Stronger

    Last night, I got terribly nauseous. I ate a family member's food who is not particularly good at food safety, so I was kind of expecting an upset stomach and nausea, but I wasn't really prepared for the full body ache.
    From about 5pm on, moving at all was hard and it took all I had to avoid being crabby.

    Well, both Icy and Bubbles fell asleep past nap time, around 7pm, which is that terrible time where they might be down for the night, but probably not.
    Well, we let them sleep which resulted in them waking back up and staying up 'til 1 am. FUN.

    It was so cute though, when Bubbles woke up she wasn't pleased about it.
    "I awake!" She lamented angrily, cuddled in her blankies.


    Around 5 am this morning, chaos ensued. Babies woke up and woke up more babies and then there was a morning filled with screams in the darkness.
    Like the good mother I hope I am most of the time, I cooed gently to Icy. I got her a bottle, started a sleepy movie for her, brought our littlest out to the living room and then RAN TO THE BATHROOM!

    As I finished the horrible tummy experience I was expecting, I could hear a little two-year old, meandering and whimpering down the dark hallway. She sounded like a sad little lamb, lost in the woods, all abandoned and alone.
    Even though I was feeling quite miserable, and I was also very busy, I called out to her, and let her know that I was in the potty.
    She curled sadly against the bathroom door and continued to whimper at me as I reassured her.
    I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing, but if one leans from my toilet, one can open the door. I warned her about the smell I was currently making, but I opened the door for her, and the relieved way she waddled in and climbed up on my lap was precious.

    Sitting there, still stuck on the potty with a terrible tummy ache, holding my daughter, I realized I was stronger than I thought.
    The night before I had imagined that I couldn't handle any more of anything. That day I was planning on sinking into a warm tubby-tub and hide from the world for the rest of the day.

    Even in my potty time, it was quite obvious that she was deriving great comfort from being on my lap, with me in the way-too-bright-for-this-early-in-the-morning bathroom than she would have been getting from her warm blankets in the unsmelly living room with her movie.

    The strength we find in the dregs of our energy barrels for our children is astonishing.