All in a Days...Work

Remember how I alluded to the fact that I don't have a whole lot of time to do things like...well...blog anymore because the girls don't nap any longer...well, here are a few more reasons I don't have a whole lot of time for a whole lot things these days...(I probably should be cleaning the house instead of writing this post, quite frankly, but I feel so much better about it all when I can laugh at myself and share with you!). 


Please feel free to pass these photos around to all of those endearing and well meaning older women who tell you they miss they baby and/or toddler stage...I'm sure I will feel that way someday...


These photos...they're all from my house TODAY...that's right. This isn't chaos spanned over several days, weeks or months...it is all in ONE days life as a mom...


For your viewing pleasure...A day in the life...




The photographic journal of January 24th, 2012




I went to bed at 10:15 last night, intending to get up at 5:45 to do this...

Every once in a while I like to sneak in an early workout to get it out of the way...That's all fine and good until your 2 year old wakes up crying for 25 minutes at 10:55...and then your husband finally comes to bed at 12:30 a.m. and then your 4 1/2 year old crawls into your bed at 5:10 a.m. because she had a bad dream and wants to know if all of our doors our locked to that the alligators can't get in...

I still got up at 5:45 and made it to the gym by 6:15...At that point I figure I'd be tired later anyways, so why not!

When I returned at 7:20, Ava was coming downstairs...She spotted the two new plastic coloring tables and paint I had picked up for her at the craft store last night...She wanted to paint...right then and there...

Why not? I asked myself...

And so we did...

Here are our A.M. masterpieces...

The paint is still sitting on the floor in the kitchen...it will probably be there the next time you visit!

Then Ella got up...Apparently, shortly after I left the house for the gym Scott heard something downstairs. Ella had gotten up and was standing on a chair in the kitchen all by herself at 6:05 in the morning...She never gets up that early...He put her back to bed kicking and screaming...As you can imagine he's tired today too...Don't let anyone ever let you think sleep deprivation ends at the baby stage...Nope...it goes on and on and on and on...

For the record..This is what Ella slept in last night...

Yup...it's Ava's Christmas dress from last year. Ella found it in her closet...I was not home (was out running errands, like buying paint!) when she went to bed. When I went in to kiss her head at 9:30 I found her in bed in this...

She wore it to school today too...

Wanna take a shower? Sure. You just have to practice your long jump over the toys on the floor, which is what I did this morning...At least they were not IN the bathtub this time, as they usually are when I am all ready to jump in the shower...

Just before I got in the shower I looked down on the floor and thought "What in the world?" ...My post-it tabs were lying in the middle of the bathroom floor...Hmmm...strange...

They had also been used to decorate the wall...

And the sink....

And where the post-it labels were not enough band-aids were used...several of them...

I'm just going to pause briefly...I'm thinking you're wondering where in the world I am when all of this chaos is going on around the house...Friends, readers...These girls...particularly the little one...does this stuff at stealth speed. She is quiet and sneaky and creative...It make for some interesting findings! 

I did discover this morning that if you want your kids to stay away from your food (every time I make something I have two little ones asking, "Mom...can I have some? Can I have some?") Make a spinach smoothie...I couldn't get one person in the house to take even a sip of this this morning! 

By the time I dropped the girls off at preschool and went to Starbucks to get some editorial/writing work done that I need to finish I looked like this....

This is the timer I set at lunchtime...Ella is the S-L-O-W-E-S-T eater on the face of the planet. It drives me C-R-A-Z-Y. Seriously, it takes her .10 seconds to eat a lollipop, but stick her lunch in front of her and you better have a good hour...She picks and pecks at her plate. She pokes at her sister. She sings songs. She asks for water. She does ANYTHING but eat. I finally set a timer for both of them (Ava was puttering around too and spilling soup on the floor!) and told them there were no treats after lunch if they didn't finish before the time went off.

I've never seen them eat so fast. 

I did have to set the timer a second time for Ella...I felt a little sad...I actually think she cannot chew very fast for some reason...

The timer helped...

After lunch while I was cleaning up and about ready to pull my hair out I ran to the downstairs bathroom to take a quick potty break...

Here is a picture of the locked bathroom door. 

Yup. 

"Who locked the door?!!!!" I screamed.

"Me," Ava said ever so nonchalantly.

"AVA! YOu CANNOT lock the door from the inside and then close it!"

