A Break. I needed this.
If you were to look around my house right now, you would see an overload of hot wheels tracks spread out all over the main level, crushed cereal on the floor. Paintings the kids made this morning drying on the counter and the kitchen table filled with dried and hardened paint. You would hear Bentley and Penny fighting over who's book that is. You would see laundry EVERYWHERE. Dirty, clean.. all unfolded. Dinner cooking in the crockpot and an empty teddy grams package spilling over on the counter. That is normal.
Maybe Being a mother is easy for everyone else, but for me, Being a mother is sometimes.. ok most of the time, HARD! I feel like Im being pulled in a million and 1 directions. There are WAY TOO MANY opinions on how to parent "right", WAY TOO MANY judgemental comments being made about how other people parent and WAY TOO MANY things being said about a "Working Mom" or a "Stay at home Mom".. which is better for your children. There are comments being made about how everyone feels they could do it better.. and here I am .. feeling like I'm just trying to stay alive through it all. It is hard no matter what your circumstance is! You need more patience than the good lord has given me ( I think) but Ive prayed for more patience and .. ya.. .maybe I need to pray for an easier day. The last few weeks have been exhausting. Carter's in a REALLY hard stage right now. He is testing EVERYONES limits. His parents, grandparents, teachers. Its hard! Bentley is so tired 99% of the time because although he goes to bed at a good hour, he's up multiple times at night needed to be re-tucked in, given a kiss or to go potty and Penny is just 20 months still trying to figure out what she can and can not do. They are at tricky ages and sometimes you just need a break!
Between church, mutual activities, family get togethers, Brian working full time throughout the week and me doing photoshoots in the evenings and most weekends, its hard to find time to make the clock stop and take time to be alone.. as a couple, and recharge your batteries.
Because the list of people I trust with my kids is literally so small you need a magnifying glass to read it, we don't have many options.. and thats ok! This past week, Brian's mom asked if her and Dad could take the boys over night on Friday night to go Camping in their backyard! I thought I died and went to heaven! YES PLEASE!!!! The boys were SOOOO excited. They have never stayed overnight anywhere unless I was pushing out another baby and even then it was only one night.
It was so nice not to have to brush their teeth, make dinner, bath them, fight to get them to bed on time. Let me be clear here.. I do not take those everyday ordinary things for granted, I do love doing them and would never want to change a thing.. but sometimes, Moms need a break.. and for heavens sake.. Thats OK! Healthy even!
We still had Penny for the night but my mom was kind enough to watch Penny for the evening. We went out on a MUCH NEEDED break and by the time we got home, she was sleeping. It was quiet and amazing. We relaxed. Enjoyed the silence. And Penny even slept in until 8:50AM!!! Ive never felt so refreshed. I got to sleep THE WHOLE NIGHT which hasn't happened for longer than I can even remember. It was glorious.
Thank you so much to Mom and Dad Reed for taking our boys for the night. You will never truly know how much it was needed and how much it means to us to have just that little break! We feel like our patience is back! We aren't as short with the kids and it feels amazing! Thank you for giving us a little break. Thank you Mom for taking Penny girl, It was so nice to just be Brian and I for an evening with no worries in the world.
We truly, truly appreciate it! THANK YOU!
As for Brian and I, we kept our date relaxing! Brian has been dying for me to get on his motorcycle with him ever since he got it a year and a half ago and on Friday night, we did just that! He took me on a back country road and it was beautiful! I really loved every minute of it! It was so relaxing driving through the hills, seeing the buffalo roaming around. the sky was so blue, the birds were flying above us. It was amazing. We even stopped half way to get off the bike, sit in the grass and just enjoy the silence and each others company. We drove back to town and finished our date off with a later dinner. it was good but nothing could ever beat the man that was sitting across the table from me. Brian, I am so in love with you. We've been going on dates for over 12 years and you still know how to make every single one amazing and fun. I love you with all of my heart.
Sometimes you just need a break. From work, from friends, from cooking and cleaning, from waking up 10 times at night, from Life.. and yes, even from your kids.
We really do feel so much better!