Girlymama

I totally lost my temper today at Gracie. Sweet little Gracie. I was actually mean to that  adorable face. Why? Because she had pooped in her panties. Again. For the second time in 20 minutes.
I was so angry I could have screamed.  We had just gone through this, we had just talked about this. I had just asked her if she had to go and she said “No.”  What was the matter with this normally intelligent child? Ahhhhhh!!!!  So what do I do? Do I act all patient and clean her up, explaining what we could do better next time? Do I walk away and calm down before I help clean her up? Nope. I totally took my frustration out on her.  I didn’t discipline her, but I wanted to. Instead I used a mother’s most powerful weapon – words.

I felt like such a mean pile of pond scum. There is little in this world that will humble you quicker then a little face full of tears saying, “I’m so sorry, Mommy,” when you know that you unjustly caused those tears.  And there is very little that will humble you faster than confessing your sinful behavior to your children and asking their forgiveness.  And there is very, very little that will affect your heart like your child saying, “I forgive you, Mommy. Don’t cry – I love you.”

This evening, Husband and I were up in our room trying to sort out yet another problem with our ^&@%& computer.  The girls came running upstairs and said, “Mommy, Mommy! We cleaned our room!”
Well, you know how I feel about cleaning, so I was thrilled to say the least. Especially since     their room was a disaster at the moment. So I ran down to their room, ready to exclaim in delight. Which I did since look:

But I was also trying not to giggle because of this:

Today my tags finally, finally arrived in the mail. Which means now… I can start selling my stuff!! I’m getting things all ready and I’m crazy busy, but its really exciting.
Look:

Don’t they look great?? I feel so professional 🙂  For the full effect, here is a full picture of the blanket with the coordinating burp cloths:

I’ll keep you posted as to when the store is up and running!! Let me send out a special dose of love to my amazing Husband who fixed the camera card reader on the computer. I was convinced it was broken and I was going to retake all of the pictures I had spent 2 hours taking for the store and have to use the old camera. But he fixed it!!! I could have done cartwheels. If there was room. And I stretched first.

p.s.a. (public service announcement)
I think the spell check is broken on WordPress, since the last ten posts I have written have come back “no misspellings found.” I find that very suspicious, since I am not a very good speller. Sorry about the spelling, then, if it is.

Now I’m sure that no other moms do this.

How often do you let things slide? Right now, for example, my kids are in their room “taking a nap.” By which I mean singing at the top of their lungs, laughing and doing something that is resulting in the occasional loud “thump” I told them to go to sleep. I told them, “I mean it! You stay in bed or be quiet or you’ll be in trouble!”
But I really don’t have the energy to enforce it right now. I have no desire to enforce what I said, I was just annoyed. I really don’t care that they are not asleep, I’m just happy that they are out of my hair.
I know those parenting books talk about “consistency” and “enforcing your authority” and stuff. But sometimes I just don’t have the energy to deal with things. No permanent damage done, right?

Okay. I was venting before. Grace is actually doing really well. We went cold turkey on diapers and she has been in panties since 8am and she’s only had 2 very minor accidents. Since noon she has been going on her own, when she needs to go.

I’m exhausted though. Ex.HAUSTED. I am so tired of talking about pee pee and poopy and who we know that wears panties. (Like Hannah and Ella and Sarah and Lily and her Aunties and Grandma…) And asking, “Are you dry?!?” And if I see another Cheeto within the next two years it will be too soon, as that became her treat of choice. Yuck.

update: That little monkey went all night without an accident and woke up dry.  Only quirk: She will only go potty when she is by herself. Seriously. She must have privacy and shuts the door. If I’m around she won’t do anything. Again, she is proving to be the opposite of Ellie, who will take any and all audiences!

This is like trying to explain to a brick wall that it needs to go pee pee in the potty.

This kid is an absolute camel. She has been drinking all morning and she finally went pee at 11:45. I’ve had to go four times, but she clearly takes after her father, Camel Sr. Still nothing, despite having sat on the potty approximately 300 times.
I think this is my least favorite parenting thing. I hate potty training. I will enroll any future children in day care when they are ready to potty training and pay someone else to do it. It would totally be worth it.

Tomorrow, Husband and Ellie will be disappearing for the morning. At home will be:
1. Me
2. Gracie
3. the potty chair
4. Several of her favorite beverages (Sprite, pink lemonade)
5. Salty snacks to keep her drinking said beverages (pretzels, Fritos)
6. Several of her favorite treats (Skittles, M&Ms, princess stickers)
7. Every pair of size 2T underwear in this household
8. Every ounce of patience I can muster.

We’ll see how this goes. If you don’t hear from me… well, you’ll know why. Let’s start praying now, shall we?

Click here to get a free sample of some new “gourmet” Folgers coffee. If you don’t drink coffee, I do pity you. Get one and send it to me 😉

Free coffee is good coffee in my book.

Grace, measuring Ellie with a tape measure:

“You are three hours tall.”

I just got back from the doctor and I have tonsillitis. Apparently this is my summer of being sick. Ugh. Back to bed.

Friends took the kiddies to the pool today, since it is sooooo hot here. Ick. Hopefully they will be nice and tried when they get home 🙂