- Took a shower. Halfway through said shower, two little girls appear in the doorway fighting over…something that I don’t even remember right now.
- Breakfast made and served to three little ones. (I’m not sure that I should really say I MADE anything since all I did was peel the banana and pour the Cheerios into a bowl…)
- Time Out for the big kid.
- Cleaned up a potty accident.
- Stopped baby from playing in the toilet (that his sister had not yet flushed)
- Wash and disinfect baby’s arms and hands. Redirect baby to play with more fun things than pee…you know, like some blocks or something.
- Cleaned up another potty accident.
- Check the dryer for Kenni’s school shirt. It’s not dry.
- Halfway clean up from breakfast.
- Check dryer again for the shirt. Still not dry. Baffled.
- Unload dishwasher. Futile attempt to unload dishwasher. Baby wants to empty out the utensil baskets…which contain knives.
- Check dryer again. Starting to panic. Clean lint trap. Set the thing to super-dry mode…or something.
- Time out for two year old.
- Mop up from last potty accident.
- Check dryer again. Then realize the hubster had put it on Ultra Care last night when Bolt (you know, from the movie Bolt?) had to be dried due to an incident involving a younger sibling and a water hose.
- Put baby down for nap.
- Unload dishwasher.
- Finally find a dry shirt in the dryer.
- Iron shirt.
- Put it on the kid. Who promptly wrinkles it. (Thanks…)
- Hair brushed, teeth brushed, shoes and socks located and put on.
- Lunch fixed and girls fed. (Our new lunchtime? 10:45)
- Get baby up from nap.
- Load everyone in the van to drop off the big kid at school.
- Drop off big kid. Sniffle a little as she walks down the sidewalk with the other kids, new backpack in tow (THANK YOU, A FRESH HOPE!)
- Arrive home to feed the baby lunch.
- Play outside with the littles.
- Find a dead raccoon in the backyard. (Caia found it. Told me it was a squirrel.)
- Poke raccoon with stick and scream. Cause it’s just gross.
- Come inside to clean up ANOTHER potty accident.
- Give up and put a diaper on her. (I’m out of underwear at this point anyway…)
- Watch a little TV.
- Load up to get Sissy at school.
- Check mail. Find Chick Fil A coupons. SCORE!
- Pick up the big kid.
- Explain to Caia that No, we do not get ice cream everyday when we pick up Kenni from school.
- Put baby down for nap.
- Girls play outside. After being warned to stay away from the dead raccoon.
- Someone turns on the water hose (WHAT IS THE OBSESSION?!), and everyone gets soaked.
- Come inside for clean-up.
- Argument over what type of pants Kenni wants to/has to wear now.
- Mommy exhausted, spent, and over it, flops down on the futon in the playroom.
- Argument over stickers. Mommy threatens to throw all stickers away and never, ever allow another sticker into this house ever again “if you don’t just share the stinkin’ stickers with your sister!”
- Daddy home. Jack awake. Load everyone into the van for Chick Fil A. (It’s Free Kids Meal night and we had a gift card!!! Thank you, Paula!!!:)
- Mommy given the go-ahead to meet some friends at Barnes and Noble…AND skip bath/bedtime duty!!!
- Mommy loses key to the car, forcing her to open it without the key which sets off the car alarm. Car alarm goes off twice.
- Find key. Drive to Barnes and Noble.
- Discover that purse is still at the house.
- Drive back to house. Get purse. Drive back to Barnes and Noble.
- Meet friends, drink a passion tea lemonade, and laugh and talk about life and kids and husbands and diapers and families and life and kids and husbands and diapers and families…
- Drive home….exhausted but happy.
- Pray for the strength to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.
The blog has been lacking “blog-age” for the past few days…
I have lots of thoughts rolling around in my head and heart that I hope to catch up on tomorrow…
Until then, a quick review:
- Wonderful friends in town over the weekend (missed you, Katie!) bringing many blessings that I am in the process of writing thank-you notes for
- All three kids (and myself…and Stephen) all got wonderful drippy nose, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, so-we-didn’t-rest kind of colds
- Missed River Church due to said colds and contagious children…which produced one sad mommy (knowing that my husband and our friends were having a great time with the River Church family on a gorgeous sunny day in Charleston…and I was stuck at home wiping noses)
- Playdate at the beach (That’s a playdate Charleston-style)
- Got lost going to playdate at the beach
- Jack ate a pound and a half of sand
- Picked Kenni up from school…and bought her a Frosty because she didn’t get to go to the beach
- Girls played outside and Caia busted her lip and scraped up her chin because she fell off the hammock
- Went to CVS (more on that later)
- Went to Publix (more on that later too)
I know. The life I lead is not always filled with exciting things, but…hey! we try to throw in an adventure here and there (thankfully this week it did not come in the form of a WHEEL falling off of my VAN…)
I feel like I’ve spent the majority of my life as a mommy just trying to “figure it out”.
