Kids Change Everything

1. With the record-setting heat we experienced this summer in central Texas, most shoppers are looking for a parking spot close to the door or in a great shady place.  However, in our car, a great parking spot isn't determined by distance to the door anymore.  No, it's determined by how close I am to the shopping cart receptacle.  Unloading and loading at a store is seriously a work of art.  A very strategic set of steps.  Something I never thought about until I found myself with two little ones trying to load back into the car at a grocery store and realized the shopping cart spot was a few parking spots away.  I didn't think about how I was going to return the shopping cart until I had both kids loaded up in the car... thankfully, another shopper noticed my dilemma and offered to take my shopping cart, explaining, "I have four kids so I know what it's like."  I was so thankful and made a mental note to always park right beside the shopping cart return.  And yes, I will drive around the parking lot a few times in order to get one of these spots that I now covet.
2. I'm sure we've all heard from moms about how much a baby changes things, like the amount of time you spend on getting yourself ready in the morning.  I had heard these things, but thought, honestly?  You don't have time to do something to your hair/ put make up on/ make sure you have spit-up-free clothing on?  What I've come to realize is that it's not always about having time... my problem is I don't even think about it.  This morning, D and I took A & H to the local zoo.  I got up, got dressed, put make up on, and got everyone else ready.  It wasn't until we got to the zoo that I realized I hadn't even run a brush through my hair.  Normally this would be no big deal, but I had actually showered the night before instead of in the morning and went to sleep with my hair wet, which left it frizzy and wavy.  So I dug around in the car until I found an elastic headband, fashioned it into a ponytail holder, and pulled my hair back.  And yes, I realize this whole paragraph might make me sound high maintenance- and I'm okay with that.
3. We go to the (early) early service at church on Sunday morning because it's actually easier for us.  D and I get up and get ready, get A up, feed him and get him ready, make a bottle for H and wake her up right before we leave.  We get her dressed and since we only live a few seconds from our church, we take her bottle with us and let the nursery workers feed her when we drop her off.  
4. H is eating cereal in the morning and in the evening (except on Sunday when she gets a bottle for her breakfast).  I try to get dinner going and then feed her while it's cooking so I don't have to while I'm eating.  It's working for now, but I know the day is coming where she'll be eating with us- and that makes me smile.  
5. On a more serious note... and I want to write this carefully because I don't want it to come across as complaining at all... I am so thankful for these two blessings that God has placed in our lives.  I can't imagine life without them.  They bring so much joy to my life everyday- A's silly personality and H's sweet smiles and giggles.  My life is so busy, so complete.  The busyness sometimes leaves me feeling like I'm treading water, just trying to stay afloat.  And I know that has more to do with the expectations I enforce on myself rather than the expectations of others.  It's a learning process, for sure, as I accept that I cannot possibly do everything I feel I need to every night, that getting to bed between 11 and 12 isn't helping anything, and that sometimes, the most important thing I can do (for myself and my attitude) is to take a nap.  You know the whole "sleep when the baby sleeps"- yeah, those are true words of wisdom.