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Motherhood: A Beautiful Circus.

My mom came up to see me and the boys the other day and after a love fest of kisses and hugs between my babies and their Glam*Ma, we set out for some errand running. After all, what better day to run errands than when you have some help with the boys? Specifically, I wanted to get my eyebrows threaded and grab a few new shirts, so after we lunched at The Olive Garden (three weeks postpartum and I'm STILL craving that delicious salad), we hit up the mall. And that is when the skies opened, the earth shook and my eyes were opened to this new little life I now lead.

It went a little something like this.

12:30pm - We park, wrangle everyone out of the car and walk inside the mall.

First stop: The Candy Shop! There is an adorable new candy store that just screams "come inside and buy pounds of sugar", so that's exactly what we did. Levi was like a kid in a candy shop running around filling his goody bag. Oh wait. He was a kid in a candy shop. Now I know why that phrase exists. The adorable decor paired with the delightful displays of candy made for the perfect sweet shop. I fell in love with that place so hard that I, too, went a little crazy filling MY goody bag. (The pearly colored Sixlets were too much to handle. Wonderful. I simply had to have some for my candy dish.) We left with a few bags of treats and set out for the tasks at hand.

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To the eyebrow threading!

I pushed Ezra in his stroller and Mom held Levi's hand as we trekked down to the opposite end of the mall to where the "brow art" place was. But of course, we passed the carousel, so we made a quick pit stop. Levi rode on Elvis the horse and had quite a time.  When he hopped off, we refocused from all the fun and kept trekking.

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To the eyebrow threading!

Until ... we spotted the hermit crabs.

Oh, the hermit crabs.  Such creepy, eery little critters.  I am not a fan.  We stopped to let Levi check out the freaky little things, and my Mom began asking the lady at the kiosk every last thing about those crabs. I knew she didn't care a bit, but she felt the need to keep a conversation going with this lady as Levi ooh'd and ahh'd over these horrifying creatures. I just stood back and watched as Mom got the Hermit Crab 101 Lecture, smiling and shaking my head at her antics.  By the way Mom was engaging her, you would have thought she was in the market to start a hermit crab farm.  Hilarious.

As they were marveling at the king of the crabs and how he scaled a plastic palm tree, Levi nonchalantly slipped something into my Mom's hand as she feigned interest and asked another question to the hermit lady.  She took it without thinking anything of it and as she opened her mouth to ask something else, she glanced down at her hand, SCREAMED and THREW the thing across the mall.  Her scream startled me and I jumped out of my skin and then started laughing so hard I thought I was going to .... have an accident.  I could not stifle my giggles.

The hermit lady wasn't laughing.

Levi had slipped an empty shell into Mom's hand, she looked down and thought it was a crab, freaked, and instinctively chunked the thing across the mall.  It went flying with great force and landed just under Mickey Mouse's nose in the Disney store across the aisle.

Neither of us could stop laughing.  Mom apologized and offered to pay for the (undamaged) shell, I pushed Ezra away laughing myself into an oblivion, and quickly fled the scene.  To where?

To the eyebrow threading!

Oh ... but not before a stop in the Disney Store.  I blame Mom for this pit stop.  Levi probably would never have spotted the giant Mickey if it weren't for the crab shell that landed under his nostrils.  We went in, bought an Iron Man mask and went on our merry way.

To the eyebrow threading!

We FINALLY made it to the brow store and there was a sea of people waiting to get their brows threaded.  The wait was going to be 40 minutes, so we put our name in and began the wait.  I ran into a store, perusing their shirts, and Mom let Levi ride the quarter cars time and again.

My name was called shortly after.  Finally!  Eyebrow threading!

Let me just tell you, that it was quite the experience.  It was my first time with the threading, and I really liked the results.  It hurts, yes.  But I think it hurt me so bad because I don't have very hairy brows, so I rarely have to pluck.  If I were used to plucking often, I don't think it would have hurt as bad.  But it did make my eyes water and I was happy when it was over.  But the results were great!

The lady who worked on me was super sweet.  Her name was Tortilla.  I'm still trying to process why her mother chose such a name, but hey, to each her own.  When I was finished with my turn, it was time to feed Ezra, so I sat and fed him while my Mom got her brows threaded and Levi ran about telling everyone he saw about his new hiding place.

Oh, and then he choked on a gummy butterfly, threw up in my hands and gagged the teenager sitting next to me.  Just wait, girlfriend.  Just wait until you're a Mommy.

Mom's turn took about twice as long as mine, and she has a lot less brow than me, so I couldn't figure out what on earth was taking so long .... until I saw Tortilla wiping her tears away and hugging my mom over and over.  My mom made Tortilla cry.

