Ingredients for the Perfect Smile

Today we had more Adventures in Baking with Bekah and VJ. I turned my head for a second (you just uhoh'ed, right?) and Bekah had unraveled the sugar bag and stuffed a fistful in her mouth. Yeaaahhhh.... like she needs it. After a great day at the park with our moms' group, the day went downhill in the way of tantrums and the like. On the flip side the cookies were a huge hit at work. What's more is that I'm planning on doing some more baking on a regular basis, which means getting a better handle on the lit'uns' attitudes.

Well that's one challenge; another is finding more weekend in the weekend. This past weekend was, well, less than thrilling. Bills weren't tight; they were screwed. We didn't have enough. Period. Jesse, in desperation, picked up a last minute overtime shift. That was Saturday evening/night. To no surprise he was crap on Sunday. I wanted to be mad at him (I was sort of), but I couldn't really be. I made him choose whether or not to take the shift and I knew we needed it. I had to do a lot of sighing and think, This isn't forever. Next weekend maybe we'll get to see that movie that came out last Friday that we've been dying to see. All it's going to take is a babysitter, but it's hard to ask sometimes.

Another challenge: Deciding when to ask, what to ask, how often to ask, because we really do need to ask sometimes. Whether it's a few hours of babysitting, some time to hang out, or even money, it's hard to ask all the time. Don't get me wrong: we don't ask for money. Sometimes I feel like we might as well sometimes though. My parents are paying for the rooms when we go to my cousin's wedding in Annapolis this summer with the notion that we'll pay what we can towards it. Really, if they were a business and we were clients, we'd be beyond collection. I can only hope we'll be able to help our kids out like this someday, or at least pay back my parents somehow... with the hopes that our children won't need the help.

So I guess it's all in mindset and attitude. When she shoved that fistful of sugar in her mouth, two things needed to happen: I needed to not freak on her and she needed repercussions to enforce that it was not okay. We skipped her turn and she freaked, but I ignored her cries and settled them when her next turn came along. I chose to not physically drag the BFF from bed to watch the movie we'd Red-boxed Sunday night and fought to not be too disappointed in our lack of weekend. The week goes by pretty quickly. I know if we miss seeing this movie in the theaters we can Red-box it later (although if opportunity arises we will find a sitter). We are blessed with a house, beautiful and healthy children, supportive parents, and a truly great friendship. Jesse and I may tease the crap out of each, but he's the first one I go to when I'm uncertain of anything. We vent to one another, lean on each other, and really couldn't imagine anyone else putting up with our personalities. When we have time, we can still laugh, still sigh, still talk about our kids' latest bizarre moments, and we're still in love in a world where that's a shady subject.

So I got a little corny at the end... What'd you expect with a title like that? Okay so what am I going to bake next...?

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