Mr. Mom

Wednesday was quite an eye opening day for me.  Colleen had flu clinic at KCA and I had no classes, so we swapped places for the day.  She spent the day poking and making children cry, while I had to deal with crying kids at home.  The day started out just fine, Colleen, being the wonderful person she is made oatmeal, mainly because I don't know the right proportions and she has been making oatmeal for the last 2 years or so, so naturally, she is just better at it than me.  Thankful for the "break" of not having to make breakfast, I soon found myself alone, outnumbered by my precious little rug-rats!

Once the door closed, as Colleen left, she took with her all the great ideas I had and "fun" things we were going to do at home without Mommy!  I put the kids on the floor to play and scarfed down my food as well as the rest of theirs and took a look at the kitchen and table we just ate at.

It was as if a little "mess bomb" blew up in the apartment.  Starting to pick everything up, the kids started getting restless and the three of us began "cleaning"!  I use quotations because each one of the three of us left at home has a different idea of what cleaning is.  For Ellianna, cleaning is taking the small milk spill on the table and wiping it up so it is no longer on the table but on the chair and floor too.  Jolen, put away one dishtowel and then proceeds to take out three...put another away and take out three... put another away and take out three.. oh we are out of dishtowels... lets "put away" potholders... and when that is done... crackers... garbage... Anything else I can possibly get my hands on!  And Me, simply pick up everything and throw it into the sink.  Towels, milk, garbage, leftovers, I think I may have even tossed Jolen in there at one point, but finally after an hour long struggle, it was done.  Everything was out of reach of my children!  Alright, time to play!

Wrong!  Very Wrong!  Time to make the bed.  Pull up the sheets and covers;  sounds simple enough.  Ellianna pulls out her toys that only she is allowed to play with and the only place she is able to play with them is on the bed where Jolen cannot go but squawks the whole time Ellianna is up there arguing his case that he is a "big-boy" and therefore capable of differentiating the difference between a Lego-man's head and a piece of puffed wheat!

Laundry, the kids cannot possible make this difficult can they?  Well they can throw all the clothes on the ground.  That wasn't so bad... but wait a minute... what clothes are clean and what are dirty, what clothes just got washed and need hanging up?  The wet ones.  OK, that is simple.  But the wet ones have been thrown onto the dirty/clean ones and now they are all wet.  I guess that is why God created us with noses because clean clothes smell clean, right?

Eventually, I was able to sit down and play with the kids building blocks for about 5 minutes and then I looked at the clock and it was lunchtime and about time to start the cycle over again!

Reminded me of a song growing up

I know I have mentioned how life circumstances can give us a glimpse of heavenly things and as I watch my children grow, they are becoming more mature.  Very slowly at times it seems, but I wonder if when Paul is addressing the Corinthian Church in 1 Cor 3:2 saying he gave them milk and not spiritual food because they were not ready yet, if Our Father in heaven sometimes says, "enough with the childhood act!  It is time to grow up and not leave "messes" everywhere but grow in maturity so you may be someone who does not need to be "babied" in the faith day after day.  But be someone who is able to come alongside others and help them grow in their maturity as well!"  I know I often go about my spiritual walk and say to myself, "that doesn't need to be dealt with yet" or "I can be ignorant in my faith because I don't have the time or priority or desire to really dig deep and grow in my faith"  And I admit, I lots of times am a part of the "mess" instead of the "cleanup."

Here are a few pictures of our bundles of joy "growing up"

Dreaming of driving already

Brushing teeth for the very first time

I want to be an "old man" like Daddy!