It's been a L.O.N.G. week.

Not only have the boys (all 3 of them) been sick for almost a full week, but we have hit some interesting phases with the boys as well.

Jack has been screaming virtually non stop. He's getting a couple of teeth in, as well as being at the awkward stage where he knows he can just yell to get what he wants, but he also knows enough words to be able to ask for it. This results in him screaming and me constantly getting onto him to "ask!".

He also really likes to yell my name a lot. He calls me "ma" most of the time. Chris always laughs at it because he thinks Jack sounds like a New Yorker when he says it.

Josh has hit a(nother) phase of very poor listening. Amidst his inability to listen there have also been some infuriating behavior thrown in the midst of it. The first one was that he just decided to randomly pee on the carpet. I still can't wrap my mind around why or how... there are some things I just don't understand. The second was that he decided to take a sharpie to our couch. Mind you the sharpie was in my purse (which he knows he's not supposed to get into) and he drew on the couch (of which he KNOWS we only color on paper). Thankfully some BRILLIANT person invented microfiber of which we were intuitive enough to buy. A little bit of rubbing alcohol took it right out. For the record I have removed chocolate, olive oil, tomato sauce, pen, sharpie, snot, and only God knows what else from our couches all except the sharpie with nothing more than water.

I've had people on a regular basis tell me that I'm going to miss this phase when my kids are teenagers and they can talk back. Meanwhile I'm thinking they're crazy because if they knew Josh they would know how much talking back I get. My only hope is that the consistent discipline we do know will make life when they are teenagers a little easier.

There have been too many times this past week where I have questioned my mommy skills and if I'm a complete failure. Parenting is not an easy business, at least not with my children. For whatever reason it seems as though God has entrusted us with more challenging children than other people seem to have. I try to trust that means he's given me the capability to come out the other side a sane person, with well behaved kids. This week has required a lot of trust and faith.