Persuasion

I'm trying to remind myself that one day I'll look back on this time in my life and probably be willing to trade a limb just to relive one day. One day with my babies at home. Even a bad day, a terrible day like today. I'm trying desperately to convince myself of that.

It's not working.

It's been a long, tough day. And while these days don't happen very often, they seem to occur just often enough to make me appreciate the normal, good days.

Today just started out not so good. Madeleine decided at the last minute that she didn't like her shirt -- even though we'd agreed on it the night before. There wasn't time to change. We almost got in the car with her shirtless. One point for mom -- she put it on. This was my morning to take her to school -- every other Wednesday Matt has a faculty meeting & I'm responsible for getting her to school.....with 2 other kiddos in tow. Not an easy task. By the time we park, I manage to tote a carseat and Harrison up a tall flight of stairs, kiss Madeleine goodbye, convince Harrison that he CANNOT go to Kindergarden yet, and haul us back down the stairs and rebuckle everyone in, I'm actually sweating. Never a great start, but it could be worse.

Next we headed home to dress Harrison and get him ready for preschool. As I was packing his potty -- since he still refuses to use a real toilet -- I discovered the great toothpase explosion of 2010. Not good, but pretty since it occured with pink toothpaste. I made a mental note to better monitor Madeleine's tooth brushing and head off any more "fun" with her toothpaste.

I dropped Harrison off and headed home hoping to put Charlotte down for a nap and get in a good workout. Thankfully she'd fallen asleep in the car and stayed asleep long enough for me to finish which is a good thing since she woke up super-fussy. I didn't get anything done the rest of the morning.

We picked up Harrison where I was told that he'd been kissing a little girl in his class. I think we must just be an extremely affectionate family since Madeleine was seen kissing a little boy in her preschool class last year, too. Although Harrison has denied that he started it -- he says that SHE kissed HIM. Hmmmm. I rushed home to try and finish a load of laundry and finish picking up the kids rooms before we had to head back out to get Madeleine. Unfortunatly I didn't get either of those things accomplished since Charlotte wasn't sleeping and was cranky.

We picked up Madeleine and came home with both Harrison and Charlotte asleep in the car. Sigh of relief....now I could hopefully finish some housework and spend some time with Madeleine. As soon as I set Charlotte's car seat down she woke up, so we did have a little girl time. Soon, Harrison woke up too -- in a not-so-happy mood. I was counting the minutes till Matt got home. However on Wednesdays and Thursdays he stays late for tutoring so it was going to be at least 6 before he got home. We'd planned to send the big kids with Matt to church and let me stay home with Charlotte, but just as we sat down for dinner a MASSIVE storm passed over our house and we decided to stay in. Great. I actually NEEDED my family to go to church and leave me at home with Charlotte and, hopefully, some quiet time. I needed time to sit and just read my Bible and refuel. Not going to happen tonight. So, I ate ice cream instead. Bad choice, I know, since I'm still trying to shed those last few baby pounds.

Did I mention that Madeleine learned a new song today. I can thank her friends KeNya (pronounced "ke-ni-ah") and Keziah for teaching her "BOOM. Fire, Fire." Which is sung "BOOM...Fiya, Fiya. And which she sang over and over and over and over. Probably 500 times in an hour. With the hand motions. It might have been cuter if she wasn't trying to sing OVER Charlotte's crying.

All of these things together don't usually equal a rough day. However, add in Charlotte crying all day long. ALL. DAY. LONG. Well, not really all day long. All day long except when I was holding her. If I even leaned down like I was going to put her in her bouncy seat/swing/crib she'd SCREAM. My nerves are beyond frazzled. Tomorrow can only be better.

And if it's not....well I might just go to Bunco and come home via California. Just kidding.

Maybe. :)