Things don't usually go as planned for The Hardy Family

We started our morning off taking Mateo to his last day of swim lessons. He was super excited but then got super nervous wondering if they were going to take them down to the eight foot area. Usually we stay and watch his lessons but this morning we ran to the BX to get a few things that I needed so I can send them with our UB (unaccompanied baggage) that ships in less than two weeks. When we arrived back at the poll I noticed that the children were lined up to go down the slide. I stood back where Mateo couldn't see me to watch him take his turn. But after a few minutes everyone had taken their turns and Mateo will standing in the same spot and hadn't really moved. I went to see what was wrong and he said that he just didn't want to go because it was in the deep end. I explained that he didn't have to go down the slide since it was just for fun and not part of the lessons. He was crying and just so upset because the coaches were in the water and tried to convince him that he would be fine, but he just did not want to do it.

We left swim at about 10am and headed to the gym. Since swim lessons started two weeks ago we have to go to the gym at 10am instead of 8am. I do not like change about as much as my children don't like change. I pulled in the parking lot and said "I just don't feel like working out today" and man were two of the boys disappointed and each had their own reasons. Mateo likes playing basketball or video games with the other kids his age. Jacoby was sad that he might miss seeing his favorite gym buddy. Nico said "that's fine mom, you can just drive us home." Nico obviously didn't feel like going to the gym today either. So we went home, had lunch, and the two younger boys napped. While they napped I bought us tickets to go see The Incredibles 2 in Summerville at 3:30pm. I then played Lego City on the switch and Mateo sat next to me playing Minecraft on my computer. This rarely happens. We usually play together or watch a movie while they nap. But today after not working out I didn't feel like doing much of anything around the house either. It took forever to get the boys to nap today, probably because I through off their routine by skipping the gym. They usually run pretty hard for the time that we are there and are ready to crash when we leave. 

We head to the movies and arrive about 3:15pm but have to stand in line for a drink and popcorn for almost 15 minutes and then head to the movie. We walk in to the theatre drink and popcorn in hand and there are no seats together. There are probably 20 empty seats, but I wasn't go to try and get the rows to slide down with my children in tow. So I proceed to find a manager who explains that this has been happening all day. She looks completely exhausted and has zero sympathy for me. She has no idea how hard it was to get there on time. How hard it was to convince one child to hold the drink and another to hold the popcorn because the third child wanted to hold my hand. I looked at her and told her that its moments like these that make me want to cry. She said we could see the next showing at 4:30pm and I agreed that would be fine. But last minute said that showing would be in 3D. She then tells me there is a showing at 5pm if we want to come back but its in the nicer theater so I would have to pay a difference of almost $5 per person. I then asked her what about this drink and popcorn? Do I bring it back in with us? She said no, and that she would refund my money for them and I can just repurchase them when we come back. So we splurged for the nicer theatre, got refunded the concessions money, and left the theatre with large drink and popcorn in our hands even though we didn't watch a movie. We did take advantage of the time between showings and headed to PetSmart to get the cat a collar and tags for his trip to Italy. Nico and Jacoby also found a robot stuffed animal (dog toy with a squeaker included) that they both felt like they had to have. 

Yes, our cats name is Uranus

Now it's 4:30pm so we head inside the theatre to wait for the previous movie to end and right when we walk in there is already a line forming for the 5pm showing. So we skip concessions and get in line after the 30 people in front of us. Mateo slid over to repurchase a coke and popcorn while I held our place in line. Our place in line for those 30 minutes just happened to be right next to the picture booth and arcade games that weren't plugged in. So Nico and Jacoby played in the booth and with those games the entire time. There were fake guns at one of the games and so they pretended to shoot everyone in line to which not one person found them humorous. I laughed and went along with it. They "shot" me and I fell to the floor. Mind you the game isn't plugged in and I heard someone in line quietly but not so quietly say "those boys are going to break those guns." HaHa those boys could have been loud, obnoxious, throwing fits, or even their all time favorite no matter where we are...wrestling. But they weren't. They were totally entertaining each other. We finally made it inside to see the movie. It was fantastic. The boys did beyond great for a 2 hour movie that played well into their bedtime since it didn't start on time. 

