Pictures with a Story

Two weekends ago, we had a very busy weekend...a full day at Hopkins, and two birthday parties to attend. The 2nd birthday party of the weekend was on Sunday, right after church and at the same time the boys normally take a nap. It was not a good showing for the Almengor's. We were with old neighbors of ours who we haven't seen in months. We were the only family with three kids, let alone three kids under 3 years old.

Shortly after we arrived, Judah fell and cut his lip open rather badly. At the time, we couldn't decipher what he had cut; we just saw the blood. Any mom knows facial bleeds are the worst, especially the mouth. It seemed to take forever to get it to stop bleeding and even longer to get Judah to stop crying. I'm sure after a half hour, people were wondering why we were even still at the party. But, hey, we don't come by social events that the entire family can attend too often. So, I was determined to stick it out!

Judah did calm down and eventually began to play again with the other kids, but he fell at least 3 or 4 more times that day. Not his day I guess. Tucker was in true 2 yr. old form, saying "no" to me any time I called his name, and Bella refused to sleep making her rather cranky and unable to put down. We really weren't able to participate with any of the planned activities because we were just a bit overwhelmed. My friend who hosted the party said to me at one point during the party, "I'm exhausted just watching you." :) Yeah, just the thing that makes you feel like such a good mommy! :) I just smiled and said, "yeah, I'm not one of those who makes it look easy."

I am the mom I never wanted to be: the frazzle, dazzle queen. But, I've got three kids I love a ton and three kids who, God willing, will learn to be incredibly gracious to others who, like their momma, fumble through life while trying real hard to make it look good.

Here are the pictures of Judah's lip later that day when all the blood stopped flowing and he stopped crying:


And, here's a very tired mommy at the day's end who was attacked by plastic eggs while she slept: