I was amazed at Andrew's ingenuity as he stacked up all our Cd's and scooted his newly constructed tower over to the book shelf so that he could reach the books on the higher shelves and throw them to the floor with great panache. I think it's funny to watch him unset the table for dinner. SORRY. I live in the Midwest now. I meant to say supper. He spent much of the day coming to me, greeting me, holding up his arms, giving me hugs and letting me kiss his cheeks. I love that he still smells so good. I love that he fits nicely in my arms as I do things around the house.When I told Megan it was time to get out of the bath, she answered in a very grown up way saying, "Um, Mom - I don't think that will work." Maybe you had to be there. It sounded like she was 16 or something, but she said it in her cute three year old voice. I enjoy that my walls (which are still empty since the move) are now full of Megan's lovely art work and hundreds of stickers which she systematically placed as high as her little arms could reach.
James came home from school feeling awful. He likes to try to understand the "why" behind everything. As he got progressively worse, he asked, "Mom, is it because of all the boogers I ate?" I had to hide my face so that he couldn't see me laugh. It made me remember that as a parent I have used all my creative energy to stop my kids from learning disgusting habits. When I run out of creative energy, I resort to desperation. The first time I noticed him ... ahem ... consuming his nose stuff, I told him that he better take it easy, or his tummy might start to hurt. OK, so it was kind of a fib. But I just wanted him to be grossed out by it too.
(Sorry, Drew. He asked me not to post that, but it was - sadly - one of the best laughs I've had in a long time.)
I love the gorgeous, sunny January days here. That's something I never saw growing up in the Salt Lake Valley where January = inversion. That was another thing that made me smile yesterday. I love the way the sun reflects off the snow and completely illuminates my house. It is uplifting and energizing. Sometimes I go over to the window and close my eyes to soak up the warmth.
Despite a crazy day, I still managed to pull together a superficially clean house and a full dinner and dessert by 5:30 because the missionaries were due at our home for dinner. We waited ... 6:00 ... 6:30 ... 7:30... no elders. Even though it was slightly irritating, I was actually grateful that I didn't have to do a bunch of dishes at the end of the day and we were able to get the kids to bed early. And now we have more leftovers for us! Yahoo! I am NOT cooking tonight!
That felt better. I'll have to remember to count my blessings more often. Especially during the most challenging times.
7 comments:
good job Natalie. I need to do that more often. It's easy to want to tell everyone (especially husband) how hard your day was but it doesn't make anyone feel better for having heard it. Anyway, focusing on the positive is the best way to go if you possibly can. Great job on the dinner/dessert too... it's hard to do that after a long day!
Natalie, I needed to read this today. What a great reminder. Counting blessings honestly does help the bad things of the day seem a little bit better. I love your entries, and that little Andrew is so darling.
Yay Natalie! I am so happy to see a new post. And you are an inspiration to all. I have definitely been focusing on the negative lately. Maybe I will try to count my blessings too.
Heath
Oh and SO glad you posted the booger story. Too funny!
Oh Man Natalie, I feel like I have so much to reply to that, but lets just get to the point: you are awesome!
The pictures of the house and the sunset is beautiful!
Well, I'm the girl who usually forgets the missionaries. There was one time they showed up just after I'd picked up Culvers (for you non-Midwesterners, that's fast food). I felt horrible. I had nothing to feed them either. Not even eggs to scramble. They made excuses like, "That's okay, we had a huge lunch, we're really not that hungry." Then they showed up at my neighbor's house and even though she wasn't expecting them, she ended up feeding them. I guess we all have those days, huh?
Let me know when you figure out how to stop the booger eating. Last time I tried to tell Matthew it was gross he said, "How do you know? Have you tasted them?" To which I replied, "No." To which he replied, "You should try them! They're good!"
I'm back! That was an awesome post! I definitely need to remember to count my blessings. And look for the funny things throughout the day.
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