Tough Day

Today was one of those days that makes me wonder why I ever thought I could be a stay at home Mom. Evelyn was in fine form, stubborn , refusing to listen, asking "why" every time I ask her something or gave her a task direction, calling mama every 45 seconds and then having nothing to say, being mean to her kitten.... usually such a great girl but there are those off days. Of course this happens when Les is at work for 72 hours and today was the first day of what is shaping up into a memorable weekend. It doesn't help that my neck is bothering me pretty bad today and I can't seem to get out from under the pain and we had several, small but annoying tasks that needed done. I haven't had a chance to finish a thought until just now, I swear days like this can leave me feeling like I have post-traumatic stress.

It was funny because last night Les and I were at the dinner table talking about how far we had come from those long weary first days with her. We were remembering the first time we were like , " ok well parenting may not be the cake walk that we thought..." (silly mortals). We were in Guangzhou at our room in the White Swan, Ev had been with us for about 14 days or so and she got sick. Vomiting , coughing, etc., we had just used the last piece if linens in the room for another round of throwing up ( did you know that if you give a baby 8oz of formula and they vomit, the formula multiplies exponentially and you get 8 gallons back? ) and I realized that the crazed/glazed look on her face was the Benedryl and that we had a kiddo that gets wound up on that stuff. Nice. Oh yes, and this was the night before the 24 hour journey back to Alaska, so we were trying to pack! I ended up pacing the halls with Ev all night while Les packed up and secured us for travel. By the time we got to the airport and Ev finally fell asleep on the plane, she had been awake and crying for over 24 hours.....

You know what? Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

The pictures are from a brief truce in the yard this afternoon.