Terrible 2s...I think not, 3 is bad!

Is it just me or are 3 year olds really hard to deal with? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, even the one who is three, but he is causing me much stress lately. It's getting a little better, but I keep anticipating another horrid couple of weeks.

Carter was the sweetest and best baby ever and then he turned one and it was the pits. I attribute his bad attitude towards not being able to communicate. He would scream at me and we would just be at each other all day. I didn't know what he wanted and he didn't know how to tell me...it was rough, but by 17 months life got better and I liked him again. He started talking and we could help each other and life was good. When he was two he was great. We had so much fun together, singing songs, running through fields of tall grass...wait, no, that was Little House on the Prairie...anyway it was fun, seemingly carefree. Three started out blissfully and as the year came to a half-way point it started going downhill. I don't know if Christmas and being spoiled with toys triggered this bad behavior or what, but the last couple weeks have been bad.

I've been afraid that I will be on the 5 o'clock news...woman snaps and does something terrible...I can't even finish it, but I've been stressed. Let me tell you how I spent Valentines Day. So, bad day at home with the kids, obviously, and then poor Joel, comes home from work and disagrees with one thing I said and I flipped out and said, "I'm out of here." I dropped off the garlic mashed potatoes I made (which were a pain to make) for the ward dinner and then drove to Home Depot to pick up some "specialty" light bulbs for our stupid light in our bedroom that had been out for forever (annoying, because I had checked like 300 places for these dumb light bulbs and nobody carries them). Anyway, at Home Depot this super cool guy helped me find the light bulbs and then we sat at the patio furniture and talked about rotten kids and how hard it is to be a parent and then he asked me to do him a favor if I had some time. I told him I had all night. He asked me to walk around the whole store and tell him how many employees don't say "hi" to me and ask if there's anything they can do for me and he gave me a card for a discount next time I come. I did and they have a pretty friendly store. I wasn't ready to go back home yet, so I went to Starbucks and had a hot chocolate and a cupcake (nice dinner, I know). I sat there for about 2 hours just staring at the wall and enjoying being alone and listening to the nice music. As I was sitting there I will admit, I had a few bad ideas crawl through my mind...like maybe I should start drinking...wouldn't it be nice to just drown my stresses with a nice...okay, I'll stop there. I was a good girl and pushed those thoughts right on through...

I shouldn't just pick on Carter...Mason is a little annoying right now too. He is super sweet, but he is into everything! He drives me up a wall. I hate having to shut doors and move things around just because there is a baby around, but I can't keep up with this kid like I could with Carter. He is busy. Just recently he got into my paint and managed to spill almost an entire bottle of white paint (at least it was white) all over our carpet and himself, all within a matter of minutes. No worries (well, there was stress, but) we got it all up and out, we hope, with a rug doctor we rented. So, Carter - flip outer...Mason - annoying.

My point was not to have anyone feel bad for me or think I'm bad for having bad thoughts or think my kids are bad...I guess my point was just to vent. Kids are tough...little stinkers, mouthy little stinkers, stinkers who flip out every time you say anything. But sometimes they are wonderful...maybe I'll have to do a post about a nice time we had once...awhile ago...when life was good...it'll get better, right?