A Small Victory

... picture this...

It's Sunday night and Trent is out working. Dinnertime with the kiddos by myself and the arduous task of coercing all 3 into proper nighttime-wear and into their respective beds. Awesome.

My face is slowly swelling up from a nasty mosquitoe bite under my right eyelid. I can't take Benadryl yet for it since I need to be alert until my children are in bed. Something about sleeping while they run rampant through the house just doesn't sit well with me...

So, I start cleaning up dishes from dinner and detach Kendra from her sticky, spaghetti-laden high chair. I clean the mess off of her face to the best of my ability without giving a full bath knowing the sauce is stuck for awhile in her hair and ears and hear, "Uh-oh Mom...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I turn around quickly to see Megan has opened the fridge and knocked several eggs out of their carton and she is standing in a puddle of nasty-yolkiness. Why she had eggs, I'll ever know. I survey the damage and begin cleaning up. She tiptoes to the sink, smearing yolky slime all over my floor and the kitchen stool. The newly cleaned Kendra, is no more, as she traipses through the mess coating her hands and feet and squealing with delight.

Back to the sink for her since salmonella sounds dreadful right about now and I realize that Mikayla is grating a large carrot for a healthy snack. Nice choice for a snack, but now I have carrot shavings all over my sink, countertops, floor, and somehow, window. I begin cleaning that up, then remember the eggs on the ground. I order the kids out of the kitchen and hear the unpleasant, but all too familiar sound of Kendra dumping an entire bag of Cheerios on the nasty kitchen floor.

Not too bad. This can be cleaned up too. I won't lose my cool. I won't lose my cool.... Great. What is that? Headlights next door? Awesome. I get to go show the rental house behind me to someone without an appointment. I get to go in my puffy-cheeked, yolky feet, wet shirt glory with a wet, spaghetti-haired baby with cereal down her shirt. Again, just awesome.

Thankfully, house got shown, kids got clean, floor got mopped. The real victory here? That I didn't lose my cool. At one point, I actually laughed! Having 3 kids is definitely not easy. Having 3 kids is not always fun and smiling pictures. Having 3 kids is hard work. Having a night like that and not screaming at said children is a victory in my book. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to be just a little better each day.

Oh my. What's that? One crying from her bed, another pooped out of her diaper and the other is smearing toothpaste on the bathroom mirror? Just awesome I tell you.