A Week to Remember!!!

Ashlyn vs Mom:


There are certain weeks in life when you wonder why you signed up for this job. (For you mothers of sweet little immobile newborns and no other children, yes the time will come) I thought last week was hard when Ashlyn came down with the stomach flu and threw up everywhere starting with all over me. I did multiple loads of laundry every day last week, washed her set of sheets at least 4 times, and had to clean the keyboard of the computer and her car seat after she threw up all over them. I changed at least 4-6 poopy diapers a day, just from Ashlyn. So, you would think "Hey, it can only get better." Well, then this week happened and now I PRAY that it can only get better.
On Monday we were recovering from the weekend. I was mowing the lawn, making bread, cleaning the house, etc. Well, I was in the middle of making bread when Makayla brought up a credit card from my purse. I asked, "Hey, Makayla, where did you get that?" "Oh, from Ashlyn." Drop everything you are doing and go running. She found my purse AGAIN. She loves to play with everything I have...especially the wallet. I found the wallet downstairs with only a few of my cards in the purse. I started to get frustrated but knew they had to be around somewhere. I started the frantic search for my credit cards, costco card, drivers license, etc. In the play room I found the insurance card and Costco card. While searching, Ashlyn proceeded to stick her fingers in my rising loaves of bread. Who can blame her, right? But, after searching for 2 1/2 hours myself and then Brad searching for another 1 1/2 hours there was NO SIGN of the drivers license, debit card, and my one major credit card I use. Oh, man. What was I going to do? We finally decided we had better call and report the missing debit card and credit card. There was a small chance they were stolen when I left my purse at Cafe Rio the Friday before.
The next day I went to replace my drivers license, called the bank, and the credit card company. I still searched, but to no avail. That day Ashlyn and I were friends again, after I realized she is only two and it's good for her to be curious. Right? Yes, that is right. Aunt Bre wanted to treat her three oldest nieces and nephew to Chili's for dinner to give Brad and I a break. I thought Ashlyn should be fine since she seemed to be feeling much better. Well, life isn't that simple with my two year old. She was having a great time at dinner when all of a sudden she puked all over Aunt Bre, the table, everywhere. She looked up and said "Uh, Oh" and then went on eating her fries. Aunt Bre and the waiter handled the situation like pros. Of course Aunt Bre is writing off children for a long time. When she got home and told us the tale, Ashlyn went to work.....drawing on our walls with a green crayon she brought home from Chili's (all other crayons have been confiscated from her and hidden well). Although we appreciate fostering creativity in our children, we do try to limit the mediums to paper....not walls. After we got that taken care of and discipline out of the way we were talking with Bre some more. All of a sudden I stopped her and said, "Ashlyn is too quite, we had better see what she is doing". Sure enough, Mother's intuition kicks in again. She had her tube of toothpaste and was painting the walls in my bedroom.

Exhibit #1-Ashlyn cleaning the wall after her painting job. She had way too much fun with this consequence.

Well, we went to bed in hopes that the next day would be better. It was, fewer poopy diapers, not many tantrums (Ashlyn actually isn't much of a tantrumer...thank goodness) Just business as usual. By Thursday I was thinking, the week is in the past. Ashlyn must be watched at all times, doors must be shut, but all is well. We went to pick up Ryan from school. Ashlyn fell asleep on the way home and I, in a laps of mental soundness, put her on my bed to sleep instead of her own. While she was "sleeping" I was helping my other three children with homework, chores, etc. Kayla and I needed the computer. The laptop cord was missing. What is with missing things in our home? I decided there was a good chance it was in my bedroom. I decided to go in very quietly as to not wake my darling toddler. Oh, boy, this is what I found.....

Exhibition #2-the make-up queen

Ashlyn was NOT sleeping. She had climbed off of my very high bed, climbed onto my toilet to the high place I keep my make-up (from her nontheless), climbed back up onto my very high bed and WENT TO TOWN!!! Oh, she was beautiful. Mascara, foundation, and lipstick everywhere. She had painted my expensive Mary Kay foundation bottles with mascara, my sheets and duvet cover with lipstick, mascara, and foundation, used my eye shadow brush to completely empty my lipstick (which is also expensive Mary Kay), destroyed another mascara and lipgloss. At this point in time, I very calmly asked her to leave my room, after I cleaned her up, and started the long clean up process. It seems that she has expensive taste as all my cheap Walmart make-up was untouched and all the expensive stuff was used up. I raise my children well, don't I? I then calmly taught piano and prayed that my toddler, and myself, would live through this "messy" curious stage. There was some good news, the three missing cards were found. Where you ask? In the DVD drive of the kids computer. Who would have thunk it?

Exhibit #3-Crime Scene Evidence-the pillowcase

Well, I once again went to bed hoping the next day would be better. I was up in the middle of the night for an hour with Ashlyn's stomach bug passed on to me. I then woke up to very sweet pleasant children. I thought, well, we will just take it easy today and enjoy being together. Which is what we did. UNTIL.....Ashlyn wasn't feeling well and requested a bath. I agreed. I pulled her out of the tub and realized her towel was downstairs. I went down to get it and summoned her to me. She wanted the towel upstairs. I threw it to her and asked her to come down. I hurried to the computer to check something when she came to me. I noticed a little pooh on her leg. OH,NO!!!!! Sure enough, out in the family room there were two huge piles of diaharea pooh with little splashes elsewhere. Sorry to be so graphic. I couldn't believe it. As I was cleaning it up I wasn't cursing, I wasn't even crying, I was laughing. The thoughts "How could things get worse" kept parading through my head. However, I didn't dare utter those thoughts as I know things could get MUCH worse, so be grateful for these small trials.

Exhibit #4-Well, it speaks for itself. This is after initial wipe down.

So, on weeks like this week I once again ask myself "Why did I sign up for this job?" Well, this picture tells you why.
My sweet children love me and each other. Their laughter wipes away the frustrations of the day. Their kisses do make everything all better. So, in Ashlyn vs Mom I would say we both come out winners.