Yesterday was one of those up and down, roller-coaster, laughing-one-minute-crying-the-next-type-days. I don't know if it was just emotions, hormones, the weather, the moon cycle, or what, but man, it was a crazy day.
To start out with, Danny was at work (paramedic school vehicular rotation with Glendale Fire Dept) and I was here with my boys. The kids had been bickering all morning, namely Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Sean and Cameron, to those who don't know us so well) and by 9am I had had it. We've all heard that term used and knew that our mothers meant it when they'd used it in reference to our naughty behavior, but we never really get it personally as parents until we've personally had it. I'd had it so bad, I was past wanting to ever see it again. Having it was so far from my mind, all I could think of was getting rid of it.
And I've been talking about doing this for a while, but finally, last straw etc etc, I decided to move Cameron out of Sean's room, take the crib down, and move Ethan in with Sean. So, for you trying to keep track, we went from housing Things 1 and 2 in one room and Thing 3 in another, to Things 1 and 3 sharing, and having Thing 2 all by himself for the first time. Up to speed? All right, we progress.
So, all morning, it was furniture trading, clothes trading, trading closets, trading spaces, you named it, the house was turned upside down. I single-handedly took down the crib (that I'm not sure has been taken down once in the past 7 years??) and the baby swing, moved that on out of the room, and and then put up the little twin bed that is actually super easy to put together. The hardest part was probably finding new places for the now displaced 2 liter water bottles that had been stock-piled under Ethan's crib for the past six months. You know, for the sake of preparedness and all...
We got out the ol' Blue Clues bedding collection that was too near and dear to my heart to get rid of all these years (my first child's first big boy bed, you get the picture...) and turned the changing table into a lovely little toy-catch-all/book case and I have to admit it looks pretty darn cute in that room. It was exhausting work, hot and crazy and busy, but I was really excited to get the kids moved around, thus I was motivated.
Cameron was super excited. Ethan however, went from having an entire room devoted to him, to being homeless in essence, since there was no sight of his toys, changing table, or crib. He really seemed displaced and was quite inconsolable for a while. Then we put him down to sleep for the first time in the bottom bunk and it didn't turn out too badly.
Now we start our up-and-downness...I had prepared some lovely Jello instant chocolate pudding for my darling three children (get a sense of foreshadowing there, do ya?) when I got a call from Danny at work saying that instead of being done with his vehicular rotation in June, and instead of taking his final tests next week, and instead of graduating and actually becoming a Paramedic and having our own schedule and ride and job and earning a nice paramedic's pay...instead of all that, he was basically being held back to continue on for another several months until he could get his skills up and get up to speed. He's really been at a disadvantage all this time, having absolutely no 911 experience coming into the program and being thrown onto a ride where he has to take control and make decisions and do things on a moment's notice. He's the only EMT coming into the program who was on a transport ride only, meaning instead of responding to car wrecks and broken bones and emergencies, he was hauling little old ladies from hospitals to nursing homes, etc.
So, his superiors decided he needed more time to grow and learn, gain confidence, and just become a better medic. Probably true, but disheartening all the same. We were so looking forward to the end of it all, at least the end of the immediate stress. So that was tough and disappointing for him and of course just lengthens out my daycare requirements four months longer, or more. We'd decided I'll continue to do home daycare until we can pay off our vehicle and loans from this past year, so obviously we're looking at more time there.
And while I was having this conversation with Danny, I discovered that the chocolate pudding I had so nicely made for our three racous hellions was neither down their gullets nor was it neatly placed into the nearest trash receptacle. It was indeed all over the kitchen, from table to chair, from floor to sink, from cupboard to Tokyo. I'll let you just imagine the end result for a second.
Oh, and of course this all happened on our Ward Temple Day. Of course. that's the way it always goes, isn't it? As I was mopping up my floor (for the third time that day for other reasons that involve a finicky breakfast eater) it was all I could do to keep from sobbing and eventually succumbed to a nice little woe-is-me pity moment.
Back to business, got that over with, cleaned up (now myself and my kitchen,) prepared for our sitter, then carpooled with one of my best friends in the ward, the Relief Society President whom I work with as a 2nd counselor. Had a lovely chat on the way, a beautiful session at the temple, and noticed that at least 7 individuals were going through for themselves for the first time. Kind of put everything into perspective for me. Eternal scheme of things, so on, and so forth. =) Anyway, it was very calming and afterwards, several of us got together at a restaurant named Dillons for some good barbeque. I actually don't care for BBQ all that much, and since I'd been gorging myself on chocolate all afternoon (what can I say, I'm an emotional eater) I decided to heck with the diet and got chicken fried steak. It wasn't great, but the mashed potates were creamy and delicious. The steak was almost as big as the plate, I kid you not. The blueberry cobbler dessert was fabulous as well--I highly recommend it.
The high point for the evening was when Danny got off work and was able to join us at the restaurant. Almost like we were on an actual date! Gasp! It was really fun. I ate too much and wasn't even depressed about it. It was a super late night and the kids did well with the sitter, who got to deal with Ethan in a big boy bed for the first night ever (yah...that wasn't very good planning on my part) who said he did rather well except that he fell out of bed several times. We'll need to get one of those side bed-gates.
Today, Sunday, has been typical--rush rush rush, fight fight fight to get everyone up an ready and to church on time, then fight fight fight in the pew as we try to control a squirmy wormy Ethan (which is kind of like trying to cram toothpaste back into the tube) it's just nigh impossible. By the end of Sacrament meeting I'm exhausted. I literally have to remind myself to feel the Spirit and think about the Savior and the whole reason I'm there, namely, to renew my covenants with the Father and repent of mistakes I've made this week, and to promise to do better next week. Our substitute teacher in Relief Society was just awesome this week and she really inspired me to want to lean on the Savior more and not try to do everything by myself without any help. She reminded me that I can only be a more successful person His help, more loving as a wife and friend, more nurturing as a mother, and just an all around better Child of God if I ask for His help and include Him in my plans.
We did our Family Home Evening this afternoon, since Dan will be working tomorrow--a fire safety lesson. Kind of fun. Then an activity of writing/drawing in our Thankful Book (I'll talk more about this in future posts) and then Danny left for some Home Teaching. This evening we'll have dinner at his Momma's and hopefully meet up with the other sibs there too. It does all sound rather whirl-wind, doesn't it? We'll make it. We have to. And as I tell my kids so often, we're stuck together as a family forever, so they'd better learn to get along!
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