I'm Going to Tell my Daughters they are Beautiful Every Single Day.

I've been thinking about this for a while now.
I've read a few articles that are titled things like "What you should say to your daughter instead of you're beautiful" or "Why I don't tell my daughters they are beautiful." And I think it's so sad.
Once upon a time (this means that I can't remember exactly where and who this story is about) I was with a group of people and they started talking about how they were shopping and found a shirt that said Beautiful Like Mommy. (take note, they also found a shirt that said Handsome like Daddy but they didn't care about that one.) They were appalled. They asked to speak to a manager so they could complain and eventually organized a petition that they sent to this store's headquarters and had all the Beautiful like Mommy shirt taken off the shelves, (once again, keep in mind the handsome like dad ones were still proudly displayed) The woman kept talking about how proud she was that she fought this injustice for her girls because she didn't want them to think that they were beautiful like mommy. Her daughters were smart and funny and confident, not beautiful. Now, I know what she meant. And kudos for her for fighting for what she believes in. I commend that. I typically don't. If the shirt bugged me, I wouldn't have bought it but that's the extent of my activism.
But here is what gets me. Why is beautiful suddenly the antithesis of intelligence? If someone is beautiful, does that mean that there is no way they can have anything else going for them? There was a kid in high school and me and my friend used to say that it wasn't fair that God gave with both hands. She was attractive. And smart. And funny. And athletic. I feel like that flies right in the face of this idea. There were lots of people like that. Girls and guys.
Sometimes when I'm out with Natalie, I'll tell her she is beautiful and other moms will glare at me. Uhm, hi, excuse me but my daughter can be told she is beautiful. That really isn't your business. Me telling her she is beautiful doesn't mean she is a dunce. I tell her she is smart and funny just as often as cute. I think it's nice when people tell me how cute she is. She is cute. Natalie is 17 different kinds of attractive. Why can't I compliment that? If I tell her she is smart, that's great. But you know what, if Sue Grocery tells Natalie how smart she is at the store,what does that mean? Uhm nothing. She doesn't know Natalie, she is entirely unaware of how smart she is. That is a completely empty compliment. Thanks for trying, I appreciate the thought but how is an empty compliment better than telling her she is beautiful? Telling her she is beautiful will help her to grow in confidence in that area of her life. Just like if I tell her she is funny, she will be funny because she thinks she is funny. Same goes for beautiful. I just don't understand at all why suddenly it contradicts each other.
When I was growing up, I was constantly complimented on how funny and smart I am. Thanks world, that's great. But you know what, I've never thought I was beautiful. Why you ask? Because people didn't tell me. Once in a while I would get oh you look just like your mom. Or you look just like Shelly and I have spent my entire life hearing how beautiful they are. I would also get you are a beautiful daughter of God. Which, maybe this is wrong, but I always took that to mean the same sort of thing as "sweet spirit."
I am so glad that I don't doubt my intelligence or my humor. I think I am dang funny. I make people laugh all the time. Honestly, it's probably my favorite thing about myself. And I am beyond proud that my kids have inherited a wonderful combination of mine and Jake's sense of humor. I am glad that I am smart. I know it. I am proud of it. I might not be Mensa material but I am able to teach my kids things and I can understand and comprehend things. I can keep up in conversations. I am going to teach these things about themselves as well. But you better  believe that every single day of their lives, they are going to hear how beautiful/handsome they are. It matters too. It's not the most important thing but it matters. And every time they hear it, they are just going to take it at face value. It's not going to mean they are stupid. It is in no way going to negate their intelligence. If the world wants to fight a battle, that in my opinion is asinine, do it, just keep me and my kids out of it. It's just going to mean that in addition to all the other wonderful characteristics they have, they are nice to look at too.

Thanks for reading.

