A Rough Day

March 7, 2013 is a day I would like to erase from my life book of parenting.  It was a rough day to say the very least.

It all started with an early wake up call from Kyleigh.  I don't know why (I would assume teething, but I continue to assume that incorrectly), but Kyleigh has been getting up between 5 and 5:30a on alternate mornings.  The other mornings she gets up at her normal time of 6ish.  So, this morning she decided it was an early morning and we both got out of bed as Ryan was leaving the house.  I did my normal routine of feeding her and reading my Bible.  And in fact, Reagan actually slept in until about 7:45a which is really late!  So, between 5:30a and 8:30a, the day wasn't terrible; early, but not terrible.

While Kyleigh slept, I decided to play PlayDoh with Reagan.  We hadn't pulled it out in awhile and I thought we could have some good one on one mommy time together.  We actually had a really good time; Reagan didn't eat it and he thoroughly enjoyed pulling tiny pieces apart and putting them into the container.  When I told Reagan it was time to put the PlayDoh away, he agreed without a fight.  Success!

And then it went all downhill from there......

It was nearing the time of getting Kyleigh up, so I mentioned to Reagan that we needed to change his clothes and get ready to leave.  I can't even describe the scene that followed.  Somewhere between the kicking, screaming (and waking Kyleigh up...grrr), and hitting me, I managed to get him dressed.  It was an ugly, ugly 30 minutes.  I disciplined him several times within these 30 minutes to no avail.  He wasn't phased in the least.

After finally getting him dressed and getting Kyleigh ready, we headed to Costco.  We had a fairly uneventful trip.  On our way home, however, he decided it would be really fun to kick my seat as well as kick the toys off of Kyleigh's carseat.  More discipline when we get home, I told him.  He knows not to put his feet on the seat.

I'm now thinking I just need to make it to naptime and things will get better after they both sleep.  I put them both down around 1p and they both went to sleep fairly quickly.  Great!  Around 2:15p Kyleigh starts screaming and I know it's over.  She's been having very short afternoon naps the past week and it's driving me crazy!  For once, her screams actually awoke Reagan so both of them were up and it was only 2:30p.  I knew immediately this was not going to be a good afternoon.  Cranky morning + short nap = rough afternoon....I've been there before.

Reagan was so upset when he woke up that I was actually really sad for him.  He couldn't control his crying at all.  I continued to hug/hold him for about 30 minutes and he finally calmed down a bit.  Of course, Kyleigh didn't like the fact that she wasn't being held, so she cried during this whole time too.  Now onto snack time...I ran out of crackers.  Big mistake, mom, big mistake.  I did my best to convince Reagan the snack I was going to give him would be just fine, but he still struggled through it.

Around 3:30p, I decided I needed to get out of the house again or I was going to explode.  So, I headed off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  Oh boy was this a disaster in the store :(  I couldn't get the buckle to work on the seat for Reagan, so I just left it unbuckled.  Reagan took that as "I'm free to stand up and wiggle all over the place."  My own fault, I know, but I just couldn't muster the energy to go back to the front of the store and get a new cart.  Silly, I know, but if you're having one of those days, you know how I felt in that moment.

When I got home around 4:15p, I knew there was only a little bit of time left before Ryan would be home and things would just get better.  I got the phone call at 4:30p from Ryan - right on time.  Except that he called to tell him he was just asked to go answer some questions the State had about assisted living and he doesn't know how long he'll be a work.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!  I just about lost it at that moment.  I know it wasn't Ryan's fault, but I seriously didn't know if I would make it until 7p when the kids would go down to bed.  I seriously wanted to walk out of the house; thankfully, my mind took over and I stayed put.

The next two hours were a blur.  Somewhere between Reagan throwing temper tantrums and throwing his blocks all over the house and Kyleigh screaming in her Jumperoo because she wanted to be held instead of bounce, I managed to make a delicious stir fry dinner.  Just as I was setting the meal on the table, Ryan walked through the door (6:20p) and we were able to have dinner as a family.  Reagan behaved while eating, to which I was extremely thankful.  Ryan helped me put the kids to bed and 7p never felt so good!

Now, after reading this, you might think that it wasn't that bad of a day.  Well, at the beginning of the post, I said I wanted to erase this day.  I think by the Lord's grace, I was able to mentally erase some of the other events that happened yesterday afternoon.  I know there was more disobedience, but I can't remember the circumstances.  I must say this was one of the toughest days I've had in a really long time.

Fast forward 12 hours to this morning when I woke up.  I quickly checked Facebook and saw a post from a friend about tough parenting weeks and being thankful.  Her daughter had just spent the last 4 days in the hospital and she was finally being released to go home.  After reading her post, I got chills down my back and realized that although yesterday wasn't fun, I am thankful that both of my kids are healthy and that I can be home to raise them.  Even during the difficult times.  Holly will probably never know how her post impacted me.