{The following writing and photos were all done yesterday, on April 10}
To say that today was a hard day would be a serious understatement; it ranks right up there in the top five hardest parenting days to date. It looked a little something like this:
One beautiful, yet stubborn as a rock two and half year old who pretty much refused to listen and obey all day long + one hormonal mama (its true what they say- PMS is definitely worse after you have children!) + one extremely messy and disorganized house + one super cute little almost 10 month old with a cold + two loads of laundry + one dog (Molly, who lives upstairs) who is getting pretty needy in her old age + a pantry deeply in need of a trip to the grocery store + not very much sleep last night + no nap for Audrey today + no time alone with the Lord + and no chocolate in the house.
Not a pretty picture. Not really the "ideal" day for me to participate in the Ten on Ten photo project. Not only was it a struggle to find inspiration today, but logistically it was just really, really challenging to photograph anything in my chaotic home- everything was a mess, kids were pulling on me nonstop, etc. etc. etc. Yet as challenging as it was, I am really grateful for this little project today. One, because as crazy hard as my day was, it still gives me a snapshot of my life today, one that I know I will treasure down the road when I miss these sweet, long days home with my children. Second, because taking the time to take a picture every hour helped me find glimpses of beauty within the mess and the chaos, and that made the day, as awful as it was, seem a little bit easier to handle and it made it go by much faster.
So, here's my life, today. Thanks for taking a peek...
9:00 am- Audrey sharing her latest building project with me
10:00 am- Laundry, round one
11:00 am- Audrey's dancing feet, sitting on my lap looking at pictures on my camera
12:00 pm- Hoping for a little quiet and rest while the kids are napping, I pull out some reading and journaling things...alas, Audrey never naps, so mama never got her rest
1:00 pm- As simple as it was, lighting this candle seriously helped my mood a little
2:00 pm- I am dying to make some of these cookies; the recipe has a semi-permanent place on the side of my fridge. 01. Because they are Erik's favorite, 02. They are super yummy, and 03. Because I like how the recipe itself looks- it is from a really old vintage cookie cookbook I have
3:00 pm- Part of Audrey's afternoon snack
4:00 pm- (I couldn't decide which picture I liked the best, so I am posting them both) Mr. Crazy-Hair Elliot, chilling in his high chair eating Cheerios. Such a big boy. Miss Crazy-Hair Audrey showing off her blue markered hands
5:45 pm- Notice the difference in time? Ya, it was a tough hour and a half or so...But in this picture (my unexpected favorite of the day) we were finally on our way into town to see a family and get the Chai from Starbucks I had been looking forward to all day
6:45 pm- Elliot and his Ammah (Erik's mom) cuddling, while he chows on a french fry
P.S. Today has been 100 % better than yesterday. Part of it, I'm sure is a change in my attitude and a whole lot of prayer. The other part I know is because my sweet girl is back to her happy self and we have gotten along all day. Oh, and she actually took a nap today! Yay!