Then there are days like today

Some days I'm pretty good at this whole parenting thing then there are days like today.  Some days I wake up and can hear the birds chirping outside, I'm able to meet the needs of everyone in my house and keep smiles on everyone's faces.  Then there are days like today.  Most days I can get three kids out the door and off to school with pressed clothes, Tied shoes and a little skip in their step.  Then there are days like today.  Let me preface this post by saying yesterday was DST (daylight savings time).  Boy is this a dousy of a day- especially for parents!  DST for parents with small children ( I can't speak for those with older children as our oldest is only 7) is in one word: exhausting.  It means the little boy who normally wakes up at 6:30am is now awake at 5:30. Or worse the little boys who wakes up at 5:30 is awake at 4:30! True story.  On the opposite end the child who is ready to go to bed at 6pm, starts getting fussy at 4 pm and is ready for bed by 5pm but can't go to sleep because it's too early.  So by 7 pm you have three children who have been up since 6 am, and in a downward spiral and ready for bed for atleast 2 hours.  This morning pretty much followed suit.  Everyone was exhausted ( including me)... So everyone was a grouch including our oldest who in a matter of about 30 seconds lost pretty much every privelage known to him! This morning was the pits.  I was thankful that I was able to get everyone on the bus, and myself off to work on time.  If I only knew what this evening had in store for me I would have considered this morning a blessing!

Now you may or may not know my husband and I work opposit shifts.  I work days, he works nights which means there's always one of us home with our kids, it's a great system that has worked for our family since we had our oldest.  It also means that a lot of the nighttime activities fall onto me.  Which most nights I am fine with.  Then there are nights like tonight.  So after working all day and rushing to get home to relieve our babysitter I packed up 3 kids and headed off to soccer practice in 45 degree weather.  I remembered the snacks, I made myself a hot chocolate, and even packed some toys for the kids, and I was only running 5 minutes behind schedule. As soon as we pulled up to the soccer fields I let our middle son out ( the one who plays soccer), gathered my bags and folding chair and headed towards the field.  Not a minute after I unfolded my chair my oldest and youngest began fighting over who was going to sit in my chair!  Our youngest won the battle; However immediately after trying to sit in the chair he fell over on top of the chair and gave himself a nice scrape on his face in the now 40 degree weather!  Not a great combination.  You guessed it tears galore!! For atleast a good 10 minutes too.  Now , normally his would have been fine but because of how absolutely cold it was the other parents around me hadn't brought their other children.  So here I am bundled up feeling like a snowman (barely able to move, snot dripping from my nose) and trying to soothe an overly tired 2 year old!  Not fun!  Eventually he stopped when older brother offered to play with him and the wrestling figures they brought with them! Excellent, I could finally sit in my chair, drink my hot chocolate and watch my middle during his practice! I would actually be able to wave back at him when he looked over at me and waved excitedly.  Boy was I wrong! Things pretty much went downhill from there. There were moments of dirt being thrown, dirt being eaten because someone wanted to taste the rocks, and complete and utter breakdowns...by all of us.  Practice could not end soon enough tonight, and I could not have gotten three kids into the car faster.  In fact, I enforced the "quiet rule" on the ride home.  Sometimes Asa. Mom you've got to do what you've got to do. I was very thankful for our local pizza place tonight who cooked our favorite and had it ready for pickup: a large cheese pizza. 

 Some days are top notch and then there are nights like tonight.  Nights where I'm given the remind: I can't control it all.  Nights I hope I look back on  when our house is empty, clean for more than 15 minutes at a time, and our children are raising their own families, and can laugh about these times that seemed so stressful to me!  I still wouldn't trade any of this life for anything in this world, but tonight was definitely rough.