So Brent and I are both kinda wiped out. I could see it on Brent’s face when he stumbled in after work the other day. And I felt his pain when the alarm went off at 5:15 am Thursday morning (like it does every morning) and he had to roll out of bed after one of the worst nights of sleep EVER! Generally, our kids are all good sleepers. We’re big on routines and really good at not being softies. But there is no escaping the random week where it seems like everyone is crying, someone is sick, there is coughing all night, another kid is having massive nosebleeds all over his bed (3 nights in a row!), and the other is having bad dreams that result in her running screaming into your bedroom (over and over) and then climbing all over your head in the middle of the night.
Ugh. I’m not gonna lie. Having three little kids is a lot of work. And it’s exhausting pretty much every day. The noise level is seriously insane. Add lack of sleep to the mix and it’s enough to drive you over the edge. True, going to bed by 10 instead of 12:30 would help, but honestly – when your only hours of peace and freedom come after 8, it’s really hard to cut that time in half! Thankfully, there are enough moments of “Dang. Lindsay is CUTE” or “Wow Jake, you did that all by yourself?” or “I love you too Danny” to make you feel like you DO actually like your kids and that they are worth all the trouble.
Trouble like a really sick 2 year old for the second week of spring break – fever, gnarly cough, snot, dry heaving, and SUPER cranky/clingy. Add two bored and stir crazy little boys who fight with each other like it’s going out of style. Plus rain. And housebound. Equals mom on the verge of a major melt down.
Or trouble like my rowdy (but sometimes clumsy) 5 year old who in his attempt to scale the top and sides of the playground fell hard onto his ankle, sprained it, and then could barely walk for 3 days. Being my size and carrying around a SOLID sixty pound kid is NOT easy. Thank goodness there were no broken bones.
And then there is the everyday kind of trouble like a 7 year old who has an attitude you wouldn’t believe, and the eye rolls to go along with it. Which usually either make you want to laugh or punch someone (namely him).
That said – we’ve had some epic weekends and amazing days over the last few weeks where we have not only liked our kids, but actually loved being with them too! The first week of spring break was pretty near perfect. We went to the beach, spent days by the pool, took bike rides, went out for ice cream, and even got a little tan.
We also had Brent’s parents come stay for a weekend which was great! We really enjoyed having them here. Together we all visited the revamped Mormon Battalion Site in Old Town San Diego. That place is awesome!! I can’t rave about it enough. If you haven’t gone yet, GO! It’s free, fun, geared towards kids, hands on, and seriously a great experience. As we were leaving Danny said, “That was the funnest museum! I wish we could go there everyday.”
In other news, Jake has started cooking lessons at home. While Brent is the designated pancake maker at our house, he decided to pass the spatula one morning. Jake was thrilled, and did a good job! Since then he has made waffles, scrambled eggs, quesadillas, mini-pizzas, and homemade mashed potatoes. Tomorrow we are going to try smoothies. He’s not too far off from becoming more domestic than me.
Lindsay also got in on the cooking action last week with a cute toy baking set I scored at the local Goodwill. Also scored: a perfect little distressed white rocking chair. I’ve wanted one of these for my girl since before she was born! Pretty sure it was meant to be mine. LJ had a fun time modeling my finds:
Oh and in case you were wondering, I felt like a GOOD MOM the other day when I went out of my way to drive clear to the other end of Temecula, in rush hour traffic, with all three kids in the car, to Party City, so I could buy a bunch of cans of overpriced multi-colored hair spray. Cuz crazy hair day at school just ain’t crazy unless you have a neon rainbow on your head.
And the expressions on their faces when they looked in the mirror?
Yep, TOTALLY worth the trouble. 🙂
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