Sometimes motherhood is the pits.

Yep. I said it aloud. Being a mother has all sorts of beautiful benefits: the tickles and giggles and cuddles and watching your little boys grow into awesome little men. But sometimes it's a lot of hard work and not much fun at all. And frankly, the boys and I have been going through a serious phase where life seems like mountains of work and very little fun.

Oliver has discovered his love for climbing EVERYTHING. And I've discovered his absolute lack of fear. The combination of these is keeping me seriously on my toes. And as his dangerous tendencies have grown so has his incredible temper, especially when it comes to stopping him from doing something he wants to do or when it comes to eating. Now not only do we have to jump when he's hungry, we then have to stand back and let him feed himself ALL BY HIMSELF no matter how MESSY he is and how FAR the food gets flung. That little guy is seriously trying my patience.

And dear Elliot, my goodness he's been seriously getting on my last nerve. The arguing with everything I say, and the ignoring me when I ask him to do something, and the way he tells me off and puts me in my place ALL THE TIME these days: "Mommy, you can't talk to me like that!" and "Mommy, you make me sad!" and "Mommy, you're naughty!" and my personal favourite, "Mommy, I don't like you!". I know that it's just a stage and I know that he doesn't really mean the things he says, but my gosh, I've been pushed to my limit lately.

In fact, last week I was so at the end of my rope that I called my manager to see if there was any way I could pick up an extra day of work each week. (And just to punctuate the matter, while on the phone with her, Elliot tried to shove a blueberry up his nose and Oliver tried to swallow a knife!!!)

All I can say is thanks to God, Buddha, and Mohammed, just when I was at my breaking point, things have seriously started to improve. One of the daycare ladies told me what incredibly good manners Elliot has, and when I asked her, "But isn't it horrible his new habit of sticking his tongue out and spitting in your face?" She didn't have any idea what I was talking about. And Aine's mum told me that the more little boys she meets she's realizing more and more what a sweet boy Elliot is. And on top of those warm fuzzies, Elliot seems to have turned a corner on the latest wave of naughty behaviours, and Oliver has been incredibly funny and cuddly too (still a shockingly stubborn and messy eater though!)

So, it looks like the boys and I've made it through another rocky patch which, if I've learned anything from being a mom, means I've got another few weeks before the boys embark on a new and different way to keep me on my toes. I can't wait.