A little perspective goes a long way.

Am I the only crazy mom out there whos kids are still up at this late hour?(11:42pm)
I for one like this time of night and find that my creativity peaks when most sane people go to bed. Dave is also a night hawk so it's no wonder we struggle to get our kids to bed at a decent hour. I usually try to have them down by 10:00 but sometimes there is no way! Tonight is no exception, a perfect cap to my harrowing, pulling hair out by the fistfull (considering shaving whats left)kind of day. I am exausted!

Ethan is nursing now and finally drifting off and Daddy is reading to Kaitlyn trying to wind her down enough to not jump on the bed. What a day this has been! It started off so badly and refused to get better till later afternoon and went down hill again after supper, both children were very needy and energetic today.

It is now 10 after 12 and both babies are now sleeping, Ethan in his crib and Kaitlyn in our bed. Ahhh, I can finally let my shoulders slump and exhale. These days are trying on Dave too and we get snappy at each other when we don't have enough time together.

Well I managed to get the poop out of the carpet, finally. It had to wait most of the day since I couldn't have the kids around the chemicals, but it is out. That wasn't the only oops today, only the first one. After her little poop, which she informed me of what she had done by running to me with outstretched hands, crying "poop, poop," with it smeared on her precious little finger tips. We cleaned her up and put her in her new 'underwear', which is actually Dora pull-up's (I tricked her into thinking they are big girl underwear) and she ran off to play.

About twenty minutes later she runs up "poop, poop." Again? Yup, I smell it. So off we go to change her 'underwear'. Now I had to pull down the pull-up with a load in it. This was a disaster and she ended up with poo all down her legs and on her feet. Bath time!

The rest of the day seemed almost smooth except for the fact that neither child would nap when I wanted and once Ethan was down for his, Kaitlyn would make some noise and get him going again, then it was a battle to try and calm both down.

I took them outside after lunch to see if they would calm down and it worked for a while. Kaitlyn got a trike last night and played on that for a few minutes then hung off my leg the remainder of our time out there. Then Ethan fussed and needed nursing and of course Kaitlyn fought him on it and wanted to nurse too. Today if seemed all she wanted was to nurse or hang off me, my shoulders actually are really sore.

Thank goodness Dave came home early and helped out in the afternoon. I was beat! There was more to the day, but to sum it up the kids were both in continuous need of attention and were very draining today, I am so tired and need to head to bed.

However there was a moment, the kind that sticks with you and you cherish, the kind that reminds you that it is worth it, the kind that God sends to give you that little bit of encouragement when you think you're about to crack, the kind that makes everything else fade away.

Right after supper Ethan was chillin in Daves arms smiling away at Katie (she stopped by for a few hours) and Kaitlyn disapeard to her room. After a while I decided to go see what she was up to and peeked around the door to her room. She was playing baby, trying to change the diaper on her doll, pretending to nurse, playing peek-a-boo and having a play nap with it. Humming a little and chatting a little pretending to be mommy. So humbling to watch. She made me cry, it was beautiful. She had no idea I was there and she busied herself as she sees me do.

I never realized she paid so much attention, but she notices every detail! It made me put my day back into perspective and see the bigger picture, this day is only like a moment, and every minute counts and I have to make sure that I don't get bogged down in the little things, like poop on the carpet or spilled juice or little puddles and bare bums.

This is a part of exploring their new world and I should try to make it fun and not get upset over the 'spilled milk'. There are much more important things to worry about, we are raising little humans, what a resposibility, and every action of ours is scrutinized by them and then mimicked. They want to be like us, the misserable failures that we are. It is just too much!
I have to remember to be a good example all the time, and not let a little poop ruin my day or cloud my vision. I have 2 wonderful, bright, usually cheerful babes to wake up to. I love them!