As you may have guessed, or learned for yourself, it is SO much easier not to go to church most Sundays. We are working hard to get back into the habit of attending again, so unless we’re all contagious and sick, we’re making a solid effort to go. This morning gave us a pretty serious run for our money, however, and I juuust about called it all off about ten minutes before we had to go.
All the kids were struggling, but most notably, Solly Wolly could not get it together. Just a few days ago, he cut 3/4 eye teeth in the same day. He slept like a rock those days, and it was a great success. This last one seems to be giving him a run for his money, and our money, by default. And by “money,” I mean sanity. He was wailing consistently, and we discovered that he had a little poop in his diaper. But he screamed through the diaper change, and for a LONG while after that. Nothing would resolve it. I finally left the room, as his screaming was starting to make me a little bit crazy, and he literally slow-crawled after me (yup, he walks ALL the time, but not this morning, apparently) and lay at my feet, continually wailing. No, picking him up, singing, walking him around, nothing did it. Yet, to church we went.
Guys, we tried. It was SUCH a hard morning. Brady was doing laps with Solly and if he even leaned over to whisper to one of us, Solly would squeal angrily or slap at the bench like a maniac. It was SO frustrating!!
Brady finally tried to join us, but Solly started screaming worse than before and I took my turn. He recovered fairly quickly, and I could tell he was tired. I had hopes that he would fall asleep on me like he did the other morning, but at home, when that had happened, he had been sitting on my lap, crying into my chest for a few minutes until he just petered out. In the church service, I don’t exactly have the option to let him cry for a few minutes. We tried briefly to rejoin the service but he just wrestled and thrashed like an animal and when I made him sit still, he started screaming. It just ground my brain into pieces and I fled the service once more. I walked past a few ladies standing at the back, who appeared to be drenched in compassion for me. I told them we shouldn’t have come today. One of them lovingly walked me over to the little back room kind of specifically set up for women and little babies to be in if they’re not up for the service that day. We found Solly a toy to hold, and she and I visited. Instead of playing, Solly finally fell asleep. He slept all slumped over on me through the whole service.
I could finally breathe a little, and while I admit we completely missed the message of the service, I had a really lovely chat with a friend about family, which is obviously one of my favorite topics of conversation 🙂 I rarely get to just sit and chat with this friend, so I solidly enjoyed spending that hour or so with her <3 And Solly thoroughly enjoyed his nap!
We made it home, had lunch, and we’re hoping the rest of the day goes somewhat smoothly. Rowan is napping, so that’s great. Solly is still wiped out, but who knows if he’ll sleep now that he napped through church. Dekker and Laela are having quiet time, but I’m wondering if we should’ve put Laela down for a nap :/ Whoops. And Dekker is off the wall. Has been ALL day. Its great to have energy, but I wonder when the crash will come. Hmmm…
All in all, it felt like a pretty chaotic morning, and I’m pretty tired. But, let’s hope this afternoon is a good reprieve for everyone so we can enjoy our evening at my parents place!
At the VERY least, I’m glad we went to church, if for no other reason than to just stay in the habit. And we’ll be there next week too, leading music!! Go, us!