Where is Zoe, cause this is NOT my child!!!

Where to begin.

I woke up with a headache, not such an unsual thing right now with the weather the way it's been.

Got out to the living room, fed Emma, no problems. Let Zoe finish her breakfast and cleaned her off...and then things got interesting.

Zoe has had a cold the past few days, she's coughing and sneezing and snotting all over. So not only do I have to chase after her with a kleenex to wipe her nose, and chase after her to wash her hands and face, but she's irritable, tired, and just plain not her bubbly, cute, happy self.

Normally, I can deal with the irritability, the crabbiness, the plain old refusal to do anything I ask. Today however, was a different story.

Her favorite word right now is NO. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!!!  She screams it so the world can hear (and obviously always loud enough to wake her sister who has JUST fallen asleep).





This is how my day proceeded.

Zoe wanted to have a snack so I got her some cheerios in a baggie and gave them to her. This is normally an awesome snack because it keeps her busy, she still LOVES cheerios, and it allows me to get some stuff done around the house. NOT THIS MORNING!!!

She not only dumped half her bag of cheerios into a small bucket (which sounds ok, right???) only the bucket was filled to the rim and she still doesnt quite fully grasp the "it has to be kept level for things not to fall out of it" thing.

Then I took the bucket away when 3/4 of the cheerios fell out TWICE after having told her multiple times to keep it level. I put the cheerios back into the baggie and gave it back to her.
She proceeded to stare me in the face, and dump the cheerios onto the floor. Let me tell you, those cheerios got swept up fast and into the garbage they went!!

After about an hour she said she wanted a snack, by this point it was pretty much lunch time so I made lunch. She proceeded to eat NONE of the lunch. So I told her that was lunch, and that is what she has to eat, I am not making anything else. I stood my ground (something we have HAD to instill recently as it has been happening all too often). After lunch, I felt defeated, drained, and all around like a bad mom since my kid had not eaten very much.



Even though this is not my girls and I, the toddler licking her arm with the look of "yes...I broke mommy" is how I felt today.



Nap time came, and I was magically able to get both girls down for a nap at the same time. Emma's didnt last too long, but I was still able to get a good hour alone in peace and quiet to regroup and re-energize.

Once Emma woke up I fed her and played with her.

Zoe woke up a little later and of course, was hungry. I cut up half a pear and put it into a bowl for her. It started on the table, and made it's way to the couch. All was going well, I went into the kitchen to get some water, came back out and all the pears had disapeared. My first thought was "no, she couldnt have eaten them that quickly" and then realized she was standing next to a play purse. Yep, 3 half eaten pieces of pear out of 4. I took them out, stated she needed to sit at the table to eat her snack and placed them on the table.
For the sake of not turning this post into a novel, there were at least 3 other messes to clean up after the pear incident. One of which was chewed up almonds. Bleh.

Zoe ended up getting a few time outs this afternoon too. This is the thing about time outs at our house. I only leave her in time out for 2 minutes, or unless she comes out of time out and still is not listening, then she goes back. Normally Zoe doesnt get many time out's, she's a great kid to be honest, but when she's sick, she's like the devils spawn!!

This is how I WISH time out's went at our house:



Note the calmly seated child

THIS is how they actually go:

I chose this because Zoe has this same "drama queen" look during a T.O

By this point it was almost time for Mike to get home from work. So just to find out how far he was so I could start dinner I called him, he hadnt even left work yet. Discouraged I hung up the phone, and got to cooking dinner.
All the while Zoe is laying on the play mat with Emma where I can see them and they are both calm and happy. I turned my back for 20 seconds and next thing I know Emma is screeching and Zoe looks guilty. She had been kicking the play mat bars and the toys dangling from them smacked Emma in the face I assume (this also happens failry regularly recently).

I got Emma and sat her in her high chair to be closer to me. That calmed things down a bit at least. 
Mike got home and asked "rough afternoon" to which I simply nodded.
I got Zoe's plate ready and sat her down for dinner. I took Emma from Mike to calm her down a little bit as she had started crying again (another post on our "hell hours" to follow soon) and sat on the couch with her while Mike got himself a plate and sat down with Zoe.

Once Emma had settled a bit, I put her in her high chair once more, and got myself a plate. I however, ate in the kitchen just to have a bit of breathing room. After a few minutes I then sat down at the table with my family.

We proceeded to bathe the girls, gave a bottle to Emma, Mike read a book to Zoe and both girls are now in bed.

I swear on days like today all I can think is "i'm such a horrible mom", but then I think back to my day, and I realize...i'm not a bad mom. I dont hit, curse, or mentally abuse my kids.
I know when to step away and take a breather, and at the end of the day my girls love me and they know I only want the best for them.
And I am sure that I am not the only mom who feels that way about their own lives