They are saying Batman. Hence the open mouths haha

My First Favorite things about (insert person here) Blog

I'm going to start a little blog series. As often as I think about it/have the time, I am going to do a blog tribute to someone. Anyone. Jake, my dad, my brothers, my sister,  my neighbors, my in laws, my grandmas. Whoever. Some will be short. Some will be long.

I worry about how mean the world is getting. It devastates me to think that my kids are going to grow up in a time where people can say and do whatever they want under the guise of Anonymous782 on forums or even publicly on facebook but think it's okay because it's behind a computer screen. It's not okay. I am going to teach my kids to be nice. If it is the last thing I do, my kids will be known as nice people. And I am going to start by setting an example. I hope you enjoy these. :D

Jake. 

I like Jake.
He is a really good guy. For reals. So good.
I like to talk about him. I like to share nice things about him.
It's possible that there is nothing sadder to me than a woman/man that says mean or even slightly off putting things about their spouses.
I get it. Marriage is tough. Spending so much time with any one person is rough, man. But, wouldn't you be so sad if you heard your spouse saying some of the mean things you say about them about you? I would be. And truthfully, I rarely, if ever say anything bad about Jake.
Not because I'm so evolved that I don't gossip (because I do, I complain a lot too. I'm working on it. Growth is tough), but because in my opinion, there really isn't anything bad to say about him. There are probably, off the top of my head, only two things that he does that really bug me (and one of them is unbearably stupid haha). I'd say that's pretty awesome.
I have a friend who tells me often that she loves how I always say such nice things about Jake. I like it. But honestly, I don't even really notice that I do it. Sometimes I worry that people might think I'm bragging and maybe technically I am but I don't mean it that way at all. I just think it's nice to be nice.
You know that saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?
I like the flip of that, "if you have something nice to say, say it all."
So! here is my favorite things about Jake blog. (in no particular order because it changes from day to day.

1. He has a beard. Just for me. Truthfully, he doesn't like it that much. He likes not having to shave but that's it. I, however, love it! And he keeps it just for me. Isn't that nice?

2. He is kind. To everyone. Always. Jake is probably the most genuinely nice person I know. He's reserved but he treats people with respect. Always. (props to his parents for teaching him treat people well)  He never gets irritated with other drivers, kids, people, anyone. I asked him once if there was ever anyone in his life that he didn't like. He thought about it for a while and answered with "There was a kid on my wrestling team in high school that ran really funny. That kind of bugged me." Yeah guys, that's it. And even if that's not really it, he doesn't remember anyone bugging him! I think that's pretty amazing.

3. You can wake him up anytime and he doesn't mind. At all. For real. This is actually my very favorite thing about Jake. I know that sounds silly but it means so much to me. I can wake him up about anything. Anytime. He could literally have just fallen asleep 3 minutes ago and I can wake him up and he's fine with it. He doesn't get annoyed. In the five years, we've been married I have never known him to be annoyed when he woke up. Never. Read it again folks- never. In the five years we've been married, I'm pretty sure I've been annoyed every time I get woken up. (again, working on it. Growth is tough.) I can wake him up to change the sheets on Mikey's bed. Change a diaper. Make a bottle. Get out of bed and bring me the baby so I can nurse without having to get up because I'm a wimp about the cold. Just because I want to talk. It's a pretty great situation, team.

4. He laughs at jokes. All jokes. Even if they aren't funny or has heard them before. It's nice. It makes people feel good.

5. He wears BYU clothes on all football and basketball game days.  Jake doesn't care about doing that. I do. I like it. No, correction: I LOVE it! I bleed blue and white in a big way. And Jake plays along. (this is just one example of the many things he does just because he loves me, or his kids, or his parents, or anyone)

6. He is probably my number 1 biggest fan. (well maybe not more than my grandmas. They are pretty supportive too. <3) Jake is that guy that is always telling me how good dinner is, how good the most recent thing I made looks (even when it really doesn't.) and what is even better, he means it. He really thinks that I am amazing. That's a pretty good situation to be in too.

