The Death of the Turtle Spoon

When I was younger there was a particular Corelle plate that I always had to eat on.  It was my plate, and if anyone else ate off of that plate it would just frustrate me.  To this day my parents have saved that plate and I have to have it to eat on when I am home.  It does not even come close to matching any of my mom's new dishes, but it doesn't matter because they know what something simple means to me.  I even get myself in a frenzy when we have family dinners and my brother takes the plate on purpose.  He knows its my plate, but there is just something in the sibling rivalry game that makes him do it and gain an evil smile, even though it may make me whine. 

Now my kids have become the same way with a turtle spoon as I was with my plate.  I bought a few sets of silverware for the kids so that we weren't running out of forks and spoons for them.  I think I had picked them up at Target in the dollar bin, and I had bought two sets of forks and spoons for each kid.  No one was particular about what utensils they would use, but they knew who's were whose.  However spoons and forks broke, and we started becoming particular of the ones we wanted and it no longer became that the turtle spoon and fork belongs to Ayden.  It was like the turtle spoon became a Holy Grail.  The kids would race and then it would end in tears for the one who did not get the ridiculous spoon.  I secretly wished the spoon would just break, and unfortunately one day it did.  

It was only about a week ago when the turtle spoon met its death.  The kids were sad, but they handled it a lot better than I thought.  I thought my prayers had been answered, but the fight for the turtle fork still occurs.  However Ayden has changed things up a bit and uses a fork for everything.  Eating yogurt with a fork is his favorite thing to do.  He normally gets up before Audrey in the morning as well, so he eats his yogurt with his turtle spoon and feels he has won the entire situation.  I am secretly wishing for the fork to meet its demise as well.  

4:30 am and Food

This fine Monday morning I was awoken by the whimpers of Ayden.  Initially I thought  great he peed the bed because when you put a kiddo to bed with just underwear I think that is where moms minds wander to.  I got up ready to to do the whole bed stripping thing, but to my surprise he had another problem.  Ayden was hungry, and in particular he wanted strawberries to curb this hunger that awoke him from his slumber.  Now I am all for getting a glass of water for the kids if they aren't feeling good, but I do not do snacks at 4:30 am.  I told him in a couple hours he could have breakfast so he just needed to close his eyes.  He was okay with this, and I crawled back in bed thinking I could at least get another hour of sleep.

I really thought Ayden may go back to sleep, but once Tyler got in the shower and began making morning noises, Ayden came racing into our room and crawled in bed with me.  I don't mind the snuggles and knew I could hold him off in the bed until Tyler went downstairs, then it was his problem.  Ayden got his strawberries and some blueberries too.  His day was complete, however that darn pee thing snuck up on us because I guess he had an accident during breakfast.  It must have been that hyper focused attitude that made him forget to use the bathroom before eating those strawberries.

So there is our morning so far and we haven't even made it to 7 am!  Ayden is dressed for the day putting together puzzles and talking a lot.  I have yet to get my coffee, but I think it may be a multiple cup day for me!  :)

What Do You Need?

Today is Friday, and although I am grateful for a new day I am feeling this day already and my babies have only been up for an hour.  I hate days that have me thinking, "I cannot wait until the day is over," but that is what today is.  Which brings me to my topic on needs.  I continuously ask my children and husband what they need.  Tyler does ask me often what I need, but I always respond that I just need to get through the day.  Maybe if I truly thought about what I needed, I wouldn't be wishing away my days.

It may be a woman thing, mom thing, season of life thing, I don't know what it is but it is how I have been living my life lately, and honestly I am tired.  See this whole thing requires change, and lets face it, change is hard and requires work and energy (in which I am lacking right now).  However, something has to give.  I am exhausted, which I know there are so many of you reading this that are too, but I am letting my exhaustion make me not be the best I was intended to be.  I snap at my kids for doing silly kid things.  It is really harmless things, but because I am tired it is annoying the crap out of me and I just don't want to see someone wear a blanket on their head and shake their booty for the 80 millionth time.  Yet, isn't that my job?  Shouldn't I be encouraging my children and fostering their ideas rather than telling them to knock it off before they get hurt?  Or currently my children are eating breakfast and fighting over how the water got into Ayden's bedroom.  Who cares how the water bottle got in the room, and why is this even a discussion while we are eating breakfast?  It is just exhausting from the little human chaos, but instead of attempting to change the subject about something else, I sit here annoyed and tell them to stop talking, and then get mad when they don't.  Because telling a 2 and 4 year old to stop talking is the most rational thing to do?

