Oh, What a Night

Last night Bobby went to a concert with some friends and was planning to be out late, so I decided to take the kids to the park and out for ice cream. Sophie was none too pleased to leave the park and was still fussing when we got to Baskin Robbins. She even fussed when I tried to give her a bite of her chocolate ice cream – for some reason she didn’t like the looks of it. (I told you, she is CRAZY!) So, I did what any good mom would do and I SHOVED a bite in her mouth. After which, she decided chocolate ice cream is good, and she happily ate about 1/2 of the kids’ cup I’d gotten for her.

Fast-forward to 2:37 a.m when I hear Sophie crying loudly over the baby monitor. I take Ambien to help me sleep, and since at this point I’d only had about 4.5 hours of sleep as opposed to the eight you are supposed to be able to “devote yourself to” with Ambien, I was a LITTLE out of it. I stumbled to Sophie’s room and could smell the tell-tale stench of PUKE before I even opened the door. But once inside, I could not figure out how to turn on her light. I was just too out of it. Fortunately Bobby came in the room just then and turned it on, having his wits about him. It was then that we saw our little girl covered in chocolate ice cream puke.

It was not pretty. That, combine with Ambien dizziness and the smell, sent me running to bow to the Porcelain God myself. So. That was awesome. Bobby, who is Superman, sent me back to bed and gave Sophie a bath and cleaned up all the mess himself.

This morning, Sophie seems totally fine. Bobby said she was fine in the middle of the night, too. No fever, super-cheerful, etc. So, I am going to have to blame this one on myself. As Emily said when I told her about last night’s events, “That’s what you get for shoving ice cream in her mouth, MOM.”

Lesson learned!

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It’s Like the Xanax of Cupcakes

This weekend the kids and Bobby and I (along with Emily & her kids and lots of other cool bloggy peeps) had the privilege of attending a birthday party for Amy’s daughter, P. The party was held at Pump It Up, one of those “bouncy places” as Joshua calls them, and let me just say a GREAT time was had by all! After an hour or so of bouncing, we went into a room where the (very awesome) Pump It Up staff served the children chips, juice boxes, and cupcakes. Glorious, glorious cupcakes. Cupcakes that not only looked and tasted delicious, but also seemed to have a mysterious tranquilizing quality. After just one bite, all the crazy kiddos seemed to instantly calm down. Witness:

Shannan’s three-year-old, Brady:

Bradybits lookin' cute!

Erin’s
little guy:

And finally, my little Sophie, who was completely transformed into a Zen-like state:

someone drugged the cupcakes

Maybe it was the hour of furiously bouncing, climbing, and sliding that that made the kids so docile, but after a taste of that icing, I’m thinking someone slipped a little somethin’-somethin’ into the cupcakes.

And yo, I could really use that recipe!

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The Wonder

This evening I watched my husband give the kids a bath. It was a quick bath, the kind you give not because you really have time or especially want to, not because it’s “bath night”, but because, well, your kids stink. Because spring has sprung, they’ve been playing outside, and they smell like it.

It was late, past Sophie’s bedtime really, so Bobby washed them as quickly and thoroughly as he could. And while he washed, I watched.

What I saw mesmerized me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from their shiny wet skin, their splash-inspired smiles, their saturated hair.

Surrounded by bubbles, laughing, playing, soaking, my children were so beautiful. As beautiful as I’ve ever seen them.

In the midst of something so routine, I was stunned by it. Awed. The bathroom was strewn with dirty clothes and towels, the laundry hamper overflowing, and yet in the middle of all that mess was such perfection.

My children. How could they come from me? I wondered.

And then I realized what I’ve known but had somehow forgotten. They didn’t come from me, they came to me, two gifts entrusted to me from a God who does all things intending glory.

Looking at them tonight in a sea of suds I saw glory more clearly than ever before.

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