Be Careful What You Say . . .

Kenzie is really becoming a regular little parrot lately, and its bringing me to a brutal realization of the need to change some of our vocabulary around here . . . What I never thought was bad now sounds horrible coming out of the mouth of a child. (Or maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing? What do you think?)

Anyway, the highlight of the week came last night when Kenzie walked up from behind me, grabbed my butt, and said "Hey sexy mama." Apparently Garrett's attempts to grab my butt unnoticed have not been successful. Oh man, this kid makes me laugh.

The Best Things in Life

Life was a blur today. I felt like I was rushing from one thing to the next and the first time I sat down was when I scarfed down my dinner so that I could more quickly tend to a fussy baby and a ringing telephone. At the end of the day as I'm trying to sit here and wind down, I keep thinking back to that moment in the car today when I looked in my rear view mirror to see Kenzie silently playing peek-a-boo with Jordyn and Jordyn laughing her little baby face off. In that moment I was just unbelievably grateful that heaven sent me these two amazing kids. They may be sweat and tears at times, but they are also the greatest amount of happiness and love that I have ever felt. It seems that the best things in life take the most amount of work.

Frustrations

Kenzie is starting to show signs of not wanting to take naps in the afternoon and it is really freaking me out. She has been great about staying in her big girl bed up until two nights ago. She now gets up and walks out of her room several times and NOTHING seems to work. The night before last she didn't go down until nine because she kept thinking it was a game to get out of her bed over and over and over again. I'm going a little bit insane partly because mommy time is necessary and also because my management job is extremely demanding lately; basically, an hour or two of naps in the afternoon is something I have come to depend on to get by . . . I want to try and transition Kenzie into having "quite time" in the afternoon if naps are something that she really doesn't need anymore. The thing is that the attention span of a two and a half year old doesn't seem to coincide with a quite time each day? I think motherhood is a never ending stream of problem solving. Let's see how creative I can get this time . . .

A Piece of Gum

Have you ever stopped to think of what life is like through a child's eyes? A little experience a few weeks ago got me thinking about the thought process and priorities of a child . . .

I was having a hard time that morning getting the girls out the door to play group. I felt reluctant to go because I didn't want to go through all that was required to get myself and two children out of the house; but I also knew that NOT going would end up in a feeling of stir craziness and orneriness. So, as I FINALLY made it to the car and started loading up the stroller, the diaper bag, and the children I realized that our 72-hour kits (that I had JUST finished rotating a few nights before) had been stolen. I was pretty bummed about the situation, but the feelings quickly turned to horror as I realized that copies of all our private documents were also in those bags. In the midst of phoning the police to file a report, phoning Garrett to express my frustration, and feeling violated by some idiot stranger - my two year old started to have a break down because she wanted a piece of gum. By this point my patience was gone . . . As I relayed the situation to my dad later, he wisely said, "Well, birth certificates and social security cards aren't at the top of the priority list for a two-year-old."

As I thought about the priorities of a two-year-old I was at first kind of envious. I recounted all that I am responsible for in a day and felt overwhelmed by the mere thought. I then thought of how life just seems too easy for a little kid; there is always someone there to feed them, cloth them, entertain them, and clean-up after them. After stewing like this for a moment I stopped to realize that their life is just simple. A piece of bubble gum is at the top of their priority list . . . I could learn something from that. How often do I let busy tedious things crowd out the simple and good things? Being busy isn't bad . . . but being TOO busy is. And being too busy is something that I am often guilty of.

So, my priorities have changed for the day. Number one on my list for the moment is to go unwrap a piece of bubble gum with my two year old and roll around the floor with my baby . . .

Some More Chit-Chat

This evening presented us with the usual . . . two tired parents trying to put one energized toddler to bed. Garrett's plea made me laugh when he wearily requested:

"Please finish drinking your milk all gone, and please give mommy a kiss good night, and please do not suck the baby's face."

Sure enough when I turned around MaKenzie appeared to be sucking on Jordyn's face. I think this was her attempt to copy Garrett and I when we give the baby several kisses in a row . . . it just didn't quite look right and Jordyn was quite confused by it.

Total Bliss

All too often I forget to write about the blissful moments of motherhood. It is quite easy to get caught up in the moments of chaos and temper tantrums only to forget about the good times. Just this afternoon I was presented with a much needed moment of bliss. To begin with, both my girls took a two hour nap at the SAME exact time. While that in and of itself is total bliss, the complete happiness came as I held Jordyn in my lap and Kenzie curled up in my arm and we just sat and sang song after song after song. Kenzie provided the requests, Mommy provided the lyrics, and Jordyn provided the smiles. As I sat and sang with Kenzie and we watched Jordyn giggle and smile, I was completely overwhelmed with gratitude for two healthy beautiful girls. Kenzie may be overemotional to the point of total embarrassment, and Jorydn may wake up and spit up at the most inconvenient times, but when it comes right down to it . . . I wouldn't have my life be any other way.

Learning Quickly

Sometimes I just don't give Kenzie enough credit for the things that she is capable of doing. I tend to think that she isn't quite old enough to understand how certain things work, and I often do things for her that she is perfectly capable of doing on her own. Tonight she taught me once again that she is getting older and able to do things for herself. Garrett asked Kenzie to say our family prayer tonight and Kenzie asked me to help her. Rather than having her repeat things exactly as I said, tonight I asked her questions.

This is what she was grateful for tonight:
1. yummy cookies
2. food
3. Jordyn
4. Mommy and Daddy
5. Grandma, Grandpa, and Ginny
6. friends - specifically Sarah and Kamri

These are the blessings she asked for tonight:
1. that we can go outside and play
2. please bless the food
3. sleep okay
4. that we can go outside and play

I was almost in tears while I listened to her. I can't believe how fast this little girl is growing up!