Binkies and Briefcases

Well, God certainly has a way of sending you what you need when you need it. Earlier this morning I was at the toy library, up to my ears in paperwork for the state taxes (which I think I’ m finally finished) and the kids were driving me insane. Nicholas was trying to draw on the walls with a highlighter and I’d already had to reprint a few forms from the government website because they’d gotten into Abby’s hands as she was sitting on my lap while I was trying to work. By the way, that’s not a method of tax preparation that I would recommend.

Normally Saturday is my day to catch up on paperwork and cleaning while I’m at work because Eddie can keep the kids home for the three hours the toy library is open, but since this is his annual ski weekend that wasn’t an option and I couldn’t wait until next week because the tax forms need to be mailed before then. Also, neither of my kids slept well at all last night, which left them very whiny and me very inpatient.

Anyway, I was getting really frustrated and was about to vent via this blog since we didn’t have any customers. I started typing a post entitled “All of the Reasons I’d Like to Pull My Hair Out Right Now.” Literally, before I had even finished the first sentence the door opened and a mother came in with her son who was only a month older than Nicholas. She had seen us on the news and, although she was supposed to be working today, she had used half a day of vacation time to come to the toy library with her son. Coincidentally, her husband was also skiing, but instead of staying here in Pennsylvania like Eddie did so that he can be home in the evenings, her husband had flown to Colorado for the entire week for his ski trip and left her to take care of their family’s real estate development business and their son.

She stayed for about an hour and spoke to me about all the trouble she had been having developmentally with her son. I think she was just glad to have an open ear, but his issues, which, without going into too much detail, were pretty much the exact opposite of my son’s, made Nicholas’ seem more manageable in comparison. By the time she left my heart felt much lighter and my patience had returned, at least for the time being.

So instead of my original post, I am going to make a list of all of the reasons I have to not pull my hair out:

• I have a wonderful, kind, patient, encouraging, doting husband who also happens to be a wonderful father.
• My goal was to have one adopted child and one biological child and move closer to family before I turned 30. I got all of that within one year, and 6 years before my target date. I was also blessed with healthy, happy, social children who both seem to have a genuine joy for life.
• I have been successful at overcoming a lot of obstacles to start a small business in a less than stellar economy.
• We have a lot of family and they are all close by and willing to help when we need it.
• I have strong friendships, many of which I have been able to maintain for ten years or more.
• My father holds our mortgage, so I know no matter what happens to us financially, we will always have a roof over our heads.
• I have a good education
• My house might be ugly inside, but it is extremely well-built and in a very safe neighborhood.
• Although I am still not thrilled about my post-baby body, I am healthy and I’m sure there are a lot of women who would actually like to be able to say they are a size 12.

I’m sure there are more, but Abby just woke up from her nap, so off I go…