One of those days

I know the day is far from over. But so far it's been one of those days. Not one of those days... but the good kind! I find myself most often sharing when the kids are frustrating me, driving me to tears, leading me to question being a stay at home mom. I figured a good day deserved as much attention!

Most of our days, one of them - Catherine or Ella - ends up being in a mood about something, having a tantrum, whining, getting hurt, not getting their way - and so on and so on. So while one is happy and playing nicely, the other is not. I find this to be the case most often - not all day long or even most of the day - but when they have meltdowns, it's usually not at the same time. Thank you Lord for that. But then there are the dreaded days when both are upset and crying and whining for an extended period of time at the same time. I had a day like that a few weeks ago and when Matt called to ask a question I just started crying. The kids were both crying and yelling about something and I just wanted to get dressed without someone pulling on my leg. He came home 20 minutes later - I was already going out to get a haircut so it was on the schedule, but he knew I needed a break was able to give me 20-30 minutes to compose myself before I had to go. Honestly - I thank God every day that not only is Matt able to do that, but he does it willingly. I try my best to make sure Catherine and Ella know what a wonderful father they have.

Ok, back on track here....
Today was one of those rare days when both children were happy and content (I think it's hard for a 1 year old who doesn't talk and is always wanting what her sister has to be content for too long) - not just for a little bit but from morning until naptime. To me that is amazing! Throw in a 2 1/2 hour trip to Ikea and I call it a miracle! I wasn't sure if I wanted to take both of them because when we go as a family it usually ends up with Ella running away from us in the Marketplace and then screaming because she wants another treat (sticky bun, ice cream cone - you name it, darn you Ikea for having pictures of everything so there is no mistake that you sell ice cream cones). That leads to revoking her TV time and then she is upset the entire car ride home. But before the meltdown, she loves playing in the ball pit and running around in the children's rooms and playing with the toys. Of course Catherine loves everything her sister loves so Ikea is really a great place for us to go.

Today the three of us walked- no cart, no stroller - all through Ikea, played, visited the bathroom via the baby care room (Ikea is so family friendly despite having tempting pictures of food and toys all over the place) ate lunch and perused the Marketplace all without a tantrum, without me yelling, without any tears and with lots of smiles. The Marketplace is the most dangerous part for us because 1. everyone is worn out by then 2. it's very easy for Ella to run off and get lost 3. it's very easy for me to get lost in the maze of glasses, rugs, candles, you name it..., and 4. the carts are so darn hard to operate -every time we go around a turn I have to practically run to the other side of the cart to avoid knocking over a display of some sort (can I get an AMEN on that - can anyone relate to how frustrating those carts are? I feel like I'm pushing the cart on ice). Today Ella decided, for I swear the 1st time since she could walk, that she wanted to ride in the cart and stayed there peacefully while I searched for and found the very random and specific piece of hardware we need to hang curtains, waited in a long line and finally made our way to the car. Catherine was starting to lose her patience by the end of the trip, but even that wasn't too bad.

For some reason Ella decided she wanted to watch her Thomas the Train DVD - she hasn't watched that in months. Of course when we got home I couldn't find it anywhere. For someone like Ella, little things like that tend to be her undoing. But in keeping with our day of happiness she agreed to watch Diego without fussing. And then they both napped, giving me the chance to accomplish all the important things I had to do today - like write this post!

So that's it. Just had to share that there are days that I love being a mom and often times I don't slow down enough to realize it. Thanks for listening...

edited to say....sorry for the all the typos and errors - I know it must have been painful to read! I tried to fix some that stood out but I'm sure there are plenty more....