The study of insects

Parenting is  awesome. Especially those days where everything is smooth-sailing. Like when the baby sleeps for half of it, and when he isn't snoozing, he is smiling. Or when I don't even have to remind the girl once that "It hurts your little brother when you poke his eye with your finger." She just knows. When I am able to successfully wash, dry and fold a load of laundry within one 24- hour period AND teach my daughter all I know about the letter B. Or when I am able to squeeze in fifteen minutes of yoga at the end of the day after both kids are fast asleep in their beds. And I go to bed smiling, without carrying any mommy-guilt, and I think that it can be like this everyday....
And then tomorrow comes. It always does.
The baby fussed all night, probably from the 2 slices of garlic bread I ate with dinner. And after a whopping 2 hours of sleep which started at 6 am, I am woken up by a wailing 3 year old who is telling me she needs some chocolate chips in her pink yogurt placed directly in front of Team Umizoomi...like, NOW! But, wait! First let me show you these Dora "Dand-aid stickers" that I found on the top shelf of your medicine cabinet that are now stuck to my face! "We need more Dand-aids, Mom. We can go get some at the store today, okay?!"
When I think that the family is content for a minute, I go to get dressed and find that my options for attire are the yoga pants with 5 baby barfs or the yoga pants with 3 baby barfs and a poop. And I opt for the 5 baby barfs because for some reason, that just seems more sanitary...
I go to make myself a cup of coffee and the Verismo is jammed and I've not got the time to fix it because the baby is hungry for some preferably non-garlic boobmilk. But, I decide that I am going to let him fuss for a minute while I at least prep my raspberry Noosa, chia seed, gluten free granola, with a splash of chocolate chips breakfast (Yes, she gets it from me.) And I look in the fridge to find No. More. Noosa.
So, I sit in front of Team Umizoomi to feed the baby....Adeleigh polished off her yogurt and is now begging for Cheerios with milk and I am now wearing the yoga pants with 6 barfs.
Where's my robe?
I take a few deep breaths, change my clothes and get Adeleigh her Cheerios.
After everyone is full, I pull out the supplies to make a paper towel roll "A is for Ant" craft that I tell Adeleigh her daddy will absolutely love...I feel sort of brilliant for having thought up this creation...and when Daddy comes home that evening, he tells us how much he loves the centipede we made.
Me - "It's an ant. We're doing the letter A this week. The ant is holding a mini apple and there's an Ariel sticker on its back...they all start with A. Why did you think it was a centipede?"
Phaeton - "Because it has legs growing off of his face. Ants have legs on their thorax."
I take it all in, questioning the skewed understanding of entomology that Adeleigh will grow up having as a result of this craft...
Me - "Shoot. You're right! I need to change that immediately."

......

So, there was that one day where Adeleigh didn't poke her brother's eyes, and Atticus slept for half the day, and I taught my daughter something accurate, and I did laundry and a few minutes of yoga. And I ended the day feeling grateful that no one stepped in any dog poop in the backyard. That was an easy day of parenting.
But most days are a little more adventurous...a little dirtier...oftentimes a little less easy.

But either way, at the end of the day, I am just so grateful for these 2 little people who bring so much love and joy into our lives. Who bring so much life into our home. Who some days drive me crazy, but who teach me more about love than I ever thought possible. Who every day, teach me more than I will ever teach them.

Peanut Butter Make-up

The smell of taco seasoning fills the air. Phaeton is in the kitchen cutting up tomatoes trying to tell me about his overnight Starbucks conference, which I can hardly hear over the sound of Adeleigh banging on her piano and singing "Muffin man" over and over as loud as her microphone will go. I think I heard him say that he was the only one there without a smartphone...

I am sitting with a mostly content baby on my lap who just spit up on my third change of clothes for the day, his fourth. There are 3 baskets of unfolded clean laundry and another load waiting to be put in the dryer. They will probably sit long enough in the washing machine that they will mildew and I will have to rerun their cycle...

I did manage to empty the dishwasher earlier today! But, twelve cups of fruit lay scattered along the pantry floor because their box busted open earlier and I didn't want to take the time to bend over and clean them up. It was more important that I pour myself a small glass of wine and eat chocolate chips.

We eat our lukewarm dinner. Atticus' heel is red because it keeps dipping into Daddy's food. Adeleigh's quesadilla remains untouched, even though she made me remake it after I cut it into triangles instead of leaving it a circle....
She tells me her belly is full but "Can I have oranges?" So instead of questioning it, I pick up a fruit cup off the pantry floor and hand it to her.

The baby sneezes on Adeleigh's face and she insists that she needs hand sanitizer. We get her ready for bed, stories read and tuck her in. I walk down the stairs to find the giant cardboard box that has been sitting in our entryway since Christmas. I am determined to turn it into a Pinterest-inspired train table - which won't happen until the laundry gets done - the laundry that is probably molding in the machine upstairs.
I decide to make myself some hot cocoa while holding a sleepy baby. As I walk around the corner to the kitchen, I slam my toes into the leg of the highchair.
I notice all the pots are dirty, so decide on microwaving the milk. But there's only enough milk to get Adeleigh through breakfast, so I turn around and walk out.

I sit down on the couch and smile. Because even though it's chaos, I wouldn't change a thing.
:)



This is what peanut butter make-up looks like -