Is she ready for a nap? Is she hungry? Do I wake her up or let her sleep? Could that be an ear infection? Time out or spank? Am I letting them watch too much TV? Am I exposing them to enough culture? Do I help her or do I let her figure it out on her own?
Here’s a secret. I’ve NEVER FIGURED ANYTHING OUT. We just kind of muddle our way through it, and all the while Mommy is praying she doesn’t mess the kids up TOO bad. (Nothing a little therapy and large amounts of chocolate couldn’t fix, at least…)
But now…we’re in this very new stage.
I’m not used to it yet. (Of course, it’s only been three days, but still… Change and I have never been great friends, ya know.)
It’s DIFFERENT not having McKenna here for at least SOME part of the day everyday.
Caia cried (and shattered my heart into a million pieces) the first two days that Kenni was gone.
The day we dropped her off at school as a family and we walked out of the classroom, she kept asking,
Where’s Kenna? Where’s Kenna? I need Kenna.
When I explained to her that Kenna was at school and that we would come get her later, the crying began.
I need sissy! I need sissy!
Which is funny to me because for the past two weeks all she and “sissy” have done is fight and scream and argue.
But absence apparently DOES make the heart grow fonder, because when McKenna finally got home today, they played and talked so…SWEETLY. Aaahhh…
But that still does not soothe the unsettledness that we’re feeling a little bit during the day around here. We’re not quite used to it just being Caia, Jack, and I….so we all kind of sat around like something (or someONE) was missing.
And she was. She was at school having the time of her life!
I’m not sure yet how to order our days with this new schedule. I know one thing’s for sure, I spend 90% of the morning preparing to get everyone dressed and going. And by the time everyone has on everything they need and teeth and hairs are brushed, it’s time for Jack’s morning nap. (Little feller still takes two naps…which, in and of itself, is bizarre for me because neither one of the girls were still taking two naps at this point.)
We’re all going to have to start getting up a little bit earlier around here. And folks, the Parrises are NOT morning people.
Things could get real interesting around here real fast if I start imposing early-morning-mom-induced-wake-up-times.
For now, we’re just sort of fumbling our way through this week. (It’s been less than ideal anyway since we only had one car….but, I have an amazing God-story about how He worked everything out for us, and my (not so)beautiful blue van is sitting in my driveway tonight!)
Maybe by the time school gets out for the summer we’ll have our new schedule figured out.
And we’ll know what to do with our much quieter selves now that “sissy’s” away (not) learning at school.
That’s what she’s told me. That she doesn’t LEARN anything, cause, you see, she already KNOWS it all.
Land sakes alive.
Well, today was the day! The long-awaited, highly-anticipated…FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
It’s pretty much all she could talk about yesterday…and we had a wonderful day out, just the two of us, looking for khaki pants. (Her school wears “uniforms”, only they don’t make uniforms in a 4T. Go figure. But The Children’s Place makes a nice alternative, we discovered.)
We talked and walked and shopped. Just the two of us. And it was so much fun!
She kept telling me that she loved spending time with me, (Is your heart melting yet?) and how much she loved me. (I know, right? Need a tissue?) And I, of course, let her know how special this time was to me as well.
She found a hat that she just had to have when we found her khaki pants. So, we texted Daddy to see if we could drop the extra change on it. And, he loves his little girl so (plus, I sent him a picture of her prancing around it telling me how good she looked), and we came home with one purple Hannah Montana-esque number.
And then…Today. We had everyone loaded up in the van, “uniform” pressed, papers and emergency cards filled out…and we were ready to go! Excitement and….sibling rivalry filled the van.
Caia bit Kenni on the arm (I’m still not sure why) right before we pulled out of the driveway. That left a beautiful dental imprint. On the first day of school. Talk about making a good first impression.
On our way, the van’s left front tire was making such an obnoxious noise. The closer we got to our destination, the louder and, consequently, more nervous I got. I texted Stephen that we had a flat and was breathing a prayer of relief that he was already at the school in his car…you know, just in case I needed a ride home for some reason.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I see Stephen run across the parking lot. As I hop out, I innocently ask, “Is the tire flat?”
He says, “No. The wheel is falling off of the car.”
Oh.
Alright. None of those “woman driver” jokes. How was I to know the difference between how a flat tire feels and how it feels to have your WHEEL FALL OFF?
We made it into the school, thinking we were early. 15 minutes to spare. When the teacher’s assistant met us in the office to escort us down, I began to suspect that maybe we weren’t early after all. I got my last clue that sealed the deal that we most definitely were NOT early or, in fact, even on time. Turns out the information that we received said that school started at 12:00. That would be incorrect. It actually starts at 11:40.
Oops.
Again, there goes that first impression.