So there it is, I need to figure out what I need before I turn into a very crabby person on a nonstop basis.  I am not sure what my first attempt is going to be to make the big change, but I know my first baby step is to take the kids to the Children's Museum before I drop Audrey off to preschool.  They have been asking all week and there is no reason why I cannot deliver this request.  In all reality this is not going to be what I need because right now a vacation away is what I truly think I need right now so that I can think with some clarity, but that is not happening anytime soon.  Therefore I will keep my kids busy, which then will in return buy me some leverage this afternoon of quiet time in their room and I will steal away fifteen minutes of reading for me.  Wish me luck!

The Great Belle Catastrophe

It was your average Wednesday, and I actually was making progress on the long to do list that I had.  The kids were cooperating with everything and I really felt pretty good about myself.  Seriously why don't I look for those signs.  You know what I am talking about, the sign that things don't always go as planned so putting your guard down is never a good idea.  

I had sent everyone upstairs because I wanted a few minutes of peace while I was wrapping up loading the dishwasher and guzzle the last of my coffee.  The kids were running around upstairs, but I didn't really think anything of it because I went up to check on them and they were in Ayden's room playing cars.  I took advantage of the fact they were having fun and grabbed some laundry and took it downstairs.  This literally took five minutes, and the kids were still in Ayden's room.  

I then decided it was time to get the kids clothes for the day together since neither of them wanted to pick out their outfits.  I walked into Audrey's room first and smelled burning plastic.  I immediately went to the vent to see what little person or plastic toy was heating up, but to my surprise there was nothing there.  I began investigating and realized there was smoke coming from Audrey's little night lamp by her bed.  I quickly turned off and unplugged the lamp, and yelled for Audrey to come explain herself.  

This is when it gets a little quirky.  Initially I yelled and asked how Belle got on top of the lamp in the first place.  Audrey admitted that she put Belle on the lamp, but I was still confused why she needed to even turn on the lamp because we had turned it off when she woke up.  She then informed me that Belle was showering and that is why the lamp was on (guess that represented turning the water on).  After my observation of discovering Belle, I would have to say she was doing  a great job shampooing her hair, although she may have suffered from a chemical burn, as you will see in the picture.  

When Belle's hair finally cooled off I was able to pry her off the light bulb and then I took her to show Audrey the damage.  I think Audrey was stunned at the damage of something so simple could do.  We discussed how this could have turned out bad, and I am not sure if she processed it 100%, but she did have the entire day, except for preschool to think about it in her room.  Before she went to preschool she did say how just reading books in her room wasn't fun and that maybe Belle should have not showered.  Not sure if that was the exact response I wanted, but I hope we will not experience this again because my nerves are shot and our upstairs smells like burnt plastic.  

 Belle's hair is a little crispy, don't you think?

This is how I found Belle smoldering on the lightbulb.

To Where Pants or Not? That is the question.

Keeping clothing on my children is always a challenge.  I understand they are free spirits, but seriously could you just put some pants on?  I have grown used to the fact they just don't like wearing pants, but I do find that Tyler is alarmed at times that his kids are out of pants more than they are in them.

The other day I was speaking to one of my cousins and she had mentioned she had a friend coming over and she had texted her that she better put her pants on.  I finally began thinking that maybe this pantless thing is genetic, although I do not run around without pants.  I wear a lot of yoga pants, but I think if I ran around freely as my children did, my neighbors would complain.

When I ask my kids to put pants on they sigh and act like I asked them to do a million chores.  I asked them why they don't want to put pants on they say because they just don't.  Therefore I have come to the conclusion I am not going to try and figure it out.  I am going to let them be happy because in all honesty I have bigger fish to fry!  So if you see my kids without pants, don't waste your energy asking why, just come grab a glass of wine with me and just join my circus.

