I woke up the morning after New Year's break was over, anticipating this new beginning. I fed the kids breakfast and plunged into the activities of the morning: reading the Bible, checking email, the news, my blog feed, making a list of the school stuff I wanted to accomplish with the kids that day. We began working our way through the list and I was content. The sun streaming through the windows. The children hard at work, one at the kitchen table and one on the couch snuggled next to me sounding out words a little less painstakingly than in the previous year. Things were going so well that I took a few pictures and posted them to this journal in my mind. I wanted to remember how well the day went and how serene everything was.
We were interrupted by an email saying I could pick up the stroller we found on craigslist. A stroller that is exactly like the one we already have, except this one has four wheels instead of three. Like the three-legged dog I saw this summer. Sturdy for the most part, unless you lean on him.
I don't know what it is about having to get everyone dressed and out the door, but it can give me a headache with the first, "MOM! I want to sit in the back and they won't let me!!!" And even if the rest of the trip goes well, the headache festers and clings and won't let go. By the time we returned home, my head was throbbing and I was feeling queasy. Not to be put asunder by a stupid migraine, I decided (against my better judgement - I obviously can't think clearly with a migraine) to resume our studies. After about 10 minutes of grumpily trying to read their science text to them, do an experiment (here, put this cracker in your mouth, notice anything? Don't eat the cracker. Notice what your saliva's doing...NO, don't eat the cracker. Okay, okay! Eat the dumb cracker), and (unsuccessfully) ignoring the blanket of toys all over the house, I gave up. Our perfect morning shattering like the glass in the picture frame that fell when I was cleaning up Christmas decorations.
After putting Tommy to bed, I told the older kids "be nice to each other" and then took a long, hot shower. After taking Ibuprofen, I laid on the couch while sweet Emilia tended to my head with cold, then hot packs. She even started lunch for us, cracking eggs into a bowl, turning on the stove and adding butter to the scalding pan. The eggs were tasty, despite the slightly burned chunks that Jonny eventually decided to eat.
After the medicine and food kicked in, we found homes for all those toys strewn around the house. We then resumed with study in all of the core subjects, a short stint of car racing on the Wii, and a fun time of sledding down our hill on the snowmobile sled-thingy the kids got for Christmas from my parents (they love it - thank you!).
Even though my headache never completely went away (I need my chiropractor brother to live closer! Hey Jay, if you're reading this, just make that 2 hour drive, will ya? ;)), it ended up being a nice day.
Seems to be typical of most of our days here. There may be some adversity, but there's always a lot of joy and I wouldn't trade it.
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