One of those days…

We all have ’em. The days where you want to pull the covers over your head, stay in bed, and just ignore life! 🙂
(WARNING: This may be a post you may want to skip, there’s alot of ‘complaining’! But I write this blog to remember my life, the good and the bad. I want to keep it realistic.)

I had ‘one of those days’ like that this last week.

It had been a doozy of a couple days leading up to this particular day…I’d been up multiple times with every member of my family for quite a few nights (read: strep throat and kidney stones, and ruptured ear drum, and a bad cold all at our house–everyone was on the mend by this point)-getting to bed late, read 12:00pm and rising early for the day-read 4:30am with the babe {I was exhausted! and felt like saying, just five more minutes, five more minutes!}, my house was a mess {EVERY single room looked like a tornado had been through it, the kitchen had 2 days of dishes, food on the floor — you get the picture.}, and I had a full day of things I NEEDED to do in front of me {I was going to be running around, busy, busy that day doing many extra things, plus all that comes with the care of 4 kids, and trying to ‘recover’ the house}. I was trying to think of something happy to look forward to that day, and all I could see was all the work it is to be a mom. It felt it was going to be a rough day, I was starting out the day with my patience worn…

I finished feeding Lorelei, and looked at my clock..6:35. Past time to get going….I rolled over, I was in a bad mood, grouchy, and wanting to go back to sleep.

I could hear Elliot was awake downstairs in his crib, so as much as I wanted to go back to sleep, and pretend I didn’t know it was morning, I knew he’d be screaming soon, so I’d better get moving…

Out of bed I rolled, grabbing my robe, and heading to Elliot..

Toph had put him to bed the night before, whilst I put the others to bed, so I was surprised when I saw this:

Undies ontop of the jammies…(we’re potty training and Elliot can’t get enough of big boy undies) And yes, I forgot to mention that, add Potty Training to the list of things I was not looking forward to doing. Potty training is one of the most dreaded parental duties !
But when I saw him, I thought, How can you not smile about that?

And little things like that continued throughout the day, instead of being grouchy, the little things that could have just ‘thrown me over the edge’, instead brought gratitude to me..

Lots of spit ups and dirty leaking diapers means I get to dress this cutie in lots of cute outfits.

A change of plans in the day, unexpectedly led to a few extra minutes at home, where these two cuddled on the couch and watched a quick episode of Shawn the Sheep.

And with the changing of outfits, came the changing of hair accessories, I mean, really? I’m so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter, with so much hair…

And the day continued on and on like that…

Ending with my kids laughing and smiling at the end of the day with me in the kitchen.

What a difference Gratitude can make. Don’t get me wrong, the day was still bumpy, but not as ‘miserable’ as it could have been.
And that night I had another realization and gratitude…although these days are hard, they are still MY DAYS. I GET TO stay at home. It is my choice, my sweetheart works very hard to give that gift to me and my family. I HAVE children who make these days hard, but I HAVE THEM. Being a mom is HARD, but I GET to do it. I have been giving that blessing of being a mom.
And still more gratitude washed over me.

“Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”