Yesterday morning was hard. I felt defeated. I hadn’t showered in I don’t know how many days. Despite having gotten a {relatively} decent nights sleep (3 hours yo!) I was tired. My house is one step below being declared a disaster zone by FEMA. I’m pretty much surviving on my zoloft and cookies.
As I sat like a lump finishing nursing the little one the toddler threw yet another fit about not getting attention. I would set up toys, games, nothing would keep her entertained for more than 5 minutes. She wanted me, and she wanted a playmate and she wanted it NOW. The baby of course wanted me, and me, and only me and could not handle being put down for even one second.
I was frustrated, and exhausted. and defeated. What had I done...could I handle the big family I was sure I wanted? Thankfully everyone took a nap. Long enough for me to shower (!!!) and reset. The toddler however didn’t reset on her nap and woke up as a bear.
I took a deep breath and I said, wait...I have been down this road before. I have had a toddler and two year old and we survived. Mind you I was in a smaller apartment, I could see just about every room, I could easily set up several stations so he could move around and entertain himself for as long as I needed.
So I went to our craft area and looked for something that was not too messy that she could do at our dining room table with little to no supervision. I set her up with paint pens on her old high chair tray. And we all breathed a sigh. We got through the afternoon with art.
It wasn’t tear free, she is two and still gets frustrated. It was however the confidence boost I needed. A reminder that He doesn’t give us more than we can handle and He wouldn’t have given us this blessing if we couldn’t handle it.
So we hold up our chin and we remember, we have walked this path before and we can do it again.
Live
Simply remembering I can do it, that's my Simple Moment, Bigger Picture this week. What's Yours?
Capture
Harness the moment. Write it down, share a picture, a poem or prose. However YOU need to process and remember the moment. All moments big and small.
Share
Link up yours at Bigger Picture Blogs this week.
Encourage
Try to visit the other participants and encourage each other in this journey we call life.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it without help! Tell me what are your favorite relatively mess free (or easy clean up) art supplies or kits? does anyone make those paint with water books we grew up with? With the dots? That you paint with just a wet paintbrush?
5 comments:
Congrats on the arrival of your newest. I remember thinking this very thing with the arrival of both kids. "What have I done?" But you're right. You got through it before and you'll get through it again. There will be joy and tears along the way, but it's a beautiful journey. I wish you many more rejuvenating art projects and showers!
And He walks beside. Moment by moment. Right there. I've been trying to soak in that lately. You're a good mom, Mel.
I'm glad you found a way to get a bit of a reprieve. I'm sure you'll find a way through this. You'll find your rhythm and the kidlets will adapt to the change, and I'm sure there will be plenty of moments when it's more than worth it, when you look around and think, "Yes, this is exactly what I wanted. This is exactly what I worked so hard for." And you'll have it.
Dude. Having a baby and a toddler is exhausting and you NEVER (as you know) EVER recover. Its coming down with a cute flu. They give you chills (in a good way though), you can't sleep (in a bad way though), and your heart feels like it is about to explode at any moment with any sweet crazy thing they do. HUGS! HUGS, MAMA! You can dooooo the big family. You've got "balance" ;) Plus you are super talented. Love ya, muah!
This is so encouraging. Starting this journey of motherhood scares me a bit so reading stories about hard days that work out okay make me think I can probably do it too. Thank you.
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