Things every mama needs to hear sometimes

I found myself sitting in the corner of my in-laws's cabin ugly-crying. Not pretty sweet tears. No, this was more the curled up in the corner sobbing with snot and sweat and tears all mixed together. Not a good look for anyone.

It wasn't even anything major that set me off. Just a combination of too much vacation and not enough sleep, for me and for the kids. Most of the kids were going swimming and I said Kate could go, even though I knew she needed a nap. She was behaving like a typical two year old - she wanted to go, but she was throwing a full on temper tantrum because her swimming suit was still wet from an earlier swimming adventure. I was trying to force her to get dressed so she could go and "have fun" as she was crying and flailing about when I finally snapped, scooped her up, pulled her regular clothes back on, and deposited her in bed. She was asleep in about 2 minutes, but I sat in the corner and cried because I felt like I was depriving her from fun. It's those little kinds of moments that get to me as a mom.

As I sat there crying, my sweet, wonderful cousin Amy came down to find me. (Okay, she's not actually my cousin. She's Travis's cousin's wife. Close enough.) And she did everything right. She let me cry. And she told me all the things that I know but couldn't remember at that moment. I'm a good mom. Being a mom is hard. Heavenly Father loves me. And then she told me to go take a nap. And she made sure William was okay while I did. And when I woke up, I felt better. A little foolish, but better.

So I guess the point of all this is to remind all of us, when we are having one of those days, of a couple of things.

You are a good mom.
Being a mom is hard.
Heavenly Father loves you.
And a nap makes all the difference in the world.

Shrieking Eels

Jared is in his room, throwing a huge tantrum. He would NOT cooperate at the doctor for his well child check-up. Wouldn't do the eye test, freaked out about the hearing test, turned into a wild animal when she tried to listen to his heart. It wasn't a good visit. At. All. And I am currently too impatient and whale-like to fight the battle.

So, like the good (er, bad?) mother I am, I tried to bribe him with McDonalds, if he would just cooperate. No dice.

As we drove past McDonalds without stopping on the way home, he started screaming and kicking and completely falling apart. I think I may have suffered permanent hearing loss. May have lost a few more brain cells. Definitely running low on patience.

And this is what I was thinking about the whole way home:


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It's good to say YES!

Sometimes I find myself saying "No" so often, it feels like I'm parenting on autopilot. I say no without even thinking about things. "No you can't have that." "No you can't do that." "No you can't go there." But I've been consciously trying to say "Yes" more often. Or at least to say "Let me think about it."

One of the kids in Jared's preschool class brings a Lunchable everyday for lunch. Jared has been begging for me to buy them for him for months. I've been saying No for months. Today as we drove home from the park, he asked me again. And I almost said No. But instead, I explained to him that Lunchables were more money than I wanted to spend. But that maybe we could find a compromise.

For lunch today, instead of a turkey and cheese sandwich and a banana, Jared and I made a homemade Lunchable. We traded a piece of wheat bread for a stack of crackers. We cut the sliced turkey out with a biscuit cutter (Jared ate the scraps while we put it all together, so there wasn't even any waste!). We cut the cheese into squares. And we put it all into a plastic box instead of on a plate. We decided that our Lunchables came with a banana and chocolate milk. The whole thing took no more time than his usual lunch, and he was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. He ate every scrap. And I feel great.

I wonder what else I can say "Yes" to today.