hooray for clean carpet

i promise our week was more exciting than getting our carpet steam-cleaned, but that's what i am most excited about right now. i figured out that our carpets haven't been this clean since we came home from our vacation last summer--that's over a year! we deciphered through the "english" on our bill (can you write with an accent?) that we are being charged extra because our carpet was "xtra" dirty in the "dinnen room." (i want to save the bill as a memento of our LA experience) not surprising when you consider a year's worth of max learning to use a fork happened over that carpet.

so i've been struggling a lot in the past couple of weeks. i am just too tired to be patient some days. i can't bend over or see my feet; i can't make the baby stop moving when i want to sleep, or really relax, or find a good position to sleep in, which makes sleeping difficult if not futile. this means that i have very little energy to spend on the boys or housework. and if i do use what energy i have to do something like sweep the kitchen floor or go grocery shopping, i have none left to try and understand the needs of my children. this makes for cranky mommy and cranky kids. i had a particularly harrowing grocery store episode this week, and it's probably a good thing i didn't do a post about it because i would have sounded a bit monstrous.
today at church i really felt that i got the answers i have been seeking with regard to my struggles. of course i want to be patient with my children, not constantly yelling at them. anyway i had several thoughts based on talks and lessons from the day:
1. focus on having the Spirit at home--help my children feel it. that's how they will learn what the Spirit feels like and build their testimonies. i can't give them a testimony or make them understand anything. it has to happen within them. my responsibility as their mother is to be worthy of the Spirit myself, create an atmosphere where the Spirit can dwell, and help my children recognize the feeling.
2. the first thing the Savior does when He is troubled is pray to His Father.
3. i should pray every time i need help keeping my cool--in the moment, not just a sweeping request in the morning, expecting it to be easy to then control my temper all day.
4. i need to be willing to work before i pray, and present the plan i have to the Lord in a prayer rather than just a wishlist.
5. there has to be a correspondence of wills as we submit our will to Heavenly Father.
6. prayer is a privilege--if we had time with our Father in person, what would we say? how would our prayers be different? what a powerful image!
also, i have had many offers of help from people in the ward lately (i think my belly is inviting more greetings of, "how are you doing?"). so i think that this is a message to me that i can't do everything on my own, and it's okay. i have people around me ready and willing to help, so ask for help! there's no shame in it. i have two energetic children and a very active baby inside me that taxes my body and emotions. so there you have it. i need to pray more so i have the Spirit more, and ask for and accept more help without any guilt. accepting help from people who offer does not make me a failure.