Mom Days

Hey Moms (if you aren’t a mom, feel free to keep reading…), how are you doing today?  Right now I’m feeling exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed.  And at the same time I’m happy and I’m grateful for all that I have.  No, I’m not schizophrenic or anything along those lines.  I’m just a mom.

Yesterday we had quite and adventure.  I was getting ready to go outside and take advantage of the unusually warm November weather and get some yard work done.  I was going to put on my jacket, but it was still damp from the rain the day before.  Doodles and Miss Lady were trying to get ready to go out as well.  I said “stay here, I’ll be right back.  I just need to get my sweatshirt.”  You see, these two children will follow me EVERYWHERE unless I repeat over and over “Stay right here.”  And half the time they still follow me. *Sigh*

So I run upstairs to get my sweatshirt.  I’m upstairs for less than 30 seconds and as I turn around to come back downstairs, I hear Doodles crying.  He has a really awful habit of forgetting to breathe when he’s upset.  It doesn’t happen all of the time, but in the last year, I’d say it’s happened at least 6 times.  He cries and cries and forgets to breath and will pass out if I don’t get to him fast enough.  It’s not pretty.  Anyway, I hear that crying coming from downstairs and I yell down “Breathe Doodles, breathe!” as I go flying to the stairs.  I see him sitting there crying and I realized he had blood everywhere.  To the best of my knowledge, he tripped coming from the entryway into the kitchen, got up and scream-cried his way to the bottom of the steps where he subsequently forgot to breathe.

His lip was cut all of the way through, and it was gross.  His lip was torn through and part of it was actually hanging down a bit, and his tooth was knocked loose.  So I rushed all of the kids out to the van, called Scott and took off for the hospital.  It was obvious this bad-boy (the cut) was going to need stitches.  Scott met me there and brought Doodles in to see the doctor, but they said they couldn’t do a good enough job fixing it, so they had to call a plastic surgeon to stitch it back together properly.  Scott stayed with Doodles for the remainder and I went home with the other kids.  

I should have been able to keep myself busy and get things done around the house while I waited for my little boy to come home, but I couldn’t.  It’s funny that even though I knew he was fine, that there was nothing life-threatening about his situation, I couldn’t take my mind off of it.  My stomach was queasy and I couldn’t focus.  I just wanted him back home.  I didn’t feel better until he was tucked into bed last night.  

He’s fine.  He may loose a tooth, but he’s fine and it will heal.  In fact, he was so fine that when I brought him to bed last night, he started jumping on the bed and nearly gave me a heart attack!  

So he’s safe and healthy and I have nothing to worry about, but it really put me in a funk today.  So much so that I had a hard time getting into anything this morning.

I had to send everyone to their rooms for some quiet alone time because the older three were bickering again and mommy needed some space.  I go upstairs to clean (because it’s a mess).  There’s a room up there, “the movie night room,” that really needed some straightening up.

I start cleaning and I start feeling better.  But then I find a roll of plastic wrap up there.  Grrr.  Fine, bring it back to the kitchen.  I move the bed that is in the room to sweep, and I find 2 banana peels and two hard-as-rock muffins under the bed.  I know a mouse didn’t bring those upstairs, but it could certainly attract a mouse…and they wonder why mice come inside!?!?  Grumble grumble, sweep it up.  The door is broken on the “entertainment center.”  I knew that but still, more bristling and frustration.  I went downstairs to put something away again. The baby is crying…what happened to the 2-3 hour naps?  What’s with the sudden 30 min.-hour long naps?  Can’t a mom catch a break?  When I come back up, Pumpkin is out of his room.  Boy am I ready to blow…”Get back into your room, please.  I didn’t tell you you could get up yet.”  But then I realize that he was plugging in the radio so that I could listen to Christmas music.  My heart starts melting a little.

And I know that I’m running out of time to get things done.  I’m going out for a rare night off and the house isn’t clean.

I feel like my whole week has had a big fat wrench thrown in it.  I was supposed to work outside to get a few projects done.  I was supposed to start making garland.  I was supposed to get caught up.  But tomorrow I have to run to the doctor’s again for a check up on the injured lip.  Friday we have German class and I need to do the grocery shopping.  Tomorrow is the first day of December and I’m supposed to be prepared with our Advent plans.  I don’t like change, so it really bothers me when my plans are forced to change.

Yet I know I’m grateful to have a house that can be messed up.  Children to do the messing.  I’m grateful that Doodles wasn’t hurt worse.  I’m grateful for the extra warm weather we were given this year that has allowed us to get a little caught up.  For as much as the kids seem to know how to drive us crazy, I’m grateful that they know how to cheer us up.

I know I’m not the only mom to have days like these.  I just hope yours is going a little more smoothly than mine 😉  It may be a little belated, but that’s just a small list of things I’m thankful for…what were you thankful for this Thanksgiving?  Are you ready for December?  Do you do anything for Advent?  What are your most memorable “Mom Days”?

Mom tip:  If you have the supplies on hand, a cup of very hot chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it goes a long way to making things a little brighter 😉

Love~Danielle