Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

What?! I know, you are thinking- Katie, did you skip New Year's all together? no.  In fact, I am planning on coming back to that later.  I am still carefully sorting through my list of resolutions- but I really needed to Celebrate Groundhog Day first :)

How do you celebrate Groundhog Day?

 This is what my children are doing right now.  Pretty perfect, huh?  This is how I celebrate Groundhog Day.

It all began years ago when my "college roommates" loved the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day.  (I should first explain that they were my "college roommates" - in quotation marks - because they attended BYU and I was college age - but I was not attending BYU so they are not technically my college roommates... I needed to make that clear in case any annoying snobs from my past are still correcting the fact that I did not attend BYU but merely lived in Provo;) So these roommates loved the movie Groundhog Day.  You know that weird thing where  you get obsessed with a movie and feel the need to quote, reenact, and torture others with it?  Like Princess Bride, Monty Python, and now apparently Groundhog Day.  They watched it all the time, and one lonely Friday night I conceded to join them.  Ugghh!  It almost killed me!  It was painful watching someone relive the same day over and over and over and over again!  Every time the alarm clock struck 6:00a.m. I winced.  I became anxious and felt the need to run screaming from our apartment.  Not because of Bill Murry (although he wasn't helping) but because the idea of that kind of monotony was suffocating to me.  

A few years later (in my immaturity) as others around me grew up and began having kids and I persisted in the fun adventures of being single - I witnessed what I thought was a real life version of that painful movie: Motherhood.  

Every day the same thing.  Over and over and over again.  I was terrified.  It was like running on a treadmill - all that hard work to end up in the exact same spot you started.  How could these moms handle it?  What was the variety?  Where was the adventure?  What was keeping them sane?

Today- I changed another poopy diaper.  I made another meal that my kids called "yucky".  I waited forever for Blake to get dressed (in the time it takes Blake to pull up his underwear he can get distracted 6 times with other toys!).  I swept a dirty kitchen floor.  I folded laundry. I stepped on a Hot Wheels. I brushed a lot of teeth.  I vacuumed up a Polly Pocket purse.  I found a sippy cup of milk. (not from today).  I broke up a fight.  I listened to crying. I changed another diaper. 

Was today Groundhog Day?  Didn't I do all of that yesterday?!  And the day before!  Are my fears all coming true?  Is the alarm clock going to strike 6:00 and begin playing "I got you, Babe" by Sonny and Cher???? (that only makes sense if you had the kind of roommates who loved Bill Murry)

Oh wait, I also received a giant slobbery kiss from Macie.  And then I watched Blake play with the octopus he made at preschool today.   I held Riley's hand as we crossed the street. (One of my favorite motherhood moments.)  I heard Blake tell the funniest story.  I snuggled with Riley in our bean bag.  I witnessed Macie eat an entire Dilly Bar at Dairy Queen all by herself (even Blake gave up half way through to let JT eat the rest).  I thanked Blake for putting away his shoes and he gave me a big hug.  I gave Macie big zerberts (those slobbery kisses that make weird noises) on her tummy when she changed into Pajamas and listened to the sweetest sound- Baby Giggles. I held all three of them on my lap as we read our scriptures.  And then I kissed each one of them, sang them each a lullaby, and put them to bed.  

I guess it isn't so bad after all.  It's not like running on a treadmill, more like skipping :) We never end up in the exact same spot- every day they are a tiny bit bigger and I love them a tiny bit more.

So that is how I celebrate just another Groundhog Day in the Life of Katie Tyler. I kiss them, sing them a lullaby,  put them to bed, and look forward to them waking up and doing it all again tomorrow.