Graceful Parenting in Austin

Last Tuesday was my birthday, well my make-up birthday because the Tuesday before that Baby Girl was sick and mostly Blue Eyes and I took turns holding her close and cleaning up the mess, so last Tuesday was MY day. Blue Eyes and I took vacation days and he got Sophia off to day care so I could sleep in. The he had to finish up just an hour of work and I spent just an hour wrapping up some details on the rental house we are trying to sell and then everything fell apart one piece at a time. At one point, I went to the house with four things to do, one was replace the smoke detector battery in the house but ends up the smoke detector doesn’t work with the new battery either, then check the smoke detector in the garage apartment but those keys are missing off the ring, then do some final cleaning in the kitchen but the handle is broken on the Fantastik so it won’t squirt out, then screw on a switch plate that I borrowed from our house, but the plastic bag I used had a hole in the bottom and the screws had fallen out. I was 0/4. Plus a call to the real estate agent who mentioned a few other things we also were supposed to be doing which meant a trip to Lowe’s and another few hours at the house, which would have been fine except this is about our fourth last trip to the house to fix things and it’s my birthday.

Well, we finally made it. The house is on MLS today, #9258524. Oh So Beautiful.

After we were done at the house we went to south Austin and had a great lunch at Polvo’s, dipped our feet into Barton Springs, then came home and took a nap. I had a great birthday afternoon.

Then I picked up Noel from school and Baby Girl from day care and Baby Girl was having trouble breathing again. Oh, no! An hour of running around, trying to get to a doctor, getting new medicine, breathing treatments, mild panic and hysteria until the treatment did its thing and she was breathing easier. Then dividing up the overnight treatments with Blue Eyes so we can get some kind of rest before my surgery the next day.

And that has been our life for about 40 days now, but with more of the morning and evenings and less of the afternoons. Every time we think we are just about at the edge of what we could possibly manage, then something else happens. We thought by giving it a name, The 30 Days of Hell, it would be self-contained and not continue, but that didn’t work. We are going on 40 now.

I try, try, try (I write like I do this more than I really do this but that is why I write, because it reminds me what I wish I did) to remember that everyone is healthy as far as the big things go and our basic needs are met and we really can manage the rest. And I remember my birthday afternoon. Oh, so beautiful.