OOOOHHH VASELINE!!!

Ayden and Jaxon up to something!


You know, one thing that I love is God's Sense of Humor. If you don't think he has one, look at the terrible two's. A point in our child's life when we wonder one second why we had these sweet dirty little faces and the next second, we question how we lived our life without them...These tiny little people tend to bring out the best in Mommy and at times the worst in Mommy(the times when dad is wondering where this side of mommy came from). If this is you, then you are not alone! We deal with the screaming,crying,fit throwing, mess making, bug catching,frog saving,scribbles on the walls and floors, nose picking moments. Yes, God had quite the sense of humor when he said, Let's have terrible two's, whiny three's, Mouthy Four's and the I know it all 5's...(I'm sure it gets more complicated from here, this is just where I'm at with my little sweeties). Now, it seems that in these times, we want to see the reaction that mom has to her kid who's having a meltdown in the toy isle for the boy  doll(yes our SON Jaxon and his Timmy the doll ). How do we handle these moments and still keep our cool? If you don't believe me, that people watch to see how you will handle your little angel of a child, ask mom's how many reality shows they watch dealing with raising kids. Remember when Jon and Kate + 8 was huge. I tuned in weekly to watch Kate overreact to EVERYTHING. Kinda made me feel like super mom at times,well super patient mom. Now, I'm no super mom, but have had more than my share of Messes, fits, attitude and fights.  God maybe has blessed some of  you with those kids that you never had to put anything up and they never got into anything. Yeah, that wasn't me. God blessed me with two extremely active boys( Spirited Children I believe is the correct terminology), with quite the imaginative personality and a sweet little girl, who thinks if you are not holding her, somethings terribly wrong ( love all three personalities) Now, I know you all are wondering, Where is Paige going with this Vaseline title?? Well, God taught me a lot through an economy size jar of baby Vaseline and my two rambunctious boys. This one experience has gotten me through many,many,many messes and fights and I'm thankful for these messy lessons God gives me to teach me patience and guidance as a mommy each day. God's sense of Humor in creating these little busy and messy"hands and Feet" has taught me to take a step back and view my children as a remarkable bundle's of possibilities and and to embrace these messy moments with a smile.
     When Ayden was just short of two and Jaxon was around 8 months, I at times felt like I was raising twins. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy every moment with my kids, but at times I  look at them and wonder where they came from and many times they drive me crazy(in a good way if thats possible?) Some kids are screamers, some are fascinated with markers, some hit, some bite(jaxon) my kids fascination was anything that came in a tube,jar,can or a bottle. If they could get it out to rub it all over everything, they would..So, one day when I was washing bottles, doing laundry, being the homemaker that I am, I realized Ayden who was sitting in the living room watching Elmo and playing, seemed all too quiet. I decided that I better assess the situation. It was all to familiar, a quiet house like the stillness and calm that a storm  bright before it hits. I knew Ayden was up to something, but never imagined I would walk into what I did. Ayden no longer sat in front of the TV, playing. I heard giggles coming from the room Jaxon was supposed to be sleeping in, to open the door to see my two sweet boy's glistening in the light and not Edward twilight glistening, but mop and glo glistening. Ayden stood before me, naked completely covered in baby Vaseline rubbing it all over his body, smiling at me and raising his eye brows and shaking his head like I should agree this is a great idea. Poor baby Jax stood holding on to his crib bars, completely covered in Vaseline as well, with a two inch blob of it all over his head,  between and on his 2 front teeth, in his ears, finger,neck,etc. The TV, crib, dresser, toys, everything was lathered up in baby Vaseline as well. Now, when I say a jar of baby Vaseline was emptied that day, I don't mean a little diaper bag size. I'm talking the economy size that was just bought the day before for Jaxon, my child with endless rashes and allergies. I remember standing frozen not really sure what to do or say. After what seemed several minutes of soaking in what my child had just done, I completely flipped out on my kids. They stood still smiling, gleaming from the Vaseline, wondering what the big deal was. Now, have you ever tried to carry a naked 40 lb toddler covered in Vaseline to the shower. Much less two at one time. It was like picking up two huge slimy fish, they were squirming and flopping all over the place. We finally made it to the bathroom, to not even be able to sit up because they continued to slide on the bottom of the tub. Vaseline is extremely waterproof and i didn't realize how waterproof Johnson and Johnson designed that stuff till that very moment. I washed those kids heads,faces,hands,ect for what seemed hours. Guess what, they shined for weeks, I didn't have to put hair gel in bc it would naturally spike on its own and when they entered a room I was waiting for the song off of Coming to America to start playing you know, the one that goes, "Let Your Soul Glow, Oh So Silky Smooth, Just Let It Shine Through..." The furniture and Vaseline wasn't so bad...Seemed to kinda condition the furniture..The tv glass + Vaseline...Yeahhhh, that wasn't fun. The greasy carpet stains...Not fun either..
That moment was my "could be worse moment" my moment that I go back to when my kids have dumped all the pancake syrup on the table to make hand prints in it(yesterday morning), the moment when my child gives himself and his brother a haircut (this past summer), or how about the moment that my kids thought dropping  the 2 dozen carton of eggs on the kitchen floor was quite entertaining to watch(last summer). It's during these moments, I let my mind go back to the days of baby Vaseline, and appreciate any type of mess that doesn't involve it and thank God for these Hands and Feet that he gave me to make them. You see, being a mommy is a huge responsibility and this is a job where we as mommies get on the job training 24 hours a day. God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.  The lessons never stop. Sometimes when I look back over my mommy hood so far, I don't know who learned more, my children or myself. God is always teaching me more about who I am, so I can become a better mother. While the experience with Vaseline was a nightmare, it's a lesson that has helped me to become a more patient and loving mom! The good news is that God always provides, loves and teaches us, not just through the major events and situations in our lives, but through the simplest of moments, the messes,tears and breakdowns we face each day. We can find him in the smallest moments of our day as we may condition the furniture(ha), wipe a bottom, clean a dirty nose or rock a sweet baby to sleep. Isn't it so reassuring to know just much God loves us. That he loves us even in spite of our own inconsistencies and failures. Let's take that patience and everlasting love that God gives us, to our own lives,kids and big kids(husbands) and find that enduring these messes,fits,fights and stresses are much easier to handle when we strive to have the love and patience our Heavenly father has with us! Vaseline is just my place to go and say Thank-you God for this (current) mess, because any mess is better than cleaning up 64 oz of baby Vaseline!

A verse to live by as a mom!
Isaiah 40:30-31
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;They shall mount up with wings as eagles;they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.



Some  pics of my two Rambunctious boys when they were smaller! Please share a pic of your kids and a story for us to laugh at and a moment God taught you something through them!