Mommy Moments

Today has been a day of moments to step back and realize...yep, I'm most definitely a mommy. It started at 1:00 am when the precious monkey decided he couldn't sleep and then at 3:45 am when he decided to kick his wall and scream bloody murder and then continued on when I unfolded myself from the pretzel that is required to sleep in his bed with him at the sound of my alarm.

I hurried to get ready so that I would have time to do some dishes before our adventure filled day. We had a new experience today; Drew and I made a joint trip with my friend Ashley and her 2 year old, Jim, to Wal-Mart. Now this may sound like a rather boring outing to many of you and most are probably wondering why we would plan a day around it. However, going to Wal-Mart is at best a 25 minute drive over the mountains. When you add in two 2 year olds who are having a yelling competition in the back seat and one stop to change a poopy diaper plus a 15 minute potty break upon arrival at said destination, it begins to get interesting.

The fun continued as Ashley and I scanned our lists. About that time, both boys started yelling, and shouting requests for snacks, sippy cups, toy cars and needing "to hold you." I should clarify, that this does not mean that they actually want to hold us...they are, in fact, requesting for us to push the carts, read our lists and hold THEM, all at the same time. Anyway, I digress. We quickly realized that our first stop was the gardening center. Once again, I should clarify; despite the fact that between the two of us we have zero knowledge of gardening, Ashley's husband had decided that we should go in search of everything necessary to start a vegetable garden. Yes, yes, I can hear many of you laughing at me from miles away.

By the time we had secured at least enough stuff so that Justin could see that we had made a valiant effort, the cries and begging had escalated to astronomical levels. At that point, I snatched a bag of trail mix off an endcap, ripped it open and filled those little jacket pockets with raisins, almonds, and M&Ms. That taken care of, we made a bee line for the Matchbox car aisle, where thankfully, someone had the intelligence to package individual cars of all shapes and sizes for a mere $0.97 (I cannot tell you how many of those I've bought).

I'll fast forward through the search for grey legging ($3 on clearance) and the stocking up of sippy cups and diapers (why does something our children poop in cost so much?). That brings us to the grocery side. At this point, Jim decides he isn't a fan of the trail mix anymore. So Ashley grabs a package of string cheese (it is actually on her list) and tears it open to give him a stick. Unfortunately, its virtually impossible to give one of these kids something without the other partaking so she tosses me one for Drew. As they munch on their cheese we race through the grocery section, when suddenly they realize that maybe they picked the wrong Matchbox cars (too bad). We get to the end, only for me to realize that I forgot to grab Tupperware, which just so happens to be on the other side of the store. I race off to grab some as Drew yells, "NOOOOooooooo, I have to stay with JIM!!!!!!!!!" I ignore the yells and the stares...We finally arrive with a sigh at the check out.

Afterwards, Ashley and I realize we're starving and so we stop to eat before we get back on the road. As we're wrestling with both boys trying to make them stay in their seats, it suddenly dawns on me, "Ummm, Ashley? They probably aren't hungry...THEY ate all the way through Wal-Mart." No, they weren't hungry but they did want the toys that came with their kids meals. One problem, they were two different toys and one was infinitely cooler than the other. I looked at Ashley and grabbed both toys, marched up to the counter and calmly asked the wide eyed kid at the register if he could give me matching toys. He glanced at the ruckus coming from the corner booth and said he'd be happy to.

After clearing up our corner of destruction, we loaded the boys back in the Durango and hit the road. About 5 minutes later, the toy flying and yelling started. Then Jim managed to unbuckle his harness (lets just say that at that point, we pulled over). On the road again, the yelling and seat kicking continued. Ashley and I turned up some Praise and Worship (really loud), talked over it and completely drowned them out. Jim was asleep within 5 minutes and Drew was in a glassy eyed comatose state.

We were enjoying the quiet and talking about plans to take the boys hiking and to play down at the river this summer when suddenly we stopped. Ashley looked down at her swelling, pregnant belly and the look on my face was as easy to read as Go Dog, Go, "I'm hoping to be pregnant by then!?!?" If we are going to cut it in this mommy world, we are definitely going to have to step up our game. There are only two of them now but there will be three by this summer and by next summer, hopefully four. Finally, we made it home somewhere around 2:00 (we left at 10:00).

At home later this afternoon, I sent Drew to the potty. He came running back in tears. Somehow he managed to drop that brand new Matchbox car into the toilet. I think we all know what I did. I shoved my hand into the toilet, found the bleach and a few minutes later handed that car right back. This mommy life isn't for the birds...I better get busy eating my Wheaties and spending a WHOLE lot of time in prayer. On that note, it sounds like a small flood may be going on in my bathroom....