Ayden has been missing my parents a lot lately. They were both sick for a little while and sort of quarantined themselves to their house. Ayden is used to seeing them at least once a week if not more and he went a full couple of weeks without seeing them at all. He was asking about them and talking about them a lot. My original plan for today was to take him with me to run errands and to the gym but after he spent the morning asking to go to their house (and all day yesterday too), I gave him a choice. "Do you want to come with mommy and play at the Y or do you want to go see Nawnie and Papaw? Of course, he chose to go visit them. I gave them a call and they were delighted to have the chance for some quality time with my little man. I began looking forward to a little break (without being sick) and got him ready. He packed his little suitcase with some of his favorite toys and his lunch box full of his favorite foods and we were off.
As soon as I dropped him off I missed him. It's so crazy how I wanted to run my errands without having to get Ayden in and out of the car seat and his coat between every destination. I wanted to have a break from mommy brain so I could think for myself for a bit. I wanted time to just be me. But at the same time, without my little sidekick, I felt incomplete and lonely. I saw this photo on instagram the other day and realized it is so true!
How many of us choose the house and kids/pets over our sanity all day everyday? Even though I didn't need a break badly enough to pre-plan one for myself, I welcomed the opportunity when it came. As I drove away missing him, I reminded myself that when I returned I would be rejuvenated and I was! Lately at bedtime, when we have to fight the most fights with Ayden (tooth care, him wanting to wear undies instead of a diaper, him wanting to read the books again, etc. etc.) I found myself going into survival mode to just get through it. Tonight, I had renewed patience and none of it seemed that bad. Most people have mental health days that they take from work and stay at home moms are no less deserving. A few hours to myself, even if it was just to run errands, topped off my sanity so that I could refocus on and enjoy my work. It is important for us to recognize when we need a little break because we have to first take care of ourselves so we can better take care of our families and homes.
We ended the evening with our first visit with our home birth midwife. Everything went great and we had fun catching up. We are so excited to be starting this process again!
What do you do when you need a mental health day?
~Sarah
Flashback! Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Little Ray Of Sunshine"
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