Highs and Lows

So, the life of a mom is full of ups and downs. Downs. Let's start with last night. We decided to take the kids to the zoo in the evening for "Zoofari" night. Jake has school tonight, and tomorrow night; then he leaves out of town on Sunday through Thursday. Thursday, I think he's headed straight to Chicago for class. So, needless to say, we won't be seeing much of him in the upcoming week. We wanted to do something fun so the kids could spend some time with him. All was well, until I decided to pull Sadie out of the stroller to look at the fish. Incidentally, it was our last "stop" before packing up for home. As I picked her up, I could tell (actually, smell) a diaper that needed to be changed. I couldn't find one in my bag (though I had everything else we didn't need). I realized it didn't matter, we were headed home anyway. I carried her to go look at the fish and my arm brushed the front of my shirt. I quickly realized that the contents of the diaper has squished onto the front of my shirt and was smeared everywhere. We abruptly ended our sightseeing and headed to the car, with Sadie in tears and me nearly so. Upon reaching the car we both stripped down...ewwww. Gotta hate lows like that.
Highs...
Tonight, I realized again I have made one of the best decisions of my life. When Jake started going back to school, part of the agreement was that I find a babysitter to help me out. 11 months later, no sitter. I have a multitude of excuses/reasons for not having a sitter. Most of them have to do with my inability to surrender control, however, my lack of sanity was starting to overcome my need for control. Next problem, finding a sitter. I know there are probably several competent girls at church, but I just wasn't comfortable with that. I always feel like I'm asking a favor when I call someone from church (even when I'm paying her). I also find it hard to be honest when/if there is a problem. Anyway, I lamented my woes to a friend who recommended http://www.sittercity.com/. It's not free, but I found a sitter who is worth her weight in gold. I like that we have a professional relationship. I used the website to search several sitters based on different criteria. I interviewed two girls. She's 18 years old and plans to study early childhood ed this fall when she enters college. She has lots of experience with kids and when I called her references, one family has children the same ages (almost) as mine. She graduated from a wonderful Lutheran school near where we used to live in Jackson; so she shares our strong Christian values. MY KIDS ADORE HER (Ty in particular, she's a very tall, cute girl). Tonight, I was even able to leave Sadie (a first, I've never in her 14 months of life left her with anyone while she was awake, except Jake). I feel so accomplished tonight (hence the reason I'm blogging). I had this huge list of "small" errands. I had four items that had to be returned to different stores. This is a task that goes infinately more quickly without unloading kids from the van, loading kids into the stroller, trucking kids into the store, waiting in line with whiney kids, trucking angrily out of the store, unloading kids angrily out of the stroller, loading kids angrily into the car....I think you get it. So, in 2 1/2 hours I returned 4 items to different stores, did some shopping at two seperate stores and replaced my awful, lame, "can you hear me now?" phone. It was wonderful! I can sometimes get some errands done while Jake is home with kids, but with as little time as we have together as it is, I feel guilty the whole time for leaving. I should have done this sooner! Happy, happy, happy me.
One more high. I was inspired by a fellow blogger today. I came upon an old friend's blog. She has this amazing, "I am here to teach my kids about life, my kids are here to teach me what life is about" approach to life. Her blog was so positive about how grateful she is for a loving family and wonderful friends. It reminded me of my blessings...so often overlooked.