Today was interesting.
That's about as much as I could sum it up.
Let me tell you some things.
The Run Down Of Events
So this morning started great, kids woke up and were chipper. Life was grand. My youngest didn't sleep worth a hell last night, and they were up at the ass crack of dawn this morning, but at least they were happy.
Every Tuesday I have a conference call for Better Birth 360 Acupressure Trainer class. I got my toddler some apple slices, got the toys set out for my baby, got the cartoons on. It was going to be great.
Cue conference call.
Immediately the kids lose it. My toddler is crying to go potty (her little potty is completely accessible however she is DEMANDING to go to the big one - something I must abide by otherwise out of pure spite she WILL pee her pants), my baby is screaming his head off because toys just ain't going to cut it.
After going to the potty, apple slices won't cut it either and a drink is demanded.
Meltdowns have commenced. I can't hear a damned thing on my conference call (thank god for the mute button), I need to figure out something.
So after 20 minutes of pure little people hell, I got my little guy to take his sucky and fall asleep, my toddler is eating dog food with the dogs. Perfect. Peace and quiet. I caught the last 30 minutes of my conference call, completely uninterrupted.
Now that the conference call is over, I went to lie my little guy down in bed. Of course he wakes up the moment I lie him down, and proceeds to fill his pants. (He has a cold currently and has been nursing non-stop, so I KNEW it was going to be bad).
Shit all over his jammies and my sheets. Cool. I can do this.
Meanwhile my toddler got into the soy sauce and dumped a bunch of it under the table with the dogs. I took the bottle away and proceeded to head downstairs to get my baby a cloth diaper and inserts, plus new jammies. In that time, my toddler has gotten a hold of the soy sauce again, and has dumped out most of the bottle on the floor. Again, I take the bloody soy sauce away. While I'm putting on my baby's jammies, she as yet again... gotten a hold of the soy sauce and proceeded to spill the rest on the floor.
She went into her room for a bit so I could make an attempt to lie my little guy back down (he was very grouchy). My toddler then found a red permanent marker and began to doodle all over herself. This time though it wasn't on her face (thankfully). She then put on her nice white jammies, inside out and played in the soy sauce, completely soaking the feet of her jammies black. Needless to say her good jammies are quite wrecked.
I manage to make dinner - chicken noodle soup because I'm about done with today.
Quiet time... Yes.
Both kids went to sleep without much fuss, so I got about a solid 30 minutes to do some facebook group things. Baby starts crying, so I go check up on him.
Except he wasn't in bed. Scared the ever living piss out of me - he had rolled out of our bed and onto the floor onto a pile of laundry. (For once I'm thanking my lucky stars that I was lazy and didn't clean the laundry up). So no injuries, and barely a fuss. Thank God.
Kids are decent for the early evening... till supper time, when my toddler decides to help with supper while I nursed her little brother unbeknownst to me that she was farting around need the stove. I hear a scream, I go whipping into the kitchen.
She tried to help stir the liver in the pan, and got a small burn from the rim of the pan on her elbow, about a millimetre wide and about a couple centimetres long.
Run it under some cold water and throw some arnica/coconut oil on it. Husband comes inside from working on a cat house for the cats (they're currently inside, but will be outside acreage cats very soon).
We managed to all have supper, which was GREAT. Chill! No fuss! Full bellies and happy littles. Bath time followed and with a bunch of crying and a bit of a hectic bedtime, they're both asleep.
And I'm here at the keyboard working on things.
The Positive Side
Besides my kids completely exploding and it being a rough day, there were a few positives I found today to be wonderful.
My toddler loves to explore things. Despite my telling her no and her being a little fart, she loves to explore, grow and learn. She's so curious and loves to draw and color. Secretly as annoying as they are... I haven't washed off her scribbles from the wall because I'm going to miss them when they're gone.
My toddler and I enjoyed a simple bowl of soup together in a clean dining room. I've been quite lazy as of late, so her getting soy sauce everywhere prompted me to actually clean it up a bit. Plus we got to hang out without the littlest one as he was sleeping. She's so full of character and I love her stories.
I got to have baby snuggles. Is there anything better than that?
I had spent although not much - it was a bit of time to myself. I'm currently working on my radio show starting in October, so stay tuned. :) I also got to record my commercial this evening for it - which is starting to sound really good and I'm starting to become more comfortable doing these kinds of things. So challenging myself is quite interesting considering I'm succeeding, something I don't feel I do often.
I get to spend time with my kids every day. While this drives me bonkers sometimes and renders me needing a break, I am quite enjoying being a mom now that I'm beating post partum depression and squishing post partum anxiety for the most part. It's nice to be able to enjoy life again.
It rained today, and I do so love the rain. :)
My kids are currently sleeping and I'm sitting here going over my day, thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow. Maybe take a break from the internet... not likely but we'll see.
The Biggest Lesson I Learned Today
Things are just SO much easier when you can laugh it off.
Seriously.
I probably spent about a solid half of my day in complete hysterics over the crazy nonsense that was happening. It sounds odd considering it was nothing but a gong show (I forgot to mention the cats dug up my plants and shit in them too), but I'll look back on this day and remember how bad it was, but how awesomely bad it was. How my little people were just so incredible even though I would have probably put my head through the wall otherwise.
In fact, laughing has a plethora of positive healthy benefits both physically and mentally, for example:
- Laughter shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and diffuse conflict.
- Laughter stops distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.
- Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
- Laughter lightens anger’s heavy load. Nothing diffuses anger and conflict faster than a shared laugh. Looking at the funny side can put problems into perspective and enable you to move on from confrontations without holding onto bitterness or resentment.
- Laughter draws you closer to others, which can have a profound effect on all aspects of your mental and emotional health.
(You can find the source to health benefits of laughing Here.)
I quite often laugh whenever I find the situation gets too intense for me to be able to handle it with a level head. If I don't laugh, I resort quite quickly to anger. Today being that prime example. If I wasn't laughing my head off, I would have spent more time screaming it off at little people who can't quite comprehend fully why I was losing my cool.
(Although my daughter DID call me a grump today after I sent her to her room for a bit to stop getting into the fridge...)
Final Thoughts
Parenting is DAMNED hard some days, we do our best. And our best is what matters. Our little people are growing and exploring, so while it's hard to keep that in mind some days over their wanting to deliberately disobey you; the lowering of expectations should be at the back of your mind when they're destroying all your things.... An understanding that indeed they have reasons you may not have thought of for their actions is necessary to understand what's going on. Even if they can't put it into words.
And as always, laugh. Any crappy situation can be made a bit better if you just chuckle and shake your head. It helps you cope with the craziness a little bit better.
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