The Cushions

Last night I rotated the couch cushions...you know so they don't all get warped into one position.  It's been way overdue, at least 6 months.  I found the following things:  a bat, a snake, a dragonfly, a frog, half a horse, a dinosaur, a praying mantis, a green bead, a frog's hand, a key, a granola bar wrapper and a penny.  Well this has got Aiden written all over it.  Ella never loses her stuff, so it doesn't really come as a surprise that all of these toys belong to Aiden.  Funny how we go searching for stuff, yet I never thought to look in the couch.  He gives up pretty fast, so our expeditions don't last long.  I have to say though, I've been wondering were that penny went!

So it got me to thinking...what you find under your couch cushions actually reveal a lot about your life.  Let's start with Ella.  She likes little things, tiny little choking hazard type toys.  Anything that she is attached to that day goes into either her purse or her Tinker Bell box.  She totes it around, regardless of whether or not she actually plays with it, she just likes to know it's there.  She's the responsible one in the family, always has been, hoping she always will.  Then there's Aiden.  Sweet and loud and crazy.  He likes little things too.  Typical boy stuff.  He's constantly flitting from one thing to the next.  He's the spontaneous one.  Careless and free.  I'm pretty sure he'll be a stunt man when he grow up. 

Then there's me.  I have to say, I'm glad there wasn't a lot of trash under there, but then again like I said, it's a story of our life.  I'm not really a messy person, and the kids are really good about throwing their stuff away.  I'm also pretty anal about everything being in it's place.  I have to admit though, the granola bar wrapper was mine.  Ever have those times when you are actually scared of your kids?  For example, it's 2am.  You've already been at this for an hour.  Up and down with a crying child, soothing them, putting them back in bed...only to be at it again 10 minutes later.  You finally cave and sit in the room with them until they fall asleep.  Then, as though the clouds part and angels begin to sing, they're asleep.  Finally!  But then you find yourself sitting there in their room, in the dark, AFRAID to move.  Don't want to wake them up so what do you do next?  Crawl out of the room of course!  Or another scenario.  To the nursing mothers:  You are lying in bed to feed your baby.  She falls asleep in the middle of eating.  Unfortunately, you can't stay and sleep...gotta get up and tend to other things.  Same problem, don't want to wake the baby.  So you do a ninja roll out of bed to make it a smooth transaction.  You stay crouched on the floor for a few seconds to make sure it worked.  But then as you are walking out, she wakes back up.  So immediately you drop to the floor, hoping she didn't see you.  It worked.  She drifted back off to sleep.  So naturally, you crawl out of the room.  I don't care how scary movies can be, there's nothing like the feeling of being afraid of your kids.  So back to the granola bar.  I'll admit it.  I was scared.  I mean is it too much for me to ask to be able to eat a stinkin' granola bar without somebody coming along wanting to eat off of it too?  So when I heard them coming I shoved what was left of the granola bar in my mouth and hid the evidence.  Then of course they say "What you eating mommy?"  Nothing...I don't know what you're talking about!  Come on, who hasn't snuck food from their kids?  And then there's Brian.  He's the one bringing home the bacon, so I'm pretty sure the penny is his.  You know how it is.  The husbands come home and empty out their pockets.  Brian will give Aiden his loose change.  He likes to put it in his bear bank and see it fall through the bottom.  I like that he's teaching them the value of money at such a young age.  Riley's not exactly old enough to be losing anything yet, but she definitely contributes to the couch.  I clean up spit up and poop frequently off of my cushions and pillows.  So there you have it.  Our life as we know it as told by our couch.  Looking forward to what I find next time I rotate the cushions.  So I encourage you to look under your couch cushions and see what's happening in your life.  You might be surprised.  Phew, so glad the walls can't talk...they'd have a lot more to say!