Motherhood Monday

Matthew 25:36-40

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me, I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? The King will answer and say to them "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

I haven't felt like the world's greatest mom lately. In fact, I've felt quite inadequate. This bit of scripture was a big wake-up call though. What I do to my children (the least of them) I do to Christ. I do not think He would have appreciated being, well, yelled at this afternoon. I was tired, the children were overtired (thank-you day light savings time) and they were not following The Nite-Nite Rules.
1. Lay down the right way (no head hanging off the bed - half on the floor kinda thing)
2. Be silent (no screaming, no talking, no noises, no singing)
3. No playing (snuggle your stuffed animal, don't make him to the Hokey-Pokey)
4. Go Nite-Nite.

Seems simple enough, but not simple enough for 2 three years olds (or their Mommy. I didn't do such a good job following rule number 3). After having a Mommy Time-Out (going into the kitchen and crying) I returned to the twins room, apologized for yelling and told them why I was so upset. They both apologized for yelling at me and for being mean. I was proud at that moment because their apologizes were completely unsolicited. They both took a couple of deep breaths, as did I, we went over the rules again, and I said night-night to them. They followed the rules exactly, fell asleep on their own, and took a good nap. Mommy and baby brother snuggled together and took a nap as well. Its amazing what a little cry and a good nap can do to improve your day.

As soon as they woke-up, I made sure to thank them for doing such a great job following the rules. We talked about how we could have followed the rules without the screaming, and made plans to do a better job next time. I think, event though I had a bit of a tantrum, that eventually I handled the situation fairly well. We shall see how tomorrow goes!

Motherhood Monday

Some days I question God's sanity. This may sound like a very strange thing to say, but if it does, then you don't have twins. The idea of twins, let alone identical twin boys must have come to the Father on the same day He created the platypus. Just after He created hallucinogenic plants. My identical twin boys are 3 1/2 and so these thoughts cross my mind.

Papa's Tractors

I just found these pictures in a draft post from last April.....
wish I could figure out how to rotate the pics...

"Poor Women"

I am a stay-at-home mom, which means I am a full-time mom, as opposed to a full-time teacher, or a full-time retail cashier (jobs I have previously held). This means that my children are always with me, even when I have to make a quick run to the bank, or pick up a few things at the grocery store. I don't mind. It just takes a little more time to get them out of the car, into the stroller or one of those huge shopping carts with the little car on the front. This also means I may have to circle the parking lot to find said cart, which all takes a little extra time and effort. On days that my back is holding up, I don't mind. People are usually very helpful, and hold open doors for me when needed. I appreciate their help. I don't often appreciate their comments. Most people are polite, and say things like "Wow! Twins! You must have your hands full!" to which I usually respond, "And my heart too!" and then they smile. But other people pull their one lonely child out of my way and utter things like "Poor women! I wouldn't want to be you!" or "Watch out honey! There's two of them!" Yes, yes there are two of them. Two beautiful, happy little boys. A lot of people do comment on how happy they are. Especially the checkers at the grocery store who see the boys about once or twice a week. Half the employees at Target refer to them as 'part of our family'. You see it might take a little extra effort to take them with me to the store, but it takes too much effort to do a marathon trip. So we plan a trip to the park, or a mommies walking group along with our trips to the store. So, my two boys are happy because they go with their mommy everywhere. Its attachment parenting, and it works for us. What helps it work is the base underlying belief that my children are the greatest blessing of my life. I wouldn't trade them for the world. I am so blessed to be in the position to stay-at-home with them. They are blessed to be "dragged all over town". So if you see a women with a smile on her face, and a small horde of children surrounding her, don't assume the smile is one of exhaustion. It is quite possible that it is genuine happiness.