Humbling Mommy Moment

I have decided that after my trip to the grocery store today with the kids, I will try very hard not to load up my kids during a snow storm to go shopping. As I think back,that is what probably got the shopping experience off to a bad start to begin with, Note To Self!

As we start into the store it is snowing and of course my boys think it is Awesome! Parker doesn’t want to hold Tyson’s hand and that makes Tyson upset. I am carrying Chloe trying to keep her covered and wishing I would have made her a car seat cover (I think that every time I am wanting her covered, but I probably still won’t get around to it.) Puddles galore in the Wal-mart parking lot that need an almost 3-year-old to splash in, which in turn gets me wet. And it gets better from here!

Now we have entered the store……………………………… “Parker please stop, Parker please come back here, Parker hold onto the cart and don’t let go(notice no please).” Every once in awhile it would be, “Tyson please come back here.” As we are going along I needed to have a picture of Parkers head for the Birthday Cake I am making for him. As we are standing at the picture kiosk I had just started and Parker says he needs to go pee, “I need you to wait, can you do that?” “Yes mom,” he replies. I am almost finished and all of a sudden I hear, in a really loud voice, “I need to POO!” Yes people did turn and look it was that loud. Instead of stopping what I was doing I finished up and about 3 minutes later took him to the bathroom. While sitting on the toilet Parker says, “See mom, I told you I had to poo. That was a close one.” It would have served me right if he would have had an accident.

Next we are off to get the rest of the groceries and I was constantly going back and forth on the isles because I was so concentrated on getting after my kids that kept running off that I would forget something. By the time we were in line it had taken about 45 minutes longer than it should have, but that’s how it goes sometimes. As The very nice Lady continues to ring up my stuff I look up and see my boys at the ATM pulling out all the envelopes and trying to put them into the machine. I think the sweet Grandma could see my frustration because she said, “you sure have some cute kids, just remember tomorrow is another day. I am sure they are just restless with the weather and want to be playing outside.” “Thanks, I’m sure you’re right.”

Here comes the humbling part. Now as I am trying to get them all loaded into the van it is still snowing and puddles are being splashed in again because, lets face it, puddles are fun to splash. I can feel myself just getting so frustrated wanting to be out of the snow. I take Parker out of the drivers seat because he wouldn't move on his own, put him in his seat and while buckling him I said, “I am not a happy momma right now!” As I look up I see Tyson with such a sad face, and right then knew that I should have held my tongue. Now I should have apologized right then but I didn’t. I finished loading the van with all the groceries, got in, buckled up and just sat for a minute. I looked back at both of my boys and said, “I should not have said that I am not a happy mom. I am a really Happy Mom and I love you so so much, you kids make me so happy everyday!!!” The change in Tyson’s face was the only thing that mattered at that moment. Then he says, “It’s ok mom, I’m sorry too. You are the bestest mom that I ever have had, I love you all the way around my back and the whole world.”

I know that it’s ok to have what I call “humbling mommy moments” because I always learn from them and that is what we are on this earth to do, Learn & Grow. Elder Lynn G. Robbins gave a wonderful Talk in the Sunday Afternoon Session of Conference and I keep thinking of the 2 specific points below.

“We will never have a greater opportunity to teach and show Christlike attributes to our children than in the way we discipline them. Discipline comes from the same root word as disciple and implies patience and teaching on our part. It should not be done in anger. We can and should discipline the way that Doctrine and Covenants 121 teaches us: “by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness and pure knowledge” (verses 41–42). These are all Christlike be’s that should be a part of who we, as parents and disciples of Christ, are.

A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?”

The other talk that really caught me (while wrestling happy, loud, laughing kids) was by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I loved what he said here.

“So if you are trying to do the best you can—if, for example, you keep trying to hold family home evening in spite of the bedlam that sometimes reigns in a houseful of little bedlamites—then give yourself high marks and, when we come to that subject, listen for another which addresses a topic where you may be lacking. If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”

I love the gospel and I am grateful for all of my Humbling Mommy Moments that help me become a better person and closer to my Heavenly Father.

These are some of my Favorite Pictures!