Count Your Blessings

Today was one of those days.  Everyone has them.  This was mine.  It started long before I ever got up, mostly because I have children.  And I'm pretty sure that those children have meetings about what to do to make my life harder.  Today also happened to be the one Saturday a year that Jon works.  As I sit here listening to Kelsey scream at me for some unknown reason, I reflect on my day. I went grocery shopping with 4 kids on a Saturday - TWICE.  The first visit was Sam's Club this morning.  The kids were actually really good.  Until I thought I would be a nice Mom and buy them pizza for lunch.  Why do kids always make you regret doing nice things for them?  They only had one piece of pepperoni pizza, which I figured was okay because Emily always picks the pepperonis off and then eats it.  That's basically cheese pizza, so we got one slice of that too.  I figured the boys could share the pepperoni.  Nothing is ever that easy.  I sent Emily and Robbie to sit down while Adam and I got drinks.  We got to the table to find that Emily had Robbie eat all the pepperonis off that slice.  Now, Adam didn't have pepperoni pizza, and everyone refused to touch the cheese pizza.  Seriously, what?  Reasoning didn't work.  Threats didn't work.  No one would eat that cheese pizza.  I give up.  Later, we went to Wal-Mart, where again the kids were pretty good.  It was everyone else.  Why does everyone at Wal-Mart stand in the middle of the aisle so that you can't get by?   I'll stand there for 2 or 3 minutes, waiting for them to move, muttering under my breath, while my kids run circles around the cart and pull random things off the shelf.  Do they seriously not notice the angry woman with 4 kids waiting not-so-patiently to get by?  By the time I left, I was NOT in a good mood. After dinner, the kids were playing with Magnetix.  All of a sudden, I heard choking from upstairs.  I ran up to find that Adam had stuffed his mouth full of the little magnetic marbles, and had choked on them.  The good news was that he got them out of his mouth.  The bad news is that he threw up all over the carpet to do so.  I finally got the kids to bed, and it was time to give Kelsey a bath.  I got her all ready to go, which means naked, and was standing checking the bath water to make sure it wasn't too hot.  You know, trying to be a good Mom.  All of the sudden I realized that I was dripping.  No wait, Kelsey had peed on me.  Oh, yay, the icing on this wonderful day!  With all the fun I had today, I have been just a little cranky.  Then I realized that although my kids make me crazy some days, and people at Wal-Mart make me crazy some days, every one of these little trials has a silver lining.  I have enough money to buy food.  Robbie is considerate enough to help his little sister by eating the pepperonis for her.  My kids have a personality, even if it is stubborn.  I can actually take 4 kids to the store with me.  Adam did not choke to death on the Magnetix.  I have 4 new bottles of Spot Shot I bought today at Sam's Club to clean the carpet.  Kelsey is healthy.  I have a washer to wash clothes.  I have one less diaper to change.  I have a wonderful husband, who will eventually come home and help me. So, the point of this long ramble is that from now on I am going to try harder to see the bright side of things.  I just need to remember to count my blessings.