7. He has a terrible memory for people. Okay, I know this one sounds strange but it's pretty amazing to watch Jake interact with people when I know he doesn't remember who they are. People can't really tell that he doesn't remember them. And I think it's because he is kind. Regardless of who they are, he treats them well and as if they were best friends when they were 7 and haven't seen each other in 20 some years. I like it.

8. He is dedicated. Jake doesn't do things half way. He might do it slowly but he doesn't stop til it's done. I'm jealous- I'm a quitter.

9. He is his kids favorite person on the planet. Enough said.

10. He has 4 sisters and doesn't bully them. I have four brothers. And they are great. But there have been times in my life where I've wondered what it would be like to have four really kind brothers. (no offense)  I can't imagine that Jake's sisters have ever thought that about Jake.

There really is so much more that I love about this guy. But this is enough. I know some of these seem insignificant (like #5) but I think it's the little things that make life magical.

Thanks for reading!

Summer Goals

Well this summer I decided to set summer goals so I didn't just waste it away.
Goal #1: potty train Adam. Yeah, I've pretty much given up on this. He hates it. Actually hates it. He screams, kicks, yells no over and over every time I try to our him on the toilet. You know what's nut so cool? A thirty five plus pound baby kicking a pregnant belly. Yeah, not so good. Also he won't tell us when he has to pee. He tells us after but not in tube to sit on the toilet. Uncool.  I'm debating on trying to train Natalie so I can have only two kids in diapers come September but who knows.

Goal#2: mop my kitchen. Okay don't judge but I suck at mopping. I spot mop but that's it. By the time the kitchen is clean enough to mop, I can't do it.  Literally can not. I'm too tired. But! Today I mopped. My friend Heather mentioned to me that she uses a steam mop so I bought one and it's great! Clean kitchen floor, check.

Goal #3: teach Adam his letters. So far it's going okay. He can sing the alphabet song but he is actually the most stubborn person I've ever met in my entire life. You cannot convince this kid to do something he doesn't want to do. Like practice his letters. Or sing the song. He does know A, B, C, D, I, L, M, X, and Z. Not bad I think.

Goal #4: teach Mikey the first four articles of faith. In preschool he learned the pledge of allegiance and I was listening to him recite it and I thought about how I was working with my then primary class to learn the articles of faith and I realized there is no reason Mikey couldn't learn those too. So we started a month ago and he knows 1, 2, part of 3, and part of 7. Adam also knows the first one. :) I'm very proud.

Those are my goals. And now here are some pictures, not related to my goals at all. Just because I like my kids and pictures.

