the day began with so much promise. anders did not leak through his diaper! my sheets would not need to be stripped, cleaned, the bed then remade! i felt (relatively; relatively is key) rested! steve already had the coffee ready by the time i got downstairs! i poured myself a cup! here we go! come at me monday!
and then.
anders, who’s in that funny doesn’t-need-two-naps-but-still-needs-two-naps stage managed to put a nap off till noon. which is actually great, if it were a long nap. that caveat is important, friends! but a fleeting thirty minutes later and he was awake while parker and i were making valentine’s day cards. cutting hearts, gluing, paint, scissors. i ran upstairs hoping to catch anders sleepy enough so he’d go back down while shouting to parker, “do not come upstairs!” and not shouting but praying in my head, “and do not paint the walls, or furniture or cut your eyelashes off while i am up there!”
i scooped anders up and managed to quickly nurse him before he really got out of his sleepiness. he was just beginning to doze off again–yes! success! go back down and have some parker time!–when who comes creeping in outfitted with a headlamp but parker hunt. i whisper yell while making gestures (but gentle ones! cannot wake anders who is still attached to my person!) “go downstairs! out!” my entire face pointing at the door, crazy eyes in that if-looks-could-kill way. he doesn’t, and then proceeds to sneeze because he has a cold. anders stirs. opens his eyes. the battle is lost.
parker got a timeout. and a looooong (longer than necessary, but that’s what i’m good at, ask steve) explanation while he was on the toilet (the perfect time for them to listen well) as to why he must not do that EVEREVEREVER AGAIN. i was sure to add, “unless it’s an emergency. like you are hurt. or the house is on fire.”
(i’m sure, with that exception i added, he will soon come up and interrupt another nap with a “my cuticle is bleeding!”)
then anders proceeds to refuse being put down, and refuse anything but hang on my hip for the next four hours.
at 3 i called steve. “you need to come home now.”
thank the sweet lord, he did come home, bundled both boys, took them for a walk. and where am i? sipping wine at a cafe and writing this post!
it was one of those days. oh was it ever.
(pictures above are just before they both left for their walk when i went skipping, nay, speeding to the cafe shouting, “freedom!!!!!!!” a la william wallace minus the horse and blue paint.)
I can so relate to the whisper yelling "get out of this room right this minute!"
Leaky diapers, the worst. My kid got new sheets everyday for quite awhile. A friend introduced us to diaper booster pads from Amazon, they look exactly like big maxi pads and they work. I think you use seventh generation which my husband and I both love but…our kid just pees too much, so we use huggies overnights plus the diaper booster pad inside it and we've only had 1 leak since we started using them around thanksgiving.
Also I had to send up a help flair yesterday…I was beginning to say lots of curse words in my head and was close to losing it. Hope your Wednesday goes well!
ooh! thanks for that. will check them out.
My life right now! 4-year-olds are something else…
i do relate!!! that is me way too often!!! but my day today is the… toddler leaked through pull-up at 1am in our bed as the baby woke up ready to get in the bed from bedside cradle and nurse. :/ womp womp! coffee!!
i so relate*** not i do, that's weird. iphone typage!
all the coffee!!!
It's so funny. I have been reading your blog for a while now, but I feel like you so get me right in this moment of momhood. Everything you write, I nod my head and think "THIS! YES!! THAT!" I have a 3.5 yr old and an 8 month old, and the delicate balance of not waking the baby is a struggle. I give all the very quiet crazy eyes and pointing "GET OUT UNLESS IT'S AN EMERGENCY" faces, and I just had to laugh at your post. So on point. So glad I am not alone in this.
ha, you are SO not alone!!
Me too Ashley!
I couldn't help but smile as I read this post! I had the EXACT SAME day yesterday! I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old currently transitioning to one nap. Yesterday it seemed like it was going to work out! Until it was a short nap and, like you, amid nursing and dozing, the 3 year old sneaks to the doorway. Nap was ruined and I had a cranky baby who would not go down again all afternoon. Glad to hear someone else's days look so much like mine sometimes! Including the glass of wine the minute the husband returns from work!
does the wine really have to wait until he returns home from work?!
Ha! No. I just wanted to enjoy the wine in peace rather than huddled in the kitchen with Little Einsteins on in the background! ;).
I enjoy your blog and Insta! Thanks!
My kids are much older (20 & 22) and I miss these ages so much it hurts. Even moments like these where I remember calling my husband and saying, "Get home now!" Thank you for posting your moments, good and bad, so that I can, more frequently than I already do, reminisce on all my moments with my girls!
i experience the highest levels of nostalgia EVER and know, a million times a day, how much i'll miss these days even amidst them!
Is it bad that posts like this make my heart sing right now? Yes? Whatever. I need the real-ness as everyone else posts pictures about what joys their children are and I sit looking at my toddler thinking "Has he even said hello to me today?" and "Who is this person throwing a tantrum about watching Dinosaur Train when he JUST WATCHED Dinosaur Train?" Thank you for the real-ness.
you're welcome 🙂
we just watched an episode of dinosaur train here!
It's so nice to hear that other moms have these moments. Thank you for sharing, you make me feel normal!
We are right in that terrible transition from one nap to two too! (I'm impressed I just used to, two, and too in a row in a sentence. :D) It feels so counterintuitive to be saying, "Lincoln, please don't go to sleep quite yet!" in the mornings. lol.
This is why I wish there were blogs when mine were babies. Still it helps to read now and know that other mothers have those moments. I use to think my house was the only one where things were all out of whack. It seemed all the other moms in my area had naps and bedtime routines down with no problems. Now I realize they didn't. You are doing so great and thank you for being real!
Hilarious! That face I pull to get my big one 'out' must make me look like the craziest lady, but he's never fazed! If it's not him it's the shadow dog who decided to yawn and take that moment in the day to clean all four paws at my feet!
oh yes! i remember that well! (or – the forbidden barking at a knock at the door!)
The crazy eyes, whisper yelling, and big but quiet gestures…these are sadly almost daily occurrences lately. Someday my child will nap, I'm just praying I survive till then!
Thank you for the post; you always look super serene and it's a relief to know you have those moments! I currently have an ill one year old who is limpet like…I'll know I'll miss the cuddles when he's better but it's impossible to get anything done. I'm heading out for a haircut tonight once my husband's home and I've never looked forward to some space so much!!
Oh how your words speak to me…
Aaah, just recently stumbled upon your instagram and blog…don't know where I came across it. (Filed under things my brain cannot handle remembering right now. Most things that don't involve keeping my kids alive go there!) You and your family are funny and sweet and I've only read a little and am totally enjoying it. Laughed out loud at the yell-whisper crazy eyes. Such a mama thing and why does it feel like it might work?! Who am I kidding? I still try it all the time. Anyway, have a great night! Thanks!
TOTALLY get this. It's like the one place they are not supposed to go they are drawn to like a MAGNET. My 2 year old daughter always comes in while I'm trying to put the 5 month old down. And I do the whisper-yell, and she backs out wide-eyed saying "SHHH" in a not so quiet voice and then slams the door. Oy veh.
I LOVE your honesty….because sometimes you do just have those days {or multiple days!} that kick your butt!