We arrive home and things are still pretty calm even though it's now more than an hour past their bedtime. Mateo runs upstairs because he didn't know if he had too much candy or coke and needed to poop or vomit, or if he was just scared because of all the lightening he just witnessed on the drive home. Jacoby runs to the downstairs bathroom and says his belly hurts, that he thinks he ate too much candy and popcorn. In the meantime Nico and I are just playing with toys and checking on the other two. Jacoby says he is done so I go in to help him get dressed. I check on Mateo and he says he is fine now that and that he was just scared of the storm. I then proceed to begin bath time for Jacoby and Nico and send Mateo to shower in my bathroom. I am barely done bathing Nico and Jacoby says that he has to poop again. He runs back downstairs, I get Nico out of the tub and we head back downstairs to play with toys until he is done. Mateo comes down and isn't leaving my side because he is still pretty shaken up from the storm. I have to say that when we go to the movies I usually do one box/bag of candy for each child, plus popcorn and a drink. I think that because they had popcorn and coke at 4pm and then again at 6pm plus more candy than what they usually have they had every right to have belly aches. This also goes to show why I should stick to routines and how I usually do things. Its fun to give them a little extra candy every once in a while or stay up past bedtime but it truly messes them up in more ways than one. About 9pm we make our way upstairs for bed. I get everyone to bed and sit down on the couch to eat something that isn't popcorn or candy. About 2 minutes after I sat down I heard someone run down the hall, into the bathroom, and slam the door. Then there was silence. So I wait...y'all don't judge. I know some of you would have ran up there so fast and typically I would have if I wasn't exhausted and starving. Others may wait for the child to yell, or maybe listen for the toilet to flush and them to go right back to bed. I get up and walk upstairs. I can see the bathroom light is on under the closed door. I ask who is in there and Jacoby says "my belly hurts again, I think I need to poop again but can't." So I tell him to come down and have some toast and ginger ale. This always helps to settle my stomach no matter what is wrong with it. I think it was about 10pm at this point. He is sipping his ginger ale and so I turned on Garfield for him to watch and I went to put dishes in the dishwasher. He is talking to me the whole time like he just woke up and its 7am. He gets up to walk towards the kitchen after about 10 minutes and says his belly is starting to hurt again, but before I could round the corner from the kitchen he started vomiting. Y'all I am so tired. I wanted to cry at 3:30pm when we couldn't see the movie and here it is 10:30pm my floor is covered with what appears to smell like ginger ale and toast. I have to carry Jacoby upstairs to give him yet another bath. After the bath we head back downstairs together so I can keep an eye on him and clean the floor/wall/kitchen chairs. I figured if he is going to throw up again it would be best downstairs where there is no carpet. This is the first time in his 4 1/2 years that Jacoby has ever thrown up. This is also the first time that I cleaned up throw up and threw away everything. If David was here I would have done like previous incidents and salvaged the towels. Not this time. I cleaned everything. Twice! Now that it is midnight I decide it be best to let him sleep in the bed with me. He has a straight shot to my toilet if he needs it and I truly couldn't imagine what my world would be like if he threw up in his room on the floor that is covered with his favorite Lego's. Hmmmmm I know many people that would throw away Lego's if they got thrown up on but I would not be able to do that. So my bed it is. I should mention that I just got a new bed less than two weeks ago and its pretty fantastic. So fantastic that Jacoby kept pumping his legs back and forth and sliding around for 2 HOURS because he said my bed was so comfy and soft. Now it is 2:45am, I would like to believe that I slept somewhere within those last two hours but I don't think I did. Now I fear that some sleep is more important than worrying about possibly having to clean throw up off some Lego's. He went to his bed and we both slept peacefully until 7am. He woke up like nothing ever happened and tried to say it was the cat that threw up everywhere. Needless to say we rested all of today (Saturday). No one showered. No one ever got out of their PJ's. We all ate very little and napped extremely long. We enjoyed homemade pretzels and watching Cars 2 and Cars 3. To anyone that may have seen myself and my three boys in our pajamas at the commissary this evening at 6pm thank you for not staring or laughing out loud as we walked by. I NEEDED a few things and none of us want to try and go tomorrow after church, lunch, and naps. Especially if we could be outside playing or at the waterpark instead. Today has been better than yesterday and for that I am thankful. For those with a strong stomach I attached a picture at the very bottom for you. For those wondering if the line we stood in was worth it to see Incredibles 2, it totally was. For those wondering how I survived from yesterday to today, it was 1 cup of coffee in the morning, followed by a 2 hour uninterrupted nap, and followed by an afternoon cup of coffee. Thank you for reading. Prayers always accepted. Until next time. 

Sweet Jacoby watching Garfield at 12am while I cleaned up vomit

Candy, popcorn, coke, ginger ale, and toast

All the questions.....and then the answers

Hey friends!! It has been a while since my last blog and for that I am sorry. I love to blog but don't always have or make time for it. Moving forward I am going to make time. A few friends (Thank you Thea and Marsha) recently pointed out that this would be the best way to update all of our friends and family at the same time.

I have been repeatedly asked "how do you do it?" How do I do what? "How do you grocery shop?" "How do you do the same routine all day everyday without a break?" "Don't you get tired?" "When do you take time for yourself?" "How do you have the energy to work out everyday?" "Do you miss him?" These are just some of the questions that I am asked pretty often and I would love to answer them.

