Sweet Niece

My niece Hannah-belle is three years old today. Obviously the above picture is not current but it is one of my favs. So happy birthday sweet girl!

Ok, ok, ok.....I get it......lesson learned!

I'm writing this down now while it's fresh in my mind.

We have had a busy weekend. Actually to say busy is an understatement. It was a long exhausting frantic busy weekend. Now don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful time but it was one of those weekends where you have to abandon your normal routine and push the usual chores to the back burner (and hope no one shows up unexpectedly to see your messy house).

We attended multiple birthday parties this weekend, the first being my eldest son's 7th birthday. So actually I didn't attend that party as much as I hosted that party, but you can follow my line of thinking. The preparations for his party have been going on for the past week but Friday night I stayed up late baking. Saturday morning started off early but I was well ahead of schedule (quite unusual for me). His party was a success and we immediately went to the next party for one of his school friends. By bedtime my kids were still bouncing off the walls, claiming loudly that they were NOT tired but rest assured they fell asleep very quickly. *happy dance* I looked around my house after the boys went to bed, surveying the damage but I just couldn't find the energy to clean. So I turned off the lights (that way you can't see the mess) and went to bed myself.

The next day was more of the same. We were hardly home until close to dinner time. I just didn't have the time or energy to clean but I resolved that first thing Monday morning I was going to tackle the weekend mess. I just didn't factor in my three-year old son being extra needy. Normally he is a very independent child. He plays just fine alone in his room and most days I have to hunt him down because he is content to sit and put puzzles together for an hour or more. Today though, he showed me his other side. He has physically been attached to me almost all day. But I could no longer stand to see the mountain of laundry spilling out of my closet. So off I went, three year old on one hip and a basket of laundry on the other. Around 9am, I was trying to wash dishes and he was constantly tugging on my pants whining asking for something. I wasn't paying close attention to what he was saying but I was getting close to being annoyed at the interruption. I will honestly admit that I snapped at him in frustration (please don't judge me) and he immediately sat down on the floor and looked up at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. The he said very softly "I just want to help you". And I felt horrible, heart-breakingly awful! I immediately sat down on the floor and just held him. I remembered at that moment that he (and my oldest) were the exact reason I chose to stay home each day. Somewhere along the way I had lost sight of my priorities. My son would only be little for such a short time and the dishes could wait. I asked him what he wanted to do and he looked at my with a little grin and asked to make macaroni and cheese. I know it was only 9:30 in the morning but I would have given anything to see him smile. So make macaroni and cheese we did! Now we are sitting together on the couch, he has a toy train in each hand and is occasionally running the trains across the keyboard but I don't mind.

.....because I am rocking my baby and babies don't keep!