Deflated

Did you ever blow up a balloon, to then release the air and watch it travel around the room until the air is completely out?  This is how I feel when I get my children ready to get out the door.  Here is a typical Monday morning in the Evans house:

We typically are up by 7-7:30 and this gives us enough time to eat breakfast and get upstairs by 8 to get dressed.  After I get the kids lined up with their outfits, I take advantage of a little extra time and complete getting ready.  Audrey brushes her hair and teeth, and Ayden wiggles his way in the bathroom to brush teeth too.  The kids even have a few minutes to play a random game that they have created and then it is time to go downstairs and head out the door.  This is where the problem is.  My kids know that to get ready they need to put on shoes and coats.  Simple as that right?  We have our shoes either in the shoe organizer or they left them in the garage and they both know this and where to look.  But something happens when they come down the stairs and I say lets get ready to go.  It is like a switch goes off and they forget everything that we have ever done to get ready to get out the door.  Audrey gets distracted by a craft and Ayden is talking about how hungry he is.  I have to bark orders to get the kids to even put on shoes.  We get out the door and I open the garage door and it is like they forget they have to go to the car.  I mean how else are we getting to the physical therapist's office, by plane or boat?  The kids normally scatter down the driveway or get distracted by the toys in the garage.  I have to holler at least two times to get the kids to focus and get into the car.  I am sure my neighbors have heard me barking at my kids many mornings and by this point I know I am not winning a Mother of the Year award by telling them to get in the car.  So I finally get them in the container and I think they know what to do at this point, but surprise, surprise they are distracted by the snack stash or a book they left in the car.  At this point I am ready to blow because we are late because the five minutes I budgeted for getting shoes on has turned into at least ten.  The kids begin the attempt to buckle their car seats, but once again Ayden thinks he is grown and struggles.  I can only give him a few minutes to try it on his own when I have to get out of the car and buckle his bottom portion of the car seat.  I am annoyed I have to get out of the car again and he is hysterically crying because he can do it, but obviously not fast enough for my "we're late" attitude.  And then I began driving to the physical therapists office and I am exhausted.  Exhausted from barking at my kids to get it together, and emotionally exhausted because I now have two sad children that feel like I have yelled at them for the past ten minutes (which I have).  We woke up not even two hours before happy and enjoying our morning, and then I ruined it in a matter of ten minutes.  

So back to this balloon.  I seem to be the balloon every time we get ready to go somewhere.  I am actually embarrassed as I type this that I am the balloon, but it is the truth.  I am sure there are other parents who struggle with this same situation but I guess I really need to remember how little my kids are.  It can only get better right?  

Church

Wow...who would have thought that going to church would be such an ordeal?  I guess I have to remember that I run a circus and that nothing is easy in our household, but Sunday was something I did not expect.

Lets back up to early Sunday morning.  Ayden is currently fighting either a cold or allergies, and his cough when he awoke was a little alarming.  He also awoke up crying for Tyler and told us he didn't feel good.  Tyler and I made a decision that it would be wise to have him stay home from church, and you would have thought we asked Ayden to give up playing for the rest of his life.  We had a discussion that Tyler would stay home with Ayden, and we moved on with our morning.

In Evans' fashion we all frantically rushed through our morning with baths and showers.  It came time to get ready to walk out the door and Ayden began to lose his mind.  Now when I take a flashback to my childhood, if my parents told me I could stay home from church with them, I would have been super excited.  However with Ayden that was not the case.

Ayden went nuts.  By nuts I mean he is walking down the steps in the garage to go to the car and Tyler had to snatch him up and bring him in the house.  There was kicking and screaming and it broke my heart that he was that motivated to go to church.  Of course I forgot my coffee in the house and had to sneak back in, but boy was Ayden putting up the ultimate fight.  I got Audrey buckled in her car seat and then began to leave when I saw Ayden's last attempt to get to the car to go to church. He had gotten the front door open and was ready to make a break for it.  Tyler had grabbed him, but in the process Ayden's foot was stuck in the door.  Seriously this was a hot mess, and a few colorful words came out of my mouth.  Why is he losing his mind?  He gets extra Daddy time at home, this should be a win-win situation right?  However Ayden had his mind set on going to church and there was no changing his mind.  In the grand scheme of things this shows me that the kids will be capable of great things because his determination is amazing at age two!

