It has to be said. Sunday's are the most stressful day of the week. Our church is at 1pm but we have to leave around 12:15pm because it is a drive to get there and we try to get a good seat. We've recently discovered if we try to coral the kids in an actually bench it goes a lot better but it seems like everyone in the ward is jockeying for the bench seats so you have to leave extra early if you want one. It's like that perfect shirt you've had your eye on at your favorite store that has just gone on sale and you have to beat everyone else to that shirt if you want it. Being in a military ward is unlike normal wards. There are always families moving in and PCSing out. Some months you have a million families crammed into your small chapel and other times it is virtually empty. Most of the time our ward has been consistently full so getting a good seat is pretty hard.
Needless to say leaving early for church to get the good seats creates a few problems. One of them being the twins nap. They have napped at 11am every morning since they were about 4 months old. This nap is vital to how the rest of the day is going to go. I don't know if people really appreciate how hard it is to raise two two year olds. You have heard of the terrible two's... mine is basically double the trouble with that. Every sunday we get the twins out of bed in the morning and try to put them back down by 10:30am so they have enough time to whine about being back in their bed and actually are able to fall asleep by the time we wake them back up close to noon. Then it is a mad... and I mean mad dash to get them dressed, fed, and out the door. I'm rounding up three sets of little shoes, trying to brush three sets of little teeth, getting my church bag, making sure the diaper bag is fully stocked and trying to get out the door on time. Needless to say a few weeks ago I was having an "off day" and found myself sitting at church with two completely different shoes. One was black and one was brown. I had no idea until I was sitting in one of the coveted benches. The shoes don't even have the same feel to them so this goes to show you how intense getting out the door can be if I couldn't even feel that I had two different shoes on.
Once at church if we get the coveted bench towards the front door (yes we have a preference as to which bench exactly) I feel a little better but if it happens to be completely full and we are reduced to the chairs set up in the back then I know it is going to be a loooooooooooong day. This is what happened yesterday. Keri sat down with the girls in the chairs but of course Buddy has zero interest in sitting in a chair. In a bench he can basically stand the whole time if he wants but getting him to sit in a chair is mission impossible. He just likes to run and run and um run. Getting him to sit for any length of time requires a good sippy cup and a tasty treat. He started to run away so I pulled out the big guns (aka m&m's) and that stopped him dead in his tracks for a few minutes. After those were done he had no interest in staying put. He went to run and I grabbed him and of course screaming ensued. I had to rush him to the hall and of course he was happy as a clam to run down the hall. The problem with Buddy is for whatever reason he doesn't like Keri. I mean obviously he doesn't not like Keri... but he prefers mom. In fact if we are at a store and Keri goes to push the cart he is in.. he will scream and push Keri's hand away. If I try to hand Buddy off to Keri in a hallway Buddy will scream. I have no idea what this is about but it just means especially on Sunday's I get put on Buddy detail.
Well I feel like things were going okay. He was running up and down. Climbing the stairs to the water fountain for the fifth time and then Keri comes out with the girls. Super. There is nothing like three crazy kids running down the hallway to make you feel super embarrassed and like you are failing as a mom. Cambree has actually gotten pretty good but when the twins are acting up she feels free to join them. We decided to trap the twins into a classroom and Keri stayed while I took Cambree back into sacrament meeting for a few minutes of silence. After sacrament it is time for primary/ nursery for the twins. I teach a primary class in junior primary so I get to witness Cambree sitting with her Sunbeams class. She has two of her best friends in that class with her so getting them to sit and be good isn't exactly easy. Yesterday of course she decided to be "on one" so she wasn't happy to be sitting in Sharing Time. She finally had to come sit with my class. Then she realized she was missing this silly draw string back she likes to carry everywhere with her and of course drama ensued. Then she insists she has to use the bathroom which is really just code for I don't want to sit in here anymore. It just seems to be never ending during church. The twins have been doing a lot better adjusting to nursery but by the time church is over and I'm grabbing all three by myself because I have no idea where my husband I am exhausted. Not to mention stressed out and just frustrated.
I think what I need to remember is that I have three kids that are around the same age. When I say around the same age I mean I have two the exact same age with my only two years older. I find it easy to beat myself up about my kids. I don't know if I am flat out failing as a mother to teach them how to behave better or if it is just that they are all super young still. With Buddy I truly have no idea how to get him to stop running away from me. He refuses to hold my hand to walk anywhere. Is this a boy thing? Both of my girls have always held my hand to walk places. Buddy is my easiest kid unless we step outside the door and then he hits the pavement at a good speed and if you try to stop him he will scream and throw himself on the floor. I have no idea how to deal with this or get him to stop it. Before I had kids I don't recall one person telling me how hard it was going to be to parent them. To teach them. To get them to listen. I thought the hard part about having kids was the sleepless nights. The early mornings. I had no idea the hard part was the every day raising of them. Teaching them. Trying to get through to them. Trying to be patient with them. Now I am just searching for a way to make Sunday's more enjoyable and less of a nightmare. Here is the every mother out there right now sipping a diet coke and trying to come up with her own game plan. I think mine is more of a battle strategy. Good luck mothers out there. I wish us all luck!
