Thank You

I am not sure how to express this properly, and because I can’t take a blood pressure test to show you how stressed out I was this morning, and how calm I am now, I will do the best I can to explain in words.

Here is what our day looked like this morning. Wake up at 6:45am to get showered and changed before A got up. Then it was downstairs to make her breakfast, grab a cup of coffee, and make and pack a lunch for us both. In between, I had to let the dog out who knows something is going on and stayed glued to my side, change A into something half decent, and get her ready to go. Finally I had to clean the remainder of the house, pack up everything that was on the kitchen counters and throw them all out of view of nosey eyes since we had a showing in the afternoon, oh yeah, and make sure the house looked and smelled inviting.

Then it was time to pack the car. I needed the diaper bag, naptime bag of blankets, bunny, paci, and noise maker, posters for the Winter Carnival this weekend, lunch box, water and coffee, and of course the dog.

Now, this seems very manageable, until I let you know it all had to be accomplished by 7:45.

At 7:49 with my blood pressure soaring, I bolted out the door to get the dog across town to the vet for her teeth cleaning by 8:15am. After hitting so much school traffic I had chugged all my coffee and was contemplating ways to make home-schooling more popular, we pulled into the vet’s parking lot. We got the dog all situated and as calmed down as possible, then raced back across town to drop the posters off at Anne’s house before we rushed to our workout.

After what seemed like the shortest workout in history it was time to run to the post office and mail a package to A’s Canadian Cousins. As my blood pressure was starting to decline after a nice workout, I glance at my phone and saw 5 missed text messages and 2 voicemails. Crap!

Apparently the vet had an opening in their morning and was able to take Preston early, which meant she would be coming off the anesthesia anytime now. For a normal dog this would be no problem, just stick her in the cage and pick her up when you had a second. But for our four legged monster, it was a huge deal. Preston has had a lot of intestinal issues in her life and is terrified, I repeat terrified of cages. In fact they forgot to call me right away after her last teeth cleaning and she smashed the cage so hard over and over with her face her entire nose was cut and bleeding.

So we flew out of the post office and jumped in the car to race back across town to get the dog. After guiding a very loopy animal out of the vet and lifting her into the car, it was 11am, and I still had one errand to do before lunch and naptime.  

With that last errand checked off my list I headed to my parents house to do lunch and naptime with A. Since they are out of town for a few months, I wasn’t quite sure what I would find. But because they know how crazy our lives can be they do an amazing job of stocking their house with everything we might need, which I am sure can be a challenge since the kids range from 8 years old to 1 year old. But true to form, I found a brand new apple juice waiting in the fridge, plates, forks, and sippy cups in the drawer, and a crib ready to go with the softest blankets folded at the bottom. Then it was time to change A and sit on the potty before nap time and I whipped out the potty seat they keep at their house, and found a bin with every size diaper and a fresh pack of wipes.

And as I got A all snuggled into the crib, turned out the lights, and kiss her head, I could feel my blood pressure falling back into the normal range. I know I have never fully appreciated it before, but there was nothing better than this home away from home today, stocked with everything I could possibly need, and even some peppermint tea to ensure Mommy is able to relax a little this naptime too!  

And as much as we joke about my mom buying out Babies R Us and Target, there was no greater feeling than the relief I felt when I arrived at their house and knew I didn’t have to stress for even one more second.

So, as I am sitting her at my mom's computer, sipping pepermint tea and listening to Somewhere Over the Rainbow floating through the monitor, I want to say thank you. Gigi and Pop P, thank you for never stopping to look out for your own three girls, even thought we are all grown with girls of our own. I guess what they say is really true: A daughter is a daughter for life…

Xoxo

Daily Mom