the balance

You'd think this might be just another post on finding balance as a mom, but it's not. It's about how my kids seem to make sure to balance out their behavior. For example one night at dinner KC will be screaming to watch Curious George, the boys will be complaining, whining, crying, about whatever I've served them, Katherine will be screaming for who knows what, and Chris and I will be exhausted and trying to rally before putting everyone to bed. The following night there will be smiles and joking at the table and the kids are asking for more salad and Katherine has slept through dinner. When this happened Chris and I looked at each other rolled our eyes and smiled. If I've learned anything these almost ten years as a mother it's to appreciate the good and easy.

This Sunday Katherine was baptized. It was a beautiful day, warm with flowers blooming. My parents came down and Chris' mom was there too. Our good friend who is an elder in the church (we're Presbyterian so we have an elder stand with us to represent the church - it's not really someone who is old, it someone who is part of the governing body of our church). Katherine didn't cry and our minister who we've known forever (he was my minister growing up in another city and now is the minister at our current church) performed her baptism. Afterwards we had a nice brunch and came home to play volleyball, soccer, walk the hood, and head out for an early dinner outside followed by ice cream.

Then came Monday. The boys were off from school. I made doughnuts and eggs for breakfast (my cousin sent us a doughnut maker for Christmas and it rocks). The day started so well. We were going to run an errand and I noticed N had on jeans and a long sleeve shirt. I offered him a pair of shorts and you would have thought I'd asked him to scrub the kitchen floor. So much disgust and anger about being offered a pair of shorts. I did make him change shirts because he was wearing Ts. We had a discussion that wasn't particularly fun and I gave him five minutes to get over it and adjust his 'tude. He did that and we ran errands, played outside and about two hours later the 'tude was back. And this time I was angrier. I even got the "you're ruining my day off from school" comment (I was like "yea buddy you're not making my day all sunshine and rainbows either"). It took forever to work through this attitude and figure out what was going on in his head (it also took losing xbox for a week and cleaning up the yard). But we got through it. I never want to wish my babies days away but I honestly was struggling to get through this one without losing my cool every five minutes (I lost it maybe every few hours).

Since then our week has been smoother, but I just think it's funny how two days, two dinners, or even two years (I'm talking about you 2015 and 2016) can be almost exact opposites. I assume it's because everything has to stay in balance.