Here we go again...

I mean, really?!? Let me set the scene for today (it looks like the last blogpost, minus the puking): I'm finally recuperating from the virus from Hell. I took a shower. Yesterday. I'm wearing Christmas tree fleece pj pants and a white tshirt. And no bra. I mean, its a snow day. Who wears a bra on a snow day? Anyhoo... I feel like mother of the year because I cooked bacon and eggs for the AKPs for breakfast. I even had coffee today. Win. We're on movie #3 of the day and haven't done a single productive thing. Little akp turns on Strawberry Shortcake "Cherry Jam" which is in fact, her jam. She goes to put on her favorite dance costume to dance along with her movie. No biggie. Then someone knocks at the door. *Please be the mailman that knocks and then walks away*
I open the door, obviously forgetting that I'm wearing a white tshirt and no bra, let alone my Christmas tree pajama pants. Beside me stands my four year old in a sleeveless dance costume, fully exposed to the 32 degree weather. There stands a nice young fellow with a hunter green jacket that reads TERMINIX. Well, shiz.
Terminix Guy: Good morning.
Me: Hi. *painful look*
TG: Did you not know I was coming today?
Me: (*Does it look like I'm dressed for company?!*) Well, I may or may not have checked that voicemail.
TG: Ok, I can treat the outside and give you a minute.
Me: Alright girls, we need to clean up! Quick!
TG: *laughs*

Why. Why can't I have those snow days like my FB friends have? Their kids sipping hot cocoa by the fire ,(well, we don't have a fire place, scratch that one) playing board games, building snowmen with actual bodies...

Oh well. I guess I'll try and get my act together today. I'll start with a shower. And a bra. Just in case...

I can't even title this.

Let me set the scene: One girl is hanging on to the porcelain throne like it's Channing Tatum in "Magic Mike." One girl is running around the house half naked. One girl is haphazardly making pb&j sandwiches. The basket of clean laundry on the couch has been knocked to the floor. There is a bottle of syrup lying on the carpet. The entire bag of rice cakes are open and strewn about. Last night's dinner pans are still on the stove. Thirty seven nail polish bottles are all over the living room. A plate with a half-eaten waffle is on the living room floor.
This is not a scene from a sorority party house movie. This was my life yesterday. I was facing internal explosions of epic proportions while the smaller AKPs ran crazy without supervision. Of course, T was at work. Power waits for no man, and no man waits for power. Oh, did I mention we are in the middle of Snowmageddon14?! Iced in. There was no hope.
Then the scene changed to one similar to that of "ET". Two face-masked, gloved angels walked through my back door. They could have been wearing hazmat suits, not sure. They quickly gave me some Gatorade and Phenergan (the heaven drug for nausea) and whipped my girls into cleaning mode as they Lysoled everything in sight. Pop and GiGi to the rescue! They layed the AKPs down for nap, all of us, Lysoled some more and left. T came home early and had daddy daughter fun time as mommy lay on her death bed. They went out in the snow and played in an empty laundry basket. (Probably the one holding the clean laundry from before) They had dinner and watched "Frozen" online while snuggled on the couch. All the while, I lay in a Phenergan induced coma-sleep.
Seventeen hours in the bed, I was finally forced to get up this morning. T greeted me with some Gatorade and the question of "Are you going to be ok? I need to go to work." Ugh. I managed a shower and two crackers. I feel hungover. Every core muscle hurts and I have a dehydration headache. I walk into the living room to see every Sofia the First figurine and toy all over the floor. Let the day begin...

Spiritual Level: 3.5

It was Sunday Funday! Today was an amazing day at our church. From the worship songs, to the extremely personal message from our most awesome pastor, God was so present you could taste it. Well ok, not taste it. But if God had a flavor, it'd be chocolate. Anyhoo...
T and I had an awesome time at church and then we had an equally great time at our LifePack tonight. It's a wonderful group of friends that can get together and laugh, eat, talk about the message, and laugh more. It was a fun time. We get home and the girls are waiting on T to read them their nightly Bible story. They read one every single night out of their "Beginner's Bible" and they look forward to that special time with Daddy. Lately, we've added a family prayer time. The AKPs enjoy us praying as a family rather than one on one tucking them into bed. T read their story to them and after some good snuggles we were ready for family prayer. I'm feeling very blessed and looking for some really thought provoking prayers and thank yous to God for all he's done. It starts off with akp, the youngest.

