I’m sitting on my couch, watching the Bachelor and listening to my kids snoring. After two lost stuffed animals, three bandaids (one of which is literally on top of Weston’s head, in his hair – exactly where he insisted on me putting it), four rounds of singing This Little Light of Mine, two backs being rubbed, three drinks of water and lots of snuggles, they are all sleeping little angels. Did I mention no tears?!?! I’m getting my mama mojo back!

This past week I’ve been battling not feeling well … I’ve been telling myself that I’m not sick … therefore, I am NOT sick. Let’s be honest, moms don’t have time to be sick! Let alone a single, working mom! So, I just keep telling myself that I’m not. Each morning, I drink a big glass of water, take some cold medicine, get dressed and face the day. If I keep moving, I’ll feel better.

Knowing how much I “love” shoveling, I was less than excited to see the whiteout conditions today. Here in Wisconsin, we got 5-8 inches of snow! I knocked out all my work and was able to leave by 4. Picked up the triplets from daycare and headed home. Sat on the kitchen floor and played with stickers and colored with the littles while the water boiled. We filled twelve different bowls with crackers, grapes and mac ‘n cheese. I didn’t care about the extra dirty dishes, it was fun! I threw in a load of laundry into the washer and folded the load in the dryer from Sunday. I washed all twelve bowls and the dirty dishes still sitting on the counter from Saturday. Then, we put on all of our snow gear and headed outside to clear the snow.

I fired up the snow blower for the 1,534 time this winter. With each trip up and down the driveway I felt stronger and stronger. Not only am I learning how to handle a snow blower like a pro, but I was feeing pretty proud of myself. Proud for the strong woman I’m growing to be. (Note “growing” I’m not quite where I want to be, but I’m making progress.) I’m proud that I had the drive to take care of my own driveway (no pun intended). My dad had offered to snow blow for me when he dropped Jaden off. I thought, for one of the first times since moving out, “I can do this on my own and I WANT to do this on my own. There is no reason why I can’t do this on my own.” I laughed, watching the triplets rolling down the huge piles of snow. I had to pause to pick Weston up out of the snow pile he couldn’t quite crawl out of and to wipe the snow off of Logan’s cheeks … I thought of the USA skeleton silver medalist. She trains for the Olympics with her kids playing on the race track … While I’m not going to be headed to Sochi anytime soon, I am training for my own life games. I may never get a medal for my role as Jaden, Logan, Weston and Owen’s mom – I do know that my work is important and precious and worthy of a gold medal.

My dad pulled in with Jaden just as I was finishing up. He was proud of me too – and thankful that he didn’t have to clear my snow 🙂

When we all got inside it was time for baths and pj’s. We had a bedtime snack (Girl Scout cookies – thank you Chloe!) and read two books. Brushed teeth and snuggled into bed.

I guess as I sit here thinking about my day, I’m shocked as just how much moms can get done in one night! I’m always surprised at just how much work kids can be – yet just how much we love them. One thing is for sure – the work we do for our children is never wasted. These tasks are investments. Totally worth every minute.

I’m still “not sick.” Mind over body … I’m still going with that!

Love, Mel