"You can't?"

Oh my heavens someone please, please help me.

"No honey."

She got all teary eyed...."Are we EVER going to be able to open it again." 

"Of course..." I assured her.

An hour and a half later when Scott came home and I came downstairs from a quick snooze, I saw that he had unlocked the bathroom...

Guess what else I saw...

Yup...that would be a fleece blanket covering the toilet and the wicker ottoman from our living room...

And another fleece blanket on the floor, a duck suitcase, two stools and a stack of library books on the counter...Apparently the girls were creating a reading nook before they locked the door...All while I was preparing their lunch...

A few points of other random chaos from the day...

One of the many single shoes I find in any given place on any given day...

some strange pillow blanket concoction discovered in the living room...

My husband tied a string around my prescription bottle...in the middle of the lunch chaos I called him to tell him that my lexapro was missing...it had been for two days (yes, I'm taking a small dose of an antidepressant for my anxiety...that's a whole other story...). 

I finally called the pharmacy to ask them for a refill because mine was missing...

In the meantime I found it at the bottom of the jar where we keep our k-cups for our keuring machine...I have NO idea how it got there. Scott thought it would be funny to tie a string around it...the only string he could find was one attached to a yo-yo...he thought that was pretty ironically funny...

Found this after my catnap too...

This is the fish that the bagger forgot to put in my bag at the grocery store earlier...it was the only reason I had gone to the store...Poor Scott had to make an extra trip to pick it up..

This is my scary fridge, which kind of epitomizes how our lives feel right now...

This is the kind of stuff I find randomly around the house that cracks me up and that I WILL actually miss someday...

All of these photos were taken before 3:00 p.m. this afternoon...Let's see what the evening has to offer! 

Nothing like a little monkey business all in a days work...

For the record, the only reason I had time to write this is because I did it in lieu of cleaning on the one day the girls actually DID take a nap...well, I suppose they didn't have a choice today...Mommy laid down the law that EVERYONE would be sleeping this afternoon...I'll be paying for it at 10 p.m. tonight...

God Bless You...

I woke up this morning, at 6:30, before the girls, with full intentions of sneaking downstairs to write a heartfelt post about marriage.


The husband and I, we love each other very much and know that that love, through God, is the foundation of a marriage that will endure. 


That said...we've kind of been at each other lately...Anyone else ever have those days? Weeks? Seasons? 


Anyhow...Scott was up because he was getting ready to leave for church at 7:15 a.m... I quietly snuck out of bed, pulled my slippers onto my feet and tip toed out into the hallway. I was just about to sneak down the stairs when I decided to take a quick sneak peak into Ella's room. 


Her blanket was completely over her head...


Blogger mommy thought, She'll be fine, really she will. Just leave it there...you know what a light sleeper she is.


Real mommy thought, You better go in there and make sure she can breathe. 


I snuck in slowly. No movement from her...I'm safe. I made it to the bed and peeked in...sure enough, the blanket was not just beside her head but pulled up and completely covering it. 


Slowly, I admired her sleeping face and began to pull the blanket down. So sweet. So quiet. 


When suddenly...POP! Eyes open. Staring widely at me. "Hi Mommy!!!!" 


Now, I'm not sure if I woke her up, or more than likely, if you know Ella, she had heard me tip toe into her room and played "sleep" until just the right moment to pack the most impact at which point she popped up to say  "Hi Mommy!" in her most chipper, I've been awake for hours, non-sleepy voice. 


"Ella! You're awake?!"


"Yup!"


"Hi"


"Hi Momma."


I reached out to carry her downstairs. 


"Where's my suitcase?" she demanded.

She's been carrying around this purple, metal suitcase filled with lip gloss, since Christmas. It was one of those afterthought gifts. I was done Christmas shopping, saw Dora + lip gloss...and immediately thought "Ella"! 


She hasn't put the thing down since. 


She takes it to bed with her. 


If it's not next to her when she wakes up, she asks for it immediately. 


"Oh honey, it's right here." I had taken it from next to her side, and placed it near her feet while she was sleeping so she wouldn't roll over onto it....and...well...wake herself too early! 


Once she had her dog in one hand, doll in another, and suitcase tucked in, I was allowed to carry her downstairs. 


"Ella!" Scott said, "You're up?" He said in just as surprised a tone as we came down the stairs. 


