Be Brave

What a week! It is really hard for me to comprehend it's Friday right now. I definitely feel like it should be Monday.

But we had a fantastic Fourth of July. The celebrating was safe and extraordinary and there were no trips to the ER. So. All in all it was a success!!!

Except...

It's hard to be a mom of little ones on holidays like this.

Right?

The day is long, the kids are a mess and the anxiety is high. VERY HIGH.

I have to know where the kidlets are at all times, which is usually at my side crying about something....

Stryker had a particularly hard day, which was really surprising in light of his love for all things explosive. But his nap schedule was off, dinner was too exciting with all the people around to really get anything down and his sister and him kept fighting over the ear muffs.

Stella because she actually wanted them for safety reasons. And Stryker because he just liked to wear them.

Needless to say as soon as the amazing, fantastic, incredible, wow-inducing finale was finished I marched to the fireworks safety-stand and demanded that Zach start packing up the car ASAP so I could get the kidlets home to bed.

We were falling apart at that point.

I don't usually demand much of anything.

But it was imperative, for my sanity that I get three children buckled into car seats with the AC blasting their hot little faces off.

He felt bad for not helping clean up the ginormous mess. To which I reasoned, one day ALL of these other guys will have little children (We are the only ones with little kids.) and in that day, we will stay to clean up and put our own children to work. Right now, they are single and young and do not have a hot, cranky, super-pregnant wife to answer to. So. Giddyup.

I didn't actually say giddyup.

And I wasn't really all that cranky about it.

But we did leave. And Zach tried to console me by saying, "Next year will be better, Stryker will be older."

To which I reminded him, "Yes, Stryker will be older. But we'll also have an almost one year old instead."

To which we both looked at each other and said, "Who's idea was it to have all these kids????"

:)

Because here's the thing. I love being a mom. And he adores being a dad. But there are times that it's hard.

Usually, but not limited to, when you're in someone else's house.

No matter how comfortable you are, you are never really at ease with a gaggle of children running around.

And no matter how much help you have around you, you're still the mom.

And that's the key.

It helps with grandma's and grampa's and uncles and aunts and friends of the family that are willing to play with your children for hours on end. But in the end I'm still the mom, I still have to lay down the law, worry about each one of their little fingers and toes being accidentally blown off, keep them in line, make their plates of food and then make sure they eat what's on it, and listen to them as they dissolve into piles of tears the longer the night continues.

And as precious as they are on days like the fourth.

They are also utterly exhausting!

Or maybe it's just mine!

So yesterday we relaxed. And took it easy. And had a very fun day.

Well, in the morning we did absolutely, absolutely nothing. We cuddled on the couch and that's about it.

But in the afternoon I left the boys at home and took the girls to see Brave.

LOVED IT. Oh man, I adored it.

And so did the girls.

What a great movie!!! The music. The animation. The storyline. The humor.

Disney had a couple off years I think... but with Tangled and now Brave, this is what my children's childhood will be built on.

Just like mine can be wrapped up in the Lion King and Aladdin.

And the Little Mermaid.

Who can forget the Little Mermaid????

Ok, so after the movie, the girls and I walked into the mall for some Back to School Shopping.

I was so excited for this I can hardly tell you! And we might be starting early... but I had seen these backpacks at the Gap last week that I KNEW the girls would go bananas for and Ok, it's our first real "back to school" experience so I wanted to spoil them.

Just a little bit.

:)

Plus. I LOVE Back to School Shopping. LOVE IT. I can't even express in words how thrilling it will be for me to walk the aisles of Target or Walmart whilst picking out pencils and notebooks and markers and crayons and whatever else they need for school. Oh my word. I have chills just thinking about it!!! Ok... maybe not chills... but I am SUPER excited!!!!

We found some really good sales at Younkers and Gap and splurged a little bit at Old Navy... Go figure. That definitely sounds backwards.

And I actually might take the Old Navy stuff back. I cannot feel good about paying full price for anything.

I just can't.

And we had Dip'n'Dots.

Oh here's a story.... So, the girls had never had them before and I thought it would be like this really fun treat. So we go to the little stand and I read off the flavors and pick Scarlett up so she can see them and she picks out the Rainbow kind. Of course, right? It's like a staple kid flavor. Stella also picked it out. But the kind lady behind the counter suggested that we let Scarlett try it first, because some of the younger kids find it too sour. I thought this was a brilliant and very generous offer so I agreed. While still holding Scarlett, the lady handed me a small little taster cup of the flavor and I poured it into Scarlett's open mouth.