After coming home from church, I did discover that Ayden did calm down after about a half hour.  (Poor Tyler.)  However I was told by Ayden that I needed to stay with him for the rest of the day.  Little did the kiddo know I would be leaving around bed time for a meeting, but surprising since I left by myself he was okay with it.  He was not going to miss out on anything that Audrey was going to do or miss out on church that he was determined to attend .

I am glad that my children enjoy going to church, but I am sure the members at the church are even more grateful that we kept the little germ human home.

I hear the Vibration

Today I write with tired eyes, and for once it is not my kids or husband's fault.  I know, shocker!  Unfortunately it was my fault.

I always have my cell phone on vibrate, and normally I never hear the phone while I am sleeping but ever since I put on an older case on my phone you can hear it vibrate to China.  With that all being said, at 4:30 am, the group text from last night's discussion on my grandmother's lipstick continued.  I tried to ignore it but after over fourteen vibrations and lighting up the room, I gave in and got up to turn off the vibration on my phone off.  But at this point Tyler was awake, and so was the cat.

I tried to fall back to sleep, but of course that did not happen.  So here I am watching some trash TV, posting a blog, and awaiting the children to awake.  I should have taken advantage of the early wake up call and worked out, but that is neither here or there.

I am always trying to find the silver lining, so I guess the silver lining is that I was able to get ready without rushing and get a load of laundry done before I have to run the kids around today.  If you text or call me I apologize now because until I get a new case I will have the vibrate feature turned off on my phone, and I never have the volume on because I am too distracted by all the dings and bells.  And if I don't see you in public, it is not because I am ignoring you, it is probably because I have not had enough caffeine.

Tutus and Prioritites

Currently I should be making a tutu for Audrey's dance recital that is on Thursday, but instead I am watching Survivor on the DVR.  This evening I spent twenty minutes scaring bugs off window screens and laying on children's floors, and then decided it was time for me to go work on the tutu.  Guess what happened?  Yes, TV and blogging took over.  I have the elastic waistband ready to be sewn, and then I need to cut the tulle and begin working.  I can knock this all out in an hour ( I hope), but I would rather just do something like watch TV so that I do not have to think much.

I am hoping that I can gain the motivation, but at this point tonight, it is not happening.  I can only hope that I can work on the tutu tomorrow afternoon.  I am sure I will have all sorts of helpful hands, which will make things even easier (insert sarcasm).

The thing is the stuff that needs to get done will get done.  I can't keep stressing over the little details and chores.  If I need a break, I am going to take it and just work harder the next day to get yesterday's jobs done.  So if you see me out and about, don't ask me about the tutu.   You are more than welcome to ask to see a picture of Audrey in her dance outfit on Friday, but until then, don't ask about the tutu.

Time Zone Changes

We were fortunate to go to Oregon on a family vacation to visit Tyler's parents last week.  Our visit was fantastic, but the once we got back home the kids struggled with bed time more than I want to admit.  We have been struggling before we even left for the trip, but once we got home it began to become overwhelming.  I was tired and of course the kids weren't.  Seriously where did their energy come from because I needed to get me some of it.  :)

I think as we start into a new week, we are on a schedule again.  Not necessarily the schedule I may want, but it is what the kids need.  I have also began using their coconut oil/lavendar lotion I have mixed up to help get them to calm down a bit.  I am not sure if it is the lotion or if it is the new schedule, but they are at least going to their beds after stories.  I may have to lay with them until they fall asleep, but that is minimal in terms of time, just kills my back to lay on the floor.  The only issue we come into play with is that I lay in Ayden's room, and then Audrey needs me, or vice versa.

The whole purpose though is that time zones throw off the kids, but they are a lot more flexible than I have ever believed.  I can't really complain though because with this new schedule the kids are sleeping in until 7-7:30, which is nice.  If only I could just get myself to bed earlier so that I could wake up earlier and enjoy some time to workout and some peace.  I can always have hopeful thinking right?

Here is to the schedule we have established so far to remain consistent and maybe some extra outside play time to get the bed time to go even smoother.  One can wish right?