January blues

 January has been a rough month, and its only 2/3 done.

We have had lots of moments of Clara pictured above,

and lots of moments of Luke pictured below

(only because he tortures her and laughs about it)

It has been unseasonably cold lately.  It has been dreary and cloudy and just plain miserable.  We have been locked in doors and going stir crazy.  I am thankful we haven't been sick lately, its going around bad this year.  However we just keep asking ourselves "is this just a hard stage?"  It seems our kids keeping getting worse and worse.  Clara is a constant drama queen.  We have had days where there has been lots of crying, almost constant crying.  Luke pesters her, and is just plain rude on PURPOSE!  Clara will cry over anything.  I guess our kids are true to their gender.  Luke is all BOY just rough and tough.  Clara is all girl, dramatic and sensitive.  The crying can make any day seem long and dreary.  I try to keep Clara happy, but she is just plain stubborn and ornery about having things her way, no matter what.  

Our kids have a terrible habit of waking up in the middle of the night, hungry, refusing to go back to bed without a snack.  We are constantly in the kitchen 2am finding something for the kids.  They get so busy throughout the day, they don't eat enough, and finally their little tummies demand food at the most inconvenient time.  We tell them no snacking in the middle of the night, that they need to eat their dinner, but it just doesn't seem to help.  Someday we will get 8 consecutive hours of sleep....

Our kids are just constantly fighting.  It doesn't matter what one of them has, the other wants it no matter what.  Just the simple pleasure of taking it away from each other is all they want.  When does the fighting end?  Sometimes I wish they would just co-conspire and at least like each other for a minute.  It just seems like the crying and whining never ends around here.  Thus making for a very dreary January.  

Clara is feisty, as mentioned before.  She has thrown some impressive public fits lately that have been embarrassing.  Her latest fiasco needs to be recorded.  I'm hoping to be able to laugh about this someday, but for now, I'm still embarrassed.  We were late to church last Sunday for ward conference.  We were stuck sitting in the very back of the gym, in regular folding chairs.  Folding chairs are not good for kids, they are easily escape-able.  Clara made a run for it, our kids can be so speedy.  Sometimes she comes back, and I was so hoping she would return.  Clara was running for the stage, with no intentions of returning.  I was dreading having to go up in front of everyone to retrieve my child.  I saw Clara go up on stage, and I was still hoping she would turn around.  Then I saw her turn towards the organ.  That was the moment I knew I had to run to catch her before she started playing it....too late.  Clara started playing the organ- during the stake presidents remarks.  A member of the bishopbric picked her up off the keys before I could reach her, so he handed her to me and I quickly exited the chapel.  I was so embarassed I just stood in the foyer for a moment trying to tell myself - "maybe people didn't notice"  Ya right!  EVERYONE noticed!  My daughter is now known as the one playing the organ solo during the stake presidents remarks!

On the positive side of this dreary January, we are alive.  I am sure one day I will look back on this crazy period of my life and miss the chaos.  My kids really are super adorable, and I can't help but laugh every time Clara exclaims "I did it!" with such exuberance.  How can I get mad at that when she raises her hands in the air shouting for joy that she accomplished something...even though that something was something she wasn't supposed to be doing.