The Best Part of my Day

So there is a time in the morning, usually about 7:30 a.m. that is the best time of my day. We have usually been up for at least a half hour and as I lay on the couch under a blanket, Adriana will come up and ask if she can lay with me. She snuggles in and we watch a show. Clyde, the dog, joins us by laying on my legs. We all lay still and silently.

This is my very favorite part of the day. It may only last 15 to 30 minutes, but in that short amount of time, everything is calm and peaceful. The only thing that matters are my babies and all I feel is love. And it is a moment that is all mine.

It is often this time of the day that sometimes carries me through the rest of our crazy days. :)

End of my parental rope

So my last post sounded like sunshine and roses around here. What a difference a few days make.

My daughter is 2 going on 3 at the end of the year and I never imagined that the personality change that has taken place over the last few weeks was possible. Wow. People should really warn you about this. :) She has always beens strong willed and determined. She has her moments and they aren't always pretty. But over the past couple weeks she has turned into a crabby, ticked off, everything mommy asks or says is stupid, screaming, tantrum machine.

I am not sure the exact cause or if I am just lucky and going to have one of those 3 year olds. She has decided to quit napping; which started the constant battles here. So I have given up even trying. If I could get her to lay down she would just sit and sing about how she was not going to sleep. I will give her credit that she didn't try to leave her room. But this weekend I decided the battle to get here there is not worth it for me. So we now have quiet time where she lays on the couch and watches a movie. It is somewhat rest, she is quiet and I have a few moments to myself. Good enough!

So next we have the fact that I have been fighting a cold for going on 2 weeks now. And I think she is fighting it too. That can't help, right?

But I think despite both these things, she is just growing up. Figuring things out. And I guess one thing she already figured out is that mommy is full of crap. She literally battles me on everything. Going to bed. Going potty. Getting dressed. Leaving the house. Going to school. Today it is going to gymnastics, which is her favorite thing to do all week, so I know that it is just defiance.

But that defiance is slowly wearing me down. The past 3 weeks have literally been some of the most exhausting weeks of my life. I have not had one second of happy downtime. It all came to a head with a 30 minute tantrum outside the mall the other day. I almost had to have my husband come get her. People were gathering, as I think some were worried I might smack her. And some probably wondering why I hadn't already. :) I took the high road. No hitting. Just was the mom that decided to just sit and make sure she didn't run into the street. I just let her go. And I think about 25 minutes into it I started crying. Must have been a site. Hopefully no one we know was there but I think they would have ran away. Who wants to know the crazy lady with the kid they cannot control crying in front of Dillards?

So that being said, I am a shell of the parent I was 3 weeks ago. If this is 3, I hope we survive. I guess they say that they never give you more than you can handle, well, guess what? I am about at capacity. A little relief would be nice.