Plan

I'm a planner. After about 15 years of knowing each other, Josh knows to always humor me by listening to my (our) plan is for the day or evening. I'm also probably raising little planners. Both the boys like to know the plan of the day.

Planner C happy about his latest bike ride without training wheels.

There's a lot of good things about being a planner. Planners get things done. Almost always on time, maybe even early.

But it's hard being a planner. Life doesn't always cooperate.

Button pulling out her pigtails 30 seconds after I got them done.

I was in desperate need of a Fall Break. This mama needed a break from the kiddos and have some quality time with the hubs. My mantra for the two weeks leading up to break time was, "Power through! Then you can sleep and relax!"

Never a dull moment with L Child around. Here he is pretending to be Daddy.

Imagine my horror when Josh got sick a couple of a days before my break, but I was hoping he would be his usual Strong-Immune-Self and be well by Friday. I cleaned out my car and packed it up, ready to drive the kids to JJ's.

Found a shank in the backseat of my car. Apparently, I need to start doing pat-downs before the boys get into the car.

It ended up it was some Josh-targeted-virus that lasted about seven days. He would be feeling okay for a bit, and then it would hit him hard again. It wasn't the Fall Break I had planned, but we still got to have some fun together.

And I'm pretty sure I found the best Mexican food in the area. It tasted like Laredo food - my ultimate standard for Mexican food.

I also made a late run into Wally World for some Gatorade for sick Josh. You might think that at 11 PM there would either be nobody shopping or maybe two lanes open. No such luck. One long line of suckers like me too lazy to hold the Gatorade so I just kicked it across the floor while I waited in line.

Not my proudest moment.
Neither was my king size Nutrageous purchase.

Back to work on Monday, and it was a rough week for Button. It's hard being 15 months, but sometimes I think it might be harder being a parent to a 15-month-old.

I came home from a late-night run to find this girlie wide awake and doing her own run around the house. 

Warning: She's not always this cute at 4:45 AM.

After a week of too short of nights, lots of time-outs (for both Button and I), and energy spent with two energized boys ready for their school to start back up, I keep reminding myself that this stage won't last forever. It made me feel better when Mr. Brightside Josh referred to children as "epic plan destroyers." I'm learning that it's okay that we can't always follow a plan. I think that's one reason God gave us children. He's reminding me constantly to let go and trust Him. Adub sent me this devotional thought this past week:

" Even while interacting on that cluttered plain of life, you yearn for a simplified lifestyle. So that your communication with Me can be uninterrupted. But I challenge you to relinquish the fantasy of an uncluttered world. Accept each day just as it comes. And find Me in the midst of it all. Talk with Me about every aspect of your day...Remember your ultimate goal is not to control or fix everything around you. It is to keep communing with Me. A successful day is one in which you have stayed in touch with Me. Even if many things remain undone at the end of the day..."

Yep.

Growing Up Too Fast

It seems like Button is doing things quicker than her brothers did. She's almost got a mouth full of teeth.  She also thinks she should eat at the kid table with a fork.

Or at least hold the fork while she eats.

The roughest age for the boys was around 18 months. It was worse than the terrible two's and the more terrible three's. I think it boiled down to communication skills, or the lack thereof. They knew what they wanted but couldn't tell us via signs or words. I can imagine it's very frustrating.

It got easier once they could talk more and understand why screaming wasn't an acceptable response to not getting your way.

H's behavior lately reminds me of when the boys were 18 months (she's 15 months now). She's learning that she has to sign "please" for things, and Mama (and everybody else) can't carry her around all day. She recently got two molars in, another one cut through in the last couple days, and I'm assuming another one is cutting now. Between the frustration of not being to effectively communicate yet and that awful teething, she was having a rough evening yesterday. Throw in a little dramatic flair, at one point, in response to me telling her that she had to sign please, she threw her little arm across her face and whimpered, much like Scarlett O'Hara:

Despite the fits and screams of frustration, we think she's still pretty cute.

Exciting Night

The other night, Josh took C to his baseball game while I stayed home with the other two. It was a nice evening. L Child and I cleaned the toy room and played kickball with a football (impossible you say? one would think). The three of us also managed to squeeze in a dance party. It made this Mama proud when L really liked some Foster the People and The Avett Brothers. Button enjoyed the fun, too. I guess we didn't have enough excitement because Liam ended the evening slipping on water on the kitchen tile and hitting his head.

Rest, an icepack, Tylenol, and periodic checking of the head bump and his eyes for dilation. 

Thankfully, he was okay, and quite the cutie laying on the couch with ice on his head.

PSA Brought To You By L Child

Liam, Josh, and I  were playing school this morning; Liam was the teacher.
Here are his four safety tips:

1. Be calmer.

2. Eat food.

3. Don't fall off a train.
But if you do, your Mama will catch you.

4. Don't crack your head.
But if you fall, your Mama will catch you.