Tortilla thinks my Mom is an angel (literally), and made Mom write down the address to her Church so she could come visit.  I don't know what all was said between my Mom and Tortilla, but it made quite an impression.  Incredible.  We went in for a good old fashioned brow pluckin' and ended up in a counseling session.  Only my Mom.

Maybe she should have counseled the hermit lady, too.  Maybe her name was Quesadilla.

So.  First planned stop - DONE.  And it had only been two and a half hours since we arrived!

To the shirt shopping!

Mom took the stroller and parked it out of the way and she, Levi and Ezra sat in the floor while I shopped.  I heard lots of laughter their way and thought nothing of it.  When I passed by, Levi screamed, "hey Mommy! We are having a fruit punch picnic!" I'm not sure what all goes down at a fruit punch picnic, but I do know that they eat fruit punch tic-tacs and do LOTS of laughing. Like, the deep, guttural laughing that kind of hurts but feels great at the same time. Glam*Ma gives A-list comedians a run for their money, apparently.

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Do you see how hard this little boy is laughing?  Well, approximately 25 seconds after this picture was snapped, he threw up.  All. Over. Himself.  He was drenched in vomit.  He choked on a fruit punch tic-tac while laughing and the fruit punch picnic came to a screeching halt.

We had to strip him down and buy him new clothes.

So, we did just that.

While we were in the restroom changing Levi's clothes, we ran into some friends of ours.  We chatted for a bit and then headed out to finish our second planned task.

To the shirt shopping!

As I shopped, Levi and Mom went around finding "stages" for Levi to perform on.  He found probably 15 stages that day, and every single time, Mom stopped, let him perform and then clapped and cheered.

Patient lady, that Glam*ma.

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And Ezra slept.

Later, we found ourselves in the Coach store.  While there, Ezra started crying and we realized another three hours had passed and it was time for him to eat again!  This day was starting to get away from us.  I scooped up Ezra, prepped his bottle and headed out the door when Mom said, "Whitney, you might want to do something about your son...", and I looked over only to find Levi undressing in front of a mirror directly in the middle of the store!  His shirt was almost completely off, and he said, "Mommy! I'm undressing all by myself!"

There I stood.  Holding my screaming, hungry newborn, juggling my diaper bag, stroller and bottle - all while putting Levi's shirt back on him and giving him a little "we don't undress in public" pep-talk.  I got plenty of stares and bits of encouragement from other Mom's passing me as I made my way out of the limelight and into a quiet place to feed Ezra.

"This is a CIRCUS," I said to my Mom.

"Oh, my darling.  Enjoy these moments.  THESE are the best days of your life," my mom said, as she squeezed my arm and kissed my babies.

5:30 pm. We load up and head home.

We set out for two things: eyebrow threading and shirt shopping.  It took five hours.  Five hours!  Gone are the days of "running in" and doing something quick because with two precious little boys, one a newborn and one a toddler, their needs are demanding and scheduled (Ezra) and everything is an adventure (Levi).

It hit me like a ton of bricks when my Mom encouraged me with such a sweet reminder.  It's not about completing the tasks.  It's not about how fast I can get my errands done.  It's about the in between.  Life's precious moments are what happens in the in between.  Without all of the in betweens of that day, it would have just been another day.  But BECAUSE of those in betweens, it was one of the sweetest, funniest, most memorable days I have had in a long time.

I want to soak in these fleeting moments with every fiber of my being.  I want to make the in betweens of my days the best childhood memories for my boys.  I don't want my children to think back on their lives and remember a "rush-rush-rush" day-to-day.  I want them to remember me stopping - laughing - engaging - encouraging - teaching - creating - and letting them be children.

These little blessings make my days deliriously beautiful.  I can hardly wait to see what the in betweens of today brings!






I am a modern day homemaker with a passion for family, cooking, celebrating, decorating, travel, and memory making! The Lord has blessed me with the desires of my heart in my husband and our two sons. We recently built our dream home and cultivating a loving and happy haven for my family is where I find so much joy.

Comments

  1. Oh, I loooved this post! I want children so bad :) It´s wonderful to read what the everyday life is like and I love it that for once, there´s a mum who´s not complaining about the hectic life all the time but embracing it and loving the days the kids are still small! Thank you Whitney!!

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  2. This is my new favorite post!!! (And I have LOVED many.) You had me totally cracking up at that hermit crab story and then balling my eyes out with your take on cherishing motherhood, you are so inspiring Whitney!!

