Love Thy Neighbor

The book of Matthew urges us to "Love thy Neighbor..." It sure makes it easy when you wake up to this:

Image Courtesy of Google Images

I woke up to the Boy Wonder tapping me on the shoulder. He says "Momma, Sean and Savannah are cleaning our leaves..." I was a bit groggy after a long night of the usual Baby Olympics topped off with some generic Nyquil.  "Sean and Savannah are what?" Wondering what my sweet child had imagined the neighbor kids doing.  "Come on Mama! I have been talking to them. I want to go outside."  Tugging the tie on my robe, I unwillingly stumble into the front room to.  B runs to the front door, his Elmo stool pushed up to the mail slot. He bends over and peers through and turns to me and says "Open the door, take that chain off." At this moment I am so relieved that we do indeed have a chain and my door isn't the type that a Preschooler could easily open when I realize the Boy Wonder is Naked from the waist down.  "BooBeDoo, um where are your pants?" 

After dressing B, I realized that I had slept a healthy 4 hours without being summoned from the Babelet. I went in to find him awake and smiling in his crib. Wow, this is a first! He usually won't sleep in his crib for longer than two hours at night and when he wakes, he isn't happy about it. I scooped him up and opened the front door with a now clothed Boy Wonder by my side.   Much to my surprise, the neighbors and their children were pulling weeds and raking up leaves!  So B hadn't made it up! "Good Morning!"

And what a Good Morning it was!  They know E is gone and that I am singled right now losing my mind :) The offered to watch B while I tended to the disaster that had accumulated the past two days I was attempting to fight a cold/sinus infection/ear infection. It is amazing how out of control the house can get in two days!  I was able to get three loads of laundry done, take out the trash, pick up the living room, unload and reload the dishes!  I offered to pick up lunch for the neighbors in an attempt to thank them for their kindness. They really are amazing people.

So thank you neighbors, you are LOVED!

The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow!

So last night I began beating myself up mentally due to the lack of cleaning I got done yesterday.  The Boy Wonder was in my bed hacking up a lung and I was out of cough medicine.  Tiny Tot was super fussy  and refused to sleep.  We were all in our PJ's and the thought of dragging two sick ones out in the dark to get cough medicine was daunting.  Exhausted from a hectic day, I began to doubt my ability to do this single parent thing.  I reminded myself that I am in the midst of a Crohn's flare contributing to my overwhelming fatigue.  I also had a small proceedure done at the Dr's office yesterday so I knew I would feel somewhat crappy. 

So I did what most women do in time of emotional crisis, I turned to my friends.  Lambchop or LC (no that isn't her real name) was extremely helpful last night. She is also a mother of two and her hubs travels for work. She spends a good bit of time on her own. She also writes a hilarious blog. You can find it by clicking on the hyperlink above!  I knew she would understand.  She let me vent and then offered up a solution to B's cough. She suggested covering the soles of his feet with Vicks Vapor Rub and socks.  I am a natural skeptic but at this point, I would do anything to give the Boy Wonder relief.  I scrambled to the bathroom and was in luck! We had a pot of Baby Rub left over from B's infant days..wait would this work? LC assured me it was all the same. 

I slathered him up, covered his feet with socks and waited.  About thirty minutes later we all had relief!  LC let me vent about Crohn's and about my feelings of inadequacies in the cleaning-the-house department all the while reassuring me that we all have bad days.  Not only did this conversation reinforce my belief that LC is a mothering genius, it also made me appreciate our long time friendship even more. 

Sure the dishes were piled in the sink, laundry had long since cooled and wrinkled in the dryer, the trash needed taking out, the bathroom was littered with towels and boats from a certain 3 year-old's fleet, neither child had a bath and we were out of just about everything food related..... BUT

Tiny Tot had HOMEMADE baby food that I had managed to make and freeze before McDr departed.  The Boy Wonder had a tummy full of healthy dinner. So what if all I managed to eat was a hand full of cereal and bite of an "all natural, nitrate free" hot dog. The boys were in clean PJ's, even if their bodies weren't! B's teeth were brushed, his prayers were said he was read to and cuddled.  The boys were safe. They were loved. Isn't that what was important?

And just as LC assured me, the sun actually did rise this morning creating a new day of possibilities! I told you she was a genius;) She would be proud to know that I was able to accomplish so much this morning. I took the boys to breakfast, went grocery shopping and dropped off prescriptions.  When I got home, Tiny Tot was fast asleep so I used this time to: put away groceries, unload and reload the dishwasher, soak the stuff from my pump, take out the trash and recycling, return the fleet of ships to the cubby under the sink, gather the towels, refluff the dryer, start a new load of laundry, make lunch for B, pump milk for the night bottle, put the NetFlix in the mail, cut up a canteloupe for the week, monitor B while he cleaned his playroom, put B down for a nap and write this lovely entry!

I think the ebb and flow of the week just serves as gentle reminders that we are all human. So if you are a single paren treading this (or even just a parent) remember that the good days are just around the corner. Don't beat yourself up if you are still in your PJ's at 3 o'clock and the children haven't had baths.  If they are fed, warm, and loved you are doing just fine!

Tiny T is still sleeping so I shouldn't tempt fate and waste anymore time online. I think I am going to use the remainder of his nap to eat something slightly more appetising than last night's dinner.