Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The day I almost threw Theo out the window

I am now 38 weeks pregnant, and feeling it. This pregnancy has been so different from the first. So many more aches, so much more fatigue, so hot all the time.  Not to mention a two year old to keep me busy.

Yesterday, I was feeling especially tired in my body, and all I wanted to do is sit or lay down all day. I was sitting on the couch, when I realized I hadn't heard from Theo in a few minutes (always a dangerous sign).  I got up and found him on his step stool in the bathroom (also a bad sign).  I found his hands covered in petroleum jelly, and the scene below.


If you've never tried to clean up petroleum jelly before, it is a huge pain.  I count my blessings that he hadn't left the bathroom.  But I was pretty mad about it. I cleaned him up, gave him a time out, and locked myself in the bathroom armed with a roll of paper towels.  I don't know how long it took me to clean up, but I did have to take apart my hair dryer to get the goo out of the mesh on the back.

By this time, I was exhausted, but I knew this crime had happened out of boredom, so I was going to whisk us off to the Sciencenter. But as I opened the door, I saw this...


Theo has been getting into the fridge a lot lately, and I guess this was the perfect opportunity for him.  I am not a yeller, but I was so mad I yelled his name.  When his head popped out of my room, I pointed to the ground and said, "what is this?" 

That sweet little face said, "butter."  If I wasn't so mad, I would have laughed as I do now.  Instead, I told him it was timeout time again, and he must have seen the look in my eye, because he sat down right where he was.  I set a timer on my phone, because I knew I could have kept him there indefinitely.  I turned my back on him to try and breathe some calm into myself, but instead I cried.

After cleaning up yet another greasey mess, I slapped some shoes on us and we drove to the Sciencenter.  I wasn't sure how I was going to waddle up and down the stairs trying to chase him, but we had to leave the house.  Usually there are ten or eleven cars in the lot, but yesterday every single spot was full (luckily there was an open expectant mother's spot near the front, bless them).  Keeping track of Theo is hard, but keeping track of him when there are millions of other children running around is insane. 

Heavenly Father must have been paying special attention to Theo yesterday, seeing as he didn't get thrown out the window by his mother, or taken home on accident by another family. He must have also been watching out for me, because we'd arranged a Theo-free night.


At least I got this sweet lad to take a sweet picture at the Sciencenter.

Last night, our delightful friend Sara joined us for dinner, then watched Theo as Corbin and I toured the new maternity ward at the hospital.  It opened last week, and is pretty swanky.  Each room has a jacuzzi, and you know I be hitting that up. We even got frozen yogurt afterward, the closest thing I could have hoped for on a Tuesday night.

Theo using his spear head to chip away the rock wall, very diligently

Today has been good.  Corbin came on a lunch date with us to picnic at Ithaca falls. It's the perfect local, because it's a three minute "hike" to these beautiful falls. And I sure love what a wonderful daddy Corbin is.


Trying to fill our days so that waiting for this little girl to come is a challenge.  I want to keep us busy, but it's so hard to wrangle Theo when I can barely get around, myself.  We watch a lot of TV, and although I tell myself and others that it's ok at this point in our lives, I still feel the mother's guilt for turning Theo's brain to mush. We can't wait for Grandma to come and take care of us!


4 comments:

Paul Chatfield said...

You AND Theo AND Corbin are ALL sweet. That's easy to say from 3,000 miles away. Keep a stiff upper lip and all that rot.

Holly F. said...

Here is a mantra for when that baby-man gets to be too rambunctious:

"Do you have a brain on a chain?"

That unanswerable question will calm your mind.

Whitney Hardie said...

My kids watch so much TV. So MUCH. I don't think their brains have melted yet. You're doing great!

teridmama said...

Love you honey! Let go of the guilt....he will survive and will not be damaged by watching some extra TV. Look at his Daddy! :-)