3 Things To Tell Yourself When You Have "One of THOSE Days"

"Really?" I think to myself at midnight, while lying on a tennis ball on my living room floor, hoping to unkink my back knot.  "The alarm will go off in five hours.  Great." 

Two bowls of cereal, two Benadryl, one episode of House Hunters International and 15 minutes of lying in the dark on a tennis ball later, I take my microwavable heating pads (and the tennis ball) up to bed.  At 12:30am.

And stare toward the ceiling through the dark. 

Then read some of the Brene Brown book I have been meaning to read on the Kindle. 

And adjust the heating pads. 

And elbow my sweetly sleeping husband at least three times for no reason except he is breathing near me at 12:45am and I am irritable and unpleasant. (And probably jealous of him being asleep. Not getting "wife of the year" this year, folks.) 

I don't think he notices.  Which is good. (Have I told you he's a saint?)

So at 5am, when the harp-sounding alarm on my iPhone started strumming, I roll out of bed, bleary-eyed and not-so-rested after the measly 4 hour stretch of sleep. 

By 7am, my daughters are making high-pitched squealing noises at the dogs, who respond by barking relentlessly in excitement and running full tilt through the house.  

I try to read my Bible on the couch, because getting that discipline back in my routine is important although I am falling asleep at what probably are important - ok, I realize that it's the Bible, so actually it's all important - parts of the story of when King David died.  I really don't remember.   

My cognitive function is hovering near a negative-18. Whatever that is.  Fortunately the most taxing thing I had to do was decide which yard sale to go to with my friend.  You don't want to know how long that took.

So on my way to her house, I may or may not have somewhat passed a school bus when I wasn't supposed to.  The stop sign wasn't out and it wasn't moving.... Oh my word.  Fortunately my friend drove to the yard sale.  (I love her.)

Speaking of women I love, another friend sent me an email coupon for Starbucks.  Um, yes, thank you.

Now, obviously this is a great day for me to try to figure out how to use WordPress. Sarcasm. I'm shocked I still have hair.  Really, I know I am intelligent enough to figure out this thing, and everyone says it's easy and wonderful.  I need a class.  (You'll note you are not reading this post on WordPress....)

After dinner, I notice the goldendoodle is chewing something very happily. That would be my shoe.  Or was my shoe.  

(The up side is that the sandals were $7 at Marden's.  There are shoes whose demise would bring me to tears, and this is not one of those pairs.  Fortunately for the goldendoodle.)

Additionally, I am irritable and cranky toward people I love who are doing absolutely NOTHING deserving of irritability or crankiness.  I'm a catch.  Let me tell you.

Oh, and p.s. - I somehow modified the appearance of my blog accidentally.  But at least it's cute!

Do you ever have one of those days?  

The thing I'm learning is that "those days" come.  And they go.  

A better day usually winds up blooming tomorrow.

I have not perfected "How To Have a Sleep-Deprived, Emotionally Fragile Day Without Being Offensive to People I Love."  It would be terrific if I could say with conviction that I press into the Lord, pray a whole bunch, recite scripture in my head on an effortless replay button.  

It would be fantastic to say that I can just forge ahead with only an extra cup of coffee and my Super-Christian-and-Super-Woman cape (ok, when I re-read that it sounded a little scandalous to think of only having coffee and a cape on.... that's not what I meant).

Here are three things you can tell yourself when you have "one of those days":

* This is temporary.

* I will choose to do what I can do today, and I will give myself permission to set aside the more-than-I-can-do.

* God is with me, and He loves me even on "those days."

Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

I've missed you!

Hey friend, I've missed you this week!  It's been a little hectic, and I'm trying to be mindful of blogging when it's not taking family time.  So I'm learning how to plan ahead some posts, which I'm really excited to share with you over the next week.  My goal is to learn to blog more and more skillfully and to start incorporating some fun things that I want to but don't exactly know how to do yet.... so anyway, enough about that.

For today I'll share a peek into life around here since we were last together.

This should be included with my nomination for "Mother of the Year." Note to self: be better about bedtime, so the children don't grow tired enough to put themselves to sleep in the dog crate.

Me, on Mother's Day, smiling at my cell phone while doing something or other.  My kids ask me why I smile while using various features of the phone.  I really have no idea.... And I may be over-cheetah-printing by sitting on the blanket while wearing the shoes.  Mabel is a diva, obviously.  She needs no introduction.  

Four generations of women who love to sparkle. (My youngest was probably in the dog crate during this photo... I'm not sure.  We just do the best we can.)

Sagie was SO proud of the vases she painted for me!  And they look exquisite with freshly picked dandelions.

One of almost zero photos where my everyone is looking at the camera and no one has their eyes closed.  I dislike being closest to the camera, because I fear it makes my head look big.  My husband thoroughly enjoys when I am seated closest to the camera for this reason. (Thanks, babe.)

Two final photos where we are all discombobulated, like usual, but happy anyway. 

How was your Mother's Day?  

10 reasons my husband should be celebrated on Mother's Day, too. (He did not hack this blog)

This is for my husband, on Mother's Day. Because why the heck shouldn't he be celebrated, too?  (No, he didn't hack into this blog. He's just a really awesome man.)

1. Before we had our littlest baby, he totally grew in his love and dad-liness toward my oldest daughter.  If you have a blended family, you understand the challenges, and we've been so blessed with 2 older kids we adore and a little one who adores them both more than ice cream (in her own words.... that is saying something!).

2. When I was pregnant, he took me to eat lobster rolls and/or McDonald's multiple times in the same day some days.

3.  He was very gracious toward me when the epidural made me fart unexpectedly (by the way, had I known this was a remote possibility I would very likely have opted for natural childbirth again).

4. He used his stealthly charm to woo our very crotchety labor and delivery nurse into something of a groupie.  She may have fallen in love with him during that 12 hours.  She invited him to come back to help with other women's births, because he is apparently a birth coaching rock star.  This nurse-charming made my hours of labor much more lovely (can lovely be used to describe labor?).

5. He patiently endured my months-long obsessive talk about my fear of pooping on the table while delivering the baby - a seldom discussed (in polite society) fact about what's possible when pushing out a baby... I still breathe a sigh of relief each time I remember that I escaped without this dreadful occurrence.

6. When I had pneumonia and our little was a few weeks old, he stayed home from work to take care of us both.

7. When my hormones went berserk, and I cried so hard my mascara was trailing down my face in the car while we were on our way somewhere, he graciously drove me home to redo my makeup.  That will teach him to talk about riding motorcycles.

8. When I told him I really wanted to stay home full time, he supported that dream..  He supports all my dreams.  I'm full of them, you know. And I ruminate on these dreams out loud for ages as I process, which he very wonderfully soaks-in, even though he is a make-a-decision-and-don't-look-back kind of processor.

9. While I've been struggling with fibromyalgia the past few years, and I've felt like I'm not actually doing very well and any of the things on my plate, like I'm letting everything fall a little bit through the cracks, and I don't feel like a very wonderful wife or mom or homemaker or fun-person or anything.... He loves the heck out of me and makes me feel like the prettiest girl he's ever seen.  And he tells me he'd marry me all over again, just like I am.

10. He's such a way-cool dad that it makes my mothering job that much easier. And he's super hot.

Does someone in your life make mothering more wonderful?  Tell me about it in the comments or on the Facebook page!  I'd love to know!  And happy Mother's Day, friend!!!!