First of all, I want to thank all my mom-friends out there who encouraged me with the whole Great Plate Challenge er, challenge that we’re going through with two littles.  I felt encouraged by your words and even better that we’re not alone in this stage of toddlerhood.  We can do it!!! Together…

Second, Eliza Jane is a world of better.  She went to the doc yesterday and we got a clean bill as far as them not finding anything specifically wrong with her.  As in, no flu {hello?!} and nothing bacterial.  The crazy is still there ;)  But praise that she was back at school today with her newly prescribed allergy meds and she made it through the entire day!  Woot!

So all of this…Tuesday night’s post as well as Eliza Jane hijacking my day yesterday led me to a few thoughts:

1. I struggle with the juggle of being a full time-working-outside-the home mom when my kid{s} are sick.  There’s this whole battle of things that I’m committed to in my job, and my family that is my first and foremost commitment.  The guilt of not working when I know there are things that need to be done.  But the importance of being available and present with the one who needs me most.  Sometimes it just makes me feel a little overwhelmed.
2. I am beyond thankful that I don’t get flack from my boss or anyone else that I work with, when I need to stay home with a kid.  Truth be told, if I did, I would probably quit.  It’s just too much to deal with, emotionally.  Am I right?  I give myself enough head-trash, I don’t need anyone else’s.
3. Being a working-outside-the-home-mom is HARD.
4. Being a stay-at-home-mom is HARD.  Two days this week and I was about to go batty.  Plus 40 degrees outside did not make anything remotely better.
5. Being a mom is HARD.

I came full circle to the things I’m thankful for in all of this:

1. The place and people that I work with who care enough about my daughter to text me yesterday and this morning to be sure she’s ok.
2. My job that is so great, of course a second to being a wife and mom, but that has it’s own incredible rewards.
3. Being a mom.  Y’all.  When I say that there was a time when I wasn’t sure if I would ever have kids, to have them is just an insane blessing.  So even on the days when I might feel like I’m going batty, I love every single moment of my mommy life.
4. The struggle.  I’ve told y’all before that the struggles in life keep us slammed up against Jesus and it’s true.  He’s the strength of my day.  The calm in my insanity.  The comfort in my anxiousness.  If I didn’t have the struggle, my faith would not be so strong.  He is the One I lean on.

And last but not least…coming home to these crazy little munchkins…this is how they greeted me tonight when I got home from Charleston.  What is it with kids licking windows?!

The window might need a little cleaning now….can anyone else say “eewwwww”?