This morning in a matter of seconds I was in deep thought contemplating whether dealing with throw up in my bed, or on the carpet next to the bed or vomit covering the entire bathroom floor, walls and tub while in route to the toilet was worse to clean up. Thank heavens for modern conveniences. I tossed the sheets into the washing machine, the carpet is smelling like new after a round of Spot Shot and to be honest with you, my bathroom did need a good scrub down. I was relieved most of it was on the tile and tub. 
The laundry will take a while to catch up on, but once you have a pile that looks like this, I figured I might as well strip Josh's bed and the girls' cribs and wash the other bathroom rugs while I was at it. It's usually just easier to knock it all out with one punch.This whole thing got me thinking. If I had just cleaned my bathroom and washed my sheets yesterday, I would have been more bothered. Yes, the situation would have been the same. I still would have had to deal with the same mess and it would have taken the same amount of time to clean up, but my attitude would have been different. I showed me that I can always choose how I react. I can't always change what happens to me, but I can decide if I'll let it bother me or if I can let it go. So often we get caught up in the negative things we see, instead of trying to see through the murk and take in the big picture. I do at least. And this goes for so many things, not just dealing with a sick child. I need to always try to quickly deal with the bad, try to appreciate the good and realize I am lucky to be alive, to be a mom and have the opportunity to deal with it all.
I know I'm lucky that Brynn's little bug will be short lived and I'm guessing by tomorrow she'll be running through the house at full speed like nothing had ever gotten her down. I'm glad Kaitlyn's not sick... yet. I am happy that she didn't fall ill yesterday while we were out and about. I'm really, really glad she didn't throw up in the van. There are so many good bits that it's easy to deal with her current state.
And while Brynn's been napping all morning, I got 2 bathrooms cleaned, scrubbed my kitchen floor, did 5 loads of laundry, bathed girls twice, made 3 beds, put on 2 crib sheets, started dinner, sent a few emails and got a couple of thank you notes jotted down all before 11 AM. I can see how much I can accomplish when I get moving and not put things off until later.
I also got to spend 3 hours alone with this little cutie. We colored, read a book, watched Dora, listened to songs on the computer and while she kept asking when we could 'Go' (man, I've turned my kids into me....) I loved sitting still so I could get a few moment with just the two of us.I'm grateful I'm blessed with good and bad, because you've gotta have the bad to appreciate the good.
7 comments:
Great post...I was thinking about the same thing tonight as I ridiculously over-reacted to a situation today that was minor...
Hope she is feeling better and doesn't share the nasty bug with the rest of the kiddos!
Darn! Throwing up is by far the worst kid sickness. So sorry, hopefully you can limit it's exposure to the others.
I loved your perspective on "choosing how to react." Every day I pray for patience, and every day the Lord gives me "situations" where I could react with patience, but seldom do. Maybe I should quit praying:). It's just something that I have to be more concious of with every thing that comes up.
Molly is exactly like Kaitlyn in that the first thing in the morning she asks where we are going. I have to take advantage of the warm/hot weather, and leave somewhere every day. It seems when the cold hits, it's harder to find "things" to do.
I hope that Brynn is feeling better.
Oh poor little sicky. Get everyone better. Hopefully, there won't be everyone, and it sticks with just Brynn. My heart hurts for my kiddos when they are sick.
There is always some sweet in the sad. I am sorry about Brinn, but isn't it amazing when you get some one on one time with a child. It's like you discover another side to them and look at them through different eyes.
I knew as I was writing Brynn's name that I spelled it wrong. I am sorry. I do know how to spell that sweet girl's name!
So just last night Sammy came into our room in the middle of the night with a fever. We let him stay in our bed for a little bit. He started making some weird throat noises, and I asked him if he was going to throw up. He'd been complaining of a tummy ache earlier in the day. Anyway, how sad is it that the first thing that popped into my head when I asked him was, "Please don't throw up in the bed, I just washed the sheets a few hours ago." Your post made me laugh. So I guess I should be grateful that he didn't even throw up and his fever seems to have gone away. You're right, we need good and bad, but sometimes the difference is the attitude we take with each one.
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