Ramblings of a Tired Mom of Boys

As I was marveling at how I survived today so well, I realized that I should write this stuff down and share with the grandmas again. 

Little Liam Alvin Bench joined us on November 26th and oh my did he make an entrance. He got a broken arm first thing which is now nicely on the mend and he is soft and adorable and snuggly and happy and beautiful and adored by us all. It feels like he has always been here with us and I wonder what we ever did without him. He makes life pretty great these days. It's heart-melting to watch his older brothers give him kisses and talk to him. And I fall in love with Chris all over again watching him hold and talk to this little baby of ours. 

We are in a pretty sweet spot and I am loving every one of the little moments of sheer bliss. I am also in awe at how far I've come in the patience department. Bending over a bath tub side to give the baby a much needed bath while two ninjas scale the sides of the tub and the third ninja decides it's a great time for a horsey ride is not exactly my idea of a good time. There was even a shampoo bottle splash bomb. But luckily no one perished in the ordeal. And I didn't even say or think any cuss words. Ha! Although, I wish I could take back a few heated words to a darling 6 yr old. I just kept thinking that I am grateful for these small daily challenges to make me stronger and practiced for when the bigger challenges come. 

Yesterday, for probably the third time ever, I stopped myself from having a mom tantrum. I was trying to get the boys to help put their clean clothes away right before bedtime and they were not listening like I wanted them to. I was tired. I was annoyed. And mostly, I just wanted to cry. Instead of yelling to get their attention like I normally do and getting mad, I walked out of the room and locked myself in my bedroom. I do that a lot, but this time I actually was humble enough to pray. Really pray. I started out praying that the kids would listen and do exactly what I wanted and would go to sleep like perfect little angels and wake up happy and blah blah blah. And then I started actually listening to my words and the prayer changed to asking for help to remember they they were 6, 4, and 2 and that I would be able to have the strength and patience to connect with them on their level and ask things of them that they could actually accomplish. No duh. Right? But it's pretty tough to remember all that when they all seemingly gang up on the tired, irritable mom. It was still hard to get them all in bed. But I was able to get them to do what I needed them to do and I didn't scream and yell at them. Prayer answered.