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  3. This had me laughing so hard! It sounds like you had an awesome day even if it did take you 5 hours to complete 2 tasks! xx

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  4. I have hairy eyebrows. I pluck them a lot. Then I started getting them threaded. IT HURTS!! Make no mistake that having more hair doesn't hurt. It does! I always leave in tears, and I gave natural child birth.

    Lots of vomit in this post. I think I knew I was ready to be a Mom when my nephew puked and I caught it in my hands and didn't bat an eyelash. I was fine with the nasty stuff!

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  5. Your mom really DOES sound like an angel. I think a guest post is in order!

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  6. Oh my word, that hermit crab story is HILARIOUS! They are so creepy! And I agree with the first comment--it's really nice to see a Mom embracing every day life and not complaining about it! :)

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  7. It was so fun running into you in the bathroom at JCP! The faces of sweet friends.........a life luxury.

    And yes folks, Whitney's mom IS an angel. I am convinced with every fiber of my being that she is heaven sent. A truer, dearer person you will not find.

    Loved reading about your day.

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  8. Oh man, HI-larious! But only because it didn't happen to me- Ha! (And it could, because I have a 3-year-old and a baby too.) Good thing your mom was with you. Sounds like the classic combination of stress and fun that you get with young kids :)

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  9. Oh my mercy. I'm not sure there's a mama in this universe who hasn't caught vomit in her hands. It's an instinct, isn't it? I have a 2.5 year old and got an Instagram photo from the nursery girl yesterday that showed my child stripping at CHURCH. Hold me! HA!

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  10. Wow... just wow. But, glad you held it together~!

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  11. I'm 5 months pregnant with our second baby, a little boy, and to be honest, i'm terrified of exactly what your post was about today. Can you thank your mom for me? Thank her for that reminder that this stage is the best, and to enjoy all the moments. I honestly can't stop crying right now {probably because I'm pregnant} but that sentence "these are the best days of your life" just went straight into my heart.

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  12. Awwww. LOVE this! I have been there... wait, I am there! Ha! Between my 3 year old and almost 8 month old, I'm there a lot and have learned that it is SO important to enjoy and soak in the in between. Even though it's tough and challenging sometimes. Thanks for sharing such a great post and reminder!

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  13. Oh, your sweet mom! I know I've only been around her a few times, but I can see her doing all these kind things.

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  14. Oh. my. God. You just made me laugh out loud and then start crying in about 2.5 seconds. I LOOOVE this post!
    I also have baby fever bad and now I want to get my eyebrows done.

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  15. I laughed out loud and got teary eyed throughout this post. Such a great reminder! Definitely can relate as I have a three year old little boy for whom life is always an adventure and a 4 month old newborn.

    By the way, my son's favorite horse at the Woodland Carousel is Elvis too - we have to ride it EVERY time we go to the mall! Excited to check out that new candy store soon - - hopefully our trip doesn't involve any vomit! :)

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  16. I loved this. I have an almost 3 year old and almost 1 year old and I know about days getting away from you. When I go to bed it's all the in betweens I think of not the errands I did or did not finish.

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  17. I love this post. I literally laughed out loud while reading it!! Those boys sound like a blast!!!

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  18. I'm a 4th grade teacher and there are many days when I come home grateful we do not have children yet because I just don't know HOW I (we) would do it. Then there are days where I come home and I don't know if I WANT children (those are far and few, but those are the really bad days when I feel more like a parent then teacher). Then I read your blog and my perspective changes. I've been reading your blog since before Levi was born and have loved every minute. It brings me back to reality. I look at your precious boys and think how could I ever NOT want that. I know there are difficult times, but the good out-weights the bad a million to one. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful family with us. I look forward to reading more as always!

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  19. So. Stinkin. Funny.
    Someday when you have free time I'm giving you a copy of my book because you will SO identify. This part made me laugh so hard!
    "Oh, and then he choked on a gummy butterfly, threw up in my hands and gagged the teenager sitting next to me. Just wait, girlfriend. Just wait until you're a Mommy.

    Mom's turn took about twice as long as mine, and she has a lot less brow than me, so I couldn't figure out what on earth was taking so long .... until I saw Tortilla wiping her tears away and hugging my mom over and over. My mom made Tortilla cry."

    Whew! Thanks for sharing!

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  20. Oh Whitney!

    Thanks for the great read! Hilarious!

    Things you can only truly understand once you're a mom!

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  21. "Maybe her name was quesadilla." LOL
    what a fun story. Thanks for sharing and for a reminder that it is about the in between times.

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  22. I just came across this post and I'm hysterics. So funny and sweet. Thanks -- needed some cheering up. :)

    Shyla

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