Coming up for air

This past week has been one of those weeks. One of those weeks where you don't realize how much you have piled onto your plate until it all needs attention in the same 7 day time span. One of those weeks where your husband is given a personal pan pizza for dinner and your child has had 3 over-priced, organic granola bars a day for meals because she can feed them to herself. One of those weeks where your head is just barely teetering above water.

I am not complaining because each of these commitments brings a lot to our lives.
Our days have been filled with preparing for our MOPS consignment sale, which is a BEAST to put on, but again, is a service to moms in our community and to moms who get to have adult conversations while our childcare workers take great care of our kids. I can absolutely wait until the spring sale and kind of dread the amount of time it requires, but my kid loves the kids there and I love the moms there. Plus, it wears MK out so much that she is asleep before she can tuck her precious little arms under her belly.

Our nights this week have begun with me angry at Ross for coming home late from work, just exhausted, tagging Ross while he takes over the baby and I leave for work. Despite my love-hate relationship with my job, Ross reminds me that while I may not be "serving" like I did as a social worker, I am serving our family by the few extra dollars it brings in. And I'm not going to lie. Seeing my husband happy at that meager paycheck's addition to our accounts makes the late nights worth it.

The early morning hours have included google searches for whether or not I should go into screaming baby's room and try to console her, or leave her to go back to sleep on her own (night one, I went in and gave motrin. night two, she cried it out, night three, she got enough motrin, orajel and vapor rub that I think she was in a little coma but it worked.) The pre-dawn hours have me running with some great ladies in what has become the best part of my day. If you know me and know how much I hate love running, this tells you what the rest of the days have been like!

Despite the craziness, we've found ways to get our heads above water. Friday, I played hookie for the late afternoon shift at the sale and met Ross at St. Angelo's for pizza. There was a band playing Johnny Cash songs and we took turns dancing with our daughter while we ate stromboli and gelato on the patio. After a week of literally passing in the night, it felt great to feel like a family and to really enjoy each other.

Today, we are home from early Mass where MK sat in the pew the ENTIRE TIME (reminder: we go to a church with a realllly long service.) She is asleep. The Sunday paper is strewn across the table with empty plates from a good breakfast at home. We are spending the afternoon going a Golden Retriever rescue event and someone slap me if we come home with a dog. But don't be surprised either. I am outnumbered in the "do we really need another dog so quickly" camp but am admittedly excited to go see the pups.

So, after a crazy full week (which started with our anniversary and will get its own post), we are coming up for air. And around me, I can now see such goodness. We are thankful for jobs in this awful economy and for ways to serve that also give us great friends. We are thankful for bodies that are healthy enough to exercise well and for a precious girl, no matter how much or how little she sleeps. We are thankful for family who leave message after un-returned message and friends who email us to encourage us in our runs, our family and our lives.

~~just some photos I've recently gotten back from a great photographer we got through groupon :)