Routines

Last week was a challenging week for the Bates Family. It is so hard to find someone who you really trust to watch your child while you are working. Some mommies and daddies have the opportunity to stay home with their kiddos, but in the Bates Family, its off to work for the grown ups. Last Sunday we received a call from our sitter's daughter that Nana was in the hospital and they suspected her heart was the issue. Nana had been having a pain in her right arm, neck and chin for about a week and it had continued to worsen. We were left without a sitter on Monday. Quickly I found a back up with my neighbor. Crystal has 3 kids of her own, and she is very capable of taking care of Ella. She was going to be off work Monday due to the President's Day Holiday. Score! Except she had to go to the doc, and cart Ella along with her. I worried all day about Ella running away from her in a parking lot, or her car seat not being installed in the car correctly. This panic was completely irrational looking back a week later. Why would a mom of 3 not be able to handle watching my child? Sometimes I let anxiety get the best of me. Anyways, this anxiety started a downward spiral that continued throughout the week. Nana remained in the hospital until Weds night. So poor Ella was shipped each morning to a different location, and each day I worried. By Thursday night she was a mess. Three year olds and mommies of three year olds love routine, and we were missing ours. She was tired and crabby and cranky, and mommy was stressed. My parents came to the rescue and gave my the night off after Ella's Little Gym class. I went straight home, crawled in bed and cried. I'm sure the pregnancy hormones had nothing to do with that!!

Needless to say, I was ready for Friday. It came and went, quickly. After work, dinner and bath we hit the bed quick. I never thought that the I'd love going to bed at 8:00 pm on a Friday night. Saturday morning while Ella ate her breakfast, I started on my daily chores, including emptying the dishwasher. Ella spotted her monkey cup, and said "Thank you Mommy for washing that for me". I said "you're welcome Ella". She then proceeded to say "I love you mommy for washing that for me, you're so good to me". Who would've thought that such a simple task would have meant so much to her. We were home together after a long week, and even the routine of the dishwasher was comforting. It made my day, it made my week. All the anxiety and stress and struggle from the week melted away over a monkey cup and my sweet little girl. All those things we do as mommies, the times we feel invisible, the things we give up, the things we worry about, they do notice!! Every bit of the hard part, is worth the I love yous.