Welcome to the fabulous and sometimes insane life
of a working mother who is trying hard not to
let her whole existence be determined by her
cute little munchkins, yet continues to be drawn
in by the adorable and sometimes annoying tiny people!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Sleep Sweet Sleep

Has anyone ever noticed how hard it is to sleep when children are present in your household? I recently commented on a friend's Facebook status that she should sleep all that she could before she had her baby. I wasn't lying. You literally don't really sleep again for.....heck if I know how long. All I know is that any night you go to bed thinking, "Ooooooh I'll not only get to sleep tonight but get to sleep late." Some little munchkin some where is doing the "Heeeee, heeee, heeeee" laughing knowing very well that they will foil all plans of sleep.


It starts before they even leave the womb. The end of your pregnancy is probably the most uncomfortable you could ever be in your life. Not only has your body exploded in all places, but your bladder has been smushed like a lemon and is constantly leaking causing you to pee 10 times a night. Then there is the horrific heartburn and  heavy belly. Not to mention, the little monkey inside your belly that feels like being wide awake and participating in a prenatal gymnastics class while you are trying to sleep. I really think this last trimester is God's way of readying a new mother for what life will be like for the first few months after delivery: Sleepless!


Then you finally get your kids out of the baby stage, out of the eating every few hours time, and out of  not sleeping through the night, and you think, "Yes, now I can sleep!" ....Heeee, heee, heeeee! Did you hear it? The munchkin laughter. They are laughing because now they are potty training and getting up to pee pee in the middle of the night. Something they appear to not be able to do by themselves until the age of 6 or so. Or they might have night mares involving alligators or ponies or wicked old hags. Whatever the reason it will, I promise you, result in you feeling like an infant yourself. Why? Because you will never sleep all the way through the night again.


I am at my parent's house this weekend. Super excited about having someone else be in charge of my children and someone else cooking my food. Also, stupidly, I was super excited about the prospect of having a good night sleep. Alas, I forgot to listen for the "Heeee, heee, heeee" of munchkin laughter. For that is what they were doing through out the night that I thought I would sleep peacefully through. First the oldest, comes and climbs into bed with me where she proceeds to move and cough (hasn't coughed any time previously or any time since waking up) and move and cough and move and cough. Then there comes a cry from munchkin #2's room, "My bwankie is wone!!!!" Have no fear, mommy to the rescue and she finds the blankie....right beside the munchkin's hand. Then the oldest is up checking the time and to see if Papa is up yet. Not happening at 4:30, dear. Then the kid in my womb, who apparently is plotting with the other two using prenatal brain waves, causes me to get up twice to pee. Then the youngest suddenly has to go "poo poo" and needs me to "wipe her booty". Really? Really!


Finally, finally, praise God, Papa awakes and the munchkins descend to the downstairs area. Ahhhh! Sweet sleep. Finally!... "Heee, heee, heee". Did I forget to mention that we are apparently raising a cheerleader with munchkin #2, and she is able to project her voice so that it echoes not only through Mimi and Papa's house, but throughout any house in a 2 mile radius? Sorry neighbors. But hey that is the one disadvantage of having these loving, amazing, and funny kids. You must say good-bye to sleep sweet sleep for at least ..... heck if I know for how long! Let me know if you ever find out!


Check out the previous video post. Here is a man who feels my pain. I love this song!

Pachelbel Bedtime - SWC Films

Friday, October 29, 2010

Life's Too Short

Disclaimer: This is deep.


My small town of Cairo seems to have experienced so many losses in the last few months. There are too many to name all of them, but there were some that really struck close to home. 


First, Jake Elkins, the heart of our State Championship football team. So young. So vivacious. So loving and giving. So very, very tragic. He was snatched from life so early and pointlessly. No one knows why, and no one probably ever will. There are no answers, and there are so many questions. All we know is that his life ended before he ever really got to live, and his death left a community aching and comforting each other in its wake. All of us questioning. All of us hurting. All of us coming together. 


Next Wendell Harrison. I didn't know Wendell, nor do I know his family, but his death was so quick and the people around him loved him so much that it has left an impression on my heart. What really affected me about his death was that I saw him about 10 minutes before his death. I had to run home for something and I cut through the back roads. On my way back, I noticed the men standing in the hole in the middle of the street attending to the gas line. Ten minutes later he was gone. Taken right from the spot where he and his fellow workers stood returning my wave as I passed. So quick. 


Then there was precious Mikiah King. This angel was taken by an impaired driver as her parents were driving    down the road. I don't know all of the details of her death, but I know that her parents were making a trek that I made today with my own children, and she was snatched from their lives in the blink of an eye. The pain her mother and father are feeling is unimaginable to me. I can not even comprehend, and I pray every day and every night that I will never have to experience such utter and complete despair. Why would God choose to take a beautiful child? No one can know his plan, but we can't help but question. 


Finally (at least I pray it is because I don't know how much more our community can take) my friend, Jenni, lost her husband. He got up in the middle of the night to be the good daddy that he was to take care of his precious son, and sometime in the hour and a half left of the night he had a heart attack. Can you imagine? You kiss the love of your life good night and awake to find him gone. They had such a short time together, barely even six years. But they knew how much they loved each other. I think about the ten years I have been with my husband and the times we have gone to bed angry or the times I have been so mad that I have left in anger not even saying I love you.  What if something had happened to him? 


We take too much for granted. Maybe that is why these things happen....to teach us to appreciate those around us. Maybe they happen to help us learn to tell those we love that we love them every day with every chance we get. Maybe they happen so that we will know that no day is guaranteed, and we should live each day as if it is our last. Maybe they happen to keep others from dying in the same way later. Maybe they happen to bring people together, like Jake did for our community. Maybe they happen to bring people to God. Just think about the people who have come to know Jesus through the deaths of those they love. Maybe...


We won't ever know why tragic, heartbreaking events occur. We won't ever know how anyone comes through on the other side of these events....how they are able to go on living. I pray that I never have to find out in my own life. 


All I know is that  I will tell those I love that I love them everyday. I will try to treat the people I see with love and respect, because you never know what they are or could be soon going through. And I know that I will trust my Lord and Savior no matter how much I might question him about Why? 


I do not know his plan, and I never will. I just know that he loves us and commands us to love each other. And I know that we are never promised tomorrow. I know that every day I need to love those around me with this in mind. After all life's too short to let one chance to tell someone you love them pass.