In Retrospect

Sometimes for me, it takes a couple of days to sort things out and look at things retrospectively to decide if they were a good or a bad thing. This year it was like that for Mother's Day. That morning I had really intended to sleep in and take advantage of it being "my day". But that all changed when my body had other plans and woke me at 4:30 am to not wanting to sleep any longer. I came downstairs and hung out quietly. When the boys finally started stirring a little after 6, they came downstairs and Caleb was so excited to give me a card he made at school. It was really cute, he was so proud of himself and then I was instructed to get back in bed so I could have some breakfast in bed. That made me smile so I went back to bed while Dad cooked some French Toast and bacon. They brought it up. Caleb and Zaric climbed up on the bed and ate theirs with me while we watched Spongebob cartoons and then Zaden joined us after he had eaten downstairs. It made me laugh and really take the time to savor that memory of "my" breakfast in bed which included 3 boys and Spongebob. And Caleb even offered that since it was Mother's Day and all, I was welcome to watch any of his movies, I would like. So sweet of him. But then it was time for the real day to begin. We went outside and did my traditional Mother's Day planting in the flower beds. That went pretty quickly which was nice and Caleb got to do something he's been dying to do, plant some food. We picked up some strawberry plants too. He was super excited to do that.

Pretty good day you are probably thinking. But this is all done before 10 am. Once we came inside I had really hoped just to spend the rest of my day relaxing and vegging, but the house said otherwise. The rest of the weekend was so busy, the chaos of the house had gotten a little out of control. So I spent most of the rest of the next few hours cleaning and picking up after the boys. Then we had to run a couple of errands and I was just thoroughly pooped by then and even feeling a little sorry for myself that I was doing all this cleaning on Mother's Day. I guess a Mother's work really never is done. It's not like I was angry at any one person or even the kids. I was just kinda grumpy about the situation and the day not going how I had envisioned so I tried my hardest to keep myself in check and not to lash out at anyone.

After errand running the boys got to Skype with some of the Braska family and they enjoyed that while I prepared dinner. After dinner, we took a nice family walk and as we were coming closer to home, I was starting to get excited thinking that I could finally go inside and relax when we noticed the temperature dropping and realized it was probably going to rain. This meant that Mike had no other options but to get our out of control grass mowed that night. It's supposed to rain several times this week plus I don't even get home until 8 pm anymore so it needed to get done that night. Which meant that once again and still I was on total Mom duty to keep the boys entertained while he did that since he can't mow and watch the boys at the same time. Luckily, I had the help of a bubble machine to keep them entertained for a while. Then I spent some time playing catch and doing some baseball practicing with Caleb.

I shouldn't complain, they were were angels pretty much the whole day besides a little normal stuff here and there. But by the time that was over, I had kinda had it and when Caleb asked me to stay out longer I told him, "This is supposed to be my day and I just want to relax" and we came inside. Once Mike changed out of his mowing clothes he gathered up the twins in the car and left. He wouldn't tell me where they were going and as I looked around I found yet more chores waiting. We had been washing bedding and things so the beds had to be made and the floors had yet to be vacuumed so back to work I went. No relaxing for me and I again started to get just a little cranky at the day itself. But when Mike came home, I came downstairs to my favorite dessert, carrot cake from the Cheesecake Factory. That's where him and the twins had run off to. I totally need it and this may sound funny but just that little gesture made me cry a little. He really understands me so well sometimes. Isn't he the best? After the kids went to bed, we ate dessert and finished a movie we'd been watching and he even treated me to a massage before bed. I think I'll keep him around.

When people have asked me how my day went I haven't really known what to tell them. It was like a roller coaster went bad, great, meh, bad and then ended great again. So it's hard to explain. This morning I am just going to look at it and add in some different perspective. So in retrospect a day that begins with breakfast in bed memories with my boys, sticking to traditions planting flowers and then ending with carrot cake and a massage at night really must have been a great day. All that "bad" stuff in between, well that can be forgotten. The rest, the "good" stuff, will not. Thanks boys!