"Dear God, thank you for food and drinks. Thank you for a house for us to live in.... so we don't have to sleep outside and have dogs pee on us."

And there it went.

The spiritual level went from a solid 7 to a 3.5 in mere seconds.

Only her.

Bachelor and Childbirth

Stay with me on this. This could be my most thought provoking and deeply profound post to date. Here are a few ways I've found The Bachelor is like pregnancy and childbirth. 

You get giddy when you find out its coming. When you find out "who" it is, you're elated. Then, you're in for several emotional episodes (pun intended). So many highs, followed by crying fits for seemingly no reason at all. It's coming down to the wire, and you're hoping it goes your way. The final day has come and you feel so much anxiety, joy, fear. Your girlfriends rally in excitement. Then it takes a turn. A painful turn. What?! What is this?! Nooooo!!!!! I'm never doing this again!!!! 

And yet, we all do. We forget the pain we felt. We have more babies and watch more Bachelor. Gluttons for pain, I tell ya. Women. Sheesh.  

Big Deal. Well, for me.

Today was a big deal. AKP lost her first tooth. And then her second. (If you're not a parent, you can stop reading now because this will lull you into a coma-like sleep that us parents only dream about.) You see, AKP is a little dramatic; and by "little" I mean I've never seen such emotion. Her tiny teeth have been wiggly for weeks and this morning we saw a slight appearance of blood. This showing of bodily fluid lead to a trail of pink-stained paper towels and tear-soaked tissues all over our tiny home for nearly an hour until I finally yanked it out. Yep. I just did it. And she was ecstatic. Then, an hour later, she realized she could be brave enough for the second one to come out as well. I said, "Honey, we told you it wasn't going to hurt but for a second. And now, you get $10 for your teeth. The tooth fairy brings $5 for the first tooth only. Every other tooth gets $1. But because you are so brave and can do the first two in one day, you get two $5 bills! How cool is that?!" So she let T take a turn with this one and he didn't disappoint. With one fail swoop the second tooth was gone and she was sticking her little tongue through the tiny hole in her teeth. She had a very good incentive in the second tooth-pulling. Santa brought her an American Girl doll, Rebecca, and she is dying to buy her all sorts of clothes and accessories. Knowing she would have enough money to buy her something was the only reason tooth #2 didn't come with tears. 

Fast forward to this evening during bath time. She was talking about how brave she had been in letting us snatch out her hanging-on-by-a-thread teeth. I said, "Baby, I am so proud of you for being such a big girl. And mommy and daddy told you it wouldn't hurt. We were right, huh?" And she said... I'll never forget it... she said, "Mommy, you're always right."
*Gasp*
I know.
This is the moment I've always heard about. The moment your children experience some sort of accomplishment or milestone and you get credit for being amazing. I could do nothing but beam with pride. We shared the sweetest moment of mother/daughter bonding that could have only been more perfect had she not been soapy and naked so we could have hugged.
I tried to screenshot this image in my mind so I could remember her words forever. I know it's all downhill from here. In ten years it will be "You don't understand me!" "I can't help who I love!" "High school isn't the same as it was in Y2K!"
Anyway, I'm cherishing the sweet moments now. I know the crazy is yet to come.

She even wrote a note for the tooth fairy. I'll translate: Dear Tooth Fairy, I love you and I hope you fly home safely. Thank you so much for my 10 dollars and it didn't hurt. Love, Anabelle

Starting Somewhere...

I have wanted to blog for a while. Facebook statuses only hold so much of all the awesomeness I have to say to the world. Ok, not the world. And some of it is not so awesome. But hey, I have to start somewhere. So this is me... starting somewhere...