The Bewitching Hour

There is something that can be oh so very horrible about that last hour before Daddy comes home. While most days I can cope just fine and even enjoy this time with my children, there are also days when I can't stop looking at the clock and envisioning the moment when Daddy will walk through the door while I simultaneously run out of it screaming. (I am pleased to note that I have not followed through on the vision yet, but I have come very close.)

Today was one of the more miserable days when daddy's homecoming was very much anticipated by all in the house. (You know it is bad when the three-year-old is screaming "I want my daaaaaaaa-deeeeee".)

During that last hour I can feel like the "please don't do that" phrase is being used in hyper drive. I feel like the busy body toddler is on a mission to destroy every item she can lay hands on. And I feel like the whines, the bickering, and the redundancy of it all is trying to suffocate me.

So, I am on a mission to make this last hour of the day a little bit more bearable. Ideas are brewing in my head about how to make this possible. They won't be able to come to fruition until we are in a house of our own. But I will keep you posted on what I will now refer to as "Project Unbewitch".

I am determined not to be the witch of the bewitching hour any longer.

Dead Book

I was actually sitting there watching when my one-year-old took the first tear at this book and I continued to watch as she tore each piece that followed.

I could have easily ran over and taken the book and restored it to health, but the problem was that I was cuddled up on the couch with a book, cozily wrapped in blankets, with Kenzie cuddled up in my lap.

How is that a problem you might ask?

Well, I realized that putting a stop to the book destruction would involve having to not only get up from my moment of bliss, but it would also involve having to deal with the melt-down that surely would follow the taking of the book from the one-year old. (Plus the time to bandage the book, plus the time to find another suitable activity for the one-year-old, plus the fact that I would have to put down my book and distract my three-year old from her cuddle time with mommy which might have possibly led to a melt down from the three-year-old as well.)

So, I let the book die. (Sorry mom and dad, that IS in fact the book you sent last week, but you can feel comforted in knowing that that book afforded you the opportunity to indirectly baby-sit both your granddaughters from 3,000 miles away).

As mothers we pick our battles. We decide when its worth it and when its not. If it had been, maybe the family heirloom bible for example, then the battle would have been won by yours truly; given the circumstances, I let Jordyn tear to her heart's content until all interest was lost.

So, I must ask, what items have been sacrificed for the sake of your sanity in your home? What battle did you LET your kid THINK they were winning?

Set- Back

Ever since we got to Alaska Kenzie has been having a little set-back in her toilet training abilities. I was well prepared for a set-back when we left San Francisco, however, I built up some sort of false secutiry over the past six weeks of accident free Kenzie.

I thought that the set-back would come when all our stuff started disappearing into boxes in San Francisco, when all the family came to visit therefore throwing our day-to-day routine out of whack, when we drove to Utah, and when we spent close to three weeks there. She didn't have ONE accident during these changes, leaving me to think that a set-back was not actually going to occur.

WRONG!

Not until we pulled in to Anhorage did her bladder decided to become uncooperative.

So, I must now sign off to go and fetch her another set of clothes. Poor kid, I know this is all so new, but I must admit that I'm getting a little bit tired of the laundry in the basket and little puddles on the floor.

A Little Pick-Me Up

Needed this tonight.
We're amazing.
Sometimes I forget.

A Morning at Safeway

So, I was pulling up to Safeway this morning with the girls; up to that point we were doing pretty darn good. We had gotten ready and out the door with very few melt-downs or set-backs and to add to the goodness it was a beautiful day.

When we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car I made my first mistake of my shopping experience. You know those grocery carts that have little cars on the front that you can put the kids into so that they can play and "drive" the cart while you are shopping? Well, there was one deceitfully parked in front of my car leaving me to think, "Hmm, how nice, this will keep Kenzie entertained while I shop!" WRONG! The cart was top heavy when the cart had no groceries in it and slowly became back heavy as I filled my cart. I was fish tailing in every direction and the pinnacle of my cart pushing experience came when I attempted to turn the cart around in a ridiculously small aisle (only found in a San Francisco Safeway) and I knocked a jar of pickles off the shelf. That pickle jar shattered and the pickle juices flooded the aisle giving the already tiny aisle less room to maneuver in. While I attempted to round up a worker my girls were screaming out me to "come back mommy" (even though I was within eye sight the entire time). Yeah, that was embarrassing . . . To top it off, the comments that the cart generated were only adding insult to injury. I got a few "Wow, you've got your hands full," a "Heavy load coming through," and the ever encouraging, "Good luck!"

So, the highlight of the trip came at the end when Jordyn had gotten a hold of the condoms in our cart without my noticing and was chewing on the box. We passed this dude who not only took the time to notice, but also the time to open his mouth and make the following comment, "Hmm, there's something ironic about a baby chewing on a box of condoms."

Luckily I had a good nights sleep and I was a well rested mommy this morning - so I really found the entire experience quite amusing. :)

So lets hear it mommies, what outrageous things have strangers said to you in regards to your children?

Thank-you Sister Beck

" A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all the people or do all of the things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important."

Sister July B. Beck

Relief Society General President of the Church of Jesus-Christ of

Latter-Day Saints.

As I sat down to plan for the week today I rapidly found myself advancing towards a good panic attack as I stared at my completed to-do list. My mind came back to these words from Sister Beck in the most recent general conference and I quickly calmed down as I recognized that this is the righteous lot of all women. We all have much to - we must therefore be careful about what we do do.

The "to-do" list can become an obsession if I let it. Everything on that list is important. But studying the scriptures, having family prayer, sitting down and reading a book with the girls, have a little wrestling match for no good reason, and saying a prayer to calm myself in a flustered moment - these things are not on the to-do list; yet, they are among the most important tasks of any day.

Thank-you Sister Beck for helping me to remember that if nothing gets crossed off that list tomorrow because calming down a one-year-old teether and making meals for a hungry family consumed the majority of the day - then I have actually had a VERY successful day after all.

Top Five Fridays - Young Mother

So living in the Marina district of San Francisco with two young children makes me someone of a stranger in the mommy world (at least to THIS mommy world). Why do you ask? Because I am 24 and not 44. Often when I meet another mommy at the park in the Marina their first assumption is that I am the nanny and when they find out I am NOT the nanny, their second assumption is that I had kids out of wedlock. So, for this top-five-friday I wish to state my top five reasons for choosing to be a mother at a young age. I do wish to state that I do not think there is a right or a wrong age for being a mother, its a personal choice that we all make; these are simply my reasons.

1. I won't have dentures at my youngest' high school graduation.

2. The earlier you have them, the earlier they are raised, which means some serious head-start time on the retirement/travel years.

3. My body is in much better shape for the crazy strain of childbearing, rearing, and all the other "ings" that come with this mommy business.

4. I will hopefully get to be a grandma that is still young enough to play ring-around-the rosies with the grand-babies.

5. Finally - it just felt right. The timing just felt good for Garrett and I. We knew we were ready to add to our family so we did!

There you have it. Most mommies here in the Marina are still flabbergasted at my decision to be a mommy before being an established career lady, but hey, what can I say?