Theisen Trio: All by myself

Little bit of a misleading title. I mean I wasn't really all by myself not even for a minute this last weekend but this is Riley's new favorite phrase so it seems fitting. Nana is working on his enunciation of the letter "S" and when he discovers that he just put his own shoes on, or just went potty with no help he proudly exclaims, "wook Mommy, I did it all by mine-self." Next she should work on the sound of the letter "L" or not because seriously wook is too cute!

In the parenting world I was by myself as Daddy embarked on a guys only weekend in place of his annual pheasant hunting trip. He had been counting down the days to relax, fish and just be a guy whereas I was gearing up for my weekend of non-stop mommyhood.

I like a challenge and was actually really looking forward to the weekend. "I think I can" was the mantra and I repeated it over and over again until Sunday evening struck and once again we were man to man instead of zone defense/offense and wow, zone is exhausting. It was a splendid weekend but WOWZA, exhausting. I still find it hard to believe that teenagers think it's cool to get pregnant on purpose thinking that it is all fresh baby scent in the air and sleepy babes wrapped up happy in swaddles. And don't get me started on the single parents...you are my idols and I am oh so weak in comparison!

Riley slept with me Friday night and he woke up twice asking "where am I Mommy?" I was so disoriented that I wondered the same thing but it was fun waking up next to that skinny boy and just lounging in bed watching toons while Lyssi Lu ate and babbled all things baby. I was feeling rather accomplished when 9:30 a.m. rolled around and the dishes were already washed and I was showered and dressed. We were able to grab some Sunday School supplies at Joann's (yay for sequins and googly eyes!) and then we came home to lay the babe down for a quickie nap before we headed out again to watch some volleyball. My co-worker was in town (from Rogers : ) for her daughters games and it was packed at the CR H.S. with the tourney, a debate and marching practice going on. We walked up only to find out admission was $7 for adults and $5 for children. Say whaaaa? So we walked all the way around to the other side right through the "waiting" room for the debaters (sorry!) and found a free way in. So I saved $13 but paid for it dearly as both kids were being held by the end of the trek to the courts! We hurried home after a match for naps and then headed out again to Big Lake. Big Lake, land of our little friend Leah and mommy extraordinaire Rach. The weather was perfect, the toys all new to my kids were begging to be played with, the food baked with love and attention to detail (hello, snickers cupcakes filled with snickers and topped with creamy frosting and more crushed up snickers!) and the friendship was comfortable, easy. Everyone needs a Rach in their life. She makes everything so special and I was lucky on that Saturday that she allowed us to invade, eat, play and take-over her usually quiet domain. Little Leah is about the sweetest thing eva. She happily stacked toys around Lyssi Lu and watched in awe and confusion as Riley played on, talking loudly (he has told me that he doesn't have an inside voice, I agree with his assessment) and finally dropping trou because of the baby potty of Leah's that he just had to pee in. He begged to pee in that thing and then he begged me to get his baby potty out when we got home so he could pee in that one too. I am so glad he long forgot about it because I don't want to clean that thing out again. We walked to the park and like the well camera trained son he was he asked to stop and have pictures taken numerous times stating "this would be a pretty nice picture Mommy." My little photog! Finally we could ignore Lyssa's tired eyes no more and we packed up with goodies to go for the drive home. Five minutes in, if that, I turned around to find both kids sleeping! Lucky for me they both pj'd easily and went to bed promptly when we did get home. Once again Riley slept with me, this time no interruptions and we slept like rocks. Sunday we got up and bathed everyone before church, taught SS, attended church and came home.

Sounds easy enough right?

Well if I had bothered to ~~bore you with the even more so mundane details~~ mention how many diapers I changed (baby girl has a really upset tummy), how many times I had to help my son drop trou, how many milk and water cups I filled, how many bottles I prepared, how many times I bent down and picked up, how many times I strapped in and unstrapped, lifted and hauled, so on and so forth by myself you would see that not a minute of the whole weekend was left unaccounted for. I didn't even realize how much we need Daddy, actually I did but this just re-enforced it so much more for us. When you split the duties it is huge. When you take turns and get a breathing break to take a bath, a nap, pick up a book etc, it is huge.

My point in this post is that there was no one there to sit on the floor with the kids so I could clean up a bit, do dishes, watch TV, relax. I was 100% responsible for 2 little lives and I soaked it all in entirely. I ignored the toys strewn about, the laundry piled up, the TV rarely turned on, the books I chose had pictures on every page and the lesson I learned is that these things can wait. My kids are only going to remember that Mommy played with them all weekend and took them to do fun things. They will remember that they didn't have hardly anytime to miss Daddy because I had them in my arms and held them tight enough for both Daddy and I. It wasn't easy but it wasn't hard either, exhausting yes, Monday and Tuesday I hardly could hold my head up, but we survived, actually we thrived. If I had to chose I would have kept Daddy in the picture but it's important to me that I know that I can do it. Diarrhea up the back times 12 or more and all.

My house still shows signs of my weekend with my kids and it makes me uncomfortable but it is teaching me that "babies don't keep." There is only one chance we get while they are young and I chose to sit on the floor and spend as much time as is possible being engaged with them. I missed them something fierce on Monday and even Sunday night Lyssa was rather upset that Daddy was feeding her the last bottle before bed. I was their number 1 for a short weekend and I would do it all over again.

I love you my little ones. Thank you for teaching your Mommy what is really important and for being such good little ones.

We have one smile.

Now Leah's thinking "that doesn't work on me Mommy" Lyssa is thinking "what is that lady doing" and Riley just wants a cupcake...see that reflection in the mirror? : )