The Sunday Challenge

Early morning church is hard. Since our ward switched to the 9am block at the beginning of the year, we have missed Sacrament Meeting more than once. In fact, we missed the last three weeks in row. We made it in time for classes and nursery, but Sacrament Meeting just wasn't happening. So this week, I was bound and determined to make it to church on time and be present for the whole three hours. Saturday night I bathed the kids, got clothes ironed, packed the diaper bag, etc. All of this was to ensure that we made it to church on time. Well, I succeeded and we left the house at 8:54am and got to church just before the meeting began. On our way in, we saw the primary secretary, and Cierra with horror in her eyes says "Mom, we forgot about my talk!" I assured her that it would be fine and we quickly wrote a little talk when we got to our seats. Whew! Disaster avoided. I sat there in Sacrament for a few minutes, pleased with how the day was going. After that, all heck broke loose. Caden was very upset to find that I hadn't packed any of his cars in the diaper bag. So upset that Erick had to take him out. I went to check on him a few minutes later and he was having another meltdown because we had left his beloved (but smelly) blanket at home. I tried to calm him down, but Erick said he would just go home and grab it. After Erick left, I got him calmed down enough that we could go back in. He even walked in and usually he insists on being carried. Well wouldn't you know it? He walked right into the back of a pew and the meltdown started all over again. I decided to just let him cry it out for a minute, rather than bring him out again (which I'm sure everyone around us appreciated....lol.) Erick got back with the blanky and all was well. And then it was nursery time. Caden really struggles with other kids looking at him, talking to him, touching him and so on unless it's on his terms. So when another little boy tried to talk to him, the crying started. Then a toy was taken and the full blown meltdown started. I decided to take him out of nursery and let him calm down for a few minutes. We went out in the hall and I rocked him and held him until the crying stopped. I started talking to one of my neighbors and she started playing with Caden and he immediately cheered up and was smiling and laughing. I got up to take him back to nursery and he ran right into my neighbor's bag and fell over. Meltdown #576 of the day started. Got him calmed down again and went back into nursery. He stayed calm for about 30 seconds. The primary president was in there and she suggested that I just take him home and they would cover for me (nursery is my calling.) I went to go find Erick because he had the car keys. He was no where to be found. I finally called home to see if he might be there. He very sheepishly answered the phone and said he would be right there (the rest of that story is for another entry entirely.) He got there and we started to head home, when Cierra saw us and just had to go home, too. We then went and got Mackenzie, since no one else would be left at church. So at 11:15am, the whole Sullivan clan got home from church. After all my effort to get us there on time, we ended up home 45 minutes early. It is so hard to be the Mom and always try to set a good example. It would be so much easier on Sundays to just sleep in and forgo church all together, but I know it would not be sending my kids the right message. I just hope and pray that life with Caden gets easier soon and that the rest of the year with 9:00am church goes by quickly.