A Bad Week

In the interest of fleshing out what I last wrote about, here's a rundown of our not-so-great week, which has pushed me to my breaking point more times than I care to admit.

So...we are moving.  We are actually very excited about that and are pretty thrilled with our new home, but as everyone knows moving is just hard.  We are in the middle of packing, purging, and getting ready for a yard sale, so our house is just a huge disaster.  I am not a neat freak, but I really dislike living in clutter and mess.  It overwhelms me and puts me in a terrible mood.  Chores have gotten put on the back burner, so our house isn't very clean, either.  Dirty dishes, piles of laundry, dust and pine needles and tiny specks of who knows what all over the carpet....ugh.

The kids are having a tough time right now.  They must sense my stress, because they are fighting a lot and pushing many of my buttons.  Ellie and Piper get upset anytime they see me put something in the yard sale pile...like unopened containers of Play-Doh that they've never played with that are also duplicate colors that we already have.  Or a bowl that I've had since college that has no purpose.  Or a wipe warmer that we haven't used in a year.  It doesn't matter what it is, they are really bothered by it.  So I feel like a crazy hoarder trying to hide the yard sale stuff from them...and I've run out of space to store all this stuff where they can't see it.  Now that the temperature has gone down a bit, Ellie complains of being cold all the time because she has no fat on her tiny little body.  If they're not wearing socks AT ALL TIMES it is a crisis and....yeah.

I found lice on Piper.  LICE.  I wanted to cry a million tears over that.  Objectively, I know that lice isn't *that* big of a deal.  But it really is for me, because I had it as a kid and it was probably the most humiliating thing I experienced as a child.  A thousand times worse than throwing up in the middle of my fourth grade classroom in front of everyone.  This is the thing that has pushed me over the edge this week.  I have cried and yelled and just lost my mind over this.  It has been horrible.

I am eternally grateful for Billy, who is calm when I am...not.  He has been the kindest, most level-headed person this week (he really is all the time, but I've noticed it so much more this week while I'm going crazy).  He came home on his lunch break today to find me in pajamas and a bathrobe, not showered and just generally stressed, and he gave me a kiss and said, "You look nice."  I definitely did not look nice, but he meant it.  Thank you, God, for giving me this sweet man!

Are any of these things horrible?  No.  Will they get better?  Thank goodness, yes!  I have learned so much about myself this week, especially pertaining to the lice situation.  It seems like a weird (disgusting?) way to learn a lesson, but I've realized just how many of my childhood hurts I still carry with me.  I have let many of those things go as I've gotten older...but that one is still with me and still holds a lot of power over me.  So this week has been about me getting that out of my system.  I have ranted and shared all of my deep dark childhood lice secrets with Billy and that actually did make me feel better.  Just having someone acknowledge how I feel with complete empathy has been really great.  Thankfully, the kids are so young that I don't think they know about the lice.  I've just been turning it all into a big game..."Come on girls, let's go put some magic shampoo in your hair!  Now it's time to use the special magic comb!  Now I'm going to hold a flashlight over your hair and you have to be like a statue!"  I'm really glad my kids are easily convinced that I have all these magical things.

Billy's mom is coming to stay with us this weekend, so hopefully Billy and I will be able to get a lot of packing/cleaning/purging done.  Our yard sale is next Saturday and I can't wait.  I know it will feel so nice to have gotten rid of some unnecessary things, and then we can just focus on getting ready to move.  I'm already looking forward to living in the new house...central air and heat, a garage, a big kitchen, and yes, friends...a DISHWASHER.

Now, some pictures to remind me of the good things!

Piper being such a girl

Ellie is ready for winter

Grace can no longer be contained to one room...she is on the move!

Grace trying to crawl into a box...

Ellie started dance class this past week and loves it!

This baby is so happy!

The girls undergoing a "magic beauty treatment"...aka lice treatment.  And Piper was showing off her tushy so that would be why there's a random boom box on her bum... :)

I am so thankful that even in a bad week, there's much to laugh about!