My sister Whitney and her husband Ben went on a sweet cruise to the Bahamas a few weeks ago. Matt and I were pretty jealous because that has been Matt's dream vacation...because he's been there twice. And it was my dream vacation too...because I have never been there. Well, Whitney talked to me a few months before the cruise, she had an important request, (...and I almost thought that she was going to invite me and Matt to join them on the cruise!)... would I take care of her three little ones while she was gone? Of course!
One of my goals at this time in my life is to be available. And I was available to be a mom of three for a week. The real question...was I prepared? Only time will...and time did tell.
I see Whitney and her kids often and felt confident that things would go well. They did. But it was a quick crash course on motherhood, without the nine expectant months to prepare, or even adding one child at a time. In fact, I had to get my game face on real quick because kids are very practiced at being kids.
I learned a few things:
1. Kids can pretty much sleep in all day, why don't they? Whitney lied to me and told me they get up around 7:30. Wrong!! They get up around 5:45, ask for breakfast, whisper loudly and believe you when you tell them it is not morning yet. I would not let them get up until 7:30...this did not stop them, though, of waking up whenever they wanted.
2. Get them on a schedule. Granted, it was my schedule and a pretty timid schedule at that, but it was something. Whitney is fearless. She goes anywhere and does anything. She is not stopped or slowed down by kids...she just successfully takes them anywhere and I admire her for that. I was a new mom, though. So, at 7:30, I began to verbally prepared the kids for what was on the schedule after breakfast. We had 2 hours to get ready to go to the gym. And it took 2 hours. We left 30 minutes before the class started to give us time to load and unload. This also gave me time to run back in the house 3-4 times to grab the things I forgot. Do all moms lose their mind when they have kids? Then it was back home to steal a few moments here and there during the next 3 hours to get ready. Lunch at 11:45, walk Samantha to the bus stop at 12:30, take Mason and Luella on a walk to wear them out. Home for quiet time and pick Samantha up at the bus stop at 3:30. Prep for dinner. Dinner. Prep for bed. Bed. Get kids a drink of water. Get them another drink of water. Remind them it was past bed time. By this time I was so exhausted I went to bed too! Next morning...wake up and do it all over again!
3. Don't take kids out to run errands unless it is life or death or a life or death emergency! At least this was my philosophy for the week. On Monday, I took mason (and Luella) to All-A-Dollar to get some treats for the week. First of all, I should have just taken Luella out of the carrier but its a challenge just getting her in. She gets mad and arches her and makes it impossible to buckles the straps. So I decided to just take the whole carrier. So, I grab the carrier, grab my purse, grab Mason before her runs across the parking lot and we head in. Then we get inside and I have to put the carrier down in the isle because my arm was going numb and moved her along with my foot as we moved down the isle. Then I ran out of hands holding my purse, the shopping cart, the carrier and hands with Mason. And, Luella's feet, which hung out of the carrier, kept knocking into stuff and I could see this quickly going downhill fast. We got our stuff, got out of the store and cute Mason insisted on carrying the 15 pound shopping bag. So he half carried, half drug the bag down the sidewalk, across the parking lot and into the car. Then once everything was loaded, including kids, we were off. This is when Mason wanted the treats. My arms to no reach to the back of the mini-van so the poor kid was out of luck this time. Mason did not understand this, though. So, don't run errands unless it is an emergency and at all costs, don't let the kids see what you buy!
4. Wear them out! It's the best sedative. We didn't go on a lot of errands but we did do a lot of walks. After the gym each morning, we went to a playground a played. Then we'd walk Samantha to the bus stop and take a walking detour home with Mason and Luella. Mason and I would talk about what we saw, what the different colors were and I'd quiz him on crossing the street as well...look both ways for cars, wait for the adult! Then we'd go on another walk before we picked up Samantha from the bus stop. And on more than one evening, we played at a park after dinner as a reward for good behavior. I admit that I did take Mason and Luella on a long car ride to Provo to sedate them, and they got like a 2 hour nap...but most days I relied on the physical activity to wear them out.
5. Who needs dumbells when you have a baby? Little Lu-Lu...she is the one who took most quickly to my role as mom. She would not let me out of her sight otherwise she'd let out an ostrich scream. It was a big noise coming from such a small baby. So, while I was normally use to my own body size moving down the hall or through doorways, I had to get use to a baby on my hip. I got creative though. She'd sit in her high chair and play in the spice drawer while I prepared dinner. She'd be in the bathroom sink while I got ready. I put her in the laundry basket when I needed to carry around laundry or toys. I told Whitney my goal with Luella was to have her crawling by the time they got back. Goal achieved! It started out as a worm/army crawl. But she gets around. The night her parents returned, we were in the nursery showing Luella's new trick. Mom, Dad and Aunt Rebekah all circled around the room and who did the baby crawl to...Aunt Rebekah! This confirmed that I successfully completed my job.
It was a busy week, a learning week, but a fun week. The first half of the week was the learning curve for me and the last half was the performance time! Samantha, Mason, and Luella are darling kids. I woke up the morning after Ben and Whitney returned missed those kids. I was bored the whole day. I called Whitney just to see how the kids were doing and had to stop myself from going over and checking on them. This just reaffirms a belief I already hold true, the most difficult things in life are the most rewarding. My personal motto, "I can do difficult things...and love it." -R-
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