Adam's ER Adventure

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch, enjoying a break before I started the evening grind and I heard a terrible scream. It's amazing how fast that mom adrenaline kicks in man. I ran up the stairs and saw Adam sitting on the floor next to a chair with his back to me. When I first heard the scream I thought he had got his hand stuck in Jake's desk because there is a tiny gap just the perfect size for a little toddler hand to barely fit in and I'm pretty constantly worried about that but when I saw him on the floor, I calmed down for a second. Until I saw how badly it was stuck in the chair. I pulled it out of the chair and the tip of his finger (maybe a little more than half way to his first knuckle) flopped over and the blood started gushing. Gushing guys. For reals. I grabbed the tip, straightened it out and just held it while I started to freak out. Some people can stay calm in this kind of situation, ie Jake, but not this girl. I was looking around trying to find something to cover his hand with but since I was washing our bedding there wasn't even a blanket in our room. I went through a series of thoughts/plans on how we could get Jake home fast to help me deal with this and then I realized that *I* needed to do this. (Seriously not a calm person guys. Plus Adam was crying and we were both covered in blood. Not so good.) I grabbed Adam, ran downstairs, grabbed a bunch of napkins and called my neighbor. (Thank you so much to the Miller's for helping out, I don't think I could've done the ER with all the littles) Because she is awesome, Tiffany walked over and took Natalie and Mikey back to her house and then called Jake for me (because I'm not so good with the talking on the phone and driving) As I was driving I thought to myself, do I go to the ER or can I use the instacare clinic? We don't really take our kids to the doctor more often than for immunizations so I wasn't sure what the instacare could do. So what's a girl to do? I called my dad. I knew Jake would tell me to just go to the clinic because I knew that there was no way he would believe how bad the cut was. My dad told me to go to the clinic and if it was too much for them, go to the ER. Uhm, duh Meredith. I could've figured that out if I could've just calmed down. Because at this point I was crying and shaking. Shaking for two reasons- one the adrenaline and two, all I had eaten by this point in the day was my morning cereal and a Graham cracker Natalie shoved in my mouth. Adam was still freaking out in the back saying over and over again between cries "Mama, I hurt my finger. It's hurts." I realized my freaking out was only adding to his so I took a few deep breaths and started singing him his favorite songs. No joke, once I calmed down he stopped crying. Like within seconds. We got to the clinic, still all covered in blood, Adam holding a red soaked napkin on his finger, both with tear streaked faces and I'm sure it looked so dramatic. The receptionists all jumped up, got wet ones to clean us up, stickers for Adam and called a nurse out front to look at it and tell us if we needed to go to the ER. This is when I really realized that Jake not believing how bad it was was in fact the rule, not the exception. Including me. The nurse took off the napkin and all the receptionists and the two nurses were all like oh wow it *really is* bad. And I looked at it again and saw how gross it was and that the finger was being held on by a skin flap. I was suddenly so amazed by Adam. He was sitting there, not even really crying, just watching the nurses. They all commented on how tough he was. Jake and I have always thought our kids were pretty tough, especially Adam but I always assumed it was just that irrational parental pride you know. "I made you and love you so you're the best/cutest/smartest/toughest/etc. ever" but after yesterday, my belief that Adam is tougher than average has been validated.
Anyways, we met up with Jake, who is perfectly calm and I can just tell that he thinks I'm overreacting because I do that. I'm seriously such a spaz about the kids in pain because I have the pain tolerance of... something that has a very low tolerance. I cry when Natalie steps on my toe haha. It shouldn't even be called a tolerance, it's an insult to the word really. But luckily, the kids seem to have Jake's tolerance not mine. We got to the ER, they check us in, all the while telling us how amazing it is that Adam isn't crying. Really Adam thought the quick bandaging the nurse at the clinic put on was so cool and wanted to show everyone. Everyone kept being like oh no, did you hurt your finger and Adam just gave them a blank stare because obviously he cared more about the red tape and gauze then the gushing wound. The nurse opened the bandage and was like oh wow, that's bad and Jake was shocked. He looked at me and was like "baby I totally thought you were exaggerating. That's really bad." Yeah I know. It was terrifying. They started calling it a near amputation which I didn't love and were talking about tendon damage, broken bones, and stitches. I was so devastated for my little guy. And because I hadn't eaten and am pregnant, it made me a little faint so I couldn't even hold him while they worked. (The nurse wouldn't let me. She was like we don't want anything happening to you so just sit over here, we'll take good care of him) Jake did it which was great but I wish I could've been there, cuddling my boy. I realize that's more about me than Adam though so it's okay. He knew I was there which counts I think. The doctor came in and looked at it and told us they were going to freeze it, xray it and then stitch it up. He was going to lose his fingernail but that would grow back in a few months. So it started. Adam hated the shot to freeze his finger but after it took he was back to his energetic, happy self. He wanted to get up, run around, play with his finger, you know, be a two year old boy. The xray showed a tuft fracture which is apparently pretty insignificant. It was just the tip of his bone broke off and there is nothing to be done about it, it just corrects itself once they stitch the finger back on. So they soaked it for like 10 minutes, put a little turniquet (how do you down that word!?) on it, took his fingernail off, and stitched it up. And Adam *watched*. The entire time. I think he actually liked to watch it. I didn't watch but Jake said it was making him a little nauseous, apparently it was really nasty. The doctor told us about how they normally need someone to hold the kid, sometimes even sedate them so it was amazing that Adam just chilled there. He didn't pull away once. Someone even said he was best pediatric patient he'd ever seen. We're very proud haha. So the tech bandaged it up for us and we left. We went back to the clinic to pick up Jake's car and I noticed that Adam had pulled the dressing off his finger. So we went into the clinic and they redressed it for us because they put a special kind of dressing on first, zeroform or something like that and I wasn't sure if it'd be okay to not have that. The nurse was awesome and covered his finger and wrist with coban and then put another bandage on top of that so if he does try to take it off again, or rather when he tries to take it off again, I'll have a better chance of catching him time.
We have to leave the bandage on for 5 days and in 10 days we go get the stitches out. As for now, we just give him Tylenol and ibuprofen as often as we can to try and fight the pain, which so far is a losing battle (note, I'm writing this at 6 in the morning, we normally sleep till at least 8 but Adam woke up needing medicine)
Once again,  thank you so much to Tiffany and Ty for taking our kids, it was so great to not worry about them in the ER with us for those couple of hours. Adam is a trooper and honestly, probably handled the whole thing better than his mom. :)

