Thankful

This posting is really for me more than anything. The last few weeks as a mom has been trying. Really nothing is that bad, just life is busy and I have a 2 year old who is whiny and her main way of communicating at me lately is to just cry and yell. I have a four year old who can get very attitudie (I don't think that it is a word but it works for me) and it seems to be aimed mostly at me. I have more things going on than I can handle and I don't know how to scale back because I am committed to them and need to see them out (most of them are over at the end of the school year). There is a pile of laundry that needs to be folded and as often as I do fold laundry it never seems to get any smaller. If all of this isn't enough we have been seriously looking at homes lately and that is a stress that just makes me want to bury my head in the sand. (We even went so far as to make an offer last week - it got turned down but we knew it would - it was more a long shot on a house that would be great if we could get a great deal on it - it had 3 ice makers in different rooms and a full oven circa 1970 in the family room, in the 70's when it was built it was a swinging party house I am sure!)

What the whole point of writing this down is that when I stop and think about life and my stresses I am overwhelmed by how lucky and blessed I am. I have an incredible husband who loves me and my kids. He works so hard so that we can have a great home and that we can make an offer on a house. He comes home to us every night and loves me even if the laundry isn't folded and supports me in all those things I have over committed myself to. I am lucky that the most important thing to my husband is that our kids our home with me during the day and works so hard so that I can be a stay at home mom. I am lucky that my kids are healthy and that the things I complain about with them are so minor in the scheme of life.

I realize that I am so LUCKY that I get to be the one who gets to deal with our attitudie 4 year old - to help nip it in the bud, so it is me who gets to talk with her and help her learn that saying she is the prettiest girl is okay but that she needs to make sure her friends feel special too, to teach her to be pretty on the inside also. I get to be home so she can have play dates and when she wasn't getting what she needed at preschool I could start a little one so that she is ready for kindergarten. I am lucky so that my daredevil of a daughter can ride her bike down the street at any time of the day! That she gets to be a little girl and that as much as I want her to go to kindergarten, I know that she has gotten 5 great years at home to just be!

I am lucky that when our 2 year old is whiny I can sit and hold her while she gets her pointy teeth that are making her cranky and hurt and it isn't someone else soothing her while she is in pain. I can just sit and read to her and that she gets to take a nap in her own bed every day. That even as I write this she is getting to play with her own toys, that she isn't being taken care of by someone who doesn't love her as much as I do.

I get to be home so Charlie can come home after school and doesn't have to go to YMCA (even though he thinks his friends all have a great time). He gets to go to the park all the time, ride his bike and play with his toys everyday. I get to be his den leader and be on the PTA at his school. I get to work in his classroom and get to know the Principal and teachers so we KNOW he is getting the most out of school. That I can work with him and help he get 100% on his spelling tests. I get to watch my son turn into an amazing little man, who is so sweet and thoughtful.

So while the pile of laundry is growing at this very moment and my darling 2 year old just chopped off a chunk of her beautiful curls, and Annie and her friend who is here on a play date want snacks RIGHT NOW I am going to take a moment and just be happy, to just feel lucky that I get to go take care of it all.