"Yup!" she enthusiastically declared.


I told Scott the story of the blanket. He nodded a knowing and sympathetic nod. 


So here I sit, blogging about Ella and not marriage...which is o.k. I'll save the marriage post for later in the week. Ella is sitting next to me on the couch watching Dora (of course) and eating dry, chocolate Rice Krispies from a plastic Applebees kid cup. Judge as you will...we're all happy here (see photo above!).


About five minutes ago she let out a big sneeze. 


"Bless you Ella." 


She looked at me as if I had just said,  "I'm glad you sneezed...you deserved that." 


"MOM! Your a-suppose  (there is always an "a" in front of supposed when she says this...)  to say "GOD bless you." 


"I just did."


"NO you DIDN'T" 


"What did I say?" (I knew what I said...I wanted to see what she would say).


"You said..."Bless you."


"Oh...sorry Ella. GOD bless you." 


"Thank you," she says as seriously and matter of factly as you can imagine.  


Eyes straight back to Dora once she has been blessed correctly. Not another word about it.


Oh Ella...you certainly make my life much more interesting. 


I'll let you know when those thoughts on marriage finally make it up...Ironically, our biggest issue is probably exactly the reason for my writing this post this morning and not one about marriage...we have kids....marriage is tricky when little kids are on the scene...plain and simple. 


Happy Sunday and, in all sincerity...God bless you too! 


If you can't make it to church today our services stream live here at The Chapel's website...either go, or watch...you will be blessed, I promise 

All Sorts of Miscellaneous Monkey Business

It's been one of those days. So busy, always moving and peppered with non-stop kid requests and intermittent fighting.

You know those days.

Ava woke up crabby. She doesn't take naps anymore and didn't go to bed until 10 p.m. last night. So, even though she slept until 8 a.m. this morning, the crabbies awoke with her.

So, let's see, here are some of the highlights, you know the moments that make you say "O Lordy, I'm never going to make it out of this with my sanity!" from the day.

Ava got a kid-friendly, Pinkalicious Scrabble game for Christmas...Ella, while Ava was nicely playing and I was cleaning up breakfast, took it upon herself to pull the game board out and proceeded to rip the entire bottom right hand corner off of the game board...Ava was quite upset and started screaming at Ella...I sent Ella to her room and promised Ava we could tape the gameboard back together (the feeble attempt at the right is actually her tape job!)...Somehow by the time Ella came down the stairs Ava had renewed her compassion for Ella and said, "Oh sister...I see what you were doing...you thought this was a ripping game. It's o.k. mommy will fix it." She was completely and earnestly serious...I was completely and earnestly confused...Ava NEVER has this kind of compassion for her sister over these things...she was fuming angry just 7 minutes prior...

...Women!

Then...I decided to hard boil some eggs because I just saw this holistic health care lady yesterday and she did a bit of a reconstruct on my current diet...of course, as I was pulling them out (we only had four left in the house) Ava spotted them and wanted one...and then Ella heard Ava and wanted one...so by the time I was done (and had eaten one myself) my organized pre-prepping (what the Dr. had suggested since I have kids) seemed a little fruitless...and Ella, whom for some strange reason I had given permission to eat her eggs in a plastic bowl in the living room (while watching t.v.), somehow scattered white and yellow egg bits all over our rug...I tried to wipe them up with a cloth. Do you know what happens when you try to wipe the yellow part of an egg with a wet cloth on a cream rug...paste....yellow paste all over the rug (to add to the bazillion spots that make me crazy already!).

--In the process of my trying to prep soup this morning Ava decided to try to paint her toenails and got polish all over the kitchen floor at which point I took all of the polish away from her and she started screaming that I was mean and that she was NEVER, EVER painting her toes again and that she HATED toes (I think she wanted to say she hated me, but she knows very well that we never, ever, ever use the word hate in regards to people...toes, maybe...people, big trouble!).

--All the while Ella was pulling even more clothes out of her closet...to add to the pile that was already on the floor.

--I finally finished the soup, cleaned up the kitchen and was ready to go to the gym until I looked over and realized everyone was still in their pajamas at 10:50...which is fine...unless you want to quickly get to the gym because the childcare worker is only there until 12. I had asked the girls to get dressed countless times...they apparently found other things more interesting to do (like rip game boards, and paint toe nails and spread eggs on the rug).

