Just One of Those Days

If you are my facebook friend, you saw that I had a rough day yesterday.  Ben is teething so he hasn't been sleeping well.  Therefore, I have also not been sleeping well.

Today was much better!  Ben still woke up overnight, but briefly, and he went right back to sleep after a new diaper, Tylenol and some water.  

Ben and I took Evan, Emmett and Corrie to their respective schools, then came home for a little while before his first private speech therapy appointment!  It was GREAT.  This particular therapist sees several of our little friends with Down syndrome, and she's got a lot of energy and good ideas.  Ben was engaged and interested in everything she did - lots of bubbles, the Nuk brush, some facial massage, and a little syringe feeding to exercise the back of his tongue.  I came home with a list of things to try at home.

Then ... the day took a turn ... for the worse.  (Ha!)

Ben fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up Corrie.  NOOOOO!  Sure enough, he napped about 30 minutes in the car and then refused to sleep at all once we got home.

Once Evan got home from school, our house descended into chaos.  At 4:30 or so, this is what was happening in my house:

The trashcan had been moved on top of the kitchen table because a certain almost-18 month old was opening cabinets, taking items out, then throwing things away.

A 4 year old was hosting a Barbie pool party ... loudly singing "His Banner Over Me is Love" while the Barbies splashed away.

Having relocated to the living room, Ben systematically took out every toy in the cabinet.  And enjoyed it all.  He's undressed because he also poured half a gallon of bottled water on the kitchen floor.  

Balls and plasticware in Ben's wake.  I neglected to take a picture of the enormous puddle.

 Evan played some kind of loud warrior game on the Ipad.

 Some more of Ben's destruction:

 

 And then something (perhaps the lack of napping!!!) made Ben sad. 

 

 For a brief period of time, all I could hear was 

• toddler wailing 
• Corrie singing worship songs and 
• the sounds of war from the Ipad.  

I just stood in the middle of it all and shook my head.

Fortunately, some juice and a snuggle soothed Ben's spirits, and Evan and Corrie went outside to play basketball and ride bikes.

Later, I overfilled a pot, causing a minor waterfall from my sink.  Then, an hour later, I dumped a bowl of chicken noodle soup in my lap.

It was just one of those days.  

I love being a mom.  :)

I'm Back

I have been meaning to write for a while, but it has been difficult.  Why?  Well, I am out of the habit of writing regularly and we got a new camera.  The camera is awesome but I'm not quite used to it yet.

Here's what we've been up to:

Hanging out at home.  (Picture taken by Corrie with the old camera, now known as the kids' camera).

Practicing crawling.  Note the sofa pillows on the floor behind Ben.  We've been setting up miniature obstacle courses for him to navigate.
 

Evan and Dad had some special father/son time at the Harlem Globetrotters game.  
 

Corrie's been enjoying playdates with friends. 
 

And Evan turned EIGHT!  I can hardly believe it.   

Life has been busy but so good.  I'll be back with an "I love my 8 year old" post soon.  :)