Thanks for reading!

An update and announcement.

Well for some reason, I can't get pictures to upload but that's okay. I'll just talk... or type I suppose.
Just a quick update!
Let's see, we went to Disneyland which was amazing. Honestly, it was so much better than I thought it was going to be. The kids loved it. Well Mikey and Natalie loved it. Adam mostly just liked it. But he got to ride a train and so I think it made his life. Plus he met Mickey Mouse and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates so that was cool. When I can get the pictures to work, I'll post a bunch of them.
Jake is still working in Alpine and really enjoys it. He is also in the Young Men's presidency (an organization in our church for the boys age 12-18) and he loves it. I struggle with it because I'm just about the neediest wife ever and it's time consuming but I'm so glad that he gets to do something he loves. This week he is at scout camp and so between the two nights he'll spend up there and work, I won't get to see him much but he loves camping- although honestly I'm not sure he knows what camping on the mainland is really like but after this week he will.
I'm in my third trimester and getting more and more nervous every day. Four kids- sounds scary to me. But I'm excited still. There isn't a whole lot more to say about me. I'm not super sick like with previous pregnancies but still a little sick. Plus I'm exhausted. Without a doubt the most tired I've ever been. It's uncool because I love sleep and I am a terrible tired person.
Mikey is starting preschool in August and he's pretty excited. He is also going to start speech therapy so hopefully he'll enjoy those things. He is obsessed with Power Rangers, dinosaurs, and Octonauts. Every time I call him, he comes up to me and says Reporting for duty, Captain and salutes me. It's cute. He is turning 4 in a few months and wants a dinosaur birthday party. So I'm slowly working on that because I'll be 36 weeks pregnant in his birthday so I need to get on that. But my absolute favorite thing he does is whenever he gets hurt he tells me he's okay because Jesus made his body so it can heal. It makes me so happy. I just love the gospel and am so grateful that his love is starting young.
Adam is just a handful. He talks so much now and it's so crazy. Every day when Jake gets home from work, Adam says Dada what are you doing here? But my favorite word he says is color. It might be cutest thing I've ever heard. Literally. Adam is also in the process of being potty trained or as my dad says "parent trained." He won't tell me when he needs to go but he'll pee in the toilet and we've have 2 whole days without any accidents. So it's progress. I just need to not have three littles in diapers. After Natalie was born, I'm pretty sure all I did was nurse and change diapers. It killed me and I'm not doing that again. (Hopefully)
Natalie is just a doll. She is turning into quite the little diva though. She is such a girlie girl and Jake and I are constantly amazed by it. I'll get her dressed and then she'll go and find a dress to wear. She also will bring me headbands and hair elastics so I can do her hair but it doesn't stay in very well. She's a little crazy. But really exciting is that we just enrolled her in dance class! I didn't know they did class so young but I found a woman who has a studio in her house about 10 blocks from me. We are going to try it for the summer and if she likes it we'll keep her in until May. :) I'm so excited for it and Jake is being a good sport.
Now for our growing addition. Our baby is a girl! We are planning on naming her Haylee Jill Kaleimana'o'i'o. I'm having a hard time mastering the middle name but I have time to work on it. I can say it right most of the time but I don't always spell it correctly. So I hope I got it right. We really love the name Haylee and almost used it with Natalie but it didn't feel right. I wanted to name a baby after my mom hence her middle name of Jill and her Hawaiian name is after Jake's sister Hannah. We couldn't come up with any ideas for her middle name and I was texting with Shelly and she asked what Hannah's middle name meant. I texted Hannah and she told us it meant precious child of God and that it is a great name for a little girl. I looked at Jake and we were both like it's perfect. And so there is how we picked her name. So thank you to Shelly and Hannah for helping out with that.
I think that's all for now. :) next time I'll post some pictures so everyone can see how cute out little family is. :)
Thanks for reading!

