Silver Linings

It has been an interesting 24 hours (well a little more). It started yesterday with a decision to have a Larabar as a snack before picking Ayda up at school. Well let me just say it did not settle well. By 5:00 I was laid out on the couch. I somehow managed to get the kids fed. They played incredibly nicely for an hour before Kevin made it home to take over. As soon as he arrived I went straight to bed. My stomach felt like someone was punching me constantly. By 10 last night the cramps or whatever was going on was radiating to my back. I can honestly say my back felt better during labor than those several hours. Finally at around 2AM I woke up and all was calm in my stomach again. If I moved it cramped but overall I knew I was on the mend. I rarely get sick so when I do the girls can tell something is up. Ayda kept asking if I was ok and if my tummy still hurt. She ran in my room this morning to ask if I was better. So sweet! And of course Hadley could tell something was up and didn't want me out of her sight. She came and checked on me several times while Kevin was getting her bathed and ready for bed last night.

So I get up this morning feeling weak but ok. I decided it would probably be wise to skip working out and just relax with Hadley. We made plans with a friend to meet at the park for a bit. The weather was gorgeous today! At 8:25 when we are all heading to the door to load up and take Ayda to school I ran out to the van to throw in a few things. I noticed our sliding door on the van was no longer automatic. I thought it was strange but figured the button had been hit to make it manual. But something told me to check to see if the car would start. Yea...it was DEAD! Didn't even try to crank. So now I have Ayda dressed, Hadley dressed, me dressed and no where to go! I called a couple friends and one called back and came to my rescue. Tricky part was my car was in the garage and would have to be pushed out in order to jump it. So once my sweet friend arrived we put our 17 month olds in car seats and Ayda hopped in the back (figured it would be better to have them all strapped in and not running around). The babies were screaming because they had no idea what was going on and Ayda was thrilled with the adventure. Except...the car wouldn't go into neutral! AH! We unloaded kids, I grabbed the manual, Rebecca hopped on google and we looked up how to get the car in neutral. Thank you Google!! Rebecca found out how to do it! Success! Rebecca showed off some serious skills and pushed the van to the driveway while I managed the brakes (yes I got the easy part). We successfully jumped the car! I have to say I am quite impressed, mostly with Rebecca...she knew far more than me when it came to the car jumping part. By this time it was too late to take Ayda to school so we all just hung out at our house and let the kids play. I told Ayda she was getting a car "sick" day!

Then I get in the car to take Ayda to Chinese School and the radio is requiring a code to let me use it. Come on! We can't find the code anywhere so I have to call the dealership tomorrow and make them look it up. Hoping it's in the system like it should be!

So in all of this I have been looking on the bright side. In the past it would be easy for me to get really frustrated and stressed out. I would just throw up my hands and say I give up. But my amazing husband gets me thinking a different way. The past day has not been bad. Yes being sick for 12 hours was not great but it allowed me to see my kids' concern for me. Their gentle side to make sure I am ok. It reminded me of what an amazing Husband I have. He rushed home (after stopping to get me real Ginger Ale and some soup) and did everything for the girls to get them to bed. Things we usually share in doing at night (dishes, picking up toys, laundry, etc) he just did.

With the car it reminded me of what a luxury we have in that I can always just hop in my car and go wherever I want. I got to spend an unexpected day with Ayda at home. She goes to school 5 days a week so it was awesome to have her company all day today. She enjoyed it too. I was reminded of what awesome friends I am blessed with. Rebecca came right over and helped out big time. Then spent the morning with us and we had a great time chatting (between interruptions from the kids!).

Really when I look back at the last 24 hours I think of it more as being random. Just random things happening but good still came from it. There is too much real suffering in the world for me to ever complain about a day like this. Because at the end of the day I know I am so blessed. So happy. And I get to spend my days with these precious little faces...