But Kenni was so excited and the teachers are so nice and…
Well, just see for yourself.
Yes. We made treats for the teachers.
I’m a former teacher. Baked goods are good things.
This verse is so special to me. It’s Hebrews 6:10.
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Isn’t it amazing how God can give you a verse at a certain time and for a certain reason, to give you a certain hope and peace (and give it you repeatedly through others as well), and then use that SAME verse to translate your amazement for how He has been glorified in your life?
Does that even make sense?
I don’t know if it does to you. But it does to Him.
God has shown us such a clear example of how perfect His timing is and how He always hears us and knows every detail of our needs and our hearts.
I am blessed. I am humbled. I am inspired.
No matter my struggle, whether the days are hard and long, or carefree and easy, my God is constant. He does not fail us.
He is my Rock. My Fortress. My Hiding Place.
Chris Tomlin put it into words for me…
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the LordOur God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won’t grow wearyOur God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won’t grow wearyYou’re the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
It’s the new “cheese face”.
When you say show Jack a camera these days, this is what he does…
And for the record…that would be a Gerber cheesy puff thingie in his mouth. And yes, he only has one of his two front teeth.
Oh. My. Word. Can you STAND the cuteness?! Can you stand it?!
Not the “cheese face” but still just so darn cute!
And for the record, his “cheese face” is a perfect representation of how my heart is feeling today.
Joy. Pure joy.
For He has done GREAT THINGS…
I hope you didn’t miss it.
Today was (free) Pancake Day at IHOP!
If someone is giving out free food, you can bet I’m gonna be there. We met up with some of our friends at one of the tiniest IHOPs I have ever seen to scarf down some fluffy, buttered goodness.
Our waitress was a doll! She came out, counted heads and brought out 12 (that’s right, 12) short stacks of pancakes. I couldn’t just order free pancakes and water and be THAT lady, though. So, I got drinks for the girls and I. (I know. I’m a big spender.)
Then we headed home for naps…and a movie.
We purchased Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on pay per view for a minimal fee one rainy afternoon when the natives were restless and I was at my wit’s end. And I DVRed it, thinking that we could watch it over and over again. Stephen seemed to think we had a month to watch it on our DVR.
We have watched this movie FIVE times since Friday. FIVE times. If you’re counting, that would be ONCE A DAY. (Here’s the kicker…I think that I may have been charged three times for this movie. I’m not sure, but it asked me if I wanted to watch it for $5.99 (again), and I probably shouldn’t have clicked yes, but in the heat of the moment…well, I was desperate.)
McKenna LOVES this movie. Caia tolerates it (she’d rather be watching something Dora-related). And Jack has no clue.
But I think little McKenna identifies with the misunderstood “scientist” in the movie.
Flint Lockwood is unique, makes crazy inventions, and no one understands him. Except his mother. He becomes the town hero, the town zero, and then back to town hero again.
I kind of think that, maybe, she is INSPIRED by good ole Flint.
She even told me today,
You know, mom. When I watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I kind of feel like Flint Lockwood.
Wow. That’s big communicatin’ for a fresh five year old.
…We’ve got a kid in this house who’s going to Pre-K next week!!!!!!!
I cannot tell you how excited I am for this!!!!
Why in the world am I putting her in Pre-K when it’s almost March and there are but a mere 3 months of school left?
Well, I’m glad you asked. Here’s the story…
I have lamented off and on since August that I wished, with every fiber of my being, that McKenna could have gone to preschool this year. Alas, a new church planter’s budget does not allow for such things. So we set out to do our own “unstructured” version of homeschool.
I had filled out paperwork for her to attend school next year at the charter school where River Church is meeting. However, I wasn’t aware of the incredibly long waiting list for Kindergarten there. And I also didn’t know that there was a lottery system in place. Don’t get me wrong, it all seems fair. I wasn’t BOTHERED by it. I just didn’t KNOW about it.
Stephen, however, did. And he also knew that all of the spaces for next year’s Kindergarten had already been filled. The only hope of McKenna actually getting into the school was for the small possibility of a spot opening up in one of the Child Development classes (aka Pre-K). And sneaky ole Stevi kept quiet for what I now know was WEEKS about this. He didn’t want me to get my hopes up.
And you know what? I don’t mind AT ALL that he didn’t tell me. Because it made today’s phone call so much more special.
And behold! A place for McKenna had opened up in Pre-K ensuring her a spot in next year’s Kindergarten classes!!! Rock on!!!
Now…you ready for the next part of the story???
About a week ago, a friend that I have met via Twitter and other mutual friends told me that she had been praying for God to make a way for Kenni to go to preschool. And I had just kind of let the “dream” go. Especially with it being so late in the school year.
Isn’t it just like God to hold our dreams even when we have given them up for lost???