This did not go well with Scarlett, EVEN THOUGH she had been warned that it would be cold.

Something about the texture definitely didn't sit well with her and she immediately spit-sprayed all that was in her mouth ALL over the glass partition and the ladies face....

I was mortified!!!!!!!!!!!

So mortified I burst into laughter.

(I'm definitely a nervous laugh-er... Like if someone gets hurt, even seriously hurt, my first instinct is to laugh. It's awful and I kind of hate it.... But it's what happens!!!!)

And then I apologized a million times and wiped of the glass with fifty napkins because the dots had started to drip down in an assortment of water colors and scolded Scarlett, who had already seen my laugh so it didn't mean anything to her....

She eventually settled on Cookie's and Cream though and once I convinced her that it wasn't just ice cream, but the ice cream of the future she settled down and enjoyed it!

I should have tipped better.....

So we shopped till we were ready to drop and then we headed for home. Except I made the mistake of walking by Claire's. Which usually isn't a mistake. But this particular day, because it was such a special Mommy-Daughter day and we were having such a good time and the girls were behaving so well.... I asked them if they would like to get their ears pierced.

And expected them to say no.

I've been asking them for years.

And they've always said no.

Even though the majority of girls they know have their ears pierced, and both of their grandma's got their ears pierced in their lifetimes.... they would still say: No, we'll do it when we're older.

But yesterday they said: Ok mommy.

I was a little shocked, but decided to play it out so that I wouldn't damage their future selves by saying Oh just kidding, or No we'll wait till your older.

If they thought they were ready, I knew that I needed to at least take them into the store and let them get a feel for what it was like before they chickened out and we went home.

I told the girl what we wanted and she got me the paperwork and then we spent some time picking out their earrings (Which are matching of course....) and then Scarlett crawled, all by herself, without me prompting her even once, into the chair.

And I explained everything again, and Stella stood by watching and really I expected them to change their minds and want to leave. In fact, I kept warning the girl that they weren't going to go through with it!

But, then she had the earring machine thingy and Scarlett was tilting her head, not even wanting to hold my hand and both of that girls ears were pierced before I could change MY mind!!!!

And then she hopped right down and started playing with the things close to the floor.

I kind of stared at her in complete awe for a LONG time.

So I said, Ok, let's do this.

Well, Stella had second thoughts.... Which I expected like twenty minutes earlier, but by the time it was her turn she had definitely rethought things.

Still... I talked her through it and she crawled up in the seat ready for it.

Most of all I had to explain that this ear-piercing girl was NOTHING like the doctor so if Stella didn't want her to touch her, she wouldn't. (She's terrified of Kindergarten shots which we still haven't gotten yet....)

But eventually she was ready until the first one went in and then there were some problems.

I had to hold her down for the second one... But I couldn't very well let her just get away with one earring!!! She's not in a boy band after all....

Plus, as soon as it was done she was fine. And stared at herself for the next ten minutes in the handheld mirror.

So I paid, and we left and the girls were absolutely beaming!!! Best. Day. Ever.

Until I realized I hadn't actually every informed Zach of what we're doing....

The same Zach who wanted them to wait until they were sixteen before they got it done.....

So, he wasn't as thrilled as I wanted him to be when we got home... Oops!!!!

But eventually he came around.... Not that he had a choice.... I mean, the damage was done and it's so darn sweet to watch the girls take care of their ears that he didn't actually stand a real chance anyway!!! :)

And now we're to Friday and it's time to get some real work done....

Since.

Update: We are NOT moving on Tuesday!!!!!! Yay!!!!!

Although we don't know when we ARE moving or exactly WHERE we're moving to yet, but those are just logistics, right????

All I know is that there is a real chance I might be able to finish this book now before the baby comes and that wherever we are moving to is a better situation for our family.

Also. This has been the week of the crazies. No. Lie. But I'll blog about that later because this is the longest blog about absolutely nothing in the history of mankind.

Rachel

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1 comment:

  1. It's fun to read other people's "ear-piercing" stories. Megan got hers done about 1 1/2 years ago and we are still having trouble with them. We think she is allergic to nickel, but now we haven't had earrings in for awhile, so we think they are growing shut.
    We still haven't gotten kindergarten shots either, but Courtney is terrified. Every time we mention it, she starts to cry. I try not to bring it up.

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