Crappy Coping Mom

This past Saturday we went to Lili's friend, Logan's, 3rd birthday party. Initially it was just going to be Lili and I, however Drew decided he could finish Lili's big girl bed transition if I took Will as well. Now we all know that I suck at juggling 2 children, by myself, outside of the comfort our home. I don't pretend to be one of those calm Moms who are unphased by the toddler crazies. Nope, I am the first to raise my hand and advertise just how much I suck at this...which is why I have only taken both children, by myself, outside of the home (beyond our backyard) a handful of times. 3 of these special outings occurred within the last couple of months, so I was starting to get a big head about how great of a Mom I was and figured a birthday party wouldn't be a big deal. Apparently this is the load of crap I told myself to muster the guts to do it, simply because I wanted Lili's room done.

So here is the very sweet birthday boy, Logan. He was SO excited to have everyone there to celebrate his special day! I really could use some help with red eye reduction here...
Cute kids eating a nummy lunch...

More cute kids eating a nummy lunch. Notice how I separated Lili and Will? There was a reason for that.

Hmmmm...Will is by himself at one table still eating...Lili is by herself at the other table still eating. Where are all the other kids? Oh, well they all ate 2 bites of their food and decided playing was more important. Despite encouraging my own kids to also get down and play, they insisted on continuing to indulge in hot dogs and Kraft mac n' cheese. I found this particularly amusing because both of them have been on a food strike at home (Lili moreso than Will) and now suddenly, this meal was incredibly delicious and important. They just couldn't pull themselves away from it! I shouldn't discourage my kids from eating...especially considering what we go through at home, but seriously!

This pic cracks me up because this was the very 1st birthday party Little Man attended and he was so happy to wear a party hat like all of the big kids. He kept it on throughout the entire meal!

Since I couldn't leave the room due to my monkeys slowly devouring their dinners, I took a few more pics and caught Lili successfully blowing her party-blower-thing-a-ma-bob. She was SO proud of herself she kept yelling over to the adults sitting at a nearby table, 'It works!!!'. Every time she got it to blow out again, 'IT WORKS!!!' She sounded so genuinely shocked that it wasn't broken... That was just hysterical to me.

After dinner, you will see that there are no more pics. That is because I didn't take anymore. I didn't take anymore because Wee Man decided to have a meltdown...and I still have no idea what prompted it. At first I thought he was mad because I took him away from his fruit. When I tried to give him more, he SOBBED. Then I tried picking him up...rocking him...letting other people hold him...patting him on his back (gas?)...nothing worked. At one point it almost sounded like he was going to puke, but he didn't. That's when I realized that he had been off of his acid reflux medication for about 4 days and maybe he was having an episode? He proceeded to cry (SOB)...unbelievably loudly...for about 25 minutes (I think?)...though it felt more like 2 days. My friend Ciana (Logan's Mommy) gave him some cake and that at least seemed to help tone down the noise for a bit...though we continued to have some crying off and on for awhile longer. Next thing you know, the kid was running around the house like nothing ever happened...pulling garbage out of the garbage can...trying to sneak past the kids opening the door to the basement, so that he could go down too...playing you-run-that-way-and-I'll-run-this-way with Lili (which is always fun when there is only one of us there to go after them)...yeah, it was a joy. You can probably guess that we did not stay long after that. My tolerance was shot to hell and I just needed to go home. Of course I felt horrible...horrible for leaving early...horrible for making Lili miss out...horrible for not having better coping skills as a mother...*sigh*...