The Pros and Cons of Motherhood

I have been absent from my blog for a very good reason.  Lack of sleep.  Noah has never been a good sleeper at night, and the last few weeks he has just gotten worse.  I found that 6 months of not enough sleep was my breaking point.  Poor Davis has had to deal with a mom who can barely function, let alone play well, discipline well, teach well, or cook well.  But the last night or two Noah has slept a little bit better and yesterday was a fantastic day, kind of kick-starting my "umph."  So to catch you up, we are going to play a little game of "Pros and Cons."

Pro:  Dressing my kids up for Halloween.  Davis was determined to be an elephant for Halloween.  An elephant.  It's hard, and expensive, to find an elephant costume to fit a big toddler.  It is equally hard to make one.  But, due to a stroke of good luck, I mentioned needing an elephant costume in a YW presidency meeting and one of the other leaders had a toddler-sized elephant costume.  So I found a giraffe costume on sale for Noah, I dressed up as a safari tour guide, and Darren dressed up as a tourist on safari.  We looked awesome at the Ward Halloween Carnival.

Con:  On Halloween I was so tired and ornery, the day was awful.  Davis refused to wear his costume to the Treehouse Museum Pumpkin Party.

But in the end, Halloween night turned out really fun.  Davis went trick-or-treating with Ty and Livy (cousins) on Nana and Bumpa's road and it was nice and warm and we carried Noah in his giraffe costume and we all had a great time.

Pro:  Raking leaves with Davis so he can jump in them over and over.
Con:  And over and over.  And again the next day.

Pro:  Watching Davis and Noah grow.
Con:  Having to buy them new clothes at the beginning of each season.  Last year we didn't buy snow clothes for Davis because he wasn't a big fan of the snow.  So this year, we had to buy it all: coat, gloves, snow pants, and boots.  After looking around, we realized boots would not be cheap.  We found some on sale at JCPenny's, where we also had a coupon, for $25 (with the coupon).  Ugg.

But here is where the Con turns into something beautiful.  I stopped at Kid to Kid on my way to JCPennys.  And found boots in Davis's size.  And snow pants. And a coat for Noah.  All for less than the boots would have been at the other store.  And that is what made Saturday so great.  The euphoria of finding a bargain.  And all of a sudden, I felt like I might survive this go round with whatever sleep I get.  I know.  Weird thing to make such a difference.

Saturday I also got around to making DIY baby leg warmers, made from women's knee high socks.  I made warm black ones and brown ones to put on Noah, under his pants in the winter when we go out.  They can also go on Davis under his pants to protect his ankles from any snow that might get under his boots.  I know.  Amazing.

Pro:  Being home to see it all happen.
Con:  Imminent insanity.