Let's start with grocery shopping. I don't think it is foreign to grocery shopping with children, i just think some people are used to leaving the kids at home with the spouse while they shop. Those people are super blessed because they get to shop in silence and not be rushed. But I think those parents that are like myself who have to take the children because they don't have any other option are truly blessed as well. They get to go on an adventure (this is the term David likes to use when the whole family goes grocery shopping). I know that some people are saying the same thing I have said on many occasions "there is no adventure in taking the children grocery shopping" but I do believe there can be when we just slow down. I use 2 carts when we go to the commissary. I refer to these carts as "baby jail" and Nico rides in the front of one and Jacoby in the other. I get glares because I have two carts but they don't know why I have two carts. My Husband has been in another country for 10 months, I don't have family here, and I refuse to use my time while the babysitter is at my house to go grocery shopping. It did use to stress me out when I would shop but that was because my children were running in front of people and their carts, grabbing glass items off of the shelf, and fighting over who could push our one shopping cart. Problem solved with two carts, I push one and Mateo pushes the other. We go slower than I like and I now give in when the kids want junk food or a squeaky dog toy to play with (even though we have no dog). I also go up the candy aisle before we go up any other aisle so they can each pick out a box or bag of candy. Somehow them seeing it and holding it the whole trip makes them behave. If they throw a fit or act up they have to put back and don't get anything. Yes, this may sometimes backfire and cause a temper tantrum but more times than not it works out wonderfully for us. On the days we grocery shop I don't cook dinner. So this means once a week or every other week I don't cook, and it is amazing and I look forward to this night. I take full advantage of the chick-fila app and order my food while we are still in the parking lot at the commissary. I swing by and pick up the food, and the children eat there dinner in the car while watching a movie and I get to unload all of the groceries without children under my feet. for all of you grandparents out there worrying that my child may choke and I may not hear them I am back and forth to the car and we all go inside once the car is unloaded. I do let them unload the car with our small trips to the store, they love to help. This my friends is how I survive grocery shopping by myself.

Now let's talk about how I handle monotony and energy to exercise since they kind of go hand and hand. Yes, our mornings and evenings are usually about the same but a random temper tantrum or the spilling of a beverage tends to really break up the routine. Or a diaper blowout or the crumbling up of a siblings paper airplane. People, you have not seen the end of the world from a child's eyes until a sibling crushes a newly made paper airplane. Or the best thing to break up our day is if Nico runs in to Jacoby's bedroom, grabs one of his favorite lego guys, disassembles it within seconds and throws the pieces all over the room in different directions. Jacoby will melt down until every piece is found and y'all every piece can't be found unless I clean that room. So once again, this breaks up my routine and helps me to maintain a clean house. Going to the gym also breaks up our day. Although it is routine for us to go five days a week the days are never the same. The workers rotate, my exercises change, and depending on if we go in the morning or afternoon determines how the children behave while I am working out. I started back at the gym about two months after David left for Turkey. Initially it was for that daily one hour break to myself but it has turned into so much more. My gym has become like a family to me. Some of the employees may not know this but when they ask me how I am doing it makes my day and sometimes my week. They are truly sincere. They have expressed feelings that they couldn't separate from their spouse for this amount of time. We share stories. We laugh. I have cried. Our children play together. They watch my children almost daily, and I know they are in great hands and I never need to worry. Going to the gym gives me energy and strength to keep up with my boys. Taking care of my body means I will hopefully be around just a little longer to watch them grow.

Do I get tired? Yes! Do I take time for myself? Yes!! There are some days that I feel like I am running on fumes. Days I have to consume an afternoon cup of coffee just to make it to the boys bedtime. Of course I am exhausted. I am doing the job of two people right now. I wouldn't change any of this for the world. For the experiences that we have all gone through this past year it has made us closer as a family and strengthened our marriage. It has also brought me closer to God. It has taught me that there is no place in our lives for worrying or arguments. Life is way to short. If I get to FaceTime with David once a week I don't want to waste them on things that aren't truly important. I do take time for myself. The past few months I take several hours once a week. I know people that never do this, even when their spouses are home. It truly is something that everyone needs. It helps to reenergize you both mentally and physically. We all can be the best person that God intended us to be when we take care of ourselves.

So with all of this being said there is so much more going on in my life than just what meets the eye. I have lost two grandfathers in the past month, both to cancer. One fought the disease for 14 months and the other was diagnosed too late in the disease to do any fighting at all. We are preparing to ship our entire house overseas. This is both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. "Doesn't the military pay for movers to come do it all for you?" Yes, but that doesn't make it any easier. The team of movers will come to our house for several days and go room by room through all of my stuff and pack everything. This is great but also quite violating. Those of you eye rolling and wondering how it could be violating probably all have that drawer filled with junk, or a filing cabinet with papers from the last twenty years that you no longer need, or that closet that has been your children's catch all since you moved into the house. After reading tons of blogs I have learned and heeded the advice to go through each room before the move. Dejunk all of those drawers, throw away trash (important papers that can all be found electronically), clean under the beds, and pass on things that are no longer needed.

I am most excited to have my family living together under one roof. I am excited to be learning Italian. David said he will be good as long as I am there to translate. Haha just wait until he needs a toilette (restroom) for an emergency I may just have to watch him squirm before translating. I am also trying to mentally prepare myself for a 16 hour flight with the three boys. I have read a ton of blogs on this topic and feel like I am almost prepared. If not, I have a ton of backup new Lego guys that I am bringing in my carryon. Anyone who know Nico and Jacoby knows that they will survive 16 hours with just a few new Legos.

Please feel free to drop any advice, tips, or tricks that can make my life easier for the move down below in the comments. I ask most importantly for prayers. Prayers that our move goes smooth, that we have a safe flight, and that we find the best place for our family to live once we get there. Stay tuned and I will give many updates on our journey to Aviano, Italy.