When we told Kenni that she would get the opportunity to go to school, the biggest smile swept over her face, she gave me a wink, and said,
Thank you, Mommy.
And that’s exactly how I responded to God.
Potty TRAINING, that is…
Sometimes I think that God gives me the complete gamut of experience with common childhood problems just so I can have a STORY for everyone who may EVER go through something similar with their own kids. (Because ladies, aren’t we all inclined to say to our friends at some point or other in ANY conversation concerning children, “You know, with my first…” or “Oh! I went through that with the baby when he was…” You wanna get real crazy and story-happy? Ask a bunch of moms about their pregnancy or labor and delivery stories? Want to see a bunch of men get squeamish? Talk about the AFTERMATH of childbirth…)
But anyway….
Wanna know all about the evils of infant reflux? I’m your lady.
Thrush? Rotavirus? Severe stomach virus? I’ve got you covered.
Newborn acne or (sorry, fellas), baby girls and baby periods (yes. it does happen. I’m just sayin’…), pooping blood? Yep. I got that one too.
Cradle cap, easy teethers, terrible teethers, eczema, strep throat, sprained hands, mysterious one-day fevers, diaper rash, yeast infections (just sayin’), kids who won’t take a bottle, kids who ONLY want the bottle, baby food haters, baby food lovers, choking, ear infections, calls to poison control, poop-eaters, non-sleepers, kids who sleep too much, RSV? Look no further.
Potty training the stubborn child? Oooooh yesh….
Potty training the easy-going one? Yep.
And then….regressing? ARGH! YES!
That, my friends, is what I’m dealing with as we speak.
Well, not as we speak. As I type. And really, not even “as I type” because said potty-regresser is safely tucked away in bed. With a diaper on.
I’m not sure what happened. She went from, “I’m so potty-trained I could teach my little brother what how to go pee pee in the toilet” to “I’m not even sure what the bathroom is anymore.”
So ladies…here’s your chance to divulge your best potty-regresser stories that I know you’ve all been saving for just the right moment to share. Hit me. I need help.
And so does my poor carpet.
Yes, I am completely aware of the fact that we’ve been here almost 8 months.
And maybe it’s just the fact that I feel like we’ve quite possibly been cooped up in the house for almost three months. I am told this is the longest winter Charleston has ever seen. (My turn now to jump in on that old “global warming joke” bandwagon. Ready??? “Must be all the global warming!” I know, I know. I am so original….)
But today, the sun shone its gorgeous rays down upon us, and I decided that it was time to get out of the house and PLAY.
We’ve watched enough NickJr and Playhouse Disney to last us until next winter, I’m sure.
My first thought, my first gut reaction to taking a trip outside especially when you live in Charleston was…Let’s go to the beach!!!!
And then I thought better of it. Let’s see…just me + 3 kids + beach (which, by the way, has an ocean that I swear communicates directly to my two girls..”Run to me. Jump in me. With all of your clothes on. It’s okay that you have no change of clothes or that I’m freezing. Throw caution to the wind, little ones.”) = NOT A CHANCE.
Listen, I feel like we’re making progress in the right direction in me being able to handle taking three small ones out on my own, but to say I can take them to the wide open space of a beach? Eh, not so much.
Then I thought, I’ll take ‘em downtown to Battery Park. Nice open space to run and play.
But not really much to keep them “entertained” unless you’re having a picnic. Or a 4th grade historical field trip. Soooo, we’ll skip that.
Then I remembered there was a really cool park near the Citadel downtown. It’s near the water and we have to cross the bridge to get to it…so I’d get the sensation of actually being IN Charleston and not somewhere on the outskirts.
And so off we went. We met up with our friends Danna and Carrie (oh the magic of Twitter and how it can connect you with friends!), and the kids played to their hearts content for a good hour and a half.
But it hit me, as I was standing on the rubbery asphalt surface that is much more friendly to new-toddler-feet than mulch, Oh my word. This is it. This will be the spring, the summer, I have WAITED for for YEARS!
You see, everyone is walking. No one is crawling and therefore picking up nasty junk off the ground to eat. No one relies on The Mom-Cow or a bottle for nourishment anymore. We are all sufficient on juice and crackers for snacks.
This is going to be the EASIEST SUMMER I’ve had in YEARS!!!
And my word…WE’VE MOVED TO CHARLESTON!!!
Last summer, Jack was just 6 months old. Um, and I had back surgery. That didn’t exactly make for “fun mommy” for a few weeks there.
The summer before that, I was nasty-early-stage preggo and Caia STILL wasn’t walking.
The year before THAT, Caia was born. In July. Can we say “miserable”?
(When I write it all out like that, I think…Good heavens! No wonder I’m so tired all the time!)
But THIS spring, THIS summer…this is the year we take Charleston by storm!
Look out C-town! The Parris kids are taking over!
….And then, we’re taking naps.
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