Seemingly Insurmountable Hurdles

My first hurdles for the day seemed rather easy, at least at first glance. I had to simply wake the cuties up, feed them breakfast, make sure the oldest two got ready in time, make Braden lunch, dress Emma and Colton, load them up in the van, and drop Braden off at school. Seems doable, right? Yeah, I thought so too, but then I began the day.

I think it began early this morning, as I lay in bed with a two week old infant on one side and a soon to be two year old and a four year old on my other side. Did I forget to mention that the soon to be two year old, who we affectionately call Emma, had a raging fever? As I lay there, I began to wonder: first, how did the girls sneak in without me noticing, two, how can I keep Colton away from Emma all day, so he doesn't get sick, and take care of Emma at the same time, and three, Lord, give me strength! After several minutes of bracing myself for the day and listening to Emma whine (because Brooke was in her personal space),
I finally got up to face the day.

First on the list, breakfast. It started out fairly well, I warmed up pancakes from yesterday for Emma and Braden, got cereal for Brooke and I, and then I did it; I, heaven forbid, put sugar in Brooke's cereal and not the highly desired, often requested honey. Well, you would have thought I committed a cardinal sin; she cried, she whined, and she thrashed around as if she was possessed. I thought, 'you can't be serious; the day just started, and she is already throwing a tantrum. I wonder if there is a world record for how many tantrums you have in one day; I bet Brooke could be a contender for that one. Okay, my ears and I have had enough! She is going to hang out in her room, until she is done; I don't get paid enough to listen to this, oh yeah, I don't get paid.' After placing Brooke, along with her sunny disposition (I'm sure the sarcasm is not wasted on you), I returned to the table to pray and eat with my two calmer children (Colton was getting a little more shut eye in his bouncer). Eventually the princess returned to the table, luckily leaving most of her attitude back in her bedroom, now if I could just get her to leave ALL of it behind!

Once breakfast was over, I set the timer to let Brooke and Braden know how much longer they had to get ready. Of course, today was one of the days I had to practice

A LOT of restraint!

Let me explain, I absolutely love this book:

The problem I have though sometimes is the execution; in order for it to really work, you have to let the consequence be the lesson. Nagging and reminding are to be thrown out the window, which I admit is hard for me to do. Often, today being the perfect example, I have to bite my tongue and walk away. Today as I watched Braden and Brooke both lay on the floor in a ball, when they were supposed to be getting ready, I had to use A LOT of restraint! I bit my tongue and repeated in my mind, 'Let the consequence be the lesson, let the consequence be the lesson. When the timer goes off, simply go to the van; let them learn their lesson by having to run to the van half ready. Let the consequence be the lesson, let the consequence be the lesson.'

But I digress; after feeding Colton again, realizing a shower would not be happening until I got home, and throwing on shoes, we all loaded up in the van and began our trip. Our trip consisted of Colton crying for half the way to Braden's school and Emma whining and screaming the whole time as a result of the sun being in her eyes; yes, fun was had by all (again, the sarcasm slips in).

Now we are back at home, and I am ready to take on the next hurdle; I think? First though I need to put my sweet little sick thing in her bed. How cute is she?!

She fell asleep mid snack, as evidenced by the animal cracker still in her hand.

Moments like these give me the strength for the next hurdle; I just need to do some stretching first!

(starting with some knee bends followed by a LONG prayer)