Taking five

So it has been a little more than the usual craziness these past couple of weeks. 

Cary ended up with an infection in her skin.  Which ended us up here: 

Yup.  At casa de la mcv/vcu medical center.  This kind of looks worse than it actually was.  Even though Cary is fairly non-ambulatory (translation:  she doesn't move much) they still had to splint her hand to keep her from messing with the iv.  What ended up happening is she developed an abnormal interest in splints and used that arm to deck herself in the eye, hit mama, and poke the nice Scottish nurse in the nose.  Great. 

Anyway we came home, Cary was diagnosed with a staph/strep infection in her body, and given antibiotics that smelled and tasted like cat poop.  And yes they did flavor it.  So the cat poop had a nice hint of cherry.  The only good thing I can say about the med is that it cleared up Cary's constipation quite nicely. 

Then about a week after we were back again.  Shannon has something called syncopy.  It is a hereditary condition that causes him to pass out.  He decided my life was too dull and passed out in the  hallway.  What caused concern was that Shannon was having tightness in his chest and arm pains.  But the good news was that everything checked out O.K.  Shannon has been banned from power washing as that seemed to trigger the episode.  But it was a long day trying to get places, make sure the kids were O.K. and worrying about my husband. 

So I was getting pretty frazzled.  Seriously.  It is hard when everything hits you all at once.  But that is the way life works sometimes. 

So sometimes I've found I need to step back.  I need to get away from it all and just take a breath.  So I did just that.  This past Saturday I had a chance to kick back and relax.  I got together with a group of wonderful women.  We did some awesome stuff! 

The first thing we did was have a really great lunch.  Lots of fresh fruit, veggies, chicken salad, and strawberry shortcake.  Yum!  Then we did some really cool crafting.  We made books!  They contained advice for the mom.  Here is my book: 

I will say this is not the original book.  It started out as a nice simple little photo book that you keep in your purse.  You know the little plastic kinds.  But I am one of those crazy obsessed people.  You know the book about giving a mouse a cookie and the mouse goes off wanting all sorts of crazy things.  Well when I got home I noticed a little tear in the book.  I thought I will put the pictures and advice tabs in a better book that is a bit sturdier.  Then the book needed paper cut for it, the handwritten paper to be typed neatly and decorations inserted..... You get the idea.  The original book took about an hour to make.  The 5000 bionical version took about four hours. But I loved every minute of it.  The pictures and advice will be treasured for years to come. 

Then we went to the lavender farm nearby.  It is a beautiful place of healing.

Not to mention tons of, well, lavender.  I loved it.  It was very peaceful.  And I felt that I needed that peace very much.  They also have animals of all sorts, a massage tent, and every sort of lavender thing imaginable in the gift shop.  I picked some from the fields and have it drying in my home. 
They also had a labyrinth.   I took some time to walk it and pray. 

It was such a great place.  I plan on taking the children there soon.  I think there is something there for everyone. 

All in all the day was just what I needed.  I forget in the hustle and bustle to take time to do things for me.  I get worn down and grouchy when I don't.  So I am going to try a little harder to grab a few moments.  That is about all I get with two little ones anyway:). 

But those moments matter.  They are what keep me going and give me sunshine when life wants to throw rainstorms at me.  They bring me strength to get through the tough times with a smile.  It also gives me a chance to nurture friendships and explore new places.  One thing I am learning is that if I don't take time for myself for care and nurturing no one else will.  So I plan on making this more of a habit and less of making excuses why I can't.  I can and I will.  It's as simple as that.