About my day...

Wow. I had a bad day today. I think I can safely compare my day to a 10 car pile up. I spent most of the day in the middle of a project that needed to be completed by tonight. So pretty much a mommy-project day equals a demanding-kid day. By the time Dave got home I was pretty much done with the kids. Lucky for me I had somewhere to go so I pryed Livvy (wailing) from off my leg and left the house. Did I mention I am fighting off a sore throat (again!)

Sometimes Livvy's antics can get overwhelming. In just the past few (less than a week) days she has poured and/or rubbed the following items onto her head: lotion (x2), hand soap, hair spray, neosporin, Boraxo (yes, this is what I used to clean the Neosporin from her head- she climbed onto the counter and made a powdery mess of her head just as I was trying to get us all out the door), hand sanitizer, and of course, vaseline. Then today she added mascara, poop, marker and pen to her list of body art supplies. And did I mention that she walks around the house saying "butthead"? Seriously. This child cannot be controlled.

She will not stay dressed or leave a diaper on. I've resorted to duct taping her diaper on again! I was so hoping we were past the diaper-removal stage. Nope. We are back on. And yes, I did try potty training her a couple weeks ago. We ended up with puddles of pee throughout the kitchen and piles of poop in the bedroom. Needless to say, "operaton potty-training" has been called off.

She is so darn determined. She spends most of the day either trying to get out of the house, crying because she can't go with the bigger kids to their friend's houses (which I really do feel bad about), or rummaging through the pantry, emptying out flour, cereal, and anything she can get her little grubby hands on. It's nuts!

And Sara. Oh. My. Sara. This poem describes her perfectly, "There once was a girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid." This child... She will not leave Spencer alone. If he's asleep, she wakes him up. If he's laying down, she sits him up. She shakes him and squishes him just a bit more and a bit harder than she should- just to be naughty. Don't get me wrong, she can be helpful too. It's just a matter of what she chooses to do. She knows how to push Taylor's buttons and antagonizes him (and everyone else) like you wouldn't believe. I ask her to stop and she completely ignores me. So today she was bugging him and he was freaking out. I kept telling her to stop, holding Taylor off from pounding her at the same time. She wouldn't quit so finally I let Taylor at her. I told her if she wouldn't stop then she deserved what she got and I wouldn't help her or feel bad for her. So as you can only imagine- that didn't end so good. Sara, wailing, ran up to her room, locked her door, fell asleep, and then woke up at 11:00 p.m. refreshed and ready to go for the night. So here I sit at nearly 1:00 in the morning with a 4-year-old watching Clifford the Big Red Dog in the other room.

So I guess maybe it sounds like I am complaining. I'm not. I'm just reflecting on my day and committing myself to being a better mom. Tomorrow is a new day- a chance to start over and work harder at giving my kids the kind of mom they deserve to have. I enjoy my family, all these little bodies that follow me around from room to room. They are happy, healthy kids and I am grateful that they belong to me.

I'm off to bed.