Sometimes I Wonder...

If going to church with a 14 month old is really worth it.

Before Dallas and I had kids I had this perfect picture in my mind of my perfect children. They wouldn't be whiners, or hitters, or biters, and they would most certainly sit quietly in church without so much as a peep. They would look at their church activity books that I had made and think about Jesus and keep their little arms folded. They wouldn't talk or cry during Sacrament and I would be able to enjoy the meeting.

And then we had our sweet little girl. For the most part, my vision was coming to pass. She was a great baby! And then once she turned one my vision went out the window. Macie is definitely stubborn. And not very patient. Especially at church. It is especially hard because right now our 11:00 church falls during her morning nap. Today during Sacrament meeting she was such a handful. Squirming and screaming and yelling and all over the place! The poor people who were sitting by us..... Needless to say we spent a lot of time in the foyers.

Dallas and I teach primary, and usually she does well in opening exercises because there are other kids that she watches and they keep her pretty entertained. She also really enjoys singing time. But the older she gets, the more rowdy she is. One of her favorite activities as of late is pulling the hair of the kids in front of us and poking the behinds of the teachers in front of us. She also really likes to just randomly shout bursts of annoying noises in the middle of the lessons, or whatever else is going on. So awesome..... Dallas and I are always passing her off to each other once we've dealt with all we can handle. This little girl is giving me a run for my money. I feel so bad for the people we are disturbing. I keep telling myself evey Sunday that it's worth it, because she's got to be getting something out of it, right?!? Please let this child be learning something from church, even if it's just the fact that we go every Sunday no matter what. In the mean time, I apologize if you've ever had to sit by us and witness the monster that she becomes at church. I promise I try to teach her good habits....

When I look around at all the other kids her age they seem to be behaving just fine.
Please tell me my daughter isn't the only child who does this!

It also doesnt help that after Sacrament meeting we spend the next two hours with about six five year olds. Isnt church supposed to be uplifting??