Feeling a bit better now that I've gotten some sleep

So today I'm feeling a bit guilty for my ranting yesterday. Whew! My dear hubby is putting in 60+ hours a week at work and by Friday, I'm feeling a bit frazzled and burned out at both ends. In the spirit of the New Year, I thought I'd reflect on some things that I'm so thankful for right now.

First of all, I remembered yesterday that Emma used to get up at an incredibly early hour when she was Ella's age. I remember morning after morning of sitting on the couch in a half-conscious state while she played with her toys around me. The good thing is, Emma is a wonderful sleeper now. She sleeps about 10 hours a night and usually doesn't wake up at all! And this girl can SLEEP. I can still get her out of her carseat and into the house without her waking up. So I am sure that this is just a stage for Ella and hopefully we will be sleeping through the night again soon.

Secondly, I am REALLY thankful for my husband's job. Yes, it is a bit overwhelming to have him working so many hours. Yes, I really miss him when he's gone so much. But the Lord has blessed him with a job and we are grateful. We went through such a tough period earlier this year when he was without a job. I'm not joking when I say that those few months were filled with many tears and worries about how to pay rent and put food on the table, not to mention how to pay all the other mounting bills. And it was during this time that Ella had her seizure and we had ER bills to pay with no insurance. But, by the grace of God, we are now in a place where we are nearly caught up again. The ER bills are paid, the other bills are caught up. We are moving forward again and looking forward to being debt-free in about 1.5 yrs! For those of you who know how much debt we started with, that is SIMPLY AMAZING!

I am also grateful for the many people in our lives who love us and support us. Friends and family who are both near and far. And new friends, though my new venture on my blog. Thank you to those of you who leave comments from time to time. They really do bless my heart each day. (Especially on a day like yesterday!)

And speaking of yesterday, I just have to share. The day didn't seem to get any better. Ella was cranky and cried a lot of the day. At 4:30 I decided to get out of the house and go get a couple of movies at Blockbuster. I kind of dread going there, because Ella is in love with the many balloons that clutter the floor of our local Blockbuster. Do they do this for a reason? Anyway, we get in there and she gets a balloon and starts to carry it around. Pretty soon she becomes a little obstinant and refuses to walk anymore. She just wants to stand there and hold her balloon. Of course, I'm ready to go and I'm not in the mood for her to be difficult. She finally starts walking again and trips over her shoe, landing face down on the floor and losing her balloon. Oh, the crying and carrying on that began! One thing Ella's really good at is throwing a temper-tantrum. And this one was a duzy. Complete with kicking, ear-piercing screaming, and thrashing of the head and arms. And she just wouldn't stop. I apologized to the cashier for causing such a rucous and explained that she wanted a balloon. Of course, he said she could take one with her, so I gave her one and she quieted down. But as soon as we got in the car, the whole thing started over again because I needed her hands free to buckle her in the careseat. And another thing Ella's really good at is making her body rigid so that I can't buckle her in. By the time I got both children in their seats and myself in the car, I was in tears. Finished. Tired. Worn-out. Not really wanting to be a mom and not really wanting to be in charge of anyone but myself!

All this to say, the evening actually made a turn for the better. I got the girls fed their dinner and Emma started watching her movie. Ella went to bed around 7, and soon after, Todd called and said he was on his way home. Yeah! He hasn't been home before 11 at all this week. Emma was a delight as well. Since we had rented "The 12 Dancing Princesses," we, of course, had to have a practice ballet session. Oh yes, we were both twirling and walking on our tip-toes in the living room. Emma had a great time and was so excited to see Daddy walk through the door! After we put Emma to bed, we watched a movie and just enjoyed actually seeing each other for the first time in a few days.

And to top it all off, I got to sleep in this morning! Yes, that's right, I slept until 9:30AM!!!!!!! Todd was so wonderful to get up with the girls and give me a break. And I feel so much better for it.

We're going to get some grocery shopping done today and then I have my last shift at the scrapbook store tonight. I'll be sad to leave, but excited that I will actually have time to scrapbook my own stuff again!