Beauty in the Mess ~ Edition 02.25.15

I’m beginning to love February about as much as I love January…which isn’t all that much.

In the last week and a half, we have had one holiday, three snow days, and three two hour delays of Ezra’s program. This also means that appointments with our social worker have been cancelled, a very important IEP meeting already rescheduled once, and the parenting class I am taking will now extend into eternity future late March.

On top of that, my son is {still} not sleeping well. He’s waking up once or multiple times a night and/or waking for the day really early. Like 4:11AM early.

I finally got over first trimester morning sickness just in time to be hit with pregnancy-induced-headaches, carpal-tunnel-syndrome, the-inability-to-breathe-through-my-nose-at-night, mood-swings (aka who-are-these-people-and-why-are-they-talking-to-me-syndrome), random bouts of bursting-into-tears, and…wait for it…insomnia.

{Because the only thing worse then being awoken at 4:11 AM by your four-year-old is awaking yourself at 3:10 AM and lying there for an hour wondering when your four-year-old is going to wake up (and all the other weird and random and scary things that pregnant moms think about at 3:10 AM).}

Also, my iPhone got STOLEN and the plastic undercarriage thingy of our car is falling off. So there’s that.

I’m pretty much walking through every day feeling something like this:

(Not)

But…

There is always beauty in cuddles with this Little Guy, especially after he wakes up from a nap.

There is beauty in getting to see Laura Story in concert again {free thanks to Energize Ministries – go check them out}. This woman changed my life, and she was just as heartfelt and delightful the second time around as she was the first time.

As much as I hate school closings and delays, there is beauty in ChickFilA breakfasts with this silly dude.

There is beauty in childhood rites of passage…like watching the MahnaMahna song for the first time:

There is beauty in our attempts to teach Ezra responsibility by including him in meal preparation. Here he is grating cheese for the first time:

There is beauty in this face:

There is beauty in finding a way to “play cars” in ways that don’t involve cars talking and saying exactly what he wants them to say (a game which I am horrible at and don’t enjoy, at all).

There is beauty in this new product, which is simply amazing. And addictive. And just perfect. Tiny Human is a fan.

There is beauty in watching YouTube upside-down. At least when you are four.

There is beauty in the kiddo getting ahold of your phone and taking 5 million selfies. Because doesn’t it just look like loads of fun?

There is beauty…oh so much beauty…in having this boy ASK to color, then having him attempt to color IN THE LINES, sustaining the task for nearly 15 minutes. This, my friends, is nigh miraculous. #OTforthewin

There is beauty in yoga class, this lovely new yoga mat carrier which is just…me…and water flavored with SweetLeaf Stevia SweetDrops, which make drinking water so much easier.

There is beauty in one random day of near-70 degree weather. It was soooo nice while it lasted. We took a trip to the park and Ezra shot this picture of me and the baby!

There is beauty in #coffeewithastory and #freecoffeemonth at ChickFilA. This coffee tells the story of one little boy who got level 3 for meeting all of his goals and had an AWESOME day!!

There is beauty in Valentine’s Day Party at school being made just a little bit easier (and cheaper, thanks to Target. I didn’t even have to log onto Pinterest for this!

There is beauty in getting to bond with Tiny Human by wandering the aisles of BabiesRUs adding All. The. Things. We. Don’t. Really. Need (and a few that we do) to the registry. Registering for Baby #2 is a lot less overwhelming and a lot more dreamy. More ring-a-links? Sure…why not. 

While I don’t think there is any beauty to be found in headaches, it was super sweet when Ezra ran upstairs, got a chair to reach into the freezer, pulled out an ice pack AND a towel, and wrapped it up for me.

There is beauty in a candlelight dinner of pizza, Star Wars chocolate and toys, and Big Hero 6 for the boys on the evening of Valentine’s Day.

There is beauty in another session of very-focused-coloring by Little Man where, again, he colored INSIDE THE LINES!

There is beauty in turning 28. I spent my birthday doing Lots Of Mature Things like licking the beaters and dancing in the kitchen to Taylor Swift. Then I licked the beaters again in the afternoon when I made my favorite frosting from childhood and decorated my cake with Pink And Purple Sprinkles and flowers (which I’m pretty sure were the same kind of flowers I doodled in my notebooks in 5th grade).

In completely unrelated news, I saw this meme on Facebook:

There is beauty in having my man (who does 90% of the dishes in our house) teach our son to scrub pans, (completely with the suave towel-over-the-shoulder move).

And then if there was ever a picture that truly captures beauty…in the MESS…it would be this one, taken after all of about TEN MINUTES at the park after a week of snow. Yes, that’s mud. Red mud. Inside my already messy car. Combine that with some second trimester estrogen and an hour later my car was cleaned top to bottom inside.