The Templeton Blog: that's how motherhood goes

It's been a very busy, stressful, beautiful (weather-wise) week filled with lots of crying, laughing, and little sleep. Here's how it went-

My parents left last Sunday and I swear my body just suddenly went into recovery mode the second they were gone (a week after running the marathon). I was so stinkin tired ( I mean like 1st trimester while pregnant, working, and raising a toddler tired...). The saddest part was- I was over exhausted and couldn't get any sleep. My toe nail was just killing me, and after my first official run, my hips hurt really badly. I still have the Ragnar relay next weekend so still need to be in good running condition. I was very cranky, loading up on coffee everyday, and my house was a total disaster...worse than it's ever been. I fell asleep after cooking dinner on Tuesday (it was like 7...), but continuously woke up throughout the night. And I just realized I never wrote a blog about Mr. Andrew's 4th birthday which makes me feel like a mother-failure...but it was a great day, he was very happy, excited, and my parents got to celebrate with us so that was great. :) Abby's first birthday blog was a year later, so I guess it's ok if Andrew's is a few weeks after the fact...to be continued...that's how motherhood goes.

Last week, we made these awesome feather boa skirts for our 200-mile relay. I stayed at Amy's house until 11:30 just laughing, talking, and crafting away at our skirts and hair clips. It was much-needed girl time that was so much fun.

not sure why I look so red in this picture

Wednesday was very busy- we went to Kylie's house to watch her while her mom was at a meeting and then the plan was she would come home and watch the kids so I could go to my meeting for Andrew. Didn't work out as planned so I loaded all 3 kids up in my car and took them to the meeting with me. :) Andrew and Kylie's teachers are awesome so they didn't mind watching them while I was in my meeting. I only have great things to say about his school. They ROCK! And so does Kylie's mom- she has watched my kids multiple times and even let Sadie out to potty while I was running the marathon. The moms at his school are awesome! We ran some errands and went to the gym later. Then I had my last Ragnar meeting until the relay which is always fun times. We decided 3 of the women in our van would be bringing air mattresses (considering we will be sleeping in a high school gym along the route), and possibly light some candles and spread out some rose pedals all while wearing our mud masks...might be joking about that part. ;-) I'm really excited about this relay!

I just have to give a shout out to my husband because he's been watching the kiddos a lot this week. I've been so busy/tired/and my next story may have been the most stressful moment in his life and I was at work at the time.

SOO..I started working at the gym a few weeks ago. I've had a few shifts during the day (a friend of mine from Andrew's school watched the kids once and then my parents watched them while they were here). I'm scheduled to open on Mondays and Fridays which means I need to be at the gym at 4:30..meaning I'm up at 3:30. Yes, you heard that correctly. Have I lost my mind?-maybe. But in all honesty- it's been kind of refreshing to get up before the kids and have some kid-free time to talk to adults and read magazines when no one is coming in. :) And you would be super surprised at all the people waiting for me to open the doors at 5 am. SOOO many people working out before their day officially starts. That is itself is giving me a new perspective to driven.

On to the stressful moment- On Thursday (while at work), I got a text right before 8 am saying- Urgent please call. Todd is definitely not one to over-exaggerate urgent, so I started kind of freaking out. I tried calling and finally he answered after about my 9th try. Andrew had shut his bedroom door on Abby's fingers that morning..and her nails were completely coming off...yikes. :( I can't even count the number I've times I have yelled, "Stop shutting doors!! Someone is going to get a finger stuck!! It's not safe" And now here we are-lesson learned the hard way. I told Todd I would send him the address for the hospital (I've been there a few times- Andrew stitches/testing for the dietician).

looks so stinking painful :(

Todd said when it happened, it kind of sounded like the typical "Abby/Andrew fighting over something silly" kind of scream (which usually DOES sound a bit like a death scream-but that's kind of typical "abby screaming"), so he didn't think it was bad until he got to the door and saw her fingers shut IN THE HINGES. :/ So, I drive like a crazy lady to get to the ER as fast as I could. My baby girl is quite the over-exaggerator so as you can imagine- this was definitely something to be upset about and SHE WAS when they got to the ER. :( They had to do x-rays (they weren't broken thank goodness), so ended up having to reattach the nail beds/nails back onto 2 of her fingers (!!!!) and now her little fingers are just a sad sight. :( Since I was the one to help hold Andrew down during his stitches experience, I told Todd I would walk Andrew around while they did what they needed to do and when I got back- she was completely covered in sweat from fighting. :( OHHH...it made me so sad.

She had bows in her hair from the day before- I'm sure they were thinking, "daddy took the time to put bows in her hair before taking her to the Er??" haha!

The rest of that day was kind of a blur for me- I had been up since 3:30, my nerves were shot from the ER trip, I didn't take Andrew to school because Abby was napping...so yea- stressful experience. We had actually ran into some friends from school at the ER (she was having an ultra-sound done-she's expecting her 3rd), and she offered to take Andrew to school that day, but I just kept him at home. I totally took her up on the offer the next day (which felt like 4 days later). I opened again Friday and Abby fell asleep before I could take Andrew to school so she took him to school AND brought him home!! So so absolutely awesome. I had bought flowers for Andrew's 4 teachers at school (it was teacher appreciation week), but didn't want to send all those flowers to school without me there to help, so I ended up keeping/giving some to Jenna instead. I'm telling you-raising 2 young kids is so hard that it is an absolute MUST to accept help. I have a very difficult time admitting I need help but I definitely did last week and the moms I've met through Andrew's school are incredible. I will definitely be repaying the favor when Jenna has her 3rd!! That's how motherhood goes!

This blog is so long but I also wanted to throw in the fact that Abby has suddenly decided to try potty training this week. Talk about the wrong week to become interested. She's been successful several times but she's also peed all over the house several times too. LOL! My parents got her this cool potty that plays music when she potties (it has a sensor)- and so there were a few times when Abby would say "I went potty" and I'd reply- "No baby it would have played music" so my sneaky little daughter would say- "Oh...ok..." reach under the potty and press the hidden button that also plays the music...she is so...stinkin...smart. Then Andrew figured this out so they were both trying to trick me into believing she was going potty (he was helping her with pulling her underoos up and down and was also being rewarded with gummy bears when she pottied). :) They are so funny sometimes.