Face Plants and Tantrums

I come with a heavy heart as I type this post. I'm grieving through a loss with some friends and my heart just aches. As a fixer I really struggle with wanting to say and do the right things to comfort. However, I know that sometimes the best thing is to just sit back, lend an ear, provide a shoulder and pray them through.

I'm eternally grateful for our miracle and times like this make me that much more grateful for God's goodness. He has an amazing journey for us, even when we don't like where He takes us.

Speaking of, I hope you'll check out this amazing video. I have had the honor of praying for this family for quite some time now. Lindsey (from Vapor and Mist) tells her family's story (have tissues on hand) and there is no way that you can walk away from hearing this unchanged. She brings to light so many important things and really hones in on God's greatness through the storms. Please take some time to view.

Sweet Sophie

::via::

I am in awe of the strength that I have seen from these families. Likewise, I try to always appreciate every moment of motherhood...even the tough ones.

Such are the moments I experienced last weekend. Fortunately neither of these events occurred on our mother-daughter trip to DC...just before and after.

That Friday morning was particularly rushed. I was trying to get the remainder of the Jeep packed for our trip. I had brought G outside with me as I loaded the vehicle. I heard an odd noise from the side of the house. I ran over to see our dog Abby on the outside of the fence. This would not be a big deal expect she was still attached to her run. (Back story: Abby is a known escape artist. We are currently in the midst of repairing our fence to keep her in. In order to keep her safe and out of the cattle pasture, we've had to tie her up.) She had about 20 feet of run line, which apparently was just enough to let her scale the 6 foot fence. There she was, standing on her tiptoes. I know it had to have happened at some point in the past hour or so because she was fine upon me waking up that morning. As I walked toward her I heard a wailing cry coming from my daughter just a few feet away. She had attempted to crawl up the porch steps and missed one.

Face-0   Concrete-1

Her little nose was scratched up and bleeding. She also had a scratch and welt above her eye. Of course the babe took precedent. I quickly tended to her nose and checked her teeth. Aside from being sore, all was well. I then took her back outside to tend to Abby. That was a rough way to start the day.

Now of course if you are going to begin the weekend that way, you obviously should send it out with a bang.

We stopped about an hour from home on Sunday for lunch. We opted for a quick mall trip. Lunch went well and we made our way into a few stores. I'd been considering a smaller umbrella style stroller for G since our current stroller is so big and we don't really need something that large anymore. Fortunately as she gets bigger, the bag for necessity items gets smaller.

We went into one of the larger department stores and came across a great sale on the type of stroller I was looking for. I let G out of her stroller and she proceeded to climb into the floor model of the umbrella stroller. I picked out the style and design that I liked best and told G it was time to go bye-bye. Her precious little mouth said "no". Did I mention not only is she adorable but extremely strong willed? I told her it was time to go one more time and she wiggled her little bottom firmly into the seat and looked at me (with the cutest little expression) and said "no" once again. This momma had to stand her ground. I pulled her out of the seat and she immediately became angry. I was going to have her walk with me so I took her hand. She refused to stand up, gave me dead weight, and yelled at me. I was one horrified (and angry) mother. Since when did my beautiful baby girl become so defiant and sassy?! I picked her up, put her in her stroller and away we went. I'm proud to say we both survived her first real tantrum. She won't be two until April...I thought I had some time before this type of attitude surfaced.

I know by looking at this face you'd never believe it.

Fortunately we have not had another episode and I hope it stays that way for a while. These moments, while trying in the midst, form memories and show us what we are made of. Count these true joys of motherhood...

Linking up with Les for Mama Mondays.