Olivia's teeth and when we were done she reached up to me and gave my a hug. She held me tight and rested her head against my shoulder and I rocked us for a minute. She looked up at me and smiled, hugged me some more and then jumped down to play. Have the toddler shenanigans stopped?? Not even close (if it is possible for them to get worse, they are), but my ability to handle them has increased ten fold. I am calm. I am not alone. Sometimes I forget how simple the answers can be, if I just remember to turn to my Heavenly Father for help.