My maddening Monday

Normally my Monday's are excellent. Maybe because weekends are normally difficult for me and it's nice to get back to a weekday. That would make sense this time because my weekend was so great and today was... not great. So, not really sure why, oh wait... Yes I am. It's because my kids couldn't listen for the life of them. That's why my day sucked. I won't even try to sugar coat it or take accountability for it... It was all their fault. ; ) 

Last night was a fun adventure. Brady went to bed just fine at 9:30 while I sat in his glider. I think he woke up sometime in the 11:30 hour and went back to sleep with me in his room. I think. Not sure. What I am sure of is that he woke up at 3am and wasn't tired anymore. Like I sat in his glider for around 45 minutes waiting for him to fall asleep and he was still wide awake. Over the course of the following hour, he got out of his bed every few minutes to wander around. I just kept thinking he'd get tired and fall asleep but the boy was not. At all. He was all "mom, I wanna go to the library!" And I was like "no, Brady, we can't go until after we sleep."  He was all "mom, I already sleep."  Yeah, I get that kid. But 9:30 to 3am isn't enough. And the library isn't quite open yet. He just genuinely wasn't tired at all... I get it, it's happened to all of us before. And he wasn't trying to be crazy or disobedient... I think he was just confused and trying to pass the time. So I kept hearing him get out and play with some bath toys from the drawer in the bathroom. And eat one of Abigail's starbursts. And stand by Abigail's bed and talk to her (she sleeps like a rock) while holding her Barbie. Caught red handed he's all "mom, I not wake Abigail up!"  Ha. I was amused, thankfully, despite the fact that I was awake with him from 3am until at least 5:15 when the sun started to come up. 

Yeah, elizabeth slept for 7 hours and 20 minutes, ate for less than 7 minutes before falling asleep again and slept for 5 hours and 20 minutes, not waking up until almost 10am. Am I rested at all? Nope, because I have Brady. Who wanders the halls for hours during the night. Seriously kid? You're killing me. 

Also killing me... These two waking up around 9, and wasting no time with their shenanigans. Abigail is wearing Brady's basketball shorts over her pj shorts. She'll be turning five next week. These shorts are size 18 months. 

I took a short little series of photos to try and get one that wasn't blurry... As I was clicking, Brady was taking off his shirt. Why? Because that's just what he does. I don't even think he notices now. He just spontaneously undresses himself. 

I know I've probably mentioned it a few times before, but I can't get over his tanned skin. His little tanned toddler legs are to die for. I wish pictures could capture it. They can't. 

Abigail is kind of a mini mom these days. It drives me crazy about 99% of the time because she bosses Brady around as if she's his parent, not his sister. This morning she was all about them making their beds. And yeah, they pulled Brady's mattress in there sometime after they woke up (Because last night... Y'know at 5:15 am, I finally put Brady's blanket and pillow next to Abigail's bed and hoped he would stay) which is seriously impressive considering the turns and narrow doorways. But yes, Abigail was nazi this morning about both of them having their beds perfectly made. 

The kids are cereal, I threw on clothes, we went to the library... The morning was a success. 

Brady doesn't care for the actually story part of story time. He does like the songs though. Other than the songs, he just begs to sit on my lap or leave. ; ) 

Head shoulders knees and toes.  See? Tan legs. So cute. 

The best surprise is that my friend Kirstyn shows up with Michaela. We never see them ever since they moved out of our ward so it was a lot of fun. Especially for the girls. This other little girl RiMaya walked up, asked if she could play with them, and then this... BFF's. 

We hung out at the lirbary forever. 

Brady enjoyed jumping. I enjoyed taking pictures of him jumping. 

Mouth open wide like a parachute. 

I wanted a picture of Abigail and michaela just because it's cool to see how much they've grown. RiMaya wanted in on the action and I wasn't about to leave her out of the fun. Abigail used to be tall but I guess she's a shrimp kow because michaela is six months older and RiMaya is 9 months younger. But I think they're also both just talk for their age too. 

We got home around 12:30 and my plan was to feed kids and then have nap and quiet time at 1. But immediately after we got home, Lucy's mom texted tha Presley wanted to come over and play. I wanted to be a nice mom so I said yes. Bad move. The rest of the day was a major struggle as everything went downhill. They all wanted to watch the little mermaid that we'd just picked up from the library. Brady was already crazy grumpy because of teething and being exhausted from so little sleep. And Abigail always gets rude and bossy to me during and after playing with friends. I'll skip rehashing the ceappiness of the afternoon but let it be known that it sucked... Royally. 

"Hold me mommy... Watch the show with me mommy." Says the little boy chewing his whole fist as best he can. 

He takes my phone at every opportunity. So, photography by Brady. 

Abigail kept watching the little mermaid after they all ate. But Presley wanted to hang out with me (well, let's be honest, Elizabeth... since she woke up) and Brady follows us because he loves Elizabeth too and because he said the movie was too scary. So this was my audience while I fed Elizabeth. 

The star of the show. 

He sure knows how I highlight his best features. I wish I had his eyelashes. 

A party jumping on the bed. 

Abigail went to Presley's house with her. And then came home after peeing a huge puddle on their kitchen floor. Awesome. I told her she's not allowed to play at friends houses now... indefinitely. 

Honey texted something about needing to use a gift card  before it expired so we went to outback for dinner. The more I eat there, the more I realize how much I don't really like it. I mean, the food wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't excite me or hit the spot. It was just normal food. With a whole lot of cracked black pepper. All three of the kids were a bit of a struggle and so was I. Poor honey. I'd warned him though that he better come home with a lot of patience for all of us because we'd had a ROUGH day. I know it was hard for him but he did a good job handling all of us. 

We came home and got the kids ready for bed and decided to try and let them fall asleep in the same room because Brady was so tired (he fell asleep on the way to outback) but an hour and a half later of them jumping around on their beds and we had to break up the party.

My quietest, easiest, most obedient kid. 

Initially, Elizabeth and I sat on the loveseat and told the kids to be quiet and still and close their eyes. Abigail wasn't having it and Brady quickly jumped on the defiant bandwagon. Honey and I ditched them and their awakeness and went downstairs to watch the bachelorette. 

After that was over, he took Brady's mattress back to Brady's room while Abigail and Brady screamed and cried as if we hadn't given them one hundred warnings over the space of two hours. And Elizabeth was sad and cranky because she was so tired (even she was on one today and wasn't taking her four hour naps like she usually does) and was a bit freaked out with all the commotion. But I was able to kind of capture her sad face. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen in my life. 

She doesn't have a real cry (especially not like the one jovi was doing in the mothers lounge yesterday!)... It's just that her whole body tenses up for four or five seconds, and then she lets out a single newborn baby cry. And then she makes this face. 

I need a video, because holy cow, isn't that adorable?!?!  She doesn't have a set of lungs yet and it's rare that she gets upset (this time was because honey wanted to finish our show before getting the kids to sleep since there was only a few minutes left) so it's still super cute. 

Anyways, I swaddled Elizabeth and held her in Brady's glider while he laid in his little bed and she fell asleep within two minutes and then Brady did within five. And Abigail in her bed in her room within ten. That part was easy enough. Now we just need them to all stay asleep...

Crossing my fingers tomorrow goes a little more smoothly!