A Day in the Life of... The Messy Christian

Today for 'A Day in the Life of' we have Sherry White from The Messy Christian joining us.  

 Through Sherry's writing I have come to know her to be sincere, kind, bold, and extremely loving.  She inspires me with her authenticity and her strong faith.  Recently she wrote a post about her toddler's tantrum, which went viral and rightly so, as it was one that all of us mamas with toddlers can easily relate to.

Be sure to check her out at both The Messy Christian and give her a follow at her Facebook page after you read her typical Saturday below.  

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There’s a knock at the bedroom door.

Who is it?

Just kidding. I already know.

You can tell by her soft little knocks which seem to say don’t wake up, just wake up enough to come unlock the door and let me in.

So, I do.

And the sweetest little girl with long, soft hair climbs in the bed after me and pretends to sleep. We spoon and giggle and she whispers and hugs and kisses and kicks at daddy. Then all 4 years of her bouncy little self bolts out the bedroom door in search of breakfast.

I rise and reach for my robe.

It’s the softest, dingiest white robe you can imagine and I love it. I have prettier ones, but this is the only one I reach for. It wraps me in comfort from my neck to my ankles.

I walk out to the kitchen and find two cabinet doors opened. My Ella has used the bottom cabinet door to help her climb up onto the counter and open the second cabinet door to retrieve…cookies. I close them and find her in the living room eating them like we haven’t had this discussion a million mornings before.

Taking them, I say, “You need to find something else for breakfast.”

“What? But I want cookies!”

And then we go through all the options as the day before and she reluctantly chooses one.

Coffee!! (Me not her.)

It’s the only thing I’ve been thinking of since I got out of bed. I quickly make it and settle on the couch as I wait for it to finish.

It’s Saturday so the day is somewhat unplanned. Soon soccer will start up and ballet and we won’t have the luxury of an empty day. But today is wide open with possibilities.

My son gets up and comes downstairs with his clothes. He likes to get dressed with an audience I guess! For the last couple weeks he’s been doing this and making the rest of us look like slouchers. Seeing Archer wearing actual clothes prompts my daughter to want to do the same, so she goes upstairs and picks something out. It doesn’t match, but both the shirt and skirt have flowers, so we go with it. She tops it off with her white church shoes and hat. Lovely.

I pour myself a cup of coffee and my children settle in on the couch with their Ipads. I take a seat at the laptop and look at my blog, Facebook, and email. I plan to only do this for a few minutes, but before I know it 45 minutes has lapsed. My husband gets up and gets his coffee and I close the laptop.

I have plans today. Nobody knows about them, not even me really. But, I want to do something. I want to go somewhere. Do some thing. But, I have to be strategic about it. Because my husband has plans, too. I need to see if his plans align with mine or if I’m going to need to bring him on board! You see, my plans usually involve leaving at least one child home since they accompany me 99% of the time.

“So, what are you going to do today?”

“I need to run into town and get chicken feed and ….”

I’m not sure what he said after chicken feed. All I heard him say is I need to run into town.

“Oh, okay. Why don’t you take Archer with you? He wants new field tips for his bow and it’s good for him to be hanging out with his daddy doing dad things in town.”

“Okay, yeah. Sounds good.”

Yay!! That means Ella and I will have a mommy/daughter day. So, what to do?? Hmmm…

I jump in the shower and pull my wet hair up into a top knot on my head as I quickly get dressed.

I call Ella into the room and tell her that we are going to run into town and get a sweet treat.

Yes, that is what I’ve decided I want to do. My aspirations are simple…food.

I want a cupcake from Pressed Flour in Shepherdstown or a cookie from Blakeley Street Bakery in Charles Town.

I don’t make my mind up until I’m at the end of my driveway and am forced to because left takes me one way and right takes me the other.

I choose left and I drive to Shepherdstown. I call my sister, Lisa, and we chat all the way down the road. She’s leaving to go the outlets soon and asks if I want to go. She says she can pick me up on the way. I tell her I’ll think about it and to call me when she’s out the door.

Ella and I go inside the shop and pick out our cupcakes. She’s thirsty so we check out the drink selections.

Organic orange juice or pink grapefruit club soda.

Which do you think she picks?

Yep.

The Grapefruit soda.

Now, I knew that she was going to hate it, but she was persistent. I told her that it would probably be yucky. But she was persistent.

So, I let her have it and thought maybe it’ll be good.

We go sit on the wall to enjoy our lovely mommy and daughter cupcake eating, sunny day loving morning until…she takes a drink of the soda.

“Ewww…I hate it.”

“I thought that you would.”

“You were right mommy. I want my orange juice now.”

Ummm…no. I am not walking back up the street to give you an orange juice. Just eat your cupcake and be happy.

But, if you have a kid, then you already know that that is not going to happen. Why? Because you had a plan. You had a glorious, fantastic plan of cupcakes and happiness and sunshine sitting on a wall. So, no…there will be tears and incessant asking of orange juice and screaming.

Can I just say that I felt a lot of judgment from the guy and his dog sitting on the bench behind us. A lot.

Okay, maybe not. But still. I think we ruined his sitting on the bench with my dog in the sunshine dream.

We walk hand and hand back to the car and she finally accepts that she will not be getting an orange juice.

Just kidding.

She runs and screams frantically because she can’t fathom that she isn’t getting an orange juice so I have to chase her down and pick her up like a football as she smacks at me.

My sister texts me and says she’s on the way. I tell her to pick me up from the college and I drive to Sheetz. Since she was twenty minutes away I decided to rent a movie from the Red Box and get my little one a water. All the screaming had dehydrated her, I’m guessing. But NO orange juice. Not after the way she had acted.

(Note to self: next time just get the drink that you know she likes regardless of what she says. Check.)

I get us a quick Sheetz lunch of hotdogs and pretzels and get back in the car. I hear a knock at my window and it’s the cashier from Sheetz.

“Did you pay?”

“Ummm, yes. You said have a nice day to me.”

“Well, your card didn’t go through.”

I get out and run back inside.

I drive back to the college and my sister and my niece pick us up.

We go to the outlets and I get a great deal on some shoes and clothes for the kids at Gymboree.

We get home and my husband is mowing the yard. Archer is watching the new Monster Truck movie and it’s time to make dinner. I make chicken fajitas and pick up around the house.

The day has flown by and before we know it, it’s time to call it a night. For the kids that is.

My husband and I stay up till midnight watching our movie. We bask in the gloriousness of a quiet night and remember what it’s like to just worry about ourselves. We laugh and giggle and share a chocolate bar that I’ve hidden in my purse from my Sheetz purchase earlier today. It’s the little things.

This is Saturday. Our fun day. Our I don’t have to run day…but I want to, so I will day. This is parenthood. This is marriage. This my oh-so beautiful life.