Today could have been a peaceful quiet Sunday, but it was anything but that. Golly I’m glad to be married to my best friend, and a man who will help turn any bad day around.
It all started with #ClaraBelle not going to bed last night. She layed in bed for over an hour crying. We must have gone in a million times to tuck her back in and read her books, but she was not going to sleep. We thought finally she had fallen asleep and we could finally focus on our project (repainting these adorable new nightstands), when she started to cry again. Adam went into check on her and she was upchucking. He rushed her to the bathroom and I cleaned up the bed and floor. She then was up for another hour running around laughing and playing (why do babies do that?).
#ClaraBelle has a history of working herself up and then losing her stomach, but as a safety precaution (especially since today was suppose to be her first Sunday in nursery) we chose to keep her home. Not gonna lie I was super excited about this. Let’s be honest, Mama just needs a little break; and with church hours coinciding with nap time, I was going to get three quiet hours all to myself- SCORE!
So Sunday morning rolls around and Adam was sweet enough to let me hang out in bed till 10:15; course the kids were jumping all over me and jabbing me in the ribs- but whatevs I get three hours to myself today! I get up and give all three kids a bath (whew-ee they badly needed it!). I got breakfast for the kids and curled #LivyLu’s hair. Cuddled #OBoy while Adam got ready, helped pack the diaper bag and made sure everything was ready for Adam to take the two healthy kids to church. They were even ready early! Which allowed Adam and I to sit on the couch for 15 minutes wrapped in each others arms listening to some quiet music, watching the kids play and enjoying the peace (the quiet before the storm….).
Adam heads out with the two kids, I quickly do a 10 minute clean up and then get #ClaraBelle ready for her nap. She went right down without a peep and now it was me time. WOOHOO!!!!! I pulled out some butter and eggs to allow them to get to room temperature so I could bake; sat down on the couch and started scrolling Pinterest drooling over amazing farmhouse kitchens, when suddenly the door opens. In comes Adam and the kids along with the stench of up chunks.
#LivyLu immediately comes to me and buries her head in my chest crying, but I can’t make out what she is saying (golly does she reek). Adam then tells me how they were sitting in church (of course right up near the front, but luckily sharing a bench with some good friends of ours), it’s testimony Sunday and Adam said he was enjoying the testimonies when #LivyLu said she wasn't feeling well, and then it just started coming up. Right there in the middle of sacrament meeting, in front of everyone. He picks her up and heads for the bathroom, and she is upchucking all over him. (Let me pause and just say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people who sprang into action, looking out for #OBoy- who slept through all of this- and cleaned up everything for us.) Adam consoled #LivyLu as she emptied her stomach, then packed up the kids and came home.
He changed his clothes and headed back to church to see if he could help clean up. While I cleaned up #LivyLu and made a bed for her on the couch. Not even an hour later she starts upchucking all over the living room. (Confession- I have MAJOR gag reflexes and this kind of stuff really just gets to me. I can totally clean it up and help my kids out, but if Adam is around then I usually just step aside and let him handle the dirty stuff.) Anyways, my three hours of quiet alone time turned into piles of stinky laundry that needed to be scrubbed and washed, consoling sick kiddos, and doing everything else but baking and enjoying the quiet. The kids, despite their stomach bug, have had major energy all day. They spent much of the afternoon running all over the apartment, jumping on beds, coloring, and dancing; only occasionally taking a break to read a book with mom or dad.
I was able to squeeze in a little baking and made some chocolate cupcakes. But… they sunk in the middle (why does Idaho air always do that to my cupcakes???)
Finally the day ends and the kids are in bed. I try to fix my sunken cupcakes by filling them with some fluffy peanut butter frosting and then dipping the tops in chocolate. This does not work, and they look awful. Oh and #ClaraBelle is refusing to sleep, she just keeps crying and crying and crying (stupid daylight savings). No matter what Adam and I do she will not calm down and go to sleep. So here I am 10:30, at night surrounded in piles of folded laundry, with the sound of my daughter crying in the back bedroom and I just breakdown. Today was not the day either of us expected and let's be honest, having sick kids really sucks! As I’m complaining and just getting out all my frustrations of the day with Adam (he really is a good, good man), I say something about how I couldn’t even make acceptable cupcakes and how I just wanted to toss them. He stopped me and asked “well do you want to throw them away?” to which I replied “actually I just want to throw them at the wall”. And to my surprise he said “Ok, let’s do it!”.
So at nearly 11 at night we tape garbage bags on the wall and floor, drew a target in the middle and start throwing cupcakes at the wall. Who knew something that seemed to be such a disappointment would actually turn into the best satisfaction after a hard day?
So here are the lessons I have learned from today:
1. I hate daylight savings- when you have kids, it’s the worst.
2. We really do have the best friends looking out for us, and I’m so grateful that so many people were willing to clean up my kids up chunks so I didn’t have to. On really long hard days, it’s nice to know there are people willing to step in and help (I forgot to mention the friends that came by and dropped off a delicious dinner, #blessings).
3. Sometimes you just have no control over how the day will go, and sometimes all your hopes and plans for the day are crushed when your kids get sick. But
seriously, the cuddles I got today from my kiddos were too precious to regret what I had to give up. And hey, maybe when the kids are feeling better I’ll use the massage pass that Adam won for me at the ward auction last week.
4. Adam really is the best husband.
5. Throwing cupcakes is really therapeutic, and apparently I’m good at it because I crushed Adam’s score by 30 points!
At the end of the day, I’m exhausted, seriously so beat, and really today was far too long. But sometimes you just need to accept the things that are out of your control and choose to have a better perspective. I’m so grateful I have a husband who loves me enough to take me serious when I say stupid things like “let’s throw cupcakes at the wall”, and I am so grateful that when it feels like I am alone in the struggles of a long hard day (because let’s be honest, as mother’s we often take the struggles in the family as our own struggles and treat everything as something we need to solve and take care of on our own), it was such a blessing to have the help of my husband and all of our wonderful friends; but even more it’s so wonderful when we don’t have to struggle alone.
Now here’s to hoping for healthy kids and good news this week!!!! (Fingers crossed!)
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