Said the Robin to the Sparrow

I had a first today, well Jakob had a first, and he did awesome. It may not seem like a big deal but considering we have been making trips into the Children’s Hospital for 2 years now and never once has Jakob been to Emily’s backyard, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get up the guts to put him in there. Emily’s backyard is the childcare service available to siblings of patients.

We have so many wonderful people in our lives that are willing to babysit Jakob or come along and hang out with him that I have never had to use the service. I was totally apprehensive and felt like I was sticking him in a childcare facility where he would get ignored and neglected. (Over-reacting? Okay, maybe a little).

But he did great! No qualms going in (I may have told him he would get to pick out a car if he behaved himself) and he had a good report when I picked him up.

He even made a…Robin? with blue feathers.

Meanwhile, Ella’s appointment was ho-hum. No change. She still has fluid in her ears which means she can’t hear properly. We have an appointment with the ENT later this month and inevitably she will get tubes, whether it be here or in Cambridge is the question.

Since I am completely over fast-food I took left-overs and made use of the family room for lunch, which oddly enough, is also something I have never done.

Then it was off to the store to come through on my “incentive” for Jakob. All in all, a pretty great day, and since our appointment was at 11am instead of the 9am swimming that I am always late for, we didn’t have to rush in the morning.

I am really trying to keep this time thing under control. It was a major challenge when we came home as we jumped right into our Church’s Missions Conference for which we were providing all the music but I find even being aware of it is a step in the right direction.
I consciously stopped myself from rushing to get all the groceries put away this afternoon and took time to play with the kids outside. It’s hard to accept not getting as much done in a day and I am sure I will let people down in this process, but I am learning. I am embracing the fact that my cellphone is out of batteries and the charger is on its way back from BC via snail mail and trying to maneuver through this CRAZY month.
Speaking of….
Ella’s birthday is coming up on the 8th and I am at a loss. It seems that already there is no time for a party – everybody is too busy, too tired, too ______. And yet I CAN NOT let her 2nd birthday go by unnoticed. Anybody that knows me, knows that birthdays are a BIG deal.

This is when I miss having a house.

I have a feeling that stress will win this month despite my efforts but what else is there to do when I hold to the standards that I do. What gives? What are my priorities? And how do I balance those with commitments already made? How do I break this nasty habit of busyness? I am at a loss.