Green Eyed Monster~Jealousy Rears Its Ugly Head

Yes, I know, I know, you all want to be me. Just admit it! Oh, you know its true. You all wanted to be in my shoes as I listened for an hour, yes an hour, as Emma had a tantrum. This however was not your typical tantrum, this was an all out scream fest. It all began (imagine present day fading away to earlier this afternoon) when I woke the little princess up from her nap. All seemed to be going well; I gave her a big hug and kiss, changed her diaper, and put her socks and shoes on her feet. I never imagined that the simple act of putting on her shoes would wreak so much havoc on all of our lives. As I tied the last shoe, she looked down at her foot, got a distraught look on her face, and then proceeded to throw her body to the floor and began screaming, all out devil cry, kicking, body thrashing screaming! Let me also point out that this was not the ideal timing to have a tantrum, but is it ever?!! It was almost time to go pick up Braden from school, and I still had to change Colton's diaper and feed him. I tried to put out her fires of frustration and attempt to discover the root of the problem, but to no avail. "Emma, do you want me to take your shoes off?" "NO!" (followed by a high pitch scream and more thrashing) "Emma, do you want me to untie your shoes?" "NO!" (followed by another devil cry, more thrashing, and a few kicks for extra measure) I didn't have any more time to dedicate to the woes of my two year old, so I let her get her tantrum on while I went to get Colton ready, hoping the tantrum would dissipate by the time we had to leave. Oh, how ill placed my hopes were! She had indeed not stopped her tantrum, a.k.a. scream fest, by the time we had to leave, in fact, it was escalating in power. So, I did what I had to do; I carried that screaming, kicking, insane child to the van, strapped her in, and went on my merry way. Emma continued her tantrum out of the driveway, out of the neighborhood; to be completely accurate, Emma continued her display of anger, rage, and frustration all the way to Braden's school and all the way back home, occasionally pausing to catch her breath. It was a thing of beauty! She was pulling out all the stops! I being the blog therapy mom that I am, I did the only thing I could, I pulled out my cell phone to catch the rage on video (alas, I can not get it off my phone to share; you have to see the real thing to get an idea of the magnitude of this tantrum). After doing my little stint as director, I then began to laugh. Yes, you read correctly, laugh. We are driving down the road, Emma is screaming, thrashing, kicking, (you get the general idea), Colton is now crying out of fear (he is probably wondering what he got himself into), Braden is in the back trying to diagnose his sister, "Mama, I think she wants her shoes off.", Brooke is in the back telling me that Emma is hurting her ears, and I am in the front chanting in my head, 'Go to your happy place, go to your happy place.' Then the ludicrousness of the situation hits me, and it happens; I begin to giggle uncontrollably, and my two oldest look at me as if I have lost my mind! Maybe I have, but I decided that I could either laugh, cry, or pull over to the side of the road, push Emma out, and tell her to have fun finding a way home; laughter seemed like the best solution! Laughter is the best medicine after all! But I digress; once home, I assumed that the tantrum would end. Assuming things never has helped me, because she in fact, was in no way ready to end her tantrum; it had lessened considerably compared to her performance in the van, but nonetheless, it continued. Hard to imagine sweet Emma having a rage fest? Well, I will help you out; here is a little sampling, keep in mind this is nothing, NOTHING, compared to her delightful show for us in the van (the confined, can't escape without risking life and limb, van).

After coming to the realization that my ears and my mental state were going to continue to be assaulted, I began to look around at my surroundings. I realized that no one would believe me if I told them, so I pulled out my camera to document the event and its cast of characters.

First, we have our first cast member, Emma, our raging, angry, frustrated, strong-willed two year old; whose role is to pull out all the stops in letting her family no she is not happy, but making sure to in no way reveal the source of her angst. She will most likely win an Oscar for her performance!

Next, we have our next cast member, Braden. Braden is playing the role of sweet big brother, kindly holding his little brother for his mama, trying futilely to calm him down. He was an integral part of our supporting cast.

Following next in our lineup is our sweet, 7 week old, precious Colton who did a superb job of playing a terrified baby, frightened by his older sister's antics.

Playing a smaller, yet important, role is Brooke; she did an excellent job of playing an aggravated and disgusted sister, constantly pleading with her sister to, "Stop that!", and "Be quiet!"
And now, for the one that without, this performance could not have been possible, the mother of them all,

ME!

(Like how I slipped in a non pregnancy weight pic; thought you would like that! Hey, I will be that weight again; it is just going to take me several more months!)

I am currently playing the role of a lifetime, MOM! As a mom, I am often stretched to my limits, pushed to the brink of insanity, and asked to deal with insurmountable obstacles, like today!

Today required pulling out all the stops, having to pull strength from the depths of my soul to deal with this:

Well, as I continued to snap pictures of the chaos and bedlam, it hit me again, the giggles! Hey, everyone copes in their own way; some people cry, some scream, some go running like a wild banshee out of their home (been tempted to do that on a number of occasions), and I giggle! Rich usually looks at Emma, mid tantrum, and says,

"She has rage issues."

YA THINK?!!!!!!

Getting back to the story, finally Emma calmed down; I quickly used the opportunity to scoop her up, wrap my arms around her, kiss her little cheeks, and wipe her tears away. Brooke ran and got her now quiet sister a banana; Emma ate her banana, and all was right again in the Maseda household! We never did find out what started the tantrum, and I don't think we ever will!

So again I say,

Yes, I know, I know, you all want to be me. Just admit it! Oh, you know its true!

Who wouldn't want to be part of an infamous Emma scream fest?!!!!

I'm living the dream baby,

LIVING THE DREAM!!!!!!!!!!