Looking for those moments

Lately I’ve been a little discouraged about being a stay-at-home mom. Not that there is anything else I really wish I was doing (although I’ll have you know that I had a lot of potential as the editor-in-chief of the famous, or infamous Daily Universe!), but still sometimes the higher purpose of motherhood gets forgotten in the midst of the mundane.

So today, I decided to reread a talk I heard a few years ago about motherhood. It helped a lot. Jeffrey R. Holland said, “recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.”

I’m going to look for these “shining moments” more. Like today at lunch, Graham was sitting at the table, arms crossed tightly, refusing to eat because he was mad about something or other (I ask you, when is Graham NOT mad about something!). Instead of threats or time-outs I went over and put my face near his and started doing some silly faces. He tried valiantly to stay mad, but his lips were quivering with the effort of suppressing his smile. Finally he gave in and started laughing with me. We hugged and I said in a growly voice, “Now, eat that hot dog before I do!” It worked. It doesn’t always work that easily, but this time it worked. And I was glad to have that moment.

I think what I need to realize is not every second of every day is supposed to be super fun and rewarding. It’s just life to have a whole lot of frustrating and mundane moments in between the few wonderful, thought-provoking moments. In fact, we wouldn’t recognize the amazing moments if we didn’t have the not-so-amazing ones.

To show that I am serious about this I will now put the nagging thoughts of cleaning up the lunch dishes (yes, I know that lunch was two hours ago) and folding the laundry out of my head for a while. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Lego tower to build!

The Week of Weaning

Yes, it is past 3 a.m. and I am awake writing a blog. Is it because I am so dedicated to telling the incredible stories of being a mom that I will even forgo sleep to do so? Um . . . no.  It’s because I have decided this is the Week of Weaning! Uriah is now over a year old and while I love breastfeeding my babies, I am also very ready to be done once they turn one. My other two boys were much easier to wean, I just gradually cut out a feeding every once in a while until by the time they were one, I was only nursing them at bedtime or done completely.

Uriah is a little more attached though. He does not take a binky and I have become his replacement. He likes to wiggle around during breastfeeding sessions, often trying to watch what his brothers (or anyone else, if I am in public) are doing while nursing. This is annoying, uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing. I think if you in public and your one-year-old walks up and starts pulling and shaking at your shirt, that’s when you know it’s time to start cutting back!

But the worst is that I have let him develop bad bedtime behaviors. Even though Uriah is one, I have still been feeding him once in the night. I actually blame Uriah himself for this problem. He was such an easy-going baby that I hated to let him cry for anything. Not that I was happy to let my other two cry, but I kept in mind that sometimes it was good for them so they could learn to sleep through the night. I am also a much better mommy when I get a full night’s sleep! Anyway, so here I am with a one-year-old who I am just now training to sleep through the night and to only nurse at bedtime. Better late than never, right?!

Well, it sounds like Uriah just finished fussing for this small round, which means I better try to catch a few more hours of sleep. By the end of the week, I hope to report that, after an entire year of broken up slumber, we are both getting a full night’s rest!

First Birthday

My little Uriah turned one last week. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me. This past year has gone by faster than any year of my life! I remember every detail about the day he was born. It seems like he was a tiny baby for such a short time. He grew so fast in this year that I felt I couldn’t blink, for fear of missing things. It seems like just a few weeks ago he was so small he could barely keep his eyes open. Now here he is, one year old, walking, laughing, and playing like his brothers!

If it were possible, would I turn him back into a newborn again? NOT A CHANCE! As much as this was a year of fawning over his cute tiny features, it was also a year of trying to make sure those features didn’t cry. I was a crazy woman this year (even more than normal, that is!). I was running from one child to the next all the time. I would just get myself settled to nurse the baby when Graham would suddenly need help going potty or Rubin would need a drink before he died of thirst. I became an expert on crisis management while simultaneously nursing an infant! There were countless sleepless nights where I was up four, five, and even six times with the baby. Looking back, I know why this year went so fast – I was a zombie the whole time!

Don’t get me wrong, I love babies. The knowledge that I will, one day, have another comforts me when I think of Uriah turning into a toddler. But I am glad that he is now past some of the most physically exhausting stages. The year between ages one and two has been my favorite with my other boys and I am looking forward to this time with Uriah! Happy birthday little man!

Such a Boy

Yesterday I needed to cut some fabrics for a quilt I am making and so I decided to cut while watching the cartoon movie Anastasia. As I was cutting on my card table in front of the TV, I was singing along with the songs. I watched this movie many times as a child, so I know every word. It was on the song where Anastasia is singing about how she is scared to go to St. Petersburg but wants to find her family. In the middle of the song, Rubin James sighed loudly and said, "When is she going to stop singing and actually go to St. Petersburg?!"

He is such a boy.

Crazy Woman on Aisle 9!

Okay, so I will finally admit that I’m a bit of a crazy person at the grocery store. But that’s only because I’m efficient. You see, even if I go to the store while my oldest is at kindergarten, I still have my 3- and 1-year-old boys with me. That means I have two ticking time bombs in my cart. The problem is, you never know when they will go off! This means I have to be fast, while still getting everything I need. So I walk quickly down the aisles, barely even coming to a complete stop to grab my items. I’ve really got it down to an art!

However, there are a couple of things that do manage to slow me down. First are grandparents. Not mine of course, just your generic, run-of-the-mill grandparents. I like to go to the store early in the day and that’s when many of them are there too. I actually have quite the track record of old men stopping me and talking to me and my boys in a grandfatherly way. Some of these old men are really sweet, like the one who told me he could tell I was a great mom, doing a wonderful job. On the other hand, some are downright odd. One told me he worked for NASA and had searched the entire universe for something cuter than a human baby, but couldn’t find anything!

The next thing that ruins my fast pace are the men at the store. I’ve noticed guys who are grocery shopping are usually very inefficient. I can always spot a husband shopping on his day off. He walks in the middle of the aisle, exactly in the middle, so no one can fit past him on either side. He moves at a snail’s pace, staring with a dazed expression at all of the food possibilities surrounding him. Finally, he spends eons trying to figure out which size, brand, and flavor to take. It drives me crazy!

Sadly, even the grocery shopping master (me) makes mistakes. The last time I took my husband and all three boys. I'm not sure what I was thinking! We procured two carts and put two kids in one and one in the other. Then we proceeded to shop. At the first I would pick what I needed and then turn around and wait for my husband to catch up. But after a few minutes of this, I realized the ticking bombs were not going to make it at his pace. So, I decided to ditch the wisdom of the Marines and left the man behind!

I weaved in and out of the aisles, dodging men and senior citizens, only occasionally catching sight of my husband. At one point I realized I forgot the toilet bowl cleaner, but I was already several aisles away and I could see Graham getting antsy in the cart. So I abandoned hope of going back for it.

An hour later, my husband managed to catch up with me. Now I had two carts full of groceries. This secured a full-blown eye-roll from the cashier. But, I had avoided major tantrums and gotten everything I needed (well, almost everything). So the next time you see a woman zooming down the aisles, just pull your cart to the side and let her past. There’s no telling what she’ll do in the name of efficiency!