It's All In Your Perspective

It all started yesterday after taking my lovely daughter to her 9 month old well child check up. Carl had the morning off and was able to go with us, which was great. Her doctor is about 30 minutes away and so she slept the whole way there and the whole way home. So, once she got home (just before nap time) she decided that a nap just wasn't in her schedule for the day. Which is a real bummer for me...I get a lot of my work done for my job during her nap time. After 3 different attempts it just wasn't going to happen, and she normally is a good napper! Carl left for work (he was on-call last night) during one of our naptime attempts.

It was now late afternoon. She had lunch, played some more while I worked, had a mini power snooze on the couch with me, had dinner, bath time and loads of cuddle time with mom. Then it was off to bed for the night, which lately has been a struggle (she just started crawling and is just so excited about it all the time). After about an hour and a half of her crying and me rubbing her back and doing my best to soothe her to sleep, she finally made it. I still had loads of work to do for my job, so it was a late night for me...up until about midnight.

My alarm went off at 5am, must to my disbelief that morning was already here. I drug myself out of bed, got ready for work, ate breakfast, worked some more, played with our dog, and she was still sleeping. It was now about 7am...and I should be leaving for work. I e-mailed my boss and told her I would be a little late. I went in and broke the cardinal rule "never wake a sleeping baby". She ate and then we bundled up and headed out the door...that's when the stress from yesterday finally hit.

As I was backing out of the driveway I spilled my travel mug of Oregon Chai in the car. I pulled back in the driveway...cleaned up, refocused and started again. I started Sunday's sermon CD and was on my way (I'll get to that sermon in another post). I made it about 20 minutes from home and was merging onto the highway and looked in the rearview mirror to see her car seat move as I went around the curve, so I pulled off on the next exit (about 1/4 mile up the road) to tighten it. As I got back in the car, I once again spilled my drink; at this point a police officer pulled next to me and turned his lights on. My first thought was "great...someone must have seen her carseat move and called the cops on me". But, he was just checking to make sure everything was okay, because I had my flashers on. I told him "yes, I just spilled some milk and wanted to clean up before I made even more of a mess". He said he had a towel in the back and wanted to know if I needed any help, I told him I was okay and thanks. He said "your welcome...I hope your day goes better", and off he went.

I dropped my daughter off at my parent's house and finally made it to work about an hour late, but I made it. As I was pulling into the parking lot recounting the last 12 hours and hoping the rest of my day would improve it hit me like a ton of bricks..."it is all how you look at it".

1. Yes, my daughter had a doctor's appointment, which threw off her nap schedule, but she is healthy and on perfect track for her age!
2. Yes, my husband has to work crazy hours every week, but he is on his way to live his dream.
3. Yes, she didn't take a nap on her own, but we did have a nice snooze cuddled together on the couch.
4. Yes, she had a horrible time falling asleep on her own that night, but I did get to sit down and rock her to sleep and watch her fall asleep in my arms.
5. Yes, I had to stay up late and get work done for my job, but I am so blessed to be able to work some days at home and get to spend more time with her.
6. Yes, I did have to wake up early, but again I am so blessed by my employer.
7. Yes, I did spill a hot milk beverage in my car, twice, but I had something warm to drink this morning.
8. Yes, I did have to stop and fix her carseat, and have a police officer pull up beside me, but I was so thankful that we have police officers to stop and see if we need help.
9. Yes, it does take me a little longer in the morning to get to work, but I get to drop my daughter off at my parent's house and they get to spend time with her which is such a blessing to us and them.
10. Yes, I did get to work late, but I have a super understanding boss.

Once I realized how blessed I was, even though it was a tough 12 hours, I realized, it really is all in your perspective. One more step forward in our life-long goal to harbor contentment.