Sunday is not a Funday

Do you ever have one of those days where you KNOW you need an attitude adjustment yet you do nothing to correct yourself?

Today was one of those days for me.

It started this morning with Eli and his short fuse. Not sure if it's because Luke (Eli's best friend) has been gone more than normal lately, or if it's because he hasn't felt good or maybe just the fact that he is almost two, but my child has been off his rockers lately.

Like I'm so scared of setting off the monster that lives inside Eli. All it takes is not getting his milk fast enough, or me looking at him wrong or...........I don't even know, it's just so scary.

Well this morning Luke ticked Eli off somehow right before he said "peace out" and hightailed it to church while I was staring at a screaming Eli.

I'm talking sprawled out on the floor face down. It's his new pose. Forget "Tebow'ing" this is "Eli'ing"

Later in the morning Eli got in a bit of a better mood, which allowed me to shower and get ready for the day.

I've heard from other friends that Sunday mornings are hard because it seems like they get in a fight with their spouse or the family gets in an argument. I never knew what this was like because for our whole marriage Luke has gone to church two hours before I even roll out of bed.

I never encountered that "Sunday morning Stress" until I had Eli. Now I pretty much hate Sunday's.

It is so stressful trying to get ready while Eli runs around.

Re-reading that statement I annoy myself. I sound like a whiny baby and I'm sure in a few years when I have 8 kids I will read that sentence and laugh hysterically at my sad naive self.

(We don't want 8 kids it just sounds more dramatic that way)

(Dear Lord please don't let me be a prophet)

We finally made it to church just a few minutes late (mama had to stop at Starbucks...yes HAD TO STOP).

Because we were a bit late I decided to let Eli stay in service for the music part - he loves to watch his dada sing and I love to watch him watch his dada sing, so it was partly selfish. He would clap and say YAYAYA after every song which was slightly awkward after the slow songs. But I was just glad that crazy Eli was finally in a good mood. Dada solves all the world's problems. Or at least all Eli's problems.

Everything was fine until after church. Have I mentioned that Eli is attached to his dad? He only wanted his dad after service because apparently I'm CRUELLA DEVILLE. His dad couldn't hold him because he had work to do, so Eli was left with me. Tragic.

I had to take him out of the church screaming and crying, literally SCREAMING AND CRYING. I was holding him by one leg and arm. I was so frazzled (and sweaty) I had a man stop me and ask me if I needed help.

To which I replied "DO YOU HAVE ROPE?"

He probably left and called child protective services.

I got Eli in the car only to realize my BRAND NEW Francesca's earring fell out of my ear somewhere. I searched the parking lot and found remnants of a beautiful $12 earring.

Sad.

I felt that it was a ploy from the enemy to cause me to lose my crap on this beautiful Sunday (as if the screaming child wasn't enough) so I resisted the urge to cry, picked up the remnants of my earring in hopes of gluing it back together later (I'm serious) and headed home.

Nobody finds it more ironic than I do that this all happened less than 24 hours after I wrote a post about  how time is going so fast and Eli is growing so fast and soon I will be sneaking into Eli's room when he is 30 to rock him in his sleep while his wife calls Luke at home and asks him to please come pick up his crazy wife while issuing a restraining order.

Today was yet a gentle reminder that the days are long but the years are short. Yes my child embarrassed me, yes I sweat out of areas I thought only people who ran marathons sweat out of, and yes I questioned how the heck can I do this parenting thing, but I also remembered that these days are numbered. He will not always throw these fits, he will not always be small enough for me to scoop up and take him where I need to take him.

So at the end of the day, after it is all over I am thanking the Lord for days like this. They remind me that each day no matter how easy or hard is a gift, and no matter how bad our attitude is,  each morning we get to start again and try again.

All while praying that I make all the right moves and Eli doesn't lose his temper with me. Terrible Two's....ain't nobody got time for that.