Mad Monday Update

Just an update to share just how crazy this day has been.

I went up to take a nap and found that my daughters weren't napping.  In order to allow the younger one the opportunity to fall asleep, I took her noisier big sister out of the room to lay down in bed with me.  Then Luke woke up.

So, we three go downstairs and catch part of Little House on the Prairie.  Kassia seems interested in doing an activity again, so I give her a goofy worksheet to do and stress that it's not a big deal and she doesn't have to be perfect at it; that's why we are practicing.  She's still too tired (or something) to really get into it, so I help her finish so that she can have a sense of accomplishment and then I let her pick out a sticker for trying.

Luke and Kassia are, naturally, famished, so I give them bowls of cottage cheese (cheese of any kind is a big hit in this house).  Luke also snacks on the remaining French Fried Onions I have too little of to use in any recipe.  Now a master at walking around with a cup of water and drinking all by himself, he comes to me for two refills.  Because he's saying, "Wa..Pee" (water, please), I get him those refills, not thinking about how full his tummy might be.  Finishing his third cup, he coughs a little and throws up into the cup and a bit on the floor.

No big deal - it's just one of those days.  I smile a little and grab a handy burp cloth to start cleanup and the little boy runs around and hugs me from behind.  It's cute, until he upchucks the rest of his stomach contents onto my back.  Feeling a little goofy from the whole day, even though it's only 3pm, I snicker while my daughter looks horrified at the scene.

Good news:  my hair and pants were not casualties of the spewing - all I need was to change my top after washing off my back, of course.

My husband comes home while I am upstairs in the bathroom taking two Tylenol for the headache I'm dealing with, mostly on account of crying in between episodes of the average life at home with young kids.  He gets to work in the office and I lay on the couch, thankful for my amazing friends who have called me and helped me deal with the day that I am having.  (Holly, Krissy - you rock!)  I am also thankful for my husband to be home, but I dare not dream that he can save the day - he still has work to do.

Finally, my husband is done with work and his workout, the kids are freshly bathed (YES - score one for mommy!) and fed, and my unsuspecting husband asks if I need to cuddle on the couch.  I do, and settle in next to him and then begin to overwhelm him with my overwhelmedness (the work end of it, anyway)- poor guy!  He does a great job of reassuring me that we both have the same ideal of what my role in the home should be and tries his best to help think of a way to improve things.  We wrap things up in time for him to go to a local congressman's public "listening session" on the health care bill, I put the kids to bed, and here I am, at the computer, back at work and back to the blog.

You know what?  I have a great life - puke and all, and so it does make it harder for me to deal with days when things don't go well.  My natural instinct is to feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself when I really don't have anything substantial to feel sorry about.  But, at the same time, loving my life doesn't mean that I don't have ups and downs, too, and it's probably good practice for me to just go ahead and embrace the "downs."  After all, they're what makes the "ups" so darn good.