Busy Birthdays

(okay this post is like almost three months late because my internet sucks and everytime I tried to upload pictures it crapped out. my bad. Enjoy anyways!)
Oh have these last few months been busy or what! Canadian Thanksgiving, then my birthday, then Halloween, American Thanksgiving, Christmas, Adam's Birthday, New Years, Natalie's Birthday. Whew. I am so glad that I don't have another birthday celebration to plan until June. (Yay for Jake)

So! I am finally going to share Adam and Natalie's birthday festivities with the world! World, are you excited? You should be because they were awesome! (next time maybe I'll blog about Christmas. Stay tuned. But at the same time, I wouldn't hold my breath.)

Adam turned 2! I can't believe it. And yet, I can't believe that that chunky little dude is only 2. It's conflicting. On Adam's actual birthday we had some cake and presents and we ate hot dogs because I don't think he loves anything as much as hot dogs. For real. It's no wonder he's the size of a small truck haha. I also made him a football cake and while it was delicious, I am not sure that the frosting was worth it.

Adam loves football. Seriously. L-O-V-E-S loves it. So naturally, we did a football birthday party for him! I was basically working on the decorations from December 26 until his party, which was on the 3rd of January. It doesn't look like a ton of decorations but it took forever. It would that the season wore me out and it took everything I had to do the party, even as slowly as I did it.

We gave each of the kids monopoly money and they had to "buy" their food. Well some of it. The popcorn, fruit cups, nachos, drinks and cupcakes were for sale. The other food you just got to eat.

I love these cupcakes so much. That are pretty much adorable.

We also had hot dogs, jello cups, french fries and sliders. Jake put the concession sign up for me and I made a comment about how I would've done it differently but it was still good and Jake was like Oh you just don't have my artistic vision. Haha

The Happy Birthday banner and some of his presents! (The banner is still up because I am too lazy to bring a chair into the living room to take it down. It's okay though, I think Adam loves it)

Jake told me that I should just do it all BYU football themed but I couldn't. I wanted to but I  decided that it might be nice to do a generic party. Plus, green, brown, and white looks nice. And it's way cheaper. But notice the wall color and the BYU picture on the wall. We love BYU over here. Adam and Mikey have started to say Go Cougars with out any prompting. So proud.

I made a few little games but mostly the kids just ate and climbed on the elliptical. It worked out.

We had a great turn out but I didn't get pictures of the littles because, well, I wanted to eat and visit. But I think everyone had a great time and I know that Adam loved it!

