As moms, we try our best to be prepared. Ready for the expected and the unexpected. Extra clothes, coats, diaper bag, snacks, water. Some essentials to always have on hand.
It takes twenty minutes (on a good day) just to get the kids ready, van loaded and on the road for a simple grocery run.
Yes, this was a day like that. My arms were loaded and ready to drive the half hour to run the biweekly errands.
Extra clothes – Check
Coats – Check
Diaper bag – Check
Snacks – Check
Water – Check
Our first stop on this trip was the library for story time. It has taken me 7 months to brave story time with my toddler and baby. However, fear quickly vanished as my toddler used her creativity with the craft and my baby sat content in the stroller. All was going well.
Nearing the end of the time the 7-month-old started to get restless. Taking her out of the stroller I felt a wet sensation reach my fingers. Was she leaking out of the diaper? As I began to examine her I also noticed a stench. The ripe smell of baby poo. Encouraging my sweet “I love crafts” toddler to wrap things up we headed to the bathroom. The poop had not leaked out much yet. Thankfully I had that extra set of clothes as she was damp all around the waist.
Mommy win! I had the clothes, diapers and wipes! Sucess.
Back in the van, the 2-year-old is ready for a snack. Sure, of course. Reaching into the diaper bag I find that I am out of snacks. The stash is gone!
Mommy loss. Hungry toddler, no snacks. Fail.
Soon the little brown-eyed girl was distracted by the fact that we were going to the store. Grocery shopping went well. The girls happily watched other shoppers and their mommy hurrying through the aisles. Time in the store is essential. One minute too long and everyone melts!
Mommy win! A shopping trip without tears. Sucess.
Feeling courage I surprised my toddler with french fries and ice cream. Now, I knew I was pushing it. But I was feeling good. After all, this mommy was 2 for 1.
At the restaurant ordering food, the baby was done. Yes done, tired out. Crying. Once we found our table I remembered I had smelled something upon loading the now crying 7-month-old into the van at the store.
Getting the bouncy toddler her fries and ketchup I focused in on girl number two. First feed. Filling her belly and whining in between as she fights desperately the sleep her body craves. Belly full. I check her diaper. Because I had just changed a poop less an two hours ago I assumed I would be safe. Well, as I opened the diaper right there at that restaurant booth…yikes! Imagine the largest, messiest poo. The kind that you scream, “how did that much poo come out of that little body?!” Yes, that. One of those.
Okay, now what? I can’t drag my toddler away from her fries to go to the bathroom. That would be a tantrum for sure.
All of a sudden I have a flashback from the summer when we were at this same restaurant. There is not a changing table in the bathroom! My options are to change her right there in the booth or take her outside to the van.
Realizing I needed to do something soon I opted to change her right there. Reaching for the wipes I discover I only have two left. Just two wipes for the world’s largest poo!
Mommy loss. Not enough wipes. Fail.
Frantically I run to the front of the restaurant and fill my hands with napkins. Wiping first with the napkins and finishing with the two wipes.
Clean enough. Her butt may be slightly orange but nothing a bath can’t fix when we get home.
Mess behind me I can focus on my toddler. Ice cream treat for going on the potty! The joy. Sweet joy over ice cream.
The rest of the trip was normal. Baby still tired and crying. Toddler moving as slow as honey from a jar at every task.
Why did I just tell you all this? Why did I give so many unnecessary details?
First of all, for the moms of littles. You are not alone in the crazy, messy days. Others are having their own messy moments. Be encouraged. Keeping pressing forward.
And second. I think there is a lesson here. We all want to be prepared. Be ready for anything that comes at us in our day. We want to be super moms, superwoman.
However, I think God desires something very different for us. I think He wants was to lean on Him. To trust that He has the wipes we need. To believe that whether the moments are smooth or rough He has what we need. He doesn’t expect us to be super anything. He wants us. Wants us to be moldable, humble women that trust He has the checklist.
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. NKJV
Romans 8:32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? NLT
Matthew 6:25-27, 33-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. NIV
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. NLT
