Wednesday, March 12, 2014

When Dad's Not Home...

With Dad gone everyday, it's just me and the three Clayton cuties to fend for ourselves. I cannot even begin to express in words how much I am in LOVE with being a stay at home mom. It is definitely not glorious everyday, but we have more ups than downs :). We spend most of our day playing...
and...
playing some more! Each kid likes to play independently at some point of the day, but you will find them more often than not playing together...or possibly torturing each other which is another favorite!
Yep, just like every other family we have several moments where at least one of us is not happy. You can often find Kason using his imagination pretending he is someone else in a completely different time or place...
or working on something...

He is definitely a busy body just like his dad. Max will most likely be found on the hard wood floors rattling something, in therapy, or giggling like crazy having a secret conversation with his "angels"...
While Zoe is a sneaky little thing getting into everything...whether it's splashing in the toilet bowl then styling her hair with said toilet water, locking herself in a closet, taking everything out of the cabinets scrounging for food in the kitchen, climbing up on the table to hang out, or just digging in the dirt because that's what big brother did...
If you ever walked through our door at any point in the day you could possibly find us snuggling...
or just lovin' on each other because we are a pretty snuggly family. I am soaking up all these hugs and kisses while I can...
I mean seriously, who could resist that face?!? Like I said, not everyday is glorious and all smiles. We have our melt downs, we have our "what were you thinking" moments and we definitely have our  trouble times, getting into EVERYTHING they aren't allowed to...
There are times in the day where I have to almost put myself in time out just to take a deep breath before I go crazy and lose all my patience. While at other times I just laugh at their silly antics because what really can you do..like the time when one decides it's a good idea to sneak a blue sharpie into bed and permanently color themselves from head to toe like a smurf...
Besides our two days a week Mother's Day Out Program, we get out to enjoy the sunshine on good weather days by going for a walk and/or to the park...
In the winter I will sometimes take them to an indoor play area like at the mall just to let them get their wiggles out...
I occasionally treat them to two of Kason's favorite hot spots...
donuts or the ball store (Academy) for some free fun...
I jokingly like to expose Zoe to athletic equipment because this little lady is much more of a diva and girly than I ever was! I have a feeling she could lean towards the prissy side and I'm trying to subtly brainwash her to follow in her tomboy of a mom's shoes :)...
I was a big softball player and am secretly hoping she falls in love with sports too! Of course, each week we have to get groceries and run a couple of errands and the littles always tag-a-long...
mostly with smiles as we go on an adventure, but we sure do have our meltdowns too. Zoe's new favorite thing lately is to squeal and yell no when we are in a store even though no one is touching her...I'm thinking she is already dramatic and just loves the attention...oh, what am I to do with this one! While Max had a nurse 5 days a week in Lubbock, I'm definitely cutting back now that we've moved. I unfortunately was put in a position where I could have no help (which didn't work with him being homebound) or full time help (which was way too much)...now I have more flexibility. To be honest, I'm ready to have my kid back full time without any nursing since we are coming out of the homebound season. I am loving having him with the rest of us and him exploring, playing, and laughing right alongside his brother and sister...
The truth is that he loves it also, to be apart of the group rather than separate. While trying to keep up with 3 kids just now under the age of 5 is exhausting to say the least in addition to regular house chores, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I often find myself savoring every moment I can and wishing they could stay this little forever. They teach me so much about life...how to be patient, how to be gracious, how to be appreciative, how to be joyful, and more importantly how to not take things so seriously. I have one story I must share before I sign off because it's one of my favorites. One day I woke up in a horrible mood (which is pretty rare for me, but still happens on occasion). It seemed like all morning I just wasn't a nice person and kept snapping at the kids even at times when it wasn't fair to them because they really hadn't made any bad choices. I was laying Max down for a nap and Kason started crawling up his loft into bed, but I asked him to stop so I could come over and give him a hug before he went up. He looked right at me and said, "Nah...I'm good!" A huge smile broke out across my face from ear to ear and I chuckled, then responded with, "Yeah, I probably wouldn't want to hug me either!" In that instance of honesty, he changed my attitude for the rest of the day. Kids bring so much beauty along with the chaos and I am thankful for a hardworking husband who provides me with the opportunity to soak up their joy while he's not home.

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