I Was Sick and the House is Messy

A week ago Friday I came down with the flu.  Really, a Summer flu. Chills, headache, body aches, fever, and fatigue. I was so sick. I ended up being sick for a week and took a two hour nap every single day. Fortunately, the worst of it only lasted a couple of days.  Thank goodness Hubby was already scheduled to be home for the week so he tended to the children.  I couldn't believe how incredibly ill I was. I still dragged myself to Flipper practice every morning because I could do that, but that was all I could do. I would come home after, and fall asleep for 2 hours while the Hubby and the kids did whatever it was they were doing.

As the week wore on and it seemed my energy would never return, I would walk over and around the debris of toys, shoes, books, pool bag, swimsuits, towels, and whatever else had been pulled out to entertain the children or make it through the day.  By the end of the week I was utterly frustrated. I had no energy to maintain the house and my husband had taken the week off to work on a few household projects (none of them involved cleaning) and the big project of readying our backyard for the new swing set he bought for the kids (which is arriving today. Hurrah!)

As I like to say, the house looked like it threw up on itself. Ugh!!!  I have been better for a few days and have not needed to nap to regain any energy.  However, it is quite the project to clean up and organize a house that has essentially been left to the childrens' whims for 7 days.

While I was frustrated at the state of the house, I decided to turn a blind eye to it, knowing that frustration would get me nowhere and that I truly did not have the energy to attend to it.  This is a huge step for me. In the past I would have fussed at my husband, cried, screamed, and gone crazy trying to put it all back together when really all I would really be doing would be spinning my wheels because I was too tired and too sick to do anything helpful. Maybe I was too sick to truly care...

So it's, day 5 of being betterish. In those 5 days, we've had the team pasta dinner, the Flipper meet, a day out with my sisters-in-law, a day volunteering at the snack shack at the pool, and of course going to church.  I did manage to change all the sheets yesterday and do two loads of laundry, but that was about it. I'm better, just not a 100%

It's amazing. If Mama gets sick things start to fall apart. Hubby was great with the kids, completed readying the backyard for the swing set, and attended the swim team events (Pasta dinner, snack shack, and Flipper meet) and that was all that was accomplished. I think if all the mamas in the world took a week off from the world every single month or every time they were seriously ill...I think the world just might fall apart ;)  Hubby always says that I keep the family moving. And boy am I tired!

Thank goodness for my husband's help with the kids and his blind eye to the house (and I mean that sincerely. He's not judging how the house looks!)  Now I'm slowly rebuilding a semblance of our once orderly(ish) home. It just might take me a while. Cheers!

Flipper Mini Meet

This weekend my kids participated in the annual Flipper Mini Meet with our swim team.  The Flipper Mini Meet is a great way for our youngest swimmers on the team to gain some experience of swimming in a meet. The meet is low-key and the majority of the swimmers have coaches in the lane with them supporting as they swim the different strokes. There is also kickboard races for those swimmers who aren't able to swim yet.  The coaches hold/support the kickboards as the kids kick along.

It was exciting to have both of the kids participate this year.  Boogie was signed up for both the 6 year old 25M Freestyle and the 6 year old 25M kickboard race. Buggy was signed up for the 5&Under kickboard race.

Boogie with Coach Paul swimming the 25M Freestyle

Boogie's 25M freestyle was right in the beginning as the third event.  He was in Heat 2, Lane 6.  My parents, my uncle, and one of my cousins showed up to show their support.  Boogie was the only one in his heat to dive in to the water (the other racers started on the wall while in the water.)  He swam really hard and although the coach was in the water for support, he kept backing up so that Boogie couldn't reach him, forcing Boogie to swim the whole way and he did! Boogie swam the whole length of the pool by himself!!!  I am so proud of him and most importantly he is so proud of himself. He now knows he can do it. Before he had this mental block thinking he couldn't swim it on his own. Somehow he dug deep and finished the race. Towards the very end he reached for his coach and I heard his coach say, "Don't reach for me Boogie! You can do this! You're almost at the end." I saw the look on Boogie's face that he wanted to give up, but he didn't. He kept swimming and I am so very, very proud of him. He was the last to touch the wall, but he did it and he did it on his own!  That event gave him the confidence to do the kickboard event without a coach in the water. He told his coach he didn't need to go in with him and as a result Boogie finished 7th overall. Quite the accomplishment!

