Bed head, sleep, headphones, bath, church clothes, and a little structured play time.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

A couple weeks ago, Grace woke up looking like this.  Is this amazing bedhead or what!?!  What I would do for some of that volume! I love her hair.  

Then, this happened the other day and it reminded me of when Caleb was a baby. Same ottoman, same sweet boy... just now he's much, much bigger.  That ottoman IS very cozy.

Then, FIVE weeks ago I was standing in my parent's kitchen and I had a lot of pain in my middle back.  I sat down, and although it improved a bit since the inital shock, I've been fighting the pain ever since.  FIVE weeks.  Five weeks of slowing down, asking Ben to do... everything for me, not taking walks, not going to the park.  Boo hoo.  I got a massage, went to a reflexologist twice, chiropractor twice, the regular doctor, and finally landed myself in Physical therapy where I currently remain.  I have hope that she's going to help me.  It's been humbling.  I'm a go getter.  Like... I love doing things.  All the time.  It's so hard to be an invalid.  Good things have happened though.  1. Ben is a professional house cleaner. 2. I'm more laid back about mess since I can't clean it. 3. I have been spending more time with the kids.

I'm trying to look on the bright side you see.  Oh and shout out to Ben.  He's the most wonderful husband I could have ever asked for. Truly.

I can't stay sappy though, so now I'll move on to mockery. Ben got new headphones.... and I laugh at them. ;)

The kids took a bath together and no one got hurt!  Victory!  Anna ALMOST got hurt when Caleb did some weird kick-slide action and knocked her over.  I was right there to prevent her from drowning. Mommy saves the day!

Caleb surprised me by getting ready for church all by himself! Bhahahhaha.  Awesome.

 This morning at breakfast the children were overwhelming me.  You know how sometimes EVERYONE seems to have some kind of issue!?  At the same time?!  So, I found myself asking Ben if it was naptime yet even though the kids had only been up for a half hour or so.

Instead of getting crabby and whiny, I decided to take action.  My brilliant friends who taught me A LOT about parenting always emphasize not giving your child tons and tons of free time.  Why? Oh, good question.  Because when children are aimlessly roaming the house, they tend to get into trouble. Lots of trouble.  Then you tend to get mad at them, really mad.  And then you start yelling at them for tearing your house apart and breaking all your valuables.  At the end you have a messy house, and you're all crabby.  Make sense?

The solution?  Structured play time.  After breakfast I instructed Caleb to play with the magnatiles (coolest toy ever... as in I actually also enjoy playing with them) and Gracie was to play with the Melissa and Doug make your own pizza (which is also a neat toy, and I found it at a garage sale!) Gracie has to be in the highchair otherwise there will be a battle of getting her to stay put... and aint nobody got time fo dat! After 20 minutes they switched.  The good news?  They were all occupied, and there was much peace for 45 minutes.  Peace is glorious.  And, I usually ask myself, why I don't do this EVERY day.  That would be smart.  I think I'll do this every day.  Changing activities of course.

And, when you have young children (especially three of them), it is important not to go crazy... because they need you.  I also help keep my sanity by using a pack n play AND a playyard gate (like this) .  These things are lifesavers, and if you have little children running around your home, you need one or both.  I think it's totally beneficial to put some fun toys in the gate, and have Grace play with them for an hour, and this I definitely do EVERY day.  It's good because...  1. She learns to play with a toy (and not go from toy to toy to toy to toy) 2. She has to sit fairly still (excellent lesson in self control) 3. She is safe.  Well except that one time when the crazy lunatic knocked the whole business over.  But, that's rare ;) 4. I get a break to get something done. 5. She gets in less trouble.  Waaay less trouble.

Even Anna has started playing in the gate and pack n play!  I cannot possibly keep my eye on miss crawl everywhere every waking moment of the day.

I should also mention that EVERY time I have kids over who are not mine, they ask to go in the gate.  I purposely put FUN toys in there so that it's not a drag to go in. Oh and I don't have magic children.  If you think your kids couldn't do it, you just haven't tried it or haven't tried it long enough.

Word.

I'm telling you these brilliant tricks, because they were told to me and have improved my life drastically.  

I'm not telling you to put your 7 year old in the gate. He could climb out.

Oh and lastly, I've been sort of potty training Grace for a while now.  Potty training is so horrible.  I can't even believe I have to do it again after I'm done potty training Grace.  I need a support group again.

Thanks for listening.

-Melanie