Standing in the Middle ...

...of the living room floor. Both kids in time-out in their beds, crying. I bent over to pick up their mess, including 2 pumpkins and I thought to myself, "why are there pumpkins in the middle of the living room?" I looked around at the mess of toys, papers, crayons - my kids had given the house a good beating while I had been in the office this morning. I was about to feel sooooo mad about it, when I looked in the mirror on our wall and saw my scraggily braid, my ill-fitted shirt, listening to the kids crying, and seeing myself surrounded by the mess - and I just started laughing. I wish I could have taken a picture. It was honestly a "classic" scene in my role of being a mom.

It made me think about how so many young marrieds with no kids or my single pals - they would never be in this situation. It's kind of funny to think about how my reaction as a single person would be if I had walked in on a mom in my exact situation. Maybe I would have laughed. Maybe I would have judged her in a negative way. But all I have to say now is that you don't understand motherhood and all that it entails until you are a mother yourself. And that goes for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I cleaned up quickly, and once the kids stopped crying, I let them out of their rooms. told them to try again and be happy this time/ They both nodded. I warned them that if they could not play happily they would go straight back to their beds.  They went off running ready to play whatever their next game was.

Another moment that might only happen when you have toddlers...or kids of any age, really. I was talking to my pal the other day about how grace will say anything. Sometimes it's the honest truth and other times she is full of crazy stories. Here is a simple example - I'll let you guess whether it's the honest truth or a crazy story.

Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, we all kind of ended up in the bathroom at the same time. James was shaving, leaving a goatee on his chin, Grace was going pee, and I was showing James how my tummy was poking out a lot. I blame it on these new cake balls I made - I cannot stop eating them and they are like FULL of calories. He turned to look at me and I stuck out my tummy as far as I could to make my point even clearer. His response? "Hey rumple-chub-skins." I started laughing really hard and then out of the blue Grace decided to add "Mom, you have hair on your chin."

Sometimes I feel really hott.

And last but not least, while getting in the car, I buckled rocky and told Grace to get buckled. (she can do it all by herself, and I love it!) She was struggling a lot for some reason, trying to reach the buckle under her leg, and in her frustration yelled out:

"EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.I.CANT.DO.THIS!"

haha, that girl really makes me laugh, even when she is losing her patience with her carseat.