Life in the Shoes of Krista: Conclusion

9:43 PM - Started blogging.

This is my conclusion and I am going to start with an introduction. Which is totally backwards, but the whole world didn't need to know that I left my husband at home, defenseless, with two giant dogs. The world also didn't need to know that Andy, Krista, and Addy were in Germany while I was also defenseless in Virginia with four kids. When I say world, I really mean the crazy people that stalk you. However, I am sure those crazy people would find out what was going on if they really wanted to know, stalkers.

Anyways. When Brett and I came to visit Krista back in September, she asked me to come back to watch her kids while her, Andy, and Addy were gone. Andy had military orders to play his trumpet in Germany. Of course instantly I said yes. The whole Allphin family is awesome and so much fun. So all the arrangements were made for me and Isaac to come back.

I knew that this whole experience was going to be crazy and difficult and overwhelming, but I knew we would have fun and we would be just fine. Prior to getting here, my biggest concern was just making sure that the kids didn't literally kill themselves. These children are accident prone. I mean Parker once landed in the dishwasher with the rack stuck in his eye. These children are also rough and tend to fight. I just didn't want to take a bleeding child to the emergency room. I would have, but who wants that to happen to them... So I just kind of expected it to be a lot of work and tried to prepare myself for complete chaos.

Seriously, it was a lot of work and in my head, it was complete chaos. Having the sick kids was the real kicker. It was the one thing that I wasn't expecting to happen. I was thankful that Andy was able to take Clark to the doctor before he left, but the first day I was stressing big time with the germs. I was trying so hard to keep everyone else from getting sick too. But the end of the second day, when Isaac went to bed with a runny nose, I cried. I was tired, overwhelmed, grumpy... And having a sick baby is hard enough. At that point I kind of lost it. I seriously got online and looked up airline tickets to get my mom out here. But, last minute tickets from Phoenix to DC and back were over $600.

After Sunday, I think I had everything under control. I started to figure out how to make schedules work. I got the kids to listen to me. I had caught up with the time zones. I was feeling better from my version of being sick. After Sunday we had fun. It was usually conditional and always accompanied with threats, but I made it work. And I also realized when life is super crazy and you need to meltdown with the kids, it's okay. Maybe not every five minutes, but it is okay. And who cares if the kids did nothing all day but watch TV, tomorrow we will try to be better. It's okay if they fight, just give them a chance to work it out. And it is okay to just sit and drink a Dr. Pepper (except once I get back in Phoenix it is cold turkey for me).

I did my best to fill Krista's shoes for ten days. She is an amazing mother and does so much more than take care of her kids. She is a wife. She fulfills her church callings. She runs a preschool. She keeps a nice home. She does so much. 

So for my conclusion. I made it. If there is ever a next time, I will probably have someone else tag along for the chaos. Also, this was a learning experience. As a first time mom with Isaac, I am totally just winging every day and everything I do. So I learned a thing or two with Krista's kids for when Isaac is older. The bad news, this trip made me dislike DC/Virginia just a little. I hate being cold. The good news is, I still want more kids. 

10:32 PM - Stopped blogging and went to bed.