ONE HAPPY FAMILY: May 2008

For all the mom's out there...do you ever wonder why you chose to be a mom? Does it sometimes involve more work, stress, anger, frustration, and sense of failure, than you think it should? It's 10:00 pm and the kids are downstairs screaming. I just cleaned the bathroom floor for the second time today because it was flooded with water. I was talking on the phone with my sister in the room right next to the bathroom. Lincoln was playing in the bathtub, and I could hear him laughing and pouring water out of a cup into, what I assumed, was the bathtub. When I went into check on him, I was sorely disappointed. The FLOOR, not the bathtub, was flooded with the water. And the water was leaking out onto the wood floor. He was laughing, and thought he had just done the funniest thing. I quickly got off the phone, and started cleaning up the mess. As you can imagine, I am not happy at this point, especially since Lincoln has also developed a bad habit of flushing the toilet over and over and over again, making sure that it is full of toilet paper. Guess what happens when you do that. Back to my story. Next, I hear the girls screaming as if the world is coming to an end. Problem: The basement bathroom ceiling is leaking. It took me a minute to figure out that because the upstairs bathroom is directly above the basement bathroom, the water leaked down to the basement. Not sure if there will be any permanent damage. Also, the upstairs bathroom bathtub just had heavy dose of Lysol spray as Lincoln thought it would be too much effort to actually make it to the potty. (this is in addition to pouring the water out onto the floor.) Next on the agenda, Kemilee starts saying, "OOOOOOO! There's poop on my pillow!" Luckily (for lack of a better word), it only turned out to be bird poop this time, but poop, nonetheless. And here I am typing this, not wanting to clean the kitchen. I don't want to change the laundry that has all the towels in my house because I had to use them to mop up the water upstairs & down. I don't want to get up from my chair and fight with the kids about why they can't watch a movie tonight even though they have no school tomorrow, and it's now 10:30 pm. I cringe at the thought of wondering if somewhere between the upstairs & the basement there could be potential mold. I am wondering why I didn't stand in line for 3 hours, fighting off customers at the day after Thanksgiving sale to get one of those wet vacuums for $40. I could really use one at this point in my life.

I am up and down as I type this. It is now 10:45 pm, and the kids are all in bed (except Keslee, as she is always the last one done in the bathroom). Actually, Kemilee just came upstairs to complain about Keslee, so I guess I was wrong on all the kids being in bed.

After Linc was dressed from his eventful bath tonight, I tried to sit down and talk to him about why he flooded the floor again. I said, "Linc, do you think it makes mom happy when you pour water on the floor?" He said, "No. And Heavenly Father and Jesus still love me!" It was kind of a light bulb moment for me. Even when we do things that we know are wrong, and we know there will be consequences, He still loves us. Even though my kids (my 3 year old in particular) really test me sometimes, I will always love them.

Even though things aren't always "peaches and cream" around here, (it's usually more like "poop, mud and toilet water") I love, love, LOVE being at this time in my life. It's now just after 11:00 pm and all the kids are asleep, and now they look sweeter than ever. Yes, even Lincoln. I think Heavenly Father gives us these moments for a very important reason. And now, I remember why I chose to be a mom.

Alright, here we go! I think I have been putting off updating my blog because I have SOOO many pictures and I hate not being able to post them ALL! I have a hard time choosing the "best" ones. We have had some adventures this month (yes, it's been a MONTH since my last post!) First, and FUNNEST, our family went to Rocky Point, Mexico at the begninning of May. Oh my fabulous family vacation! We rented a house right on the beach in Playa Encanto with Tom's business partner & family. They were so good to put up with us, and Jack & Lincoln even came home with a few girlfriends! Lincoln is going through withdrawls without his new friends. It was so much fun, and we hope to be able to go again soon!