-- We did make it to the gym...I did get on the elliptical and made it through 27 minutes of my 30 minute preset workout...at which point I was called to the kids room to take Ella to the bathroom...She told me she needed to poop...She wasn't lying...I was in there with her for 10 minutes.

--Let's see...I finished at the gym, we ran to the grocery store, dropped off food for the friend, came home, ate lunch and then Ava apparently kicked her sister...I gathered the story by the fact that Ella came down the stairs sobbing and Ava was following quickly behind her saying "sorry, sorry, sorry..." meaning...'I really wanted to hit you, but didn't think you would cry and now I don't want to get in trouble...maybe if I walk behind you down the stairs and say sorry I won't get in trouble.'

I sent her to her room...for a while....

I finally got to close my eyes for 22 minutes....

Neither Ella nor Ava naps anymore...so I put them in their rooms for 1/2 and hour and close my eyes...it's the only way I make it through the day.

And then we start all over again...or just keep going...depending on how you want to look at it.

Ava wanted a bath, Ella wanted stickers, Ava wanted me to dry her hair, Ella wanted me to change her baby's clothes, Ava needed help with stickers, Ella wanted to read...

..And so it goes...

All in a days work...

And really, it's hard to stay mad at these two faces!

One of my favorite parts of the day just might have been after Ava's gymnastics class tonight...

"Mommy can I get candy from the machine?"

"No."

"Mommy can we buy a new leotard?"

"No."

"Mommy did you bring your wallet?"

"Ava! No."

"Mom, why do you always say no."

"Because I'm the big, mean, boogey say no monster."

"Mooommmyy! No you're not."

We both just laughed...

"Don't worry honey...someday when you're a mommy you'll get to say no a lot too..."

"Ok."

The End.


P.S. If you'd like some more serious reading I did manage to write a short post on prayer on my Little Writer Momma page earlier this week.

When Pictures Get you Thinkin'

Scott has some cool new contraption hooked up to the t.v. It's some sort of Apple web/t.v. decvice that picks up  photos and movies and images from other Apple devices and streams them to your computer...

I can hardly write this blog post because baby picture after baby picture after baby picture of the girls is streaming by on our flat screen television.

I can't help but think about all of the things that all of the older women have said to me on all of the occasions that we have been out in public, or at a party, or in church...

They said it would go fast...I didn't expect it to go THIS fast and to realize it so soon.

The ladies at church...they said the girls would only be this small for a short time...I was certain the diapers and the mid- night crying and the messes were going to last an eternity (well...the messes persist, but the other parts, they are figments of our past already!).

On so many days I say to Scott..."Really, you want another one...really? After all of this!?"

He looks at me in defeat and says..."Oh man...I dunno".

But then we see the pictures and I think Really, can I imagine not kissing one of those little heads one more time, or squeezing their cheeks, or watching them sleep in a swing, or smile at my glance or coo in response to a hello. Really...am I done with all of that?


I watched a gal that I really admire walk around our MOPS meeting the other day. She is preggo with her fifth. Yes, you heard me right...her FIFTH! Oh my...I see women like that sometimes and think God must have forgotten to install one last microchip in my brain...

God, I ask, where is the chip that makes me feel like I could handle 3 or 4 or 5 kids? How come some women make it look so easy...and then chicks like me make people never want to have kids. Ever. Ever.


As I watched that mom at my group the other day I felt a sense of awe and respect for her. With each child we have we are forced to give away a little piece (and peace!) of our independence...a little piece of our freedom and the ability to do the things we want to do...I could say that another way...and this is what I see when I look at her...With each child we must forgo selfishness a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more...it becomes less and less and less about you and your dreams...for a time anyway...and more and more and more about loving a child into the world to bear dreams of their own.


Sometimes I ask myself, Lisa, really, if God has one more little life to bring into this world that is part you and part Scott, could you really say "No...I can't do it...I'm in over my head."


Now that wouldn't be very faithful of me, would it?  To say to the God that promises to fill us with everything we need to do the tasks He sets before us that I'm not strong enough, capable enough.

Funny thing is...He already knows that. He knows we ALL have insecurities, we all have weaknesses...we all NEED Him!


As I've said to friends...I feel like there is one more little Littlewood that is supposed to be in this world...

Sometimes I tease Scott and tell him he better find a second wife to help out with that...because this mommas not sure her belly or her mental stability can really be stretched that far...