Lessons from My Daughter

At various times in my life, I find that my children teach me so much (See lessons from Bam Bam). Just recently, I have been observing and appreciating my daughter's sweet and loving nature. In my observation, I realized that I should really strive to be like her. She has several character traits that I admire:

Love unconditionally: Buggy loves all of us unconditionally, especially her big brother. She really looks ups to Boogie and even when he is not as nice as he should be or his love is not reciprocal, she loves him with every part of her.

Forgive readily and easily:  Buggy is quick to forgive and lets bygones be bygones.  She does not ruminate on past hurts.  Her feelings were very hurt when Boogie did not want to spend time with her today. Oh, did she cry!  But she is always willing to try again and is thrilled when the answer is yes.

Be the first to say, "I Love You":  Randomly throughout the day, Buggy will look at me and say, "I love you, Mama." Oh, my heart sings when I hear it. It is the best thing to hear from any of my children and I treasure it every time I hear it.

Be Silly: My goofy girl is so very silly.  She giggles and laughs and finds the humor in mundane situations.  It's good to remember that life is FUN!

Cheerful Giver: Buggy is the first to share anything.  If Boogie says, "Can I have a bite?" or "Can I see that?" Or if we ask if she can share with her baby brother, she says, "Sure" with a happy heart. There is no hesitation, only yes.

Obedience:  Whenever we ask her to do something, her immediate answer is:  "Yes, Mommy." or "Yes, Daddy." Boy, could I take a lesson from her when God asks me to do something!

Happy Helper: I am always asking for help with something, "Watch your brother," "Can you get a diaper for me?" "Can you bring Mr. Bananas his blanket?"  Her answer is always, "yes" and she does it with a cheerful heart. I was just thinking of how when I am asked to volunteer or help in someway, my first thought is how I can get out of it (I know, I know, not very nice of me!). But watching my daughter help easily and happily, really makes me rethink of my first reaction. If I am going to help with something, my reaction should not be grumbling, but to do it with a happy heart and not look  for praise.

I am so very grateful for these little lessons. God has placed these wonderful children in my life and they have taught me so much. Most importantly they have taught me to look beyond myself and live with a happy heart. Thank you, Buggy. You make me a better Mama every single day!

I Timothy 4:12 My children are examples to others in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

Displaced

Last Friday our region had a wicked storm. I had never seen anything like. The rain came pouring down in buckets and the the thunder and lightening rivaled each other in intensity, coming one right after the other for at least an hour.  We lost power late Friday night. We've been in our home for 5 years and have lost power briefly a few times, but never for very long. Even when we had snowmaggedon a couple of years ago, we were the lucky few who never lost power.

Knowing that the temperatures would climb into the upper 90s over the next few days, Hubby and I started making contingency plans about what we could do with the kids to keep them cool and out of our soon to be hot house. Fortunately, my father called early in the day to find our status. We live in the same community as my parents, just in another part of the development. They were able to keep their power and invited us to come over. It was a real blessing to be able to have somewhere to go. I think if it had just been Hubby and me, we would have stuck it out. But with 3 little ones, that really wasn't an option. I have found that having kids really does help you prioritize your situation.  I am grateful that we had somewhere cool to go to stay out of the heat, that there was no damage to our home, and that we were all healthy and safe. We were also able to save a lot of our food by bringing it over to my parents house and storing it in their extra refrigerator.

We were driving through the neighborhood the day after the storm and I was shocked to see how much destruction was left. So many trees had limbs and treetops snapped off as if they were no bigger than toothpicks. While there was a lot of debris, there seemed to be minimal destruction to property. Praise the Lord!  We were fortunate to be back in our home the next day.

My kids loved having an impromptu sleepover with Lolo and Lola and loved that Hubby and I were there as a part of the adventure. While we were displaced from our home for a short time, it was a true blessing for us to be able to take refuge in their home and greatly appreciated.


I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. 
 (Psalm 4:8)