Month: August 2012 (Page 4 of 5)

1. Visit your cousins, which are actually friends. Watch children frolic in glee. 
2. Jeni’s ice cream. 
3. Wine. 
4. Eat $26 worth of pizza that you (well, Brian) paid $10 for. Eat too much of it. At 12:30am. 
5. Go immediately to bed so to act as if your your intestines won’t disagree with the pizza decisions. 
6. Lounge all morning sipping coffee
7. Get into the zoo for free.
8. Watch your children’s expressions the first time they encounter a stingray, elephant and mama lion. Mentally catalog. 
9. Pretend the car ride home never happened. 
10. Find that you have brown rice spaghetti for an easy dinner upon your return home. Realize that red sauce washes easily with a bath.
11. Wine. 
12. Realize that it’s only Friday. 
13. Anticipate more fun at local festivals this weekend. 
14. Live thankfully for such a good day, good trip, good summer and good life. 

Today ranks as a complete Mom Fail and it’s not even time to prepare lunch. I’ve been frustrated with the kids all day because they’re hungry. What do you mean get you a snack? Why do you always need to eat? Or because they’re walking too slow. Come on! Let’s hurry to get around this block, so we can… go… home and do nothing (voice trailing). And the repeating. OH FOR THE LOVE, I don’t want to repeat myself again.  I have Facebook to check and imaginary concerts to dream about attending. 

I even semi-kicked the dog because she was laying in the path of my comfy chair. How dare she. 

The difference? 

Half an hour. 

Yesterday I woke at 6:30, like I almost always do, still tired but decided to get in that bit of Me time that can only be found at dawn. A cup of coffee with some reading and reflection and I’m ready to face the day. 

But this morning I watched that half hour slip by from my pillow. “I deserve to sleep in just a little bit.” And when JJ didn’t get the baby quieted down in ample time? Annoyance. When H Boy just wanted to play with daddy and not get dressed? Annoyance. Going for a walk and disagreeing on who would ride the trike and who would push the baby buggy? I was ready to throw my beloved coffee at the sidewalk. 

For some reason, when I choose to arise in peace I’m more able to give myself fully to my family. A small nugget of time to breathe in the morning air means that the demands of the day don’t seem so… demanding. When I choose to honor myself and my heart with a bit of tranquility to start the day, I don’t expect everyone else to be fitting to my preferences in the hours following. I come to expect interruptions, expect inconveniences and expect frustrations that need not frustrate me if I bear just an ounce of patience. 

But first, I must choose. I must choose peace in my own heart before I can expect my littles to be living it. In so many ways, they manifest the condition of my heart, as if until they’re borrowing my perspective until theirs is fully formed. So by choosing the way to start my day, I’m setting theirs in motion. The way I respond, the way I react, the way I choose to be who I am, sets the rhythm of their melody. 

I must choose my song wisely. 

• Morning reading and reflecting resulted in a blog in draft. Thoughts forthcoming. 
• Pancakes for breakfast (thanks for the recipe, Shannon! Kids devoured them! Best consistency I’ve found so far.)
• All 3 kids dressed and beds made, teeth brushed. They’re starting to catch on to the pattern… 
• Play time outside with bikes and pushing the baby cart while I arranged for 2 more showings today when JJ is working on the rental house
• 2 loads of sheets and towels through the wash. Diapers to soak this evening. 
• Started in on preserving some tomato soup from our bounty. With homemade bone broth that simmered all day yesterday. And basil from the in-law’s garden. And garlic from my garden. This is 100% local soup, I tell you. **Update: I only blew up 2 jars. No idea how. but the rest is safe. So while this may seem like a braggy post, I assure you there are hiccups. 
• Kids played agreeably, for the most part, in the living room with their brooms “paddling their boats”  (couches), managing not to poke out a single eye or put a hole in my wall. I’m sure this will change eventually. 
• Put dinner in progress – Greek Nachos again, so the tzatziki sauce needs to ruminate. Don’t worry, I salted the cukes and drained the yogurt yesterday. Chicken currently thawing. 
• When I realized we had nothing to go with our ham for lunch, I went out to the garden and trimmed off some broccoli, tossed it with some oil and roasted it. 
• Can I share the joy of watching all 3 children devour broccoli? Granted, they mimicked their father by first sticking it up their nose. But it eventually made its way to their mouths and Miss M even asked for seconds 
• After lunch the bigs raced for their rain boots (on this beautiful sunny day) so they could go out back and play on the swing set.
• The baby is playing with the doll house and piling the clean laundry on the floor as we speak.