Just kidding honey.

All that to say...children are beautiful gifts from God. We will likely jump of the edge and have another one of these days...

So while I may be ready to be done with this...

(I got a LOT bigger, for the record! this is one of the nicer pictures)

And DEFINITELY this...

just in case you didn't believe me...no, this is not a stock photo...that's MY  belly!






 I'm not quite ready to be done with this...

Or this...

Or this...

Pure sweetness...those last three...

But for now...well, maybe I'll just reminisce, enjoy the very quiet house...and...turn off that gadget before I get any more ideas!!



P.S. I just read this post to my husband and guess what he said?

                                                                                              "I don't mind if you get ideas!"

Oh my...out of the mouths of men!!! 

Someday I'll Be on Time Again...

I used to be on time...really...I did...

I was actually the very committed person who chose 8 a.m. classes (while living at home mind you so it wasn't as if I could just roll out of bed) and got to campus with my books at 7:15 in the morning so that I could review my notes, study a bit and be ready when the professor showed up.

Go ahead, call me a nerd. It's o.k. We're not in high-school so I kinda like the term now!

Even after Scott and I started dating and got married I was pretty prompt and pretty crabby if I wasn't...poor Scott...I'm not sure he was ever Mr. Prompt. As a matter of fact my dad likes to tease us, and especially him, that we usually arrive at family functions on "Littlewood" time...a.k.a. 20-40 minutes late!!! It's a long family joke, but basically...well...for those of you who know us we'll leave it at that...and in defense of my husband I won't go "there" with the rest of the story (: He's had to deal with me on more than one occasion (too many to count, I'm thinking) when I was crabby because we were running behind!

All that said, we had one child...and then two...and now I can't get out of the house by 9 a.m. to save my life. Seriously. Ava starts preschool at 9:30 in the morning...we consistently arrive at about 9:35 smiling sheepishly (me) because the door to the room is usually already closed and most of the other kids are already sitting around tables settled in and working on puzzles...

Sigh...

I'd like to be there on time Miss Lynn and Miss Jean, really I would!

But...there is ALWAYS something...

Like this morning...

I got up later than I'd have liked because I went to bed later than I should have...Scott left the house early this morning so there was no set of extra hands (some days there are and some days there are not...)...So I made the breakfast, and packed the bags, unloaded the dishwasher, found and wrote a birthday card for Ava to take a friend to school, got myself dressed, packed my "work" bag, made more toast for the girls (they were hungry!), rifled down 1/3 of a cup of coffee, a greek yogurt and a piece of toast and peanut butter, got dressed, got the girls dressed, got their boots and gloves and coats out, started the car so that it would warm up (it was 10 degrees here last night!), went in to brush Ava's hair and put the girls coats on, tried to clean up the breakfast mess in the living room (when I'm running really late I  typically end up letting the girls watch t.v. while they eat breakfast...it makes things easier!)

....suddenly at 9:15 Ava rounded the corner of the couch right into my arm which sent a cup of fruit shake flying into the air and landing on the ground...that stinkin' fruit shake splattered all over the floor, all over Santa (see picture), down the hall, on the bathroom door and all over the tissue paper and dirty laundry that was sitting by the basement stairs...

...darned fruit shake!

Now I know what your thinking...Lisa, I see the glass sitting on the ground there...WHY on earth would you give either of your preschool aged children fruit shake in a glass cup in the LIVING ROOM?!!!

I do have an good explanation I swear!

Both girls were enjoying their covered fruit shakes SO much (in plastic cups with straws) that they finished it all and Ava asked for more...I had poured the little bit that was left in that glass so that I could drink it, but when Ava asked I of course told her she could have it...hence...the open glass...

She took it into the living room while I was rapidly and incoherently trying to dress myself upstairs...

Sigh...

So, at 9:17 Ava and I were cleaning up fruit shake...

And this is why I blog...so that I have an excuse to take pictures of such ridiculousness and post them here so that A) you can commiserate, B) you can laugh C) Ic an laugh at myself and D)when her teachers start asking why we are tardy I can point them to this post with a big smile (:

Here's why I was running late, yet again, this morning my friends....

it was WAY worse than my i-phone could portray here...seriously, droplets of fruitshake for 5 feet down the hall, on the wall, all over EVERYTHING! I didn't know so little fruitshake could make so much mess!