Afloat

As usual, I'm in my usual Tuesday night stance, pondering: "How in the world did it get to be Wednesday already?"

Such is life these days--a life I love, no doubt, but a life that is exhausting. It is a life where the days, hours, minutes whir by. It feels like the entire day is me sprinting to each and every new task. And if I stop to breathe, I only get further behind. Ahh... I'm tired!

We are keeping our heads above water... yet I can't help but feel like we're one hiccup, illness, dropped ball away from catastrophe! I can't help but think back to my bout with Mono two years ago and quiver with fear. We CANNOT go there again! Pray for a healthy winter for G-ville! :)

Here's a glimpse of a crazy (but somewhat typical) evening last night. I shared this with a friend today and she begged me to write it down for posterity. "You need to remember how busy life was with four young kids!" My response, "Do you think I'll ever forget?" :) haha

So yesterday I had a friend swing by and deliver a gift for MG for her baptism. It was so sweet. I greeted her at the door with all four kids and she remarked how cute they all were. As we stood there and talked, Custer, our wonderful yellow lab bounded out the door to greet her and sniff in the bushes. We chatted for just a bit before she was on her way with her own crew in tow. Fast forward two hours later as the kids and I are sitting eating dinner. "Has anyone seen Custer?" I asked. No one had. The pup had not come down for dinner (highly unusual) though I thought it was due to the fact he had an ear infection and wasn't feeling well (yes, I know he's just a dog, but dogs feel pain too! :) We all started calling for him and then remembered the visit from our friend earlier... I proceeded to yell out into the darkness for our boy. The kids were starting to get upset. MG was crying, needing to go to bed. We were still battling dinner and the boys needing to eat something of the (delicious) pasta carbonara I made. It wasn't going well. GG was on his way home, but wasn't answering his cell. I was about to lose it.

Then the phone rang. A neighbor had Custer! Yahoo!! This was a neighbor far down the street, so I loaded MG in her seat and the boys in the car and headed down to get him. OMG--he reeked!!! Must have rolled in something dead (typical) because he had BLACK worked into his coat and he smelled atrocious. The boys and I were dying (and dying laughing) on the way home in the car. They were plugging their noses and we were all about to pass out, it smelled so bad.

We unloaded and I ran to get towels. I sat the boys in front of the TV to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (because that's what crazy moms do in times of trial!) I was in the midst of scrubbing the dog when GG pulled up. Baby was crying, still needing to go to bed. Car doors were open to air out from the smell. I finished. The dog smelled MUCH better. Nursed the baby down to sleep. Helped GG with the boys' bedtime. Proceeded with GG to clean an INSANELY messy house (we both get more stressed by mess, so this was really the only option.) Then, we collapsed into bed.

This morning we awoke

to find the van doors still open.

It had rained all night.

O Lord, help me! lol