The day Brady could have died

Brady keeps me on my toes.  Well, actually, I'm not on my toes at all. I guess Brady just highlights that I don't have my act together at all. Abigail never did this crap as a two year old, but Brady is a whole different animal. I see the stuff he gets into and all I can think is "the world is your oyster, kid. Nothing is off limits to you."  Since he sleeps in a bed now, I think he wakes up for the day around 7... But who really knows because I don't wake up til 8. But when I walk into the kitchen I see a chair pushed to the counter and I know that Brady has been there. Like this morning. But there was nothing in the kitchen... He'd already taken a huge box of graham crackers up to Abigail'a room. A few days ago, I woke up and walked around to make the bed and noticed that there was pen drawn all over the fitted sheet on the other side of the bed. I didn't notice it when I made the bed the day before so I'm pretty sure it happened that morning after honey went to work but before is woken up for the day. Also the other day, we were hanging out in the great room as a family when I noticed that Brady wasn't with us. So I panicked... Because I know enough to know that's never a good thing. I yelled to him and he came out of my bedroom. He likes to get into stuff in my bathroom (which is why everything is currently on my countertops instead of in my drawers and cabinets). As he walked out Abigail was all "mom, did you paint Brady's nails?"  Umm nope, but I guess now we know what he's been doing for the last five minutes. 

Anyways, the kid is a handful. I'll frequently find him wandering around the house with a can of Pringles or an empty ice cream cone. If I leave him alone in the kitchen, he goes for the lasagna noodles and so I find shards of those on the floor. Tonight at dinner, instead of eating, he picked up his peas one by one, piped them, and threw them all over the floor. Alllll over the floor.  We have to keep toothbrushes and toothpaste on the top shelf of the bathroom closet now and I've hidden (as best I can) pens and markers on top of our refrigerator. He turns on the tv with the remote and takes pictures with my phone after he's turned on the flashlight, turned off the wifi, and put it in airplane mode, maybe also setting an alarm or two and the timer. And he doesn't nap anymore since he's in a bed now. So I don't have that three hour chunk of time in the afternoon anymore. It's just a whole lot of sleep deprived Brady wandering around for 12-13 hours a day. 

Anyways, Sunday morning I woke up to my alarm. Emmy had texted me something about beautiful piano music blasting through her home and sunshine pouring in and basically it was just the most peaceful thing ever. I heard aniGil and Brady upstairs playing and laughing and squealing and yelling... Along with the typical banging and clanging and crashing of toys and miniature bodies doing who knows what. I texted back something about "me too. So peaceful over here."  Then I tried to close my eyes for a minute more because I was exhausted. Brady had been up at least twice during the night and I had gotten up with Elizabeth around 5:30 maybe. And I hadn't even gone to sleep til super later anyway. So yeah, trying to at least ease in to the waking up thing. Then I hear Brady screaming and crying. This is normal. I can't even emphasize how typical this is. I assumed that he was being obnoxious and and Abigail probably hit him or bit him. I did my usual thing and waited. No matter where I am, if Brady is crying, he sniffs me out like a bloodhound. He will always find me if he is in any sort of distress. So he comes down the stairs screaming and into my room. Abigail follows down a minute later. Since Brady is still screaming too hard for me to figure out what happened, I ask Abigail. Normal the answer begins with "well Brady..." And then includes some sort about Brady being obnoxious and Abigail physically beating him up. Well then you can imagine my surprise when the first words out of her mouth were "Brady just fell out on the roof."

What the heck?!?!  So of course I ran up to her room. The screen was in place because Abigail fixed it already, but apparently the right half of the screen popped out and Brady slipped through. It's hard to know exactly what happened because I'm getting my facts from a five year old and a two year old, but it sounds like Brady was standing on the room a little ways out and they are both very clear that he climbed back in. Thank goodness there was roof right there. And that it wasn't steep roof. And that, even though it's only a couple of feet, it was enough that Brady didn't just roll or slide off. Christopher was at ward council so he wasn't around for this but I was super freaked out. Eventually we went to church for wars conference. The sacrament meeting testimonies centered around miracles. Kind of like the one that had just happened at the Hillier home that morning when my two year old fell out of a window but managed not to fall off the roof and tumble one story down into some dirt and rocks. 

All of ward conference was excellent. I felt like it was just for me. From recognizing miracles to repentance and forgiveness. I was overwhelmed with the attention I was receiving in that way. 

After church we ate and then I had to take a nap. I was so exhausted and, while church was just what I needed, it was mentally and emotionally exhausting in that way and I needed to sleep. I napped for a few hours and woke up feeling so much better. Honey had played with the kids. Then he got them dinner and put them to bed. I somewhat helped a little bit mostly let him do it. He's good at knowing when I need a break. Also good at paying it forward when he's going to be out of town. Getting in his time with the kids and giving me a break so I can start fresh when he's gone. 

It was a really great Sunday. But probably the greatest part is that Brady only fell out of a window and not off of the roof. I'm hoping that eventually I can be less freaked out by this and more "oh HA HA, Brady, remember when you were two and you and Abigail were playing a mattress sliding game with her mattress propped up on the loveseat and "YOU FELL OUT OF THE WINDOW?!  Yes, that was funny." And then we'll tell other stories about he drew on our sheets and painted his nails and took credit cards out of our wallets and ate mass amounts of cookies before 8am and is obsessed with sports but always asks for "spray" and sunscreen because he loves perfume and lotion. 

Words can't express how funny he is. He is hilarious and intelligent and ambitious. He's super articulate and creative and compassionate. He makes me feel like a disheveled mess of a mother, but I love him to pieces. 

Lots of little pieces that resemble smashed peas tossed on my kitchen floor.