One of Those Days

Have you ever had a day where no matter what you do or how hard you try, you cannot seem to make your children happy?  That is today for me.  It didn't start off that way.  Everyone was happy while Daddy got ready for work and headed out the door, and it lasted for a little while later.  Perhaps it was because my plate was too full...perhaps I was trying to get too much done and not able to give adequate attention to my little ones.  After all I was baking banana bread (had extremely ripe bananas I needed to get rid of), packing a lunch (for us to meet Daddy at the park by his work during lunchtime), changing laundry loads, packing the diaper bag and whatnot.  Don't get me wrong...I did give attention to my boys.  In fact I helped my little engineer, James, relocated his train tracks from the train table to create a more elaborate layout on the floor of the living room.

Both of the boys started melting down as I tried desperately to get us out of the house in time to meet Daddy.  I had two crying, screaming little boys on my hands.  Thankfully James passed out in the car (that was most of the problem...he was tired) and Sam passed out once we reached Daddy's work.  They were able to take short little naps which helped them enjoy their time at the park with Daddy.  I am grateful that Daddy had a good experience with the boys.

However, upon returning home, I have the same issue all over again.  James, who usually goes right down to sleep without a fuss, started to cry and scream after being put into bed.  Meanwhile Sam was crying in the other room, so I changed Sam's diaper, went back to James and sang him a couple more songs while holding him and then put him to bed.  That time he decided to succumb to sleep.  However, even though Sam is exhausted, I cannot for the life of me get him to close those little eyes.  Instead he cries and fusses at me.  He will be content for a brief moment and then start crying again.  I do think Sam is teething, so I am sure that is where most of his inability to remain content comes from.  In just a moment, I am going to rock him in the rocking chair and hope for the best. 

With my luck, by the time I get Sam sleeping, James will be yelling "Mommy!" to let me know he is awake and ready to play.  As long as James wakes up in a good mood, it will be alright.  If not, the long day will have an even longer afternoon.