24/7 Mom.

Before you read, please know that I am not whining about being a mom. I love it. It's truly a privilege and a blessing. I am also not bashing my husband. He is a blessing, too--and a wonderful husband and daddy!! Look at this as a journal entry into this blog book I'm going to make!!

A few weeks ago when Roy was out of the country, I came down with some severe flu-like symptoms. Again, please don't think I am pregnant, because I am not. Within a few hours, I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck, I was freezing but my body was on fire, I had a massive headache, my throat felt like a cheese grater was taken to it and all I wanted to do was hand in my Mom Badge, close the curtains, crawl into bed and sleep for two days. Mom was in Florida and Jane was in Alaska. I didn't want to call my friends because they all have toddlers of their own and I didn't want them to think the kids were sick, too. I had NOBODY to help me and I HAD to still go on with life...making dinner, playing, giving baths, putting rowdy kids to bed. Oh, it was an absolutely miserable few days, but I went on. All I wanted was to be allowed to be sick! The only funny thing I could think of was that all of those years of "pretending to be sick" to get out of school was coming back to bite me:)

Fast forward to last week. Roy had salmonella poisoning and he had stomach pains all week. Each night he'd come home, lay on the couch for a bit, take a hot bath and then he'd be in bed by 8:30. I have to admit that I envied him as I watched his nightly routine. He was able to just come home and do what I wanted to do a few weeks ago. So, this past Saturday afternoon, he sat in the chair on the porch while I hurried along making lunch for 2 hungry and cranky children. I zipped around the kitchen making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peeling apple sauce tops off the containers, pouring juice. I hurried and fed Roy Austin and then ran upstairs to change his diaper and put him down for a nap. While Caroline was outside finishing her lunch, I started to make my own lunch and then joined her and Roy outside. As I sat down to enjoy my first bite of pasta salad, I heard, "Mommy, swing me!". UGH! This was the final straw. I replied (but I replied to Roy, who was sitting in his chair enjoying the sunlight), "can I do ANYTHING by myself?" His reply: "Whoa, are you okay?". My reply? "I can't go potty by myself, I can't take a shower without someone watching me. I CAN'T EVEN BE SICK!". When I said the last sentence, I think he "got it". He sweetly got up and went to push Caroline while I sat in the sunlight enjoying my lunch....by myself.

Like I said in the first paragraph, I am not bashing Roy. It just dawned on me this weekend, that God made moms to be the caregivers for a season. While parents are definitely a team when it comes to raising children, He made the mothers to be the ones to physically take care of the children. I keep reminding myself of the statement a total stranger made to me the other week: "These are the happiest days of my life and I don't even realize it". I need to remember that daily:) The season we are now living is the one I will want back badly.

So, to mothers like my mom, my mother-in-law, my sisters Dayna and Denise and Kristi W....I don't know how you did/do it with 4, 5 and 7 kids! You are all inspirations. I know if you did/do it (and made/make it look easy), then I can, too!