Day 25: And Now I Know

Today I've been taught a lesson or two, and unfortunately most of them I didn't need to be taught. I should have known them anyway simply by being a mom. Oh well. You live you learn.

Lesson 1- Shut the bathroom door. Duh! Who doesn't know this one? Since we have been potty training Jack he has had a major obsession with the bathroom and all things in it. Side note: definitely taking a small break from potty training. While we have had several successful trips, Jack still hasn't realized that he doesn't have to sit on the potty for 2 hours at a time before releasing his load. 2 hours is a long time for me, for Jack, and definitely for Alivia. Once he shows a sign that he understands that he has some control, we'll hit it hard again. Anyway, shut the bathroom door. Today, just after my shower, while I was nursing a very unhappy little girl, I heard Lucy yell "JACK!!! NO!!!! BAD BOY!" Never like to hear that when your tied up. Later I found that Jack had gotten to the roll of toilet paper. No, he didn't throw the whole thing in the potty, he knows better. Instead he dipped it in the sink which Lucy had filled with soapy water, and then he sat of the floor and proceeded to pick it apart piece by piece. It' looked like it had hailed in the bathroom. This disaster could have been avoided if I had just remembered to keep that door closed.

Lesson 2- Crying babies don't always cry themselves to sleep. Alivia had a very rough day today. I felt really bad for her because I don't think she was feeling too hot. Last night at about 5:00 she started crying, and it didn't stop for 24 hours. I mean she did sleep through the night like she does (which means she woke up to eat once, maybe twice, I'm not with it enough to count), but all evening she cried, and picked it right back up this morning. By 10:30 I realized there was nothing I could do to calm her down. She wasn't hungry, she'd already burped, her diaper was clean and dry, she was swaddled, then unswaddled, then bounced, swung, rocked, cuddled, heck, I even sang to her for more than an hour! There was no calming her down. So, I laid her down. I assumed she would tucker herself out, but she just started screaming harder and harder. And that is pretty much a summary of my day. I did get her to fall asleep twice during the day, only to have her wake up within 45 seconds from the moment I laid her down. It was a hard one. But we left her with grandma tonight so we could go to the temple and rumor has it she was great. Hopefully she is feeling better and we can all just enjoy her for who she is tomorrow.

Lesson 3- Now I understand why I had 5 AWESOME years between the ages of 16 and 21. God decided to bless me with unpredictably awesome trips, fun and excitement for those five years because He knew I would never have fun ever again. Ok, at least not for the next 10-15 years. I mean at 16 I found myself in Hawaii, somewhere I never dreamed of going. Then I found myself there again when I was 18. I got accepted to BYU, a dream come true! Found, dated and married Shawn, kind of my own fairytale. Oh, and throw in an incredible cruise with my soon-to-be in-laws, totally didn't see that one coming. Then Lucy came, and that was such a fun time for me. Then we took her to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandad. So fun, so spontaneous, and spontaneousness is so not possibly with multiple children. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE life with 3 kids, it's so rewarding, just in it's own special way. Hey, I've never slept better than I do these days, when Alivia lets me. It's just now I look at things like vacations, and as badly as I want to go on them, I don't see the fun, I see the stress of planning them, trying to figure out what to do with kids. Then the 7 1/2 mountains of laundry that come after a vacation with kids. Oh, and there is that small detail about dipping into their non-existent college fund to go on a vacation. Meh, we'll play beach at the park with a hose.

Lesson 4- Bunk beds. Okay, not really a lesson, but just a big event I wanted to write down. You know your family is getting big when you purchase your first bunk beds. We did that today. Lucy is pretty much hanging off her little toddler bed, and I'm a little concerned about he pulling Jack (who is the size of her) out of his crib every morning. Life will just be much easier when the new beds get here in a week or so. We'll set one up for now, Jack will get the other one in 2 years when Alivia get's the toddler bed. It's all planned for, don't worry. You should see our financial budget for the next 5 years.