Today has been rough. I'm in so much pain that I didn't sleep last night. I tired. I'm cranky. And worst of all, I hurt. I must have gone around more than half the morning with a frown on my face. Then I went to Starbucks. Normally, Starbucks alone would make me smile, but today it wasn't that. There were these two women in Starbucks who were extremely rude to the poor, frazzled girl behind the counter. The girl looked like she may cry any second. That's when I realized that even though I wasn't being verbally rude, the look on my face was definitely not making others happy. So I smiled. I smiled and thanked the girl behind the counter. You know what? She smiled, too. The two crabby women who we rude and complaining? Even when drinking their yummy coffees, they were frowning. A smile is a powerful thing. It doesn't take away the pain or make you less tired, but it does make you less cranky. It makes you remember that even though you're having a rough time, someone else may be having a more difficult day than you. So smile. Not only will you be happier, but you will make others around you happier as well.
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I have never been away from my kids. In fact, I haven't even been away from my husband since the summer of 2001 until he travelled for work, but even then I had the kids. This past weekend, I went away. We had a girls weekend at a friend's sister's lake house in Michigan. It was awesome. We sat around in bathing suits all day and drank from 1pm (when we got there) until 11 pm. We talked, laughed and, most importantly, relaxed. We slept in on Sunday and then relaxed until after lunch when we headed home. I came home refreshed (my friends came home refreshed and tan, but I sat in the shade all weekend since my Irish skin only burns). When I got home, Sunshine said, "I so cited you're home!"
Husband thinks we should do this every couple of months. I think that would be awesome. Trying to get 4 families coordinated for the Mommies to be away though is tough. Even if it doesn't happen every couple of months, I'm sure we will do this again. I had a blast and am so thankful we all had this opportunity. Since Monster loved VBS so much, we decided to go for Round Two. Sunshine will be attending preschool at the local Methodist church. It just so happens this church is one of the only ones with a preschool VBS program as well. We signed the kids up. They were both thrilled because it was the same program as the other VBS Monster went to at the beginning of the summer. They both knew all the music and Monster knew the dances. They had a wonderful time. It reinforced the need to start going to church for Monster. I've never been one to "take comfort in the fact that God is with us", but my son does, and that's what matters. Three days is all it took from start to finish of the first tooth falling out. Sunday night is when the tooth got wiggly and Wednesday early afternoon, it fell out. Monster could not be more excited. I didn't expect this to happen so quickly his Tooth Fairy bag isn't finished, or, to be more accurate, started, yet. We do have a tooth fairy pillow he got a couple years ago from his grandma, but he told me he'd like a different one, one to hang on the door. Tonight though, he will use the one we have and I'll get to work on his permanent one. He can't wait to lose more teeth!
I'm no stranger to pain. I've spent the majority of my adult life in pain from my neck and/or back. Since starting regular therapy back at the end of October, my pain has been so much better that it almost has felt like no pain in comparison. After all these months of feeling good, the pain is back. It's not just a day or two, either. I'm working on almost three weeks of solid pain now. Even my range of motion has decreased again. It's amazing how feeling good makes one forget how to deal with pain that you lived with for years. I lived with this pain and worse just a few short months ago. I should just be able to suck it up. Before, my pain was pretty much a secret. Only a select few knew. Most people didn't even know I was in pain until I started therapy and they wondered why I was going. The past three weeks, I feel like all I've done is complain to anyone who will listen. I don't like that. I'm not that person. Husband keeps telling me I'm just getting old. I guess my larger problem is my fear that the relief I had was only temporary and it will never completely go away. I head to my regular doctor tomorrow and then a new one on Friday and hopefully get some better answers. Until then, I'm going to try to keep my mouth shut and try to be positive that this is only minor set back and I will be relatively pain free again soon.
Sunshine is working on the letter C. She made a Monarch caterpillar for the letter C. We looked it up on the computer and had a mini science lesson that went with our craft. Monster received a letter from the tooth fairy last night to help ease his worries about losing his tooth. Here's what it said: For a while now, I've been wanting to make waterproof windsocks with the kids. I finally got around to doing it today. Sunshine wasn't able to tie the plastic bag strips, but she helped by holding the plastic ring still for Monster to tie. It was super simple to make. Just take the lid of a plastic container (ours was Country Crock) and cut the center out. Take several plastic bags, five to be exact, cut off the bottoms and handles, lay flat and then cut into long strips. Tie plastic bag strips onto plastic ring. Add string with a loop to hang. Monster loved making this and Sunshine loves how it looks outside! I got this idea from here, but, adjusted it.
Monster has his first loose tooth. I knew this day would come. Just another sign he's growing up. I just kind of figured he wouldn't get his first loose tooth until, oh, high school, college, you know, when I was ready. Tonight, we picked him up from VBS (the second one of the summer) and that was the very first thing he said. I nearly burst out crying. He is so very excited, and, in true Monster fashion, nervous. "What if it falls out and I don't know?" "What if I swallow it?" Valid questions. I just assured him that it was OK, no matter what.
Where has the time gone? Wasn't he just three weeks old yesterday with me looking at him wondering how I would ever be able to leave him to go back to work? Time's going too fast and I'm not sure I'm ready for all that lies ahead. Finally got around to having my kids 3 and 6 year pictures taken. My friend took these for me. She's awesome!
What happened to July? It's more than half over and I don't even remember it starting. June was crazy. I purposely scheduled nothing into July. Suddenly, I have a full calendar. Where are my lazy days of summer? It's been so hot outside that the kids don't even want to go out and play. When they do go out, they're done in about 10 minutes. Our only thing planned in July was supposed to be baseball games on Tuesday nights. We played our last game last night. Somehow, things went from nothing to crazy. Every weekend in July has been taken up. Monster now has hand writing therapy two days a week. Sunshine and Monster are both going to be going to Vacation Bible School starting next week. I've had doctor and dentist appointments. Monster has had doctor appointments (as a side note, his ears are back to normal! Passed the hearing test with flying colors. He's still turning his head to one side when listening, but the doctor thinks it's just habit now and it will correct itself with time). Normally, we have playgroup every week, but this is the first week since July started that we're actually having playgroup. And it doesn't slow down from here. School starts in one month. I had so many fun and exciting things planned to do and we've done none of them. The heat is really the main factor, but time is right there on it's heels. Add that to Husband being gone a lot this month already and me falling asleep about 9:30 every night and you have a summer that's more than half over. To top it off, I don't even have pictures to prove summer existed. I've taken random pictures of random stuff, but no real summer fun pictures!
It's time to step up my game. Since I'm a list maker, I'll make a list of things we all really want to do this summer. Not just me, but the whole family. I will rescue this summer before it's back to the school grind. Several months ago, a friend of a friend lost her baby after a very long fight to keep her alive. To honor the baby, the family asked if everyone could blow bubbles. Monster wanted to take it a step further and blow bubbles for all the angel babies. For Andrew, for Aiden, for Sticky. Now, every time we blow bubbles, my kids say they are blowing them for angel babies.
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