Now, on to Natalie's party. Although what is a word for an event that party just doesn't do justice to. I know that it wasn't massive as Logan standards go but it was big for here. We had about 100 people come and it was lovely. Jake's dad flew in from Hawaii and cooked for everyone and Hannah, Eliza and Tiere (is that how you spell her name?) performed at the party and we had decorations and music and it was great. Natalie definitely didn't make a full round and a lot of people mentioned to me that they didn't get to see her at the party and can you believe this!? I was so busy that I didn't even get a picture of her at the party. It was a completely nuts day and as much as I liked it, I am so glad it's over. The party was supposed to start at 5 and we went to start setting up at 1. I had all the decorations planned out to use long tables and what do you know, all there were were rounds. So my lovely sister in law ran to the store for us (which takes a long time because we live a good amount of time from it) to get round table cloths and then we didn't have the correct cords for the music and yeah, it was stressful. I also ran out of time decorating the cupcakes and I ran home to change at about 5:10. Yeah, you read it right. The party started at 5 and I didn't even get dressed for it until 5:10. I was stressed out man.

Another sad note, I finally had calmed down enough to remember to take pictures and everyone started cleaning up already! So the pictures leave something to be desired but here they are none the less.

We had a fondant flower making party. I wish I would've got a better picture of the cupcakes but they turned out really cute

Hauoli la hanau (happy Birthday in Hawaiian) We also had a Who does she look the most like with pictures of Jake, Mikey, Adam and me at one year old and  Natalie through the year with pictures from each month of her life.

I know I did these so it sounds kind of vain but I am truly obsessed with the decorations I made. It took forever but it looked so cute that it was worth it

These are the centerpieces after they got moved from the center of the tables haha

Thanks for reading!

A Blogging Life

I have this friend who writes a blog and I like it. It's a good blog. She's a good writer, she has a way with words that I'm jealous of. But sometimes, I have to make the difficult decision to not read her blog. Some days, it makes me feel bad. It's not her fault, it's all me. But guys, for real, her blog makes it sound like her life is perfect. Her house is beautiful, her kids seem like the ideal, and she just loves her life. She negotiates through the daily grind unlike anyone I've ever met. She constantly talks about how much she loves being a wife and mom. She is always eating incredibly healthy and she takes pictures of her kids playing in such clean spaces. And you know what, that is what I want. She is amazing and I admire her.
I want the motivation to eat healthy but guess what, I love me some tootsie rolls and potato chips. And you better believe after cleaning up that seventeenth half eaten snack that I had to prepare just so they can throw it on the floor and ask for something different, I'mma treat myself. When I take pictures of my kids I frame the shot so there is minimal evidence of the huge mess surrounding them. I suck at keeping my house clean. I've said it once and I'll say it again, if I could pick any talent, it would be to be able to keep my house clean. While my friend seems to thrive on the daily grind, there are some days where I think "if I have another day life this one. I'm going to stop trying. Tomorrow I will do nothing and it will end the same." Some days I just wish my kids came pre parented and my role was an occasional life lesson. (Is it okay to say that? I don't even know) and oh geez. Kids man. Kids are tough. I love them. There is absolutely nothing better than being the one with the magic kisses or being the one whose hugs make it all okay. Or how about when I pick my kids up from nursery or preschool, and they yell mama and give me a running hug. Or when I see them playing nicely together. It melts my little heart. But some days they cry and scream and kick and bite and won't eat anything (except each other) and won't sleep (seriously what's  with kids not wanting to sleep? That might be the most incomprehensible thing in the universe to me) Having a three year old, a two year old, and a one year old is no picnic. It's more like I'm the food and they are the ants.
Don't get me wrong, I love it. 9/10 days I couldn't imagine a better life. But that tenth day, man. Enough said. I'm sure my friend had tough days just like I do. I sure hope I hide it as well as she does. Although apparently not because I just wrote this post... hmm.  I guess it's probably okay though because even on the worst of those "tenth" days, I still get these cutie little sweeties.