Extremes

I was thinking the other day about motherhood. And the extremes that I go through on a daily basis parenting our kids.

Presley is at a really hard stage right now. She is a little destructo. This week alone she has gotten into fingernail polish, lipstick, an entire brand new industrial size bag of goldfish (which she subsequently dumped onto the floor), a loaf of bread, a glass pumpkin lid (which didn't survive and even cut Pacie's foot in the process) and just this morning she got into a box of powdered donut holes and spread them all over the carpet. JUST THIS WEEK ALONE. Here is a peek at her trail of destruction this morning.

And then there's Landon. There are many many tales I could tell about him. Just a couple reminders.....the paper shredder incident and the carpet fingernail polish incident. Another recent favorite is when he and Presley are in the tub and they splash to the point of totally flooding the bathroom. In fact, they've been caught several times doing cannonballs into the tub off of the sides. Please notice the filthy dirty shirt and the crumbs all over the couch. I don't know why he was eating on the couch, mind you...but there you go.

When things like that happen, it is very difficult to keep my cool. I do always try to look on of the bright or the funny side of things. I do try to remember that these moments are small ones and do not have eternal consequences.

And then I see pictures like this:

And have moments like this:

And I know why I have extremes. Because I love these kids more than life itself. All of my kids. These two are just cause the most anxiety at the moment. I love being a mommy. And the extreme frustration and discouragement is completely balanced out by the extreme love and adoration I have for all of my kids.

And I guess it's true what they say: You can't know the joy without the sorrow. You can't know the good without the bad. And I'm sure I wouldn't appreciate the good days without the bad ones.

In the meantime, I will just keep trying to laugh and remember that my kids will be grown and gone in the blink of an eye. And I will miss those powdered donuts scattered across the floor.