“And the Beat Goes On (My Parenting Blues/Blessings)”
6:15am First alarm before waking up kids
6:30am My alarm for my morning meditation/prayer
6:45am Get out of bed to wake kids up and begin my morning hygiene routine….well, this includes going back into my youngest room to tell her to get out of bed at least 3 more times before my “if you don’t get your butt out of bed” tone kicks in..lol
7am Go downstairs to cook breakfast for kids, while multi-tasking to make lunches, wash up last night dishes (if any), and mind begins to race with a task list of things to do after getting kids off to school. Included in this is a decision between green tea or coffee and a possibility of making my own smoothie if time permits.
7:15am-7:20am I’m yelling upstairs for the girls to come downstairs to eat breakfast while taking out their vitamins, allergy meds, and asking if they made up their beds and cleaned their rooms. Sounds familiar??
7:40am-7:45am Me: Let’s go girls. We are about to be late. We gotta get out this house. One or both kids: Hold up mommy. I need to get or I forgot to get…. Me (my inside voice): Really, Jesus…
7:45am-7:50am Now we’re riding in car, I turn down the music to pray over them prior to dropping them off at school. Then one tends to interrupt the prayer with a question. Can you guess which one, the 8 or 13 year old? If you said the 8 year old, yes, you’re correct! She’s at the age of the how, why, when, where, who all day long. Help me Lord! I finish up my prayer and then we typically listen to the radio where we are dancing until we get into the school parking lot. That’s only because my girls told me that I can’t be dancing in the carpool line with my music up…REALLY!
By 8:15am both girls have been dropped off at school and my day begins. I try to walk about 3 miles if I can’t make it to my workout class daily, although I can be honest to say that I have fell off the bandwagon over the last month, just to get my mental right for the day ahead. It’s a day full of phone calls from clients and counselors, emails to check/send, text messages coming through, those damn telemarketing calls coming through noting “Scam Likely” throughout the day but because they’re local numbers you still answer anyway just in case…yes, those! LOL. (on a serious note: if you are reading this blog and know how to get on the “don’t call list” please let me know because I get about 15 or more of these calls daily). Now, I am trying to finish my last errand, housekeeping task, work tasks, grocery store run, or whatever by 2pm.
2:20pm My alarm goes off to let me know it’s time to get in the carpool line at my first daughter’s school. Did I tell you that it takes almost 45 minutes to an hour to get through it, only because there are more parents using carpool instead of bus transportation services (due to Covid) and I do understand, but Lord. The way this Georgia heat setup, I have to keep my car running and/or pray for a cool afternoon where I can let my windows down for a cool breeze. I’ve been so tired, at times, that I have fell asleep in the carpool lane just because it’s the first time that I slowed down enough all day and sat still…don’t judge me! LOL. You actually wouldn’t judge me if I then shared with you that I have to wait in another carpool lane another 30-45 minutes for my middle schooler to get out (4pm). Yep! Let me add that my youngest is in gymnastics so after the middle schooler gets out, we then have to take the younger one to gymnastics to be there by 5pm. Between 4-5pm, we have to turn our vehicle into a mobile dressing room for her to change into her leotard, I have to stop and grab her something to eat before practice because you know our kids “be starving” after school as if they just didn’t have lunch about an hour or so ago, and then drop her off. This is typically how my day goes Monday-Friday.
Well today, let me add the dynamics of picking up my youngest one to find out that her throat had been hurting and when I asked her to look at it, she opens her mouth and I see little red dots on her tonsils and a few red raised spots on her tongue. So now we are sitting in my middle schoolers carpool lane and have to find a way out of line, while calling the pediatrician to see if they can see her today. Seriously, yes seriously! The nurse said to have her there by 4pm. It’s 3:40pm. I knew that I didn’t want to sit in the ER or urgent care tonight. I ran into the school to get my other daughter out and told her not to ask any questions yet so that I could concentrate on getting us to doctor’s office. We hop out of car at exactly 4:02pm and run into office. I am driving, praying, and pleading the blood of Jesus over her believing that my baby doesn’t have COVID and that, worst case, her sinuses are just draining. I sign her in and we go back to get her vitals done and into the room. When the nurse came in, she said that she saw what I saw and needed to do a swab to see if she has strep first and due a covid test. I just prayed and told God that he is in charge and in control. When the nurse practitioner came in to check her out, she mentioned that a lot of kids had come in due to a viral infection, but gave us the good news that she tested NEGATIVE for covid and strep throat. She just said that she needs to rest, drink plenty of fluids, and then she can return to school in a couple of days.
See, this is my parenting blues but I am so thankful for the blessings that God throw in my day to remind me that He is always present and that He will never leave me nor forsake me and that He hears my prayers as I am driving to school and my daily praises of keeping my girls when I pick them up from school. Although some days seem to be more than others, I wouldn’t trade them for having my girls! Please leave me a comment below and share with me some of your blues/blessings moments. Feel